On January 13, the Moscow Diocesan Church Court docket introduced its choice within the case of Father Alexei Uminsky, depriving him of his priestly rank. Immediately was the third session of the courtroom, as Fr. Alexey didn’t present up for it. Based on the principles of the ecclesiastical courtroom, on the third assembly the choice could be taken with out the presence of the “accused”.
Based on the choice “… in accordance with Artwork. 45, para. 3 of the Laws for the Ecclesiastical Court docket of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate): it’s acknowledged that, based mostly on Apostolic Rule 25, Father Alexey Uminsky is topic to deprivation of rank for violation of the priestly oath (perjury) – and extra exactly, refusal to meet the patriarchal blessing to learn the prayer for Saint Rus on the divine Liturgy”.
The choice was despatched to Patriarch Kirill for approval.
That is the second Moscow priest to be stripped of his priesthood for refusing to learn the so-called “struggle prayer” included within the Liturgy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The primary was Fr. John Koval, who as an alternative of “victory” prayed for “peace”. Not like Fr. Ioan Koval, who was not a public determine, Fr. Alexey Uminsky is a preacher identified all through the nation, a priest with nice authority in Moscow. His sermons and articles have been printed in varied languages. In his protection, an open letter was despatched to Patriarch Kirill, signed by greater than ten thousand folks, together with 29 monks and 12 deacons. Predictably, their letter went unheeded.
The authorities insist on studying the prayer for the “Victory of Holy Russia” through the Liturgy for 2 causes: first, it’s an expression of loyalty to the coverage of the Kremlin and the Moscow Patriarchate that helps it; on the identical time, secondly, it’s a part of the complicated of measures which might be being pushed by way of the Orthodox Church in Russia to militarize society. The ROC has been assigned the vital ideological position of presenting Russian aggression towards Ukraine as a metaphysical occasion of a non secular nature and thus justifying it.