Alexy dispersed the courtyard

The merchant priest hid his profits
From the Patriarch
Recently, scandals have broken out one after another in the Chelyabinsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. At first, Bishop Job of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust was threatened with death by unknown persons (Kommersant talked about this on July 18). Now, by order of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, the patriarchal courtyard in Chelyabinsk has been abolished. The local priest suffered because he did not want to share the income from his commercial activities with the management.

The metochion in Chelyabinsk was created in 1995 with a very specific goal - to restore churches and monasteries that local authorities returned to the church. It was headed by priest Igor Sinitsyn. And he immediately developed a vigorous commercial activity: he opened a chain of stores, a sewing production, and a gastroenterological center in the Chelyabinsk region, which was involved in holding scientific conferences in Cyprus. All this brought good income, since thanks to the benefits provided by the state, the church was exempt from taxes.
But the churches being restored never received help from Igor Sinitsyn. The Moscow Patriarchate did not receive any money either: the priest did not consider it necessary to send financial reports either to the Chelyabinsk diocese or to Moscow (the last report, which he was supposed to send to Moscow by February 1, was never seen in the Patriarchate). And to give weight to his commercial initiatives, Igor Sinitsyn called himself nothing less than the representative of the patriarch in the Chelyabinsk region.
All this, duly presented by Bishop Job, overflowed the patience of Alexy II. At the end of last week, he ordered the monastery to be closed and its property transferred to the ownership of the Chelyabinsk diocese. “Priest Sinitsyn engaged in activities that were not blessed for him (that is, not permitted. - Kommersant). He did not receive our permission to call himself a representative of the Patriarch of Moscow in the Ural region and has never been one,” this is how the patriarch motivated his decision.
Although, of course, the main reason for the patriarch’s anger was something else: priest Sinitsyn, who led the work of the metochion, “taking advantage of the remoteness from Moscow, carried out his activities arbitrarily, uncontrollably and in gross violation of financial discipline.” Which, translated from church, can only mean one thing: concealing profits from the church.

KLAUDIA Kommersant-SKAMEIKINA, DMITRY Kommersant-ZOBKOV, GERMAN Kommersant-GALKIN, Chelyabinsk

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 135 dated July 28, 1998, p. 2