"THE
METROPOLITAN WILL HAVE TO TAKE THE MONASTERY BY STORM"
Schehegumen
Sergius
broke up church court session
by Maria
Ignatova
A church
court of the
Ekaterinburg diocese began consideration of the case of
Schehegumen Sergius
(Nikolai Romanov), who violated the order of the ruling bishop
and the ban on
his clerical ministry. The priest from the Central Urals convent
arrived at the
court and began reading a prepared speech, declaring that the
church is being
ruled by Rospotrebnadzor and Metropolitan Kirill will have to
take the monastery
by storm. After this, without intending to answer questions of
the court, he
left. The church court will assemble again on 26 June.
The
diocesan court
assembled on 15 June, in order to consider the question of
Schehegumen Sergius'
conduct. As explained in the press service of the Ekaterinburg
diocese, the
priest came to the court, but after reading his prepared speech,
he left it.
The church court decided to assemble again on 26 June.
Schehegumen
Sergius
violated the prohibition on speaking out publicly and on
preaching. Earlier
Metropolitan of Ekaterinburg and Verkhotur Kirill deprived
Father Sergius of
that right because of his radical statements, about denial of
the coronavirus
and also about mass nanochipping through vaccine, "which will be
fatal for
many." In his videos on YouTube, the priest suggested that the
government
of the RF "resign and leave the country," and that people "leave
the walls of fear, weeping, hopelessness, loneliness, and
despair." The
schehegumen is facing a ban on his clerical ministry,
unfrocking, or anathema.
"Inasmuch
as
Schehegumen Sergius, having read a previously prepared text that
had nothing to
do with the substance of the accusations made against him,
hastily left the
session of the diocesan ecclesiastical court, without answering
question on the
substance, to conduct the next session of the diocesan
ecclesiastical court on
26 June. To express the hope that Schehegumen Sergius will be
able in that time
to find in himself the spiritual forces to make a vital and
sincere
conversation and reconsider his attitude toward his conduct,
come to himself,
and reform," the resolution of the church court says. The
document notes
that if Schehegumen Sergius, despite the ban, begins conducting
liturgies, then
concelebration with him is impossible. This may lead to
prohibition on clerical
ministry for other priests also. If Father Sergius does perform
sacraments,
then they will be illegal and ineffective.
An audio
recording of
the schehegumen's speech, which he addressed to the court, was
published on
YouTube. There he again spoke about the coronavirus. "His
Holiness
Patriarch Kirill made the decision to close RPTs churches out of
fear of death.
He blessed the fulfillment of instructions of public health
physicians. His
Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the Synod, and the episcopate do not
have any authority
over the church. The church at the present time is being ruled
by public health
physicians and Rospotrebnadzor. I think these actions of the
patriarch, the
Holy Synod, and the episcopate are blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit and
betrayal of the faith," Schehegumen Sergius declared to the
court.
The
priest declared
that he will not leave his convent and "Metropolitan Kirill will
have to
take the monastery by storm."
At the
diocesan press
service it was explained that in accordance with the order,
Schehegumen Sergius'
assigned place of residence is the monks' skete of John the
Divine, located
outside the Central Urals convent.
We
recall that the
Center for Combating Extremism of the chief directorate of the
MVD for
Sverdlovsk oblast found evidence of inciting hatred and strife
in video
recordings of sermons of Schehegumen Sergius. He also faces a
secular trial
based on part 9 of article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative
Violations of
Law ("Dissemination of socially significant information known to
be unreliable
in the guise of reliable communications, creating a threat to
cause harm to
life and health of citizens"). The hockey player Pavel Datsiuk
and the
artist of the "Urals Dumplings" Dmitry Sokolov have made a video
in
support of the priest. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 June 2020)
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