Who kills Orthodox priests? The tragic death of priest Andrei Nikolaev and his family: main versions
Archpriest Alexander Men was killed on the morning of September 9, 1990 on the path to the Semkhoz railway station. An unknown person hit him on the head with a heavy object (probably an axe). The priest reached his house, next to which he died from loss of blood. The alleged killer, a drunkard and a criminal, allegedly simply confused Fr. Alexandra with another person, especially since the priest was dressed in civilian dress.
Secretary of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna Hegumen Lazar (Sun) was killed on December 26, 1990 in Moscow. The circumstances of the murder were mysterious, but law enforcement agencies managed to detain an employee of the Department of External Church Relations of the MP, Mikhail Potemkin (who later became a bishop of one of the branches of the RTOC under the name Manuil (Platov). Then he spent almost two years in the Butyrsky pre-trial detention center. The investigation never ended in court.
Rector of the Church of the Nativity in Putinki Hegumen Seraphim (Sergei Shlykov). The corpse of the clergyman was discovered on February 2, 1991 in an apartment on Krasnoselskaya Street. Money, radio and video equipment were stolen.
Three monks of Optina Hermitage - Hieromonk Vasily, Monk Trofim and Monk Ferapont- killed on April 18, 1993, on the Holy Resurrection of Christ, in Optina Hermitage. The criminal Nikolai Averin turned out to be a devil worshiper who told investigators that he received “an order from the devil.”
Rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the village of Zharki, Yuryevets district Hieromonk Nestor (in the world Savchuk Nikolai Ivanovich) was brutally murdered on the night of December 30-31, 1993 in the cell of the abbot's house. Hieromonk Nestor was found lying face down in a pool of blood, prostrate near the crucifixion of Jesus Christ without signs of life. His body was completely drained of blood. After the murder, a large sum of money disappeared from the hieromonk’s diplomat, which was donated to him that day by entrepreneurs for construction and repair work in the church. The Yuryevetsky District Court sentenced the perpetrator of murder to four years in prison. The court found that the killer was not completely sane.
Priest Anatoly Chistousov, rector of the Archangel Michael Church in Grozny, before his ordination - an officer in the Russian army, was killed on February 14, 1996 in Chechen captivity. Until the abduction by the Chechens (01/29/1996), despite the fact that the temple was at the epicenter of hostilities (located not far from the former Dudayev palace), it did not stop caring for the flock and regularly performed divine services. On New Year's Eve 1995, he was forcibly brought by bandits to the Grozny railway. station, where he was ordered to appeal to the Russian soldiers holding the defense with a demand to surrender. In response to this, Father Anatoly blessed the soldiers for military service.
Priest Georgy Zyablitsev, a high-ranking employee of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, died in 1997. He was killed upon returning from abroad in his own apartment after several hours of brutal torture. Died as a result of multiple stab wounds, presumably on September 22 or 23. Father George was in charge of the Catholic sector and traveled a lot on government affairs.
Rector of the St. Petersburg Church in the name of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth at City Hospital No. 3 in St. Petersburg Archpriest Alexander Zharkov was killed in 1997. The body was found on September 14 in the vicinity of the city of Pushkin. Shortly before this, he transferred from the Russian Orthodox Church MP to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. It is assumed that the priest became a victim of the “funeral mafia” - a gang that included employees, mainly orderlies, of St. Petersburg morgues. The head of the criminal group, Valery Burykin, former deputy director of the State Health Institution “City Pathological Anatomical Bureau” (GUZ GPAB) of St. Petersburg, was detained in November 2007 on the Austro-Hungarian border. In September 2008, Burykin was extradited by the Hungarian authorities to Russia at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.
Rector of St. Nicholas Church Archpriest Mikhail Satsyuk was killed on October 12, 1998 in Brest. On the same day, on the way out of the city, his body was found in a car. The investigation concluded that the reason for the murder was an economic motive; the killer pursued the goal of robbery.
Old Believer Hieromonk Dimitri (Rasstegaev) brutally killed in January 1998 in the Yaroslavl region. The cause of his death was an apartment in Yaroslavl, which the young priest was going to sell when leaving for a new parish in Belaya Krinitsa. A gang of apartment robbers, who settled in the Yaroslavl region under the guise of the real estate company “Partner,” killed a clergyman, dismembered his body and threw it into the underground of the hut, where a drunken feast began. The bandits were caught only three years later.
He was killed on July 16, 1999 in the village of Ilyinskaya Sloboda, Mozhaisk district, Moscow region. The police solved the murder quite quickly. As it turned out, three repeat offenders dealt with the priest. They were parishioners of his church, and the archpriest sometimes invited them to visit him. The criminals noticed several ancient icons in his house and decided to rob the priest. At night they broke into Ponomarev’s place, tied up his wife and relative, and killed the archpriest himself.
Archpriest Pyotr Sukhonosov, rector of the Church of the Intercession in the village of Sleptsovskaya (Ingushetia), was kidnapped on March 28, 1999 by four bandits who attacked the church in which he served for more than 40 years. Died in captivity.
On August 23, 2000, a murder occurred Hieromonk Simeon (Anosov), rector of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Barnaul (Altai Territory). The killer was the former driver of the hieromonk Konstantin Shilenkov, who had previously been convicted several times.
Murder committed on January 8, 2001 Hieromonk Alexander (Kulakov) in the village of Sabaevo (Mordovia). The killer Alexey Maksimov was hiding in the St. John the Theologian Monastery near Saransk under the name Alexey Svetov. While serving in the army, he killed a colleague, and then, hiding from the tribunal, committed a number of other serious crimes.
Rector of the temple in the village of Tura, Krasnoyarsk Territory Hieromonk Gregory (Yakovlev) brutally murdered on March 21, 2001 in Evenkia in Tura, in the Church of the Holy Trinity. The criminal took the severed head of the priest to the altar and threw it on the throne. The suspect stated that he was allegedly a Hare Krishna and committed this crime on “the orders of Krishna.”
On May 13, 2001, in the city of Tyrnyauz (Kabardino-Balkaria) he was killed priest Igor Rozin, who had previously been repeatedly threatened by local residents, and warned two weeks in advance of an impending murder. Having arrived at the temple and secluded himself with the priest, 23-year-old Ibragim Khapaev stabbed Father Igor three times. Later, the court declared Khapaev insane.
Father Sergiy Tsvetukhin, rector of St. Demetrius Church in the city of Kamyshin (Volgograd region), killed on October 9, 2001. The body of the 33-year-old priest was found in his apartment with multiple stab wounds. According to the investigation, two local residents came to visit the priest. During a quarrel, they killed the owner and, tearing off his cross and chain, fled the scene of the crime. One of the murder suspects was detained in the Volgograd region in 2008; the second is wanted. The detainee admitted to his crime.
Rector of the rural church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God of the Moscow Patriarchate, 85 years old Hegumen Jonah (Efimov) was killed in Tatarstan on October 14, 2002. His body was found in the morning in the front garden of his own house. The criminal hit the clergyman in the temple with a heavy object. The injury turned out to be fatal. The reason for the murder was robbery.
On August 8, 2003 he was killed Hieromonk Nil (Savlenkov), abbot of the Voldozersk Ilyinsk Hermitage in Karelia. The killer is a 38-year-old native of Togliatti, Andrey Nasedkin, who had a previous conviction.
On November 2, 2003, a murder occurred Hieromonk Isaiah (Yakovlev) near the village of Raifa (Tatarstan) by a previously convicted 19-year-old local resident Dmitry Novikov, who was drunk.
On December 25, 2003 he was killed Hieromonk Alexander (Tyrtyshny) in the village of Kolosovka (Omsk region). A previously convicted 23-year-old local resident, Dmitry Litvinov, asked to confess, but not in church, but at home. The hieromonk agreed to the request, and when, having arrived at the house, Father Alexander put on a cassock, the killer attacked him with a knife.
Archimandrite German (Khapugin), abbot of the David Hermitage, killed on July 26, 2005 in the Chekhov district of the Moscow region. His body was discovered in his cell. The priest's hands were tied. In addition, he was found to have traumatic brain injuries. Things in the cell were scattered, and the safe, located there, was opened.
In the village of Pryamukhino, Tver Region, an Orthodox priest, his three children and his wife Ksenia died in a fire in their own house. Father Andrey Nikolaev burned with his family on the night of December 2, 2006. The house was doused with gasoline and set on fire. Several months before this, the priest contacted the police and asked for help and protection. Father Andrei Nikolaev guarded the church from local thieves every night with a gun in his hands. Local residents looted the church to buy alcohol. Shortly before this, the priest's house had already been burned.
In the Alapaevsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, on the night of Christmas from January 6 to 7, 2007, the rector of the local Church of Peter and Paul was killed Priest Oleg Stupichkin. The priest's body was discovered in the temple after the fire. More than 20 icons were stolen from the temple. The crime was solved without delay. Two suspects have been detained. These are local residents, unemployed, and previously convicted several times. The deceased priest left behind a wife and four children.
In the village of Posevnoye, Cherepanovsky district, Novosibirsk region, early in the morning of February 12, 2007, unknown persons set fire to the house of the rector of the temple in the name of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon, priest Dmitry Astashenko. The house caught fire in a matter of seconds, and the priest, breaking a window, threw four young children into the snow (the older girls were 4.5 and 2.5 years old, the younger boys were 1 year 8 months and 8 months old), and then climbed out through it himself with wife. The house burned down completely. All family members were undressed and fell ill due to severe hypothermia. Father Dimitri, on top of everything else, had frostbitten toes because he had to run barefoot in the snow. The priest assumes that it was arson, since traces of unknown people remained in the snow behind the house from the garden.
On March 4, 2007, an attack was committed on the rector of the St. Nicholas Church in Voronezh father Peter (Petrov). An unknown person stabbed the priest several times in the chin and neck. Father Peter was hospitalized. The attacker, a resident of the Central district of Voronezh, born in 1987, was detained by eyewitnesses. According to the regional police department, this is a mentally ill person.
June 9, 2007 in Zelenograd before the start of the liturgy at Priest Pavel Khodzinsky A mentally ill man attacked with a knife. The attacker (he turned out to be a 38-year-old local resident, registered in a psychoneurological dispensary) ran up to the priest as he stood on the steps of the Church of St. Philaret, and with a penknife managed to inflict several tangential cuts on the clergyman’s hand, after which he was detained by parishioners and handed over to the police. The victim received medical assistance at the scene and refused hospitalization.
On the night of August 22, 2007, in the city of Furmanovo, Ivanovo region, the rector of the parish of the Ascension of the Lord was killed in his own home. Hegumen Avenir (in the world Smolin Alexey Yuryevich, born in 1978). On August 24, one of the killers was detained. The crime was committed for the purpose of robbery.
On November 24, 2007, the house of the rector of the St. Elias Cathedral was set on fire in Arkhangelsk Archpriest Vladimir Kuziv. According to the preliminary version of the investigation, at about 4.30 an unknown attacker threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the clergyman’s house, causing a fire inside. The fire damaged the roof and attic floors over an area of six square meters, as well as the room. In the house at that moment there was a priest and his family, his wife and three children, the youngest of whom was 18 years old. As a result of the fire, Father Vladimir received burns.
February 7, 2008 priest Father Anatoly Nagorny, was returning home from the evening service at the Church of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh when an unknown person attacked him with a knife. The criminal hit the priest in the neck from behind and fled. He made no attempt at robbery. The priest independently returned to the church on Khutorskaya Street, from where he called the police and doctors. With heavy bleeding, he was hospitalized at the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky.
On the night of February 25-26, in the village of Bialystok, Lutsk region, Volyn, the rector of a local church was hacked to death with an ax. Abbot Elijah (Hamaza). On March 28 he would have turned 30 years old.
On March 9, 2008, the rector of the parish in the name of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God in Belorechensk, Krasnodar Territory, was killed priest Alexey Gorin. Gorin's eldest son was detained on suspicion of committing this crime. According to investigators, in a state of passion, he inflicted several wounds on his father, one of which turned out to be fatal.
On November 28, 2008, unknown persons burned the house of the head of the missionary department of the Yaroslavl diocese, the vice-rector of the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary Hieromonk Serapion (Mitko) . His house is located in the village of Petrovo, Yaroslavl district, near the regional center. The house almost immediately caught fire on three sides. The priest managed to get out into the street. According to the priest, eyewitnesses later told him that they saw a car without license plates in which there were three men on the outskirts of the village. After the house was set on fire, these people fled.
On November 30, 2008, an explosion occurred in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Biryulyovo in the Southern District of Moscow. Law enforcement officials reported that, according to preliminary data, the explosive device was homemade. The explosion injured two people. The temple building was not damaged.
Priest Vasily Smolyak was killed in the city of Balti (Moldova) on November 19, 2007. The 85-year-old cleric was found with his throat slit in his own home. According to eyewitnesses, the killer, seeing the priest's daughter approaching, disappeared. The dog handler and the dog followed the trail, which ended at the Raut River, but soon the Balti police detained the killer at one of the railway stations in the Ungheni region. He turned out to be a native of the village of Fyntynitsa, Drokia district, 29-year-old Ruslan Nikorich, who had previously served six years for theft. In March 2008, he was sentenced by the trial court to 22 years in prison for murder with extreme cruelty. The judge considered the investigation's evidence that Nikoric intended to rob the priest to be unfounded and came to the conclusion that revenge was the motive for the murder. Priest Vasily Smolyak served the Church for 55 years. For the last ten years he has been on a well-deserved rest.
On the night of January 2-3, 2009, two young people, one of whom was 15 years old, the other 21 years old, beat a 50-year-old Hieromonk Ephraim (Gatsenko), who refused to give them money or alcohol. The incident occurred in a monastery in the village of Volobuevka, Rylsky district, Kursk region. In the morning, the driver discovered the already dead clergyman. Before this, the attackers beat up a novice of the local monastery, who also refused their request. As a result, the novice ended up in intensive care. The accused were detained, confessed to the crimes and are in the Rylsk pre-trial detention center.
August 24, 2009 at Bishop of Mogilev and Mstislav Sophrony attacked in the Trinity Cathedral in Mogilev (Belarus). Before the start of the service, a man approached the bishop, took out a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen, and also damaged the veins in his hand, with which the bishop managed to shield himself from the second blow. Bishop Sophrony was immediately taken to the nearest hospital and underwent surgery. The attacker was detained by parishioners and upon the arrival of a police squad, he was handed over to law enforcement officials. Later it turned out that the attacker was registered at the Mogilev Regional Psychiatric Hospital. A criminal case has been initiated against the attacker under Art. 147 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (“Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm”).
On the evening of November 19 priest Daniil Sysoev was killed in the Orthodox Church of St. Thomas in the south of Moscow at the age of 35, shot in the chest and head. Vladimir Strelbitsky, his assistant, 41 years old, received a gunshot wound to the chest. Father Daniel wrote about the threats in his online diary: “Now I’m no longer afraid. I gave up five years ago. And now I’m just used to living under constant threat. After all, the authorities informed me about this same Islamic threat, and not just the Muslims themselves. And so everything is in the hands of God. And if anything happens, go straight to heaven and without ordeal. - This is great!
On December 5, 2009, before the all-night vigil in Moscow, an attack was carried out on priest Vitaly Zubkov- cleric of the Church of the Apostle Thomas on Kantemirovskaya (the rector of which was the murdered man), a famous missionary, Indologist, author of a number of publications about the mission in India, participant in several missionary trips to India. As Father Vitaly said, the attack took place when he was going to the church for the all-night vigil. There were three attackers, they ran up and started beating the priest. “I was walking, thinking, praying, and then there was a blow, I didn’t even understand anything,” said Father Vitaly. He fell, they continued to beat him, how long it lasted - the priest does not know. They hit me first on the legs, then on the head.
On the evening of December 22, 2009, the rector of the Ascension Church in the village of Satino-Russkoye, Podolsk district, Moscow region, was killed for hooligan reasons. Archpriest Alexander Filippov . The criminals shot the priest after he reprimanded them for defecating in the entrance.
On April 24, in the village of Yantikovo, Yalchik district of Chuvashia, the body of a 46-year-old man was discovered near a church. priest Archpriest Anatoly Sorokin. He was shot in the back. The Investigative Committee for Chuvashia opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code (murder). Two days later, investigators managed to identify and detain the suspect. He turned out to be a 47-year-old resident of the village of Sugaikasy, Kanash district. The alleged killer of the priest is registered with a psychiatrist and is on disability due to mental illness. Ten years ago, the suspect was declared legally incompetent by a decision of the Kanashsky District Court.
On May 5, 2010, a body with stab wounds was discovered in Cheboksary. The deceased is the rector of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in the village of Artemenkino, Vurnarsky district. Hieromonk Vadim (Smirnov). The suspect has been detained. An investigation is underway.
He was killed in his own home in the village. Kadyshevo, Ulyanovsk region on the night of January 17, 2011. Hegumen Vissarion (in the world Priest Vasily) - restored churches, served in the village. Volchino (Pskov Region), however, due to robbery and threats, he left this place and returned to his native village, restored the temple in it and in the neighboring village. He took in an alcoholic for re-education, and he responded by killing him - after getting drunk, he beat him to death and fell asleep in the house of the murdered man, where he was caught. According to unspecified information, the court decided to release the killer and give him a suspended sentence.
Archpriest Pavel Adelgeim killed on August 5, 2013 in Pskov. The priest was stabbed to death by a 27-year-old guest from Moscow, who came to Adelgeim on the recommendation of a certain woman and lived in his house for three days. A guest suffering from mental illness killed the priest during a conversation in the kitchen, stabbing him in the stomach. After this, the killer tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself twice. He is now hospitalized and undergoing surgery.
Nun Lyudmila (Pryashnikova)
On February 9, 2014, at about 2 p.m., an armed man burst into the main cathedral of the Yuzhno-Sakhalin and Kuril diocese (Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ), where he fired several shots. The temple employee, nun Lyudmila (Pryashnikova) and a parishioner of the cathedral died on the spot from their injuries.
Father Daniel was shot right in the church
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Daniil Sysoev was killed on Thursday at 11 pm in the Church of St. Thomas.
A man wearing a medical gauze bandage entered the temple. He asked loudly: “Who is Sysoev here?” Father Daniel, standing at the iconostasis, took a step towards the newcomer. He pulled out a pistol and fired four times. The bullets hit the priest in the neck and head. Regent Vladimir Strelbitsky, who was nearby at that moment, was seriously wounded in the chest. Father Daniil died on the way to the hospital.
The criminal managed to escape. According to one version, he disappeared to the nearby Kantemirovskaya metro station. It is known that the shooter is a strong young man between 20 and 30 years old with a heavy build. According to eyewitnesses, the killer is a native of the Caucasus.
There were few eyewitnesses to what happened; almost all the parishioners had already gone home. Everything happened right here. - The second rector of the Church of St. Thomas, Father John, gestures around a small room where liturgies are held, and a shop where people buy candles, books and sermons on disks of Father Daniel.
“Married to an unbeliever”, “Why haven’t you been baptized yet” and “Instructions for immortals, or What to do if you have died” - the works of the preacher are lined up...
Every Thursday, Father Daniel held saving conversations with parishioners here.
On other days he left a little earlier, and on Thursday he stayed in the temple until late in the evening, answering questions from believers.
Apparently, the killer was preparing and knew Father Daniel’s schedule well, says parishioner Mikhail.
According to the main version of the investigation, the murder was committed on religious grounds.
The priest was engaged in active missionary work among Muslims, and also helped people who suffered from sectarianism and the occult.
Father was a fairly famous blogger; he conveyed all his thoughts to believers via the Internet.
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Fragment of a lecture by Daniil Sysoev - “Muhammad - who is he?” Moscow said goodbye to the murdered priest Daniil Sysoev.
An hour before his death, the preacher spoke with parishioners about death.
“When you die, neither the state nor the army will help you,” his student Konstantin recalls verbatim the priest’s dying quote.
The Holy Father was straightforward in his judgments. This is precisely why young people were drawn to him.
Even nuclear physicists attended his conversations. “He could turn an atheist into a deeply religious person,” the students of Daniil Sysoev gathered in the temple assured the KP correspondent.
By the way, some of the parishioners noted a strange coincidence: Father Daniel was shot on the eve of the birthday of Patriarch Kirill, which the holy father celebrated on November 20. However, most believe that this is really just a coincidence.
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High-class professionals are involved in solving the murder of Daniil Sysoev. Mila Swift
FROM THE HOURS
Father Daniel: “They promised to cut off my head 14 times...”
Our correspondent spoke with the murdered priest a few days before the tragedy.
By coincidence, I spent the last week preparing material specifically about the missionary school of Father Daniel, about how his comrades are trying to convert Muslim guest workers to the Orthodox faith.
At one of our meetings, the rector of the Church of St. Thomas said that he opened his own school two years ago. Classes were held twice a week, they taught a comparative analysis of Islam and Orthodoxy, the strengths and weaknesses of the two religions, and studied the Koran and the Bible. Father Daniil - himself half Tatar - was the only priest in the capital who advocated for the conversion of migrants and migrant workers to Orthodoxy. Fellow abbots called him an “Orthodox Wahhabi” for the fire in his eyes and fiery speeches.
“Moscow is filled with migrants,” Father Daniil said at our first meeting. - There are more and more migrant workers. And we planned to conduct religious morality lessons among them. These lectures would be given with the permission of employers.
The deceased priest considered such lessons a necessity.
The Koran divides the whole world into territories of war and peace, Father Daniel assured. - Peace is where Islam is practiced. And in the territory of war, a Muslim can do virtually anything - Allah will forgive.
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The KP journalist met with Daniil Sysoev a few days ago. Artem BELOUSOV
Father Daniil planned to convince migrants during his lectures that Russia is not a territory of war.
According to the Koran, Allah can lead a person on a straight path, or he can deliberately “lead astray,” Father Daniel continued. - That is, theoretically, a Muslim can have an excuse: “Allah misled.” But in the Orthodox world this is not an excuse for sins. And we wanted to convey this idea to migrants. Over the past two years, we have baptized more than 80 Muslims in our temple. Among them are Tatars, Uzbeks, Chechens and Dagestanis.
Can I talk to the new converts? - I asked.
What are you talking about? - Father Daniel’s gaze became stern. - If relatives find out that their son or daughter has converted to Orthodoxy, they will simply be killed. There were such cases.
Tell me, why are you the only one preaching among Muslims and the only one who created a missionary school?
The rest are afraid,” Father Daniil honestly admitted. - You know, they regularly threaten me: both by phone and by e-mail. They promised to cut off his head fourteen times. A year ago, the FSB contacted me. They said that they had uncovered some kind of conspiracy, that an assassination attempt was being prepared on me. And I didn’t even know... But God is merciful!
We met Father Daniel twice in the temple, and I saw his little daughters twice. They played near the altar or ran among the parishioners, periodically tearing their father away from his work and tugging at his black robe.
BY THE WAY
As missionaries from the Church of St. Thomas preached
Shortly before the murder of Daniil Sysoev, a Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist observed how his students and associates preached
The mission takes place every weekend. On Saturday, several dozen missionaries crowd around the church on Kantemirovskaya: students, women of Balzac’s age, a couple of respectable businessmen.
We break into pairs,” commands the head of the missionary movement, Viktor Kupriyanchuk. - Today we will not go to markets and construction sites, we will preach in the temple area.
Father Daniel appears on the threshold of the church. He blesses the missionaries, and they disperse “in all four directions.” Victor and I are going straight. On the way there are a couple of migrants in short black jackets, their hats pulled down to their eyebrows.
Do you believe in God? - Victor stops the couple.
Yes, of course,” the Uzbeks nod. - In Allah!
When asked whether you are sinning a lot, they zealously shake their heads. They say, we go to the mosque, we don’t drink vodka - therefore, we are righteous. These are the two most terrible sins according to the Koran (excluding murder), the rest is small things.
“Okay,” Victor continues patiently. - What year is it today?
This question confuses migrants. Moreover, everyone with whom I had the opportunity to communicate. As it turned out later, they don’t follow the calendar very well. And the missionaries learned to use this.
It’s 2009 now,” Victor explained. - This means that exactly 2009 years ago Christ came to earth.
Unlike the Russians, they will never send or run away,” says Victor, finally releasing the Uzbeks. - The exception is Tajiks. These guys can punch you in the face. The others listen carefully.
But this is only out of politeness,” I nod. - It’s not a fact that you will be able to convince them...
The only way to interest Muslims is through a personal meeting with God,” Victor smiles. - You see, none of the Muslims saw him, not even the Prophet Muhammad. And they won’t see him in heaven either. And they are very curious. But Orthodoxy provides such an opportunity. Victor promises that next time he will take the Gospel with him.
We have translated it into Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek languages,” he explains. - Then migrants may agree to come to the temple as an excursion. Father Daniel will speak to them. And there it’s not far from baptism.
Evgenia SUPRYCHEVA
COMPETENTLY
Roman SILANTYEV, religious scholar, expert on modern Russian Islam:
The Russian Orthodox Church does not have special programs for converting Muslims and does not publicly boast of such successes. Muslim leaders present every case of conversion as news. Although there are not very many such cases: the total number of converts to Islam in modern Russia is no more than 3 thousand. There is another sad thing: the level of radicalism among Muslim converts is very high. We have two imams of Russian nationality in Russia, and both were convicted of inciting interreligious hatred. Despite the fact that it is impossible to remember ethnic Muslims who became, for example, skinheads.
But people who convert to Orthodoxy do not engage in sharp polemics with Islam. Of the 1.5 million people who have recently converted to Christianity, I cannot remember a case where anyone engaged in polemics with former co-religionists. Although among them there are approximately 400 Orthodox priests.
Dmitry STESHIN
COMMENTS
ORTHODOX CHURCH...
Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill:
Any lawless taking of human life is a grave sin. But the murder of a priest in a temple is also a challenge to God’s law, a desecration of the shrines given to us by the Lord Himself. And this sin will not remain with God without vengeance. I hope that human justice will be achieved.
However, while the names of the perpetrators are unknown, I ask everyone to refrain from any hasty accusations or harsh judgments against certain individuals or groups.
...AND THE MUFTIA
Deputy Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the European Part of Russia Damir GIZATULLIN:
This murder cannot be connected with the fact that Muslims are converting to Christianity. There are 25 million Muslims in Russia. The 80 people who were baptized by Father Daniel are a drop in the bucket. Yes, the parents of the new converts may have been offended. But they don’t wish bad things on their children.
It is still impossible to assume that the shooter was a Caucasian. Eyewitnesses contradict themselves: the man was wearing a mask, and suddenly they saw his face. You can't escalate the situation. And so the long-suffering Caucasus is undeservedly to blame for everything. Most likely, the emergency is associated with an exacerbation in a particular person. However, sectarians may also be capable of such a heinous crime.
Orthodox missionaries put forward their version of the murder: Father Daniel was shot because he baptized Wahhabis
Father Daniil Sysoev not only preached among Muslims, but also baptized them. His power of conviction was so great that even Wahhabis were baptized. Here is an excerpt from an interview that Sysoev gave to the host of the Radonezh radio station Ilya Brazhnikov: Ilya Brazhnikov:
Who are these people whom you converted to Orthodoxy? Father Daniel:
Mostly Tatars, although there are also Tajiks, there is a Pakistani from the Wahhabis, this man even studied to be a martyr, there are Bashkirs and there are Uzbeks. This interview dates back to 2008. Then Father Daniil began to receive threats, but nothing happened. ()
VIEW FROM THE 6TH FLOOR
Not custom, but ostentatious
The sixth high-profile murder in Moscow in six months. Lawyer Markelov, journalist Baburina, authority Yaponchik, businessman Kalmanovich, anti-fascist Bonecrusher and now priest Daniil. The only thing missing is a famous politician for the hit list to become complete: to include representatives of all circles for whom the purpose of existence is struggle. First of all - for power.
After yesterday's shots in the temple, many said that we had returned to the era of the 90s. In times of not so much grocery, but automatic queues. However, this is not quite true. This isn't the nineties. These are exactly the zeros. The targets (at gunpoint) are old. The tasks (in the future) are new.
The high-profile murders of the period of initial accumulation of capital occurred primarily due to the inability to divide this very capital. From now on they have reached a new level - they are already dividing power. Power over crime. Power over resource flows. And - most importantly - power over the minds of people. For if the last thing happens, everything else will be added.
Judging by the latest murders, it is not so much those who already hold power, but rather those who aspire to it, who are put to death in the “thawed patches in the old yard.” They shoot exclusively wrestlers who gain weight too persistently. Demonstratively, as if in the ring. If you stick your head out with your fists, a bullet will drive you back. They beat the highest ones so that others would be discouraged - from an anti-fascist to a priest, who sought to convert as many people as possible to their faith. And crimes are not always ordered, but most often they are ostentatious.
How to stop this series of murders? Only by refuting the words of Father Daniel that “when you die, neither the state nor the army will help you.” They really didn’t have time to come to the priest’s aid. But it's not too late to save others.
Evgeny SAZONOV
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Why did a wave of high-profile murders begin in Moscow?
The murder of thief in law Yaponchik, the murder of producer Kalmanovich, the shooting of people in a supermarket by Evsyukov, and finally, the recent murder of the anti-fascist Khutorskoy and now the priest Sysoev.
Andrey KIVINOV, writer and screenwriter:
It is quite possible that the “public” who went to prison for high-profile cases in the mid-90s is being released and is now taking up the old ways again.
Yulia LATYNINA, writer:
If a person has liver pain, it means he drinks too much vodka or is infected with hepatitis. If people are killed in a country, it means the police are doing a bad job.
Ramzan KADYROV, President of the Chechen Republic:
The insidious murder of an Orthodox clergyman could only be committed by people who had no faith and nothing sacred. In our republic, over the years of arbitrariness, well-known religious figures in the Muslim world and deeply revered by the people have died at the hands of terrorists: our first president Akhmat-Hadji Kadyrov, and dozens of imams of districts and settlements. Glory to the Almighty that, thanks to the decisive support of Moscow, we managed to root out this evil. If we want to turn Russia into a powerful power, we need to first of all think about interfaith and interethnic harmony.
Alexander KHINSTEIN, State Duma deputy:
Because crime is a social phenomenon, and we do not have crime prevention.
Mikhail BARSCHEVSKY, lawyer, politician:
This wave has socio-psychological reasons caused by the crisis. In general, instability, political and economic, always leads to an increase in violence and suicide. There is another reason - the ineffectiveness of the fight against extremism. I do not believe that our police could not crush religious extremism in the bud throughout Russia, with the exception of the North Caucasus.
Dmitry KLEVTSOV, psychotherapist:
The public consciousness craves vivid facts that can be discussed with gusto. The crisis seems to be over, the swine flu is on the decline, so we need something that would keep us in suspense. And there will always be someone who needs fame. Catching the desires of society, he commits scandalous acts. Up to and including murder.
Konstantin BOROVOY, politician:
I think a good portion of these murders occurred due to a lack of dialogue in society. The secrecy of problems and their hushing up give rise to fanaticism. Personally, I believe that even sectarians have the right to their faith.
Sergey SELIN, actor:
How why? From impunity! The country needs to be shaken up so that all evil spirits are discouraged from committing high-profile crimes! And show those punished.
Andrey AGAFONOV, MUR employee:
People's brakes fail; on TV you can see both the Patriarch with a wise sermon and, sorry, ladies' underwear. People's psyches can't stand it. And murderers are people too.
Yulia, reader of the KP.RU website:
These murders have little to do with us. We are more concerned with street robberies. When I return from work late, I hang my purse under my coat around my neck.
The missionary will be buried on Monday, November 23. The parishioners wanted to fulfill Sysoev’s will and bury him on the territory of the Church of St. Thomas, but the Moscow authorities replied that there were “city cemeteries” for this (
One of the most dangerous professions in Russia is the Orthodox ministry. The life of the priest is threatened from different sides: deranged Satanists, brutal alcoholics, religious opponents do not disdain anything. The names of Alexander Men, Andrei Nikolaev, Daniil Sysoev have become household names - these are victims of the new time, when people do not take into account any moral standards.
We provide a far from complete list of Orthodox priests killed and wounded over the past 20 years.
XX century
On September 9, 1990, on the path to the Semkhoz railway station, Archpriest Alexander Men was killed with a blow to the head with a heavy object. The killer went unpunished.
On December 26, 1990, Abbot Lazar, secretary of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, was killed. Mikhail Potemkin, an employee of the Department of External Church Relations of the MP, was detained on suspicion of murder; he spent almost 2 years in the Butyrsky pre-trial detention center, but the case never came to trial. Now Potemkin has become Bishop Manuel.
On February 2, 1991, Abbot Seraphim, rector of the Church of the Nativity in Putinki, was found murdered in his apartment. The intended purpose of the crime is robbery.
On April 18, 1993, on Bright Sunday, three monks of the Optina Hermitage were killed - Hieromonk Vasily, Monk Trofim and Monk Ferapont. A certain Nikolai Averin was convicted in the case, saying that he “received an order from the devil.”
On the night of December 30-31, 1993, the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the village of Zharki, Yuryevets district, Ivanovo region, was killed. A large sum of money, intended for the repair of the temple, disappeared. The killer drained all the blood from the victim’s body - on this basis, the court considered him not fully sane and sentenced him to only four years.
On February 14, 1996, priest Anatoly Chistousov, rector of the Archangel Michael Church in Grozny, who had been kidnapped two weeks earlier, was killed. The Chechens ordered the priest to demand that the Russian soldiers holding the defense at the Grozny station surrender, but Father Anatoly blessed his fellow tribesmen for the military cause.
On September 14, 1997, the body of Archpriest Alexander Zharkov was found, who shortly before transferred from the ROC to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR). The reason for the murder was the struggle of these churches for the Church of St. Elizabeth in St. Petersburg, whose rector was Fr. Alexander. According to the findings of the investigation, the perpetrators of the crime “were in contact” with some clergy.
On September 22 or 23, 1997, priest Georgy Zyablitsev, a high-ranking employee of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate (then Patriarch Alexy II came from there), was brutally murdered (multiple stab wounds) in his apartment. The alleged motive is an attempt to gain access to church funds.
In January 1998, the Old Believer priest Dimitri was brutally murdered. The killers - employees of the real estate company "Partner" - set their sights on the apartment of a young priest.
On July 16, 1999, in the village of Ilyinskaya Sloboda, Mozhaisk district, Moscow region, Archpriest Boris Ponomarev was killed - three repeat offenders coveted ancient icons.
In 1999, Chechen bandits kidnapped and killed Archpriest Pyotr Sukhonosov, rector of the Intercession Church in the village of Sleptsovskaya (Ingushetia).
On August 23, 2000, Hieromonk Simeon, rector of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Barnaul, was killed for selfish reasons.
XXI Century
On January 8, 2001, a deserter hiding in the monastery killed Hieromonk Alexander in the village of Sabaevo (Mordovia).
On March 21, 2001, another deserter killed Hieromonk Gregory, rector of the church in the village of Tura, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The criminal threw the victim's head onto the altar throne.
On May 13, 2001, priest Igor Rozin was killed in Kabardino-Balkaria; the court declared the killer insane.
On October 14, 2002, a robber killed the 85-year-old rector of the rural church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Tatarstan
August 8, 2003 killed Hieromonk Neil, rector of the Voldozersk Ilyinsk Hermitage in Karelia.
On December 25, 2003, a previously convicted young man was killed for an unknown purpose. Hieromonk Alexander in the village of Kolosovka (Omsk region).
On July 26, 2005, Father German was killed in the Chekhov district of the Moscow region, the main version is robbery.
On the night of December 2, 2006, the most resonant murder of a priest was committed in the entire period between the deaths of Me and Sysoev. In the village of Pryamukhino, Tver Region, the house of priest Andrei Nikolaev was doused with gasoline and set on fire; Besides him, three of his children and his wife died. The main version is that local residents were unhappy that the priest was stopping them from stealing church property. Father Andrei knew about the impending murder, but the authorities of the Tver region (the governor was and remains Dmitry Zelenin) did not consider it necessary to protect him.
After this terrible tragedy, the criminals seemed ashamed and stopped the bloody orgy. More vegetarian times came: some priests were allowed to escape.
On the night of January 6-7, 2007 (Christmas) in the Sverdlovsk region he was killed Rector of the Church of Peter and Paul, Priest Oleg. The purpose of the crime is the theft of icons from the temple.
There was no tragedy on February 12, 2007, when the house of the rector of the temple in the name of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon was set on fire in the Novosibirsk region priest Dmitry. The priest managed to throw four young children through the window into the snow, save his wife and manage to leave the house himself.
On March 4, 2007, a 19-year-old idiot inflicted several stab wounds in the face and neck. to the rector of the St. Nicholas Church in Voronezh, Father Peter. The attacker turned out to be insane.
June 9, 2007 in Zelenograd on Priest Pavel Khodzinsky was attacked by a mentally ill man with a knife. However, before being detained, he only managed to inflict a few cuts on the priest’s hand.
On the night of August 22, 2007, in the Ivanovo region, he was killed in his own home. rector of the parish of the Ascension of the Lord, abbot Avenir. The main version is robbery.
On November 24, 2007, the house of the rector of St. Elias Cathedral was set on fire in Arkhangelsk. Archpriest Vladimir Kuziv. The priest, his wife and three adult children escaped with burns.
February 7, 2008 An unknown person in Moscow stabbed priest Anatoly from the Church of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh in the neck with a knife on the street. The victim was hospitalized.
March 9, 2008, killed by his own son Alexey Gorin, rector of the parish in the name of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God in Belorechensk, Krasnodar Territory.
On November 28, 2008, unknown persons burned the house of the head of the missionary department of the Yaroslavl diocese Hieromonk Serapion. The priest managed to get out into the street.
On November 30, 2008, an explosion occurred in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Biryulyovo (Moscow). Two people were injured.
On the night of January 2-3, 2009, two young people in Kursk region beat to death 50-year-old hieromonk Ephraim, who refused to give them money or alcohol. A novice of the local monastery was also severely beaten.
On November 19, 2009, the rector, Father Daniil Sysoev, was killed within the walls of the Church of the Apostle Thomas in Moscow. He had previously been threatened by militant Islamists.
Bow to the memory of those killed, pray for the health of the survivors.
* The material was prepared based on information RIA News and open sources
On August 5, the famous priest Fr. Pavel Adelgeim (ROC MP). This crime shook Russian society. Governor of the Pskov region Andrei Turchak said that “the murder of a priest is a challenge to society, a desecration of the very foundations of morality, ethics and faith.”
At the same time, the personality of the deceased itself is of public interest. He was a famous writer, an expert in church canon law, and in some of his articles he also touched on the topic of the Old Believers. About the tragic death of Fr. Representatives of various faiths, public figures and secular publicists managed to speak out about Paul and his personality.
Today our site publishes the opinions of some Old Believer authors.
“This pastoral life was extremely dangerous. Dangerous for Satan"
We again learned about the violent death of a Christian priest in Russia.
Now we hear cries that with each such case the Christian priestly ministry becomes more and more dangerous. I do not think so. Priests have always been killed. And no more than representatives of certain social groups and professions. Both in times of repression and persecution, and in times of relative prosperity.
If we look at the statistics of murders of clergy in Russia (a very interesting selection was prepared by the portal “Orthodoxy and Peace”; the list of murdered clergy included the Old Believer priest Dimitri), then we see that many times more journalists, businessmen, and police officers were killed during this period. Therefore, I do not support the pompous words that being a priest in Russia is now mortally dangerous.
On the other hand, the image of the murdered Father Pavel Adelgeim shows us how dangerous it is to be an honest priest in life. I didn't know him personally. But I trust the opinion of those of my friends who knew Father Pavel. According to these people, Father Paul was an active example of pastoral service.
He built his relationships with his family, church authorities, colleagues, brothers and flock in an exemplary manner. He was included in the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, but at the same time remained a completely free person. He was able to break away from material well-being, but at the same time he was not in need at all. He sued his metropolitan, but at the same time remained subordinate to him. And what is the story of his mother about the last days of his life, about how Father Pavel was busy with a complete stranger to him, with his future killer! And, of course, for any Christian, the cry of the killer after the crime he committed is understandable: “Satan!” Such sacrificial service becomes dangerous. Dangerous for Satan.
The death of priest Pavel Adelgeim is more than worthy for a Christian and a priest. Yes, it did not happen on his deathbed, not after a beautiful farewell to his family and not with a candle in his hand. But Christ did not die very beautifully and artistically. And let his loved ones and relatives wipe away his tears. They lost nothing, but Father Pavel gained. “There is peace for my husband in death.” Isn’t this what every Christian strives for?
The only one who lost a lot with the death of Pavel Adelgeim is the Russian Orthodox Church MP. Father Pavel was one of the few priests who is called a “man of conscience.” Here he was the conscience of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. He was an incessant inner voice that reacted to any untruth and injustice of the bureaucracy. What is very important is that he was an inner voice. He didn't just criticize and ostracize, he tried to lead and live the way he suggested. And bear full responsibility. The Russian Orthodox Church MP also understood that such priests were very necessary - they did not ban him or expel him.
In order for a seed to germinate and bear fruit, it must die. Father Pavel died. Will his death bring fruit for the Russian Orthodox Church MP? Will his voice be heard after death? Will they understand what he fought for and what he opposed?
Unformatted priest
I first met Father Pavel Adelgeim in absentia. This happened on the pages of the newspaper “Community-XXI Century”, published in 2001-2005.
The newspaper was headed by another religious dissident of the USSR era, who served time for his beliefs - Alexander Ogorodnikov. Adelheim's publications turned out to be surprisingly consonant with my ideas about the development of Eastern Christianity. He wrote a lot about the nationality of the Church, about its conciliarity, about the role of the laity in the life of the church community.
In the personality of Fr. Paul, however, interested me not only in his interest in the themes of church democracy or the Old Believers. He was one of the few whom I would call an “old regime” priest. A priest who became an altar server not by chance, having found himself at a theological seminary or having read spiritual books, but directly brought up in an atmosphere of spiritual, emotional and everyday continuity. Since childhood, he visited the temple in secret from everyone and retained a passion for faith not only in the terrible Soviet times, but also in the current evil times. He did not bow to the Soviet intelligence services, which demanded cooperation from him, for which he was sentenced, based on the denunciation of his own colleagues, to imprisonment.
He did not become a compromiser and a thief in the new Russia. Unlike many newly called priests in the 90s, who became ordinary performers of demands, he could afford to openly express his opinion, supported not only by extensive knowledge in the field of church history and law, but also by his own confessional experience of open confrontation with godless authorities.
Priest Pavel Adelgeim did not fit into the spiritual officialdom. The Church for him was not an abstract state-religious convention, a confessional construct, but a unity of people in Christ, a conciliar community, subject not to earthly, but to heavenly laws. Unfortunately, these aspirations of Fr. Pavel remained in his dreams.
Like many theologians of the emigrant wave and the Russian diaspora, Adelheim had broad views. And I probably couldn’t agree with all of them. However, his pastoral and confessional experience was important for many, especially now, after the solemn and pompous celebration of the 1025th anniversary of Christianity in Rus'. Observing the life of such people, regardless of their religious affiliation, we can say with confidence that this time did not pass completely without a trace for our land.
The last time I saw Fr. Pavel Adelgeim at the theological conference in Moscow. In the intervals between sessions, a line of women in black headscarves, men in headdresses, tear-stained girls and other people who were clearly not participants in this conference lined up to see him. Elderly Fr. Paul listened carefully to their lengthy stories and told them something, despite his obvious fatigue, physical weakness and the obvious “informat” of such a confession.
Death o. Paul - a personal trouble that points to a spiritual trouble on a much more serious scale
The death of a priest at the hands of a murderer is always an event that goes beyond the ordinary. On the one hand, the twentieth century. showed many examples of such murders, and even on a massive scale, but on the other hand, those murders were impersonal, and what happened in Pskov on Monday was special. The circumstances of the murder as a whole are quite banal - a mentally ill young man turned his aggression on the person closest to him. He grabbed a knife from the table and hit him.
Thus, in a situation of domestic stabbing with psychiatric background, the life of the far from ordinary priest Pavel Adelgeim ended. And in the face of death, it suddenly turned out that his death did not fit into the circumstances, it completed a certain path and gave a new meaning to what Fr. Paul.
Priest Pavel Adelgeim was not a dissident in the simple sense of the word, he was a church lover of truth, like Boris Talantov, Fr. Gleb Yakunin, priest Jerzy Popelyushko and others. In that sense, he was different even from the murdered man in an equally terrible way and, probably, also crazy, Fr. Alexandra Me. And it is precisely such truth-tellers that perform an important signaling function - they testify to untruths or serious disruptions in the functioning of the church institution.
Father Paul spoke a lot and often about the crisis of Orthodoxy, about the fact that the church “is over,” meaning, first of all, the merger of the church and the state, an alliance that destroys the sacred. And in this sense, there was both a demand for him to speak and a request for him to be silent. Such a request was sometimes formulated directly, sometimes indirectly, but it was there.
Bishop of Pskov Eusebius sent Fr. Paul signed “repentance”. He did not sign and continued to fight for the truth, for which church punishments rained down on him. Now, after the death of Fr. Paul, the Pskov bishop and everyone concerned about preventing dirty laundry from being washed out in public will have fewer worries. The demand for a hermetic environment, for “unbearableness,” is very noticeable in our institutions that are in crisis, which cannot cope with the discussion of their condition: in the army, in the police, in school. Everywhere there is a desire to close the institute for discussion, but in the church this desire is given the artificial status of “protection of the sacred.” Father Pavel broke this unspoken corporate agreement and questioned the compliance of the Russian Orthodox Church MP with its social place. His latest interviews leave no doubt about this. Death o. Paul signifies a deficit of truth and criticism in a church in structural crisis.
The request for him to speak is an objective request of the entire institution for change, first of all, for depoliticization and distancing from power. The process that the late priest pointed out is extremely painful, but the result of its delay is the de-churching of that part of the population, primarily the intelligentsia, who came to the church in the 1990s on the wave of the expected revival of Orthodoxy. Instead of revival, the transformation of the Russian Orthodox Church MP into an ideological controller and ideological guarantor began. Father Pavel pointed out that it is not faith or religious ethics that is being revived, but the “political Orthodoxy” project. With the death of Fr. Adelgeim, there are few people left in the Russian Orthodox Church who can speak with such authority and freedom about all this. Camp worker, poet, writer, church publicist - there is no such thing anymore. Therefore, the death of Fr. Paul also means a critical shortage of personnel for renewal.
There is nothing unprecedented in the fact that a crazy young man killed the old man who sheltered him, like an animal that unexpectedly bites the hand stroking him. Such things, alas, happen - both to animals and to crazy people. Another unusual thing is how quickly everyone realized that this death was joining the series of other murders of priests and monks. In this way, society, and especially the thinking and speaking society, constructs a certain meaning, a certain message. It turns out that some blind force, which can be conditionally called entropy, destroys the best in the church institution, leaving conformists and careerists. The heart of the church is thus placed in the murdered priests. This is an expression of deep pessimism and disappointment.
The killer Sergei Pchelintsev came to Father Pavel for help. But he couldn’t get this help, he didn’t want to, and in the end his sick consciousness did a hellish twist. In order to receive spiritual help, you must be able to receive it. But this skill seems to have been lost, and it is difficult to teach. Therefore, the death of Fr. Paul also means the loss by society of important social skills that have been implemented through the church for thousands of years, but now it is not clear how to implement them. It is not clear how to repent, how to receive remission, how to unite with the absolute. This is not taught, or taught insufficiently and incorrectly. Which means the death of Fr. Paul - a personal trouble that points to a spiritual trouble on a much more serious scale
The tragedy in the Tver village of Pryamukhino shook the entire society. The priest, his wife (according to some reports, pregnant) and three children died in the fire. This is not the first attempt on this family: shortly before the tragedy, Father Andrei turned to the media for help, but he never received help.
It is with sorrow that we have to admit that this, alas, is not the first murder of a clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church that has occurred in recent years. There were several dozen of them. Not all of them were reported in the media, even church ones.
To understand the main reasons for this phenomenon, we will have to recall those cases that have become known.
December 30, 1993 happened in the village of Zharki (Ivanovo region). In the spring of the same year, the church where Father Nestor served was robbed, and he himself was assassinated, but then the bandits were caught. On December 30, the priest returned from Moscow with donations received for construction and repair work in the church. That same night, local resident A. Talamonov killed the priest in his cell and stole money. The court sentenced the killer to 4 years in a general regime colony.
On September 23, 1997, a murder occurred priest Georgy Zyablitsev in Moscow. Father Georgy was an employee of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. After returning from a business trip abroad, he was brutally murdered in the apartment he rented in Moscow. Death was due to multiple stab wounds. Whether this crime has been solved is unknown.
Murder committed on July 16, 1999 Archpriest Boris Ponomarev, rector of the Church of Elijah the Prophet in the village of Ilyinskaya Sloboda (Moscow region). The 84-year-old mitred archpriest, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, was killed by three repeat offenders. They were parishioners of his church, and the archpriest sometimes invited them to visit him. The criminals noticed several ancient icons in his house and decided to rob the priest. At night they broke into the house, tied up his wife and relative, and killed the archpriest himself. The criminals were later detained. The media did not report the court verdict in this case.
On August 23, 2000, a murder occurred Hieromonk Simeon (Anosov), rector of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Barnaul (Altai Territory). The killer was the hieromonk's former driver, Konstantin Shilenkov, who had previously been convicted several times. On August 23, while in a state of drug intoxication, Shilenkov, having come to Father Simeon’s home, began to demand money for the next dose of drugs. After a categorical refusal, the criminal struck Father Simeon several times with a kitchen knife, from which he died on the spot. When leaving, Shilenkov took off the dead man’s gold chain with a pectoral cross and took money from the apartment. The media did not report the court verdict in this case.
On January 8, 2001, a murder occurred Hieromonk Alexander (Kulakov) in the village of Sabaevo (Mordovia). The killer, Alexey Maksimov, was hiding in the St. John the Theologian Monastery near Saransk under the name “Alexei Svetov”. While serving in the army, he killed a colleague, and then, hiding from the tribunal, committed a number of other serious crimes. Hieromonk Alexander met him in the monastery. Wanting to help the young man, the priest invited him to become an altar boy in his church in the village of Sabaevo, and he readily agreed. After some time, the fugitive soldier hacked to death his benefactor with an ax. During the investigation, he was unable to name the motive for the murder, saying that he simply did not like the priest. In September 2001, the Penza Military Tribunal declared the criminal insane.
On October 12, 2002, a murder occurred Abbot Jonah (Efimova), rector of the Tikhvin Church in the village of Tyurnyasevo (Tatarstan). The 85-year-old Kryashen priest was killed by 29-year-old Gennady Gorshkov, who had previously been convicted of robbery and was released from prison just a month earlier. At night he tried to rob the house of Jonah's father, and when he woke up, the killer hit the abbot several times with a heavy object on the head. In April 2003, by a court decision, Gorshkov received 11 years in a maximum security colony.
On August 8, 2003, a murder occurred Hieromonk Nil (Savlenkov), abbot of the Voldozersk Ilyinsk Hermitage in Karelia. 38-year-old native of Tolyatti Andrei Nasedkin, who had previously been convicted, after his release lived in monasteries, moving from one to another, unable to get along anywhere due to his extremely hot temper. In 2003, he met another worker, Alexei Bazhenov, and together they decided to go to the Ilyinskaya Hermitage. Father Neil accepted them. But Nasedkin was very irritated with the abbot - both because he forbade smoking and because he put him in what was not, in his opinion, the best place. And when on the evening of August 8, Father Neil came to invite the workers to dinner, Nasedkin began to scold the hieromonk. In response, the priest ordered them to take their instruments and follow him. Thinking that Father Neil had decided to evict them from the island, Nasedkin flew into a rage. Running up to the departing priest, he hit him on the head with a shovel and continued beating him to death. After this, the workers hid the body, took the money from the donation cup and disappeared. On January 31, 2005, by a court decision, Nasedkin received 8.5 years in a maximum security colony, and Bazhenov received a suspended year of imprisonment for concealing a crime.
On November 2, 2003, a murder occurred Hieromonk Isaiah (Yakovlev) near the village of Raifa (Tatarstan). A resident of the Holy Dormition-Kazan Monastery in the village of Kuznetsovo, Ivanovo region, Father Isaiah was traveling to the Raifa Monastery to arrange a pilgrimage. But he arrived at the monastery late in the evening. In order not to wake up the brethren, the monk decided to spend the night in the interior of his car in the parking lot. At this time, a previously convicted 19-year-old local resident, Dmitry Novikov, while drunk, came to the parking lot and demanded that the priest take him to the nearest city, Zelenodolsk, to continue the party there. Father Isaiah, citing fatigue, refused, and then Novikov killed him by stabbing him in the heart. In February 2004, the court sentenced Novikov to 12 years in a maximum security colony.
On December 25, 2003, a murder occurred Hieromonk Alexander (Tyrtyshny) in the village of Kolosovka (Omsk region). A previously convicted 23-year-old local resident, Dmitry Litvinov, came to Father Alexander late at night and asked to confess to him, not in church, but at home. The hieromonk agreed to the request, and when, having arrived at the house, Father Alexander put on a cassock, the killer attacked him with a knife and, having struck him several times, killed him. Litvinov found only 2 thousand rubles from the priest, so he took the cross that was in the suitcase and the priest’s body cross and tried to snatch the gold crowns. Then he set fire to the Gospel and went to rob the church, but got scared when it seemed to him that there was someone in it. On June 7, 2004, at his trial, Litvinov was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security colony.
On July 26, 2005, a murder occurred Archimandrite German (Khapugin), abbot of the David's Monastery in the village of Novy Byt (Moscow region). He was found in his cell with his hands tied behind his back. The abbot's body bore numerous marks from beatings and the use of electric shock. This indicates that the priest was tortured. Father Herman's things were scattered in the cell, the safe was opened and emptied. One of the main versions of the investigation is murder for the purpose of robbery. Despite the fact that the governor of the Moscow region, Boris Gromov, took control of the investigation, the case has still not been solved.
Domestic murders are listed here. However, a number of murders for religious reasons are also known.
On April 18, 1993, they were stabbed to death in Optina Pustyn Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov), monks Trofim (Tatarnikov) And Ferapont (Pushkarev). Their killer turned out to be 32-year-old Satanist Nikolai Averin, who told investigators that he received “an order from the devil.” Three sixes were engraved on the crime weapon - a knife. The court declared Averin insane.
March 21, 2000 was killed Hieromonk Gregory (Yakovlev), rector of the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Tura (Krasnoyarsk Territory). The killer, 26-year-old Ruslan Lyubetsky, called himself a Hare Krishna and said that when he killed the priest who helped him, he acted on the instructions of “the god Krishna.” The court declared Lyubetsky insane.
At least three priests were killed by Muslims: on February 14, 1996 he was killed in Chechen captivity priest Anatoly Chistousov, rector of the Archangel Michael Church in Grozny (Chechnya), in 1999 he was kidnapped by Chechens and killed Archpriest Pyotr Sukhonosov, rector of the Church of the Intercession in the village of Sleptsovskaya (Ingushetia). The perpetrators of these murders were not found. On May 13, 2001, in Tyrnyauz (Kabardino-Balkaria) he was killed priest Igor Rozin, who had previously been repeatedly threatened by local residents, and warned two weeks in advance of an impending murder. Having arrived at the temple and secluded himself with the priest, 23-year-old Ibragim Khapaev stabbed Father Igor three times. Later, the court declared Khapaev insane.
We have listed only cases of attacks on clergy in the Russian Federation. Let’s remember those killed in the last years of the USSR’s existence. Archpriest Alexander Men(September 9, 1990) Abbot Lazar (Sun)(December 26, 1990) and Abbot Seraphim (Shlykov)(February 1991) – all three murders are unsolved, as well as tragedies in Ukraine and Belarus, such as the murder in Crimea Archimandrite Peter (Posadnev)(August 20, 1997) Priest Peter Boyarsky(November 17, 1993), and in Brest - Archpriest Mikhail Satsyuk(October 12, 1998).
Of course, not all murders of priests are made public in the media, and the number of failed attempts on priests is several times higher than the number of murders.
In almost all cases of murders for clearly religious reasons, a disturbing detail is striking: all the criminals caught were declared insane. It is quite possible, of course, that this was the case, but a deliberate policy cannot be ruled out, so that by declaring criminals as abnormal renegades, “not to escalate” tension in interreligious relations.
This idea is also suggested by the fact that in almost every murder of a priest, even before the end of the investigation, government officials rush to announce that it was not a murder on religious grounds. It is quite possible that the murder of an Ossetian on September 12, 1997 priest Manuil Burnatsev, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia), was also committed for religious reasons, but we did not include it in the list because there is very little information about this crime.
Taking a closer look at the first list of murdered shepherds, it is easy to notice that the vast majority of these murders were committed in rural areas.
And this can hardly be explained by mere coincidence. In connection with the death of the family of father Andrei Nikolaev, the topic of the decline of morals in the modern Russian village was much discussed.
Of course, it is impossible, as the information service of the Tver diocese noted in the message, to indiscriminately accuse all residents of the village of Pryamukhino of murder, much less accuse all current peasants of brutality.
Of course, in different regions of Russia, and in different villages of the same region, the situations are different: somewhere it is much better, somewhere, on the contrary, worse.
And yet the decline in morality in the countryside is obvious. There are objective reasons for this: terrible poverty, unemployment, lack of any prospects, alcoholism inevitable under such conditions and the extremely weak functioning of law enforcement agencies - the police arrive in some villages only a week after the call.
Let us admit to ourselves honestly: even in the city, under such living conditions as in the present village, morals would fall very rapidly, and crime would increase even more.
We should not forget that peasants are always more conservative than city dwellers. That is why in the early centuries Christianity was predominantly the religion of the townspeople. That is why, during the baptism of Rus', it was the cities that were baptized, and the enlightenment of the rural population lasted for another two centuries. That is why, after the October Revolution, the peasants remained more faithful to Orthodoxy. That is why today's peasants adhere to atheism and irreligion to a greater extent than city residents.
If in a Russian city a crowded church for Sunday liturgy is the norm, then in a rural church, even if thousands of people live around, you rarely see the same picture. And in a frank conversation with almost any village priest, you can hear approximately the same thing that Father Andrei said in his dying interview.
Of course, there are exceptions. But these bright exceptions do not negate the fact that the ministry of a rural priest is often associated with many hardships and dangers. And that these dangers cannot be treated indifferently.
When atheism and the desire for profit are superimposed on poverty and alcoholism, the Church or its ministers often become the object of aggression. It seems that those secular journalists who, year after year, on the pages of their publications cultivate the image of a “fabulously rich Church”, as well as the image of “selfish priests whose pockets are swollen with banknotes,” are not least to blame for this. A number of murders were clearly committed by people influenced by this stereotype.
In the overwhelming majority of cases of attacks on clergy, the killers were criminals - people with a criminal past.
This is a special topic. The Church devotes a lot of time and effort to social service - in orphanages, hospitals and, of course, in prisons. When there is no effective state system for the rehabilitation of former prisoners, often those who are released simply have nowhere to go except to the Church if they do not want to return to the criminal community or become homeless.
Any church person knows how many former prisoners live in monasteries or churches. Most of them sincerely repented, took the path of goodness, selflessly work on themselves and became real Christians.
But it happens, alas, that sinful habits take their toll. And this leads to terrible tragedies when priests suffer from those to whom they provided benefits and support in a Christian manner.
It’s hard to say what to do here. The Church is open to everyone, and it will never close its gates to people with a criminal past if they sincerely wish to repent.
Probably, the Church cannot change its attitude towards them. Society must change, and along with society the criminal community will change. Elementary moral values must be revived, and then the robbery of a church will become shameful in the criminal environment, and the murder of a priest will become a crime not only under the Criminal Code.
After all, when they deliberately kill a priest, they are not just encroaching on a person’s life, but they are encroaching on Christ Himself in the person of His servant!
Crimes against priests, as a rule, are successfully solved, especially in recent years. Of course, this happens because these crimes attract public attention.
The wave of indignation that the Orthodox Christians were the first to raise on the Internet, ultimately achieving wide publicity for this case, is without any doubt the right step. The result was immediate: the capital’s specialists joined the investigation, the State Duma took control of it, and this is a guarantee that, at least, this case will not be turned into an ordinary “hanging fruit.” Judging by the reaction of the Tver diocese, they were not prepared for such a development of events, and, perhaps, initially they even wanted not to expose what happened “to public view.” This approach is unlikely to be reasonable. If murders of shepherds do occur, then they should not be hushed up, but should be made widely public, seeking a fair and complete investigation with mandatory coverage of its results.
What's the point of this? Quite specific.
And secondly, the more often society hears about the inevitability of punishment for the murder of a priest, the fewer attempts there will be. Yes, a conscientious investigation and punishment of murderers will not bring back the dead, but it will help save living and serving fathers.
In the story of the death of Andrei Nikolaev’s father’s family, there is one very bitter circumstance: he has repeatedly said that the life of his family is in danger. He turned to the “omnipotent” media, asking for help.
But I didn’t receive any help.
In recent days, a real storm of anger has swept across the Orthodox Internet against the “slow” secular media, and against the “wrong” versions of the investigation, and against all Russian peasants. Many, recalling the appeal of Father Andrei, asked: where were the clergy looking? Where were the Cossacks? Where were the Orthodox patriots who so loved to gather for various rallies?
This means that it is not “someone” who is to blame for the fact that no one responded to Father Andrei’s call for help, but all of us together and each of us.
Father Anatoly Chistousov, while serving in Grozny, converted to Christ and baptized several Chechens. One of them subsequently even took monastic vows and holy orders in the Russian Orthodox Church. I heard the following story: when the militants attempted to kill a priest for the first time, one of the Orthodox Chechens protected Father Anatoly from a bullet with his body.
And the question arises: why didn’t it occur to any of the thousands of Orthodox Christians sitting at their computers to do for Father Andrei what this Orthodox Chechen did for Father Anatoly? Why is it that in Ukraine, as soon as the threat of an attack on an Orthodox church becomes known, dozens and hundreds of people gather who, sacrificing their time, responsibilities, and sometimes even their health, selflessly stay on duty around the clock, defending shrines, while in Russia among those who like to condemn the hierarchy or groan Regarding the “drunken peasants,” was there anyone who would go to organize such a picket in Pryamukhin?
But in this case there was no need for any heroic deeds. For example, even twenty people of average income would be enough to collectively hire a bodyguard for Andrei’s father in some security office without much damage to their own budget.
But you and I didn’t even do that.
What got in the way? Only indifference.
And who should be judged now? And where have morals actually fallen more - in the village or among Orthodox Internet users?
I hope everyone now understands that such requests from priests suffering from threats and violence should be taken much more seriously - both law enforcement agencies, the clergy, and, perhaps, even we, the “online Orthodox.”
And it’s probably worth touching on one more topic.
In our Church there is still no effective system of material support for widows and orphans of priests. And there are many of them, and not only those whose husband, son or father was killed. Often, having lost their breadwinner, they eke out an existence below the poverty line. Yes, it happens that relatives, friends or spiritual children voluntarily provide some kind of material assistance to the family of the deceased, in some places the diocese helps, in others not, in others more, in others less.
But such an important issue should hardly be left to chance. At least before the revolution, our Church had special funds for the clergy, from which, according to certain and uniform principles, pensions were paid to widows and orphans of priests. We wouldn’t want us to forget about those victims whom we can help when discussing this or that tragedy.
In conclusion, I would like to ask you to remember in your prayers the pastors and ministers of our Church who were killed recently:
Archimandrite Herman
Archimandrite Peter
Abbot Jonah
Abbot Lazar
Abbot Seraphim
Archpriest Boris
Archpriest Peter
Archpriest Michael
Archpriest Alexander
Hieromonk Vasily
Hieromonk Gregory
Hieromonk Nile
Hieromonk Alexander
Hieromonk Alexander
Hieromonk Simeon
Hieromonk Nestor
Hieromonk Isaiah
Priest Andrew
Priest Anatoly
Priest Igor
Priest Manuel
Priest George
Priest Peter
monk Trofim
monk Ferapont
Ksenia
David
Anna
Anastasia
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