We have as much will and freedom as the great majority of EO who are under the “Pope” of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Blessings,
Marduk
And what exactly is that supposed to mean, Marduk?
I am one of those “EO” who are “under” the Patriarch of Moscow - he is not a Pope and does not function as such - and His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill, has very little to do with my life. My Diocesan Bishop, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, is the Bishop whose authority is real to me. I have never received an ukaz from the Patriarch. I
do, as is normal in the Russian Orthodox Church, commemorate the Patriarch’s name before that of my own Bishop in the Proskomedia, the Litanies, the Great Entrance, and in the Anaphora. But the closest I’ve ever gotten to feeling his immediate authority is the fact that he confirmed the election of my Bishop by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
I’ll give you a small example of how the Orthodox Church works. I was in the presemce of Metropolitan Hilarion, who in addition to being my Diocesan Bishop is also the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, at a recent Youth Conference in Ottawa. Archbishop Gabriel, the Ruling Bishop of the Diocese of Canada, was at the same conference. When asked offer a prayer, he declined, saying that though he was the First Hierarch of our Church, it was Archbishop Gabriel who would offer the prayer because he was in his Diocese.
I think that we all know that this is very different from the Catholic Church. The Pope is the Pope. Every Catholic, no matter what Rite they belong to, knows that.
Let’s not have any more cheap shots, Marduk.

Thanks for the blessings.
Fr David Straut