CRIMINAL CASE OPENED AGAINST PRIEST OF GORODETS
DIOCESE OF
RPTsMP AFTER HE CALLED PATRIARCH KIRILL A HERETIC
A criminal case for fraud has been opened (part 3
of article 160
of the Criminal Code of the RF) after he called Patriarch Kirill
a heretic. He
described this in a video message on VKontakte. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 6
November 2019)
PRIEST IN SHAKUNYA ACCUSED OF FRAUD
Nizhnii
Seichas, 6 November 2019
A priest in the town of Shakhunya of Nizhnii
Novgorod oblast is
accused of fraud. He published his appeal on his page in a
social network in
October 2019.
According to a former rector of the local parish
in Shakhunya
(located in the jurisdiction of the Gorodets diocese), Sergei
Tsepov, it all
began in 2016, when Patriarch Kirill met the Roman pope. At the
time the
patriarch told the head of the Catholic church that they are
brothers and Catholics
also are considered Orthodox.
We recall that this meeting occurred in February
2016 in Havana,
Cuba. It was the first such meeting, after which the heads of
the Russian
Orthodox and Catholic churches made a joint statement.
The Shakhunya priest fundamentally disagreed with
the statement
that Catholics also are considered Orthodox and he stopped
praying for
Patriarch Kirill.
Before 2018, he explained to parishioners why he
does not
understand such actions of the patriarch.
"In 2018, when it reached the church authorities
that I has
ceased commemorating and for two year I did not commemorate, I
was summoned and
I wrote a report where I laid out everything in detail: why I do
not
commemorate and by which apostolic rules it is impossible to
commemorate,"
Tsepov says.
After this, Father Sergei was removed from the
rectorship and
then gradually he was forbidden to perform rituals. He
transferred all church
property and financial affairs. He said that there were no
complaints against
him at that time. Tsepov did not go anywhere and he remained
serving in his
town.
"Then inspections supposedly began. On 22
February 2018
there was a conversation in the office of Bishop Avgustin. The
days before the
secretary of the diocese phoned me and invited me to a meeting.
. . . He looked
at everything and understood everything and thought one thing
and said another
and did a third. He said to me that he understood me, but we
will change
nothing. At the end of the conversation he said that he has
nothing against me.
And then he wrote a report and went to the prosecutor's office,"
Tsepov
continued.
He also explained that after this statement,
searches were
conducted in his apartment.
"They were looking for some kind of documents.
Supposedly I
had amended the charter and was living by a different charter.
They seized a
computer," the priest explained.
He considers that "they cobbled together and
fabricated a
criminal case" against him, which they was categorized under
article 160
of the Criminal Code of the RF as using "libelous explanations."
he
also said that the episode with the court has lasted a whole
year now.
We note that in the files on the website of the
Shakhunya
district court of Nizhnii Novgorod oblast there is a case
against Sergei
Tsepov, who is charged on the basis of article 160, part 3, of
the CC RF
(embezzlement or fraud). The injured party is the Gorodets
diocese. Its
interests are represented by the priest Aleksander Tronchu. The
session is
scheduled for 6 November. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 November 2019)
PRIEST
FROM SHAKHUNYA
CALLS PATRIARCH KIRILL HERETIC AND CLAIMS THAT FOR THIS HE WILL
BE TRIED
by Vera
Zemtsova
Nizhnii
Novgorod
OnLine, 6 November 2019
A local
priest in
Shakhunya, Sergei Tsepov (he already now however is a former
priest), thinks
that Patriarch Kirill is a heretic and also maintains that
because of this a
criminal case has been opened against him. But not on the
article regarding
hurting believers' feelings, but for fraud.
Sergei
Tsepov made a
video in which he describes his view of the situation. He says
that in 2016
"Patriarch Kirill met with the Roman pope and called Catholics
our
brothers." In the opinion of the Shakhunya batyushka, Catholics
are not
any kind of Orthodox, and everybody who thinks so, including His
Holiness the
patriarch, is a heretic. Sergei Tsepov explained that since that
time he has
ceased to mention the name of the head of the Russian Orthodox
Church in
prayers and he has explained his position to parishioners.
Two
years later the
opposition to the priest has supposedly complained.
"I wrote
a
report in which I set forth in detail why I do not commemorate
and on the basis
of which apostolic rules it is impossible to commemorate a
heretic, because in
commemorating a heretic we become heretics ourselves, and if we
are silent then
we partially betray God," the priest thinks.
Sergei
explains that
after this he was removed from the rectorship and then gradually
he was
forbidden to conduct services. And he surrendered all the
property belonging to
the church and financial documents and no charges were leveled
against him.
"But I
continued
to serve in that town and I did not go away, and audits were
begun on me,"
he said. "Then Bishop Avgustin wrote a report against me for the
prosecutor's office, full of lies and slanders. They began to
conduct searches
in my apartment and to seek documents. Supposedly I amended the
charter and was
living by the amended charter. They seized computers and
documents. Obviously
they did not find anything. They fabricated a case and cobbled
one together,
let's say. Later they understood that nothing would come of it
and they recast it
by article 160 of the CC RF 'Embezzlement of property,' but at
the same time I
surrendered all property, they took it from me, and there were
no claims."
He has
been removed
from ministry in the church. But Sergei says that he has a place
where he prays
with some parishioners who support him. (tr. by PDS, posted 6
November 2019)
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