Free Republic

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX: Pastor challenged boss's authority in Daily News interview.National leaders of the Russian Orthodox church were meeting this week in New York, wrestling with chaos in their Alaska diocese as the man in the middle of the turmoil defended his leadership. Among the grumblings about Alaska Bishop Nikolai Soraich is that he fired a popular priest from a teaching post after the priest criticized him in a newspaper story published Friday.Priests and parishioners from around the state petitioned church leaders to remove Bishop Nikolai in a series of letters and e-mails over the past several weeks. They accuse the...

An Unfamiliar Ring Rookie candidate gets pinned by his wrestling past. Folks leaving a recent gathering of the Republican Party in Timonium, Md., found fliers on their windshields that accused a candidate for state office of spitting on the American flag as a young man. The target of the leaflets, Nikolai Volkoff, denies that charge. “I never spit on the American flag. Never!” says Volkoff, 59, who is entering politics by trying to win the 7th District state-assembly seat after a long and legendary career in professional wrestling. “I sang the Russian anthem, yes. But I never spit on any...