Representatives of a number of political and public associations of the Astrakhan region are outraged by the “gross interference” of the police in the activities of novices and workers of the Churkinsky Monastery

website In some media of the Astrakhan region (and also - later - on the United Fatherland ) the text of the appeal of a number of regional political and public associations "Hands off the Orthodox shrine" was published. The authors of the appeal (including the chairman of the local branch of the "National Conservative Party of Russia" G.V. Molokov, the deputy of the City Council Yu.N. Shcherbakov, the ataman of the City Cossack Society F.M. .I. Dmitrov, chairman of the regional public organization "Russian National Society" (Russian way of life) S.D. Sychev and others) declare that they "indignantly ... learned about the facts of gross interference of law enforcement officers of the Volodarsky district in the activities of people engaged in the restoration of the Orthodox shrine of the Astrakhan region - the Vysokogorsky Nikolo-Uspensky Churkinsky Monastery".

"... Representatives of local law enforcement agencies reacted to the activities of people restoring the monastery with frank suspicion and hostility," the document says. alcohol trade, which is carried out by some of the local residents living on the territory of the monastery.

And May 7th. d. a group of drunken militia and fish guard workers, "adding courage" right in the monastery, confiscated dried fish prepared for the food of novices and laborers (in the monastery, as you know, meat is not eaten). At the same time, it was loudly declared that no one needed the monastery and Russians in general, that they would not be left alone. Two workers (one of whom is mentally ill) were then kept all night at the Volodarsky District Department of Internal Affairs without explanation.

We regard these facts as a deliberate provocation with a religious and national orientation. We demand a thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible."

Meanwhile, in the Volodarsky District Department of Internal Affairs and the district prosecutor's office, RIA "Avers" correspondent was told that the information contained in the said appeal about the detention of workers, about the hooligan actions of police officers, that they were drunk, did not correspond to reality. Although, the agency notes, "the inhabitants of the monastery are indeed suspected of illegal fishing and processing." At the same time, “as it turned out, the Churka Monastery has long been in the minds of law enforcement agencies. Policemen had to deal with cases of violation of public order on the territory of the monastery. And during raids as part of the control over compliance with the passport regime, problems with registration surfaced.<...> Among the workers there are previously convicted citizens who are, as they say, “between heaven and earth,” because their place of residence is not officially recorded in the administration of the village council.”

At the same time, the agency cites the opinion of representatives of the other side of the conflict: “According to the rector of the Churkinsky monastery, Father Valery, the fish seized by the police were caught by laborers and novices for two months, and not by poaching. There was both purchased fish and donations. The reserves made for the year were intended not only for two dozen workers of the monastery, but also for pilgrims who come to the monastery almost every week.<...>

“People need to be fed something, and now we have lost our main food product. No acts were drawn up during the seizure of fish, the police acted without witnesses, without a warrant to break doors in the premises. They didn’t even weigh the fish, they just loaded it and took it away,” said father Valery.

... Archbishop of Astrakhan and Enotaevsky Jonah ... called the actions of the police and the prosecutor's office in this case tactless. According to him, people who are cut off from life, who are engaged in the restoration of the monastery for free, built a wooden church on its territory, should be treated more condescendingly, more humanely, even if there are some violations from the point of view of the law. <...> Vladyka Jonah has already informed the Governor and Chairman of the Regional Government about the situation in the Churkinsky Monastery. The latter, in particular, promised to solve the problem with the permission to fish."

Sources

• Sagunova A. It was in the Churkinsky monastery ... // RIA "Avers". 2005. May 26.
• Hands off the Orthodox shrine // United Fatherland. 2005. May 29.