On Saturday, January 13, the verdict of the church court was announced.
The Moscow diocesan court defrocked a Russian priest who served in funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, former rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, Archpriest Alexei Uminsky. The decision was made due to the priest’s refusal to read the war prayer, which was included in the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church on behalf of Patriarch Kirill.
This is reported by Reuters.
The church court recognized that Alexey Uminsky violated the oath because he did not want to read the “Prayer for Holy Rus'” during services, which the church requires.
In a verdict published on Saturday, January 13, a church tribunal ruled that Alexey Uminsky should be “removed from ministry” for violating his priestly vows.
The decision was sent for approval to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a known henchman of Putin.
What is said in the prayer of the Russian Orthodox Church
The prayer “On Holy Rus',” which the priest refused to read, appeared after the announcement of partial mobilization in the Russian Federation in September 2022. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, extended it to dioceses, making it mandatory.
It says that Russia was attacked in order to “divide and destroy its united people.” Patriarch Kirill asks to save soldiers and other “defenders of the Fatherland” from death, wounds and captivity, to give them “victory”, and also to return forced emigrants to the country.
“Those who want to fight have taken up arms against Holy Rus', hoping to divide and destroy its united people. Come, Lord, to the aid of Your people and give us victory by Your power,” says the prayer, which Kirill read for the first time on September 25, 2022 years, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
What is known about Uminsky
Archpriest Alexey Uminsky was known for helping children's centers and hospices. Participated in the funeral of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 2022.
In a November 2023 interview, Uminsky said that the language of war and “special military operation” is “in no way compatible” with church liturgy. He urged the faithful to seek priests who “pray more for peace than for victory, and understand that any victory is always a Pyrrhic victory in these wars.
“In modern in wars, any victory is almost always tantamount to self-destruction,” said the priest.
January 3 he was banned from serving. On Saturday, January 13, the verdict of the church court was announced.
Meanwhile, more than 11,600 people signed an appeal to the patriarch with a request to return Uminsky to ministry.
In place of Uminsky, Archpriest Andrei Tkachev, a priest originally from Lvov, who called on the Russian military to bomb Ukraine with prayer, became the rector of the parish.
Recall that earlier the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called on Russians to go to war. They say that now we need to mobilize all forces, because Russia is faced with the task of emerging victorious from the struggle that the “forces of evil” have unleashed against it.
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