British Diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate), Metropolitan Anthony considered the Diocese of Sourozh to be "the Orthodox Church in Britain" simpliciter, on the grounds that it was open to all and not only to those of a particular ethnic background (as he took the Diocese of Thyateira to be). However, some traditionalist ROCOR criticised the Sourozh diocese for endorsing "'an Anglican form of Orthodoxy", led by "a small and ageing clique of intellectuals, very much part of one particular, upper middle-class, Western cultural elitist group, one elderly generation". Influx into the diocese after the fall of the Soviet Union With the fall of communism in Russia, a new wave of Russian Orthodox parishioners entered the diocese. Many amongst this group, attending the diocesan cathedral in London, were unhappy at the (for a Russian Church) non-standard practices which prevailed in the diocese, and sought to bring its liturgical practices and ethos into line with the standard practice of the Russian Orthodox Church. For the supporters of such change, this amounted to 'normalisation'; for its opponents, it constituted Russification. It has been alleged by British ROCOR clergy that the diocese of Sourozh failed to expand to meet the spiritual needs of newly arrived Orthodox Christians from Russia who lived in areas of the United Kingdom in which the diocese did not have parishes or communities. Such allegations have been confirmed by the commission of the Holy Synod, which has concluded that in recent years "there were not enough Russian-speaking priests in the parish to celebrate services and, in particular, to confess, that English was gradually used more and more as a liturgical language, and that this was disproportionate to the actual number of English people at the Cathedral". Tensions The diocese's history with its hierarchs, and the relations between those hierarchs, have at times been tumultuous, with bishops Hilarion (Alfeyev) being moved away from the diocese, and Basil (Osborne) leaving the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Metropolitan Anthony had spoken about, and sometimes become involved in, these tensions. These often related to jurisdictional disputes, neglect of country parishes, or to the rift between pro-Moscow laity and those who advanced the ideal of an autocephalous Orthodox church in Great Britain. Bishop Basil's departure to Constantinople In January 2002, Hilarion (Alfeyev) was consecrated Bishop of Kerch as an assistant bishop for the Sourozh diocese, assuming the title previously held