I didn't realize you were ROCOR! That must be very difficult right now. I lived in San Francisco for years and was very familiar with the Orthodox community there, which has just about every ME group and of course the Slavic groups and the OCA. As I recall, there was ROCOR and what we used to call...gads, I can't even remember what we used to call it. Patriarchal, perhaps?
Interesting that there is so much dispute over this.
But yes, as far as Protestants go, you're right; they do seem to have a rather confused understanding of the Pope and the other bishops. Primus inter pares, first among equals; but I don't think they really understand the whole idea of bishops in the first place. I don't want to be offensive, but Protestants really cannot accept the idea that bishops are the successors to the Apostles, or they'd have to ask themselves some hard questions.
It's not difficult in my parish... if anyone disagrees with our First Heirarch they haven't voiced it that I've seen.
But there is definitly a small but very vocal group making accusations (mostly on the internet) like that our First Heirarch is a KGB spy, or that he accepted bribes or other ridiculous nonsense. They reject the unanimous decision of the Synod of Bishops. There are also represenatives from the so-called Catacomb church in Russia (there are at least 30+ groups running around calling themselves this) who feel spurned by ROCOR as ROCOR had initially embraced these groups, and was setting up churches in Russia (which would have led to a canonical absurdity).
Both groups aren't unlike the small regional protestant groups who maintain that they're parish or 2 alone are the full body of Christianity. None of them want anything to do with communion with World Orthodoxy.
One of the important reasons I go to a ROCOR parish is they have always afirmed they are part of the Russian church (and thus not a schismatic group out of communion with World Orthodoxy).
It's the same things though with these groups as it is with protestantism; when the laity begins to reject the authority of the Bishops there is no end to the splitering into factions.