The ecclesiastical court deposed the priest Alexey Uminsky

The ecclesiastical court stripped the former abbot of the Trinity Church in Khokhly, archpriest Alexei Uminsky, Novaya Gazeta reports. The decision was sent to Patriarch Kirill for his signature.

A total of three meetings were held, Uminsky was not present at any of them. The court made a decision to strip the priest “for violation of the priest’s Oath (klatvoprestuplenie) – refusal to perform the Patriarch’s blessing to read a prayer for Holy Russia during the Divine Liturgy.”

We are talking about a special prayer of the head of the church, Patriarch Kirill, which speaks of the “victory of Holy Russia”. Russia in the Russian Orthodox Church refers to the entire territory that is considered canonical, including Ukraine. In the text, Kirill asks God to protect the Orthodox from the enemy who “wants to divide them” and calls “for peace and unity” “in all the countries of Russia”. The head of state is regularly accused of justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Against this background, many parishioners and priests perceive prayer as supporting the invasion.

The secretary of the ecclesiastical court, Alexander Mironov, said that “the trial is not over yet.” According to Novaya Gazeta, he meant that Patriarch Kirill had not yet approved the decision.

Uminsky refused to comment on the court’s decision, Meduza writes. “My principled position is not to make any comments,” the priest said.

• On January 5, the Moscow Patriarchate banned Alexei Uminsky from ministry and removed him from the rectory of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Khokhly. According to the mass media, the repression against the archpriest followed his anti-military attitude, as stated in an interview with the former editor-in-chief of the radio station “Echo of Moscow” Alexey Venediktov. Archpriest Andriy Tkachyov, known for his support of the invasion of Ukraine, was appointed the abbot of the Trinity Church instead of Uminsky.