It was Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a fierce supporter of Vladimir Putin, who made the prayer mandatory. — © REUTERS
A prominent Russian Orthodox Church priest has been fired for refusing to read a prayer asking God to lead Russia to victory over Ukraine.
Sunday January 14, 2024 at 2:45 PM
In a judgment published on Saturday, an ecclesiastical court declared that Alexei Uminsky “must be deprived of holy orders” for violating his priestly oath. However, the decision still needs to be approved by Patriarch Kirill, although that seems like a formality: the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is a supporter of President Vladimir Putin and a strong supporter of the war in Ukraine.
It was also Kirill himself who obliged the priests to read the ‘Prayer for the Holy Rus’ (an archaic name for Russia) during church services. On September 25, 2022, seven months after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, he spoke the words himself for the first time: “Behold, those who want to fight have taken up arms against Holy Russia, hoping to destroy the united people.” divide and destroy. Arise, O God, to help your people and grant us victory by your power.”
Since then, dozens of Russian Orthodox priests have been punished for questioning the church’s line on the war, for example by praying for peace instead of victory.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Uminsky is the most prominent victim to date. He had been a priest for 30 years before he was abruptly dismissed earlier this month, just before Orthodox Christmas, a move that paved the way for Saturday’s verdict. He was known for his hospice work for dying children and adults and led the funeral of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 2022. In an interview last November, Uminsky stated that the language of war and the ‘special military operation’ (as the war in Ukraine is called in Russia) was “in no way compatible” with the church liturgy.