The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has sanctioned a priest who conducted a memorial service for Alexei Navalny, the late opposition leader. Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, has banned Dimitry Safronov, the priest of a Moscow church, from his duties for three years, demoted him and stripped him of his robes and cross. He gave no official reason for these harsh sanctions, but Safronov was at Navalny’s funeral, and in March conducted a memorial service at his grave. He had also co-signed a letter asking the government to give Navalny’s body (which local authorities initially refused to release) to his family and let them bury him in the Christian tradition. Before his death Navalny had publicly spoken about his faith on several occasions.