In the name of Oleg's father

The murder of a priest became the reason for the fight for the introduction of Orthodoxy lessons in schools

Official authorities have now responded to the murder of a priest of a village church in the Sverdlovsk region on the eve of Christmas. Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and the regional prosecutor's office expressed their opinion about the tragedy. Local clergy have already drawn conclusions and, with the name of the deceased on their lips, are pushing for the introduction of Orthodoxy lessons in schools.

The drama in the village of Neivo-Shaitansky, Alapaevsky district, occurred on the evening of January 6: after serving the service, the rector of the Church of Peter and Paul Oleg Stupichkin was already closing the premises when two young men approached him and asked to listen to them. The priest decided that those who came were late for the service and wanted to confess before the bright Christian holiday. Therefore, he warned his wife that he would be delayed and returned to the temple. When two hours had passed since Father Oleg left, Mother Irina began to worry and went to find out how confession was going. Instead of the ceremony, the woman saw fire in the windows of the temple, icons were torn from the walls, some were torn. Oleg Stupichkin himself was lying on the floor, crushed by a bench. Most of the village residents came running to the woman’s scream: the parishioners themselves took out the priest’s body and put out the fire in the temple themselves. When police arrived at the scene, it was established that the attackers had stolen 21 icons. It was not difficult for the villagers to remember the strange people - in small Neivo-Shaitansky they first appeared on the morning of January 6th.

The criminals were apprehended within a few hours. After the murder, they walked along the highway to Alapaevsk. Two wandering men seemed strange to several motorists, who reported what they saw to the police. The descriptions of the drivers coincided with the statements of the villagers. There were no casualties during the arrest of the suspects. During interrogation, employees of the Alapaevsk sawmill, Roman Sukhachev and Sergei Davlyatshin, admitted to committing the crime. According to them, at first they demanded that the priest give up the icons, he refused, and threats began. At the end of the “conversation,” the attackers beat the 41-year-old priest with hammers, then doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.

Yesterday, on the first official working day of the new year, the prosecutor's office of the Sverdlovsk region announced the initiation of a criminal case into murder under Articles 105 and 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Murder” and “Robbery”). The Alapaevsk prosecutor's office will investigate it. Information on the progress of investigative measures will be constantly reported directly to the prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk region, Pavel Kukushkin. So far, the investigative authorities insist that the reason for the murder is purely selfish - the desire to acquire icons.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II thinks the same. On Tuesday, he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased priest. “The goal of the murderers was to steal ancient icons, and they, without thinking about the consequences, sacrificed the life of an Orthodox priest to their greed,” says the patriarch’s official letter. “It is with regret that we have to state that in recent years, such cynicism and cruelty towards clergy has already taken place, which indicates the moral degradation of society.”

The Ekaterinburg diocese has already drawn conclusions from what happened . Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye Vincent believes that the murderers forgot Christ and therefore, after the death of Father Oleg, Sverdlovsk clergy will be even more active in bringing religion to the masses. “This event sets us up to work more actively in this life so that kindness, honesty and the love of Christ will prevail in our lives. It is necessary for people to know about Christ, to follow Christ, not to be evil and hateful, but to be humane, meek, humble, and obedient. And the more we spread these ideals of Christian life, the more good there will be on our land and the less dangers we will experience in this earthly life,” the archbishop said.

Bishop Vincent used the fact of the brutal murder of a priest to promote Orthodoxy lessons in schools. “It is very important to teach the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” in schools in order to cultivate in children’s souls from a very early age those high qualities of the human soul that would strengthen them in goodness, strengthen them in doing good and fighting evil. So that the child already knows within himself how to deal with his evil thoughts, desires and deeds,” the clergyman concluded his speech.

Mikhail VIUGIN