COURT
CONSIDERS CASE
OF URALS PRIEST FOR SPREADING FALSE INFORMATION
by Ilia
Smirnov
An
administrative
case against a priest of the Central Urals convent, Schehegumen
Sergius
(Nikolai Romanov) has reached a magistrate judge of district No.
3 of Verkhniaia
Pushma, the press service of the Sverdlovsk oblast court
reported. He will be
tried on the basis of part 9 of article 13.15 of the Code of
Administrative
Violations of Law (deliberately disseminating unreliable
information of public
significance in the guise of reliable reports, creating a threat
of causing
harm to the life and health of citizens). The priest faces a
fine of 30,000 to
100,000 rubles.
We recall that earlier there were published on the internet videos with sermons of Schehegumen Sergius in which he cursed everybody who closes churches "because of the pseudo-pandemic of coronavirus." Schehegumen Sergius criticized federal authorities and the church for closing churches during the time of self-isolation, and he also talked about mass nanochipping of people through a vaccine. "Now there is occurring in Russia the organizing of chaos, anarchy, disorders, and future famine. We are being deprived of liberty and work and are being imprisoned under house arrest," Schehegumen Sergius declared in one of the videos.
As a result, at the end of April Metropolitan of Ekaterinburg and Verkhotur Kirill took away from Schehegumen Sergius the right of preaching and speaking out in public, and also of wearing a pectoral cross. The activity of the priest is supposed to be reviewed by a diocesan court of the Ekaterinburg diocese, which will conduct a session after the lifting of the restrictive measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the end, the priest may be prohibited, temporarily or for life, from conducting his clerical ministry, unfrocked, or expelled from the church.
On 4 June, the Center for Combating Extremism of the chief directorate of the M.V.D. for Sverdlovsk found indicators of inciting hatred and strife in the videos of the preaching of Schehegumen Sergius.
The hockey player Pavel Datsiuk and a participant of the "Urals Dumplings" show, Dmitry Sokolov, have spoken out in defense of the priest. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 June 2020)
Background article:
June 7, 2020
CENTER
"E"
OF RUSSIAN M.V.D. DEMANDS FINING SCHEHEGUMEN SERGIUS 100,000
FOR CHURCH CURSE
A
court in Verkhniaia
Pyshma (Sverdlovsk oblast) will consider on 23 June the case
of an
administrative violation of law against the founder of the
Central Urals
monastery and a popular RPTsMP "elder," Schehegumen Sergius
Romanov,
who laid a church curse on those who close churches during the
COVID-19
pandemic. This is the first precedent where the secular
law-enforcement system
of the RF is trying to punish a clergyman for a ritual action
within the
church. The Russian constitution establishes the secular
nature of the Russian
state and guarantees noninterference in the internal affairs
of religious
organizations.
"Romanov
is
accused on the basis of part 9 of article 13.15 of the Russian
Code of Administrative
Violations of Law: 'Distribution in news media and also on
news
telecommunication networks socially significant information
known to be
unreliable in the guise of reliable reports,'" the press
service of the Sverdlovsk
oblast court reports. Just what the "unreliability" in the
curse laid
by the "elder" consists of is not specified.
It is
noted that the
schehegumen faces a fine of up to 100,000 rubles.
It was
previously
reported that the Center for Combating Extremism (Center "E")
of the
chief directorate of the MVD for Sverdlovsk oblast saw
indicators of
administrative law violation in the actions of the
schehegumen. According to
the response of the acting chief of the Center for Combating
Extremism of the
regional chief directorate for the MVD, to which Interfax
referred on 11 June,
the material of the investigation was sent to the prosecutor's
office of
Verkhniaia Pyshma for making a decision.
In his
video appeal
in late April, the schehegumen called the coronavirus pandemic
a myth and he
cursed those who close churches during the pandemic. Later
there appeared on
YouTube another video of a statement of the schehegumen where
he calls for
opening the churches and speaks about the threat of
nanochipping, which
supposedly will prove to be fatal for the majority.
Prosecution
of the
schehegumen began only after the ruling bishop of the
Ekaterinburg diocese of
the RPTsMP, Metropolitan Kirill, inhibited the "elder" from
ministry.
At the same time it turned out that Schehegumen Sergius, who
had been dismissed
from the staff of clergy of the Ekaterinburg diocese, is
included in the lists
of clergy of the Tashkent diocese of the RPTsMP, which is
headed by the former
metropolitan of Ekaterinburg, Vikenty. (tr. by PDS, posted 11
June 2020)
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