On May 22, 2011, a church priest was beaten in the center of Moscow Cosmas and Damian in Shubin Archpriest John Vlasov. The priest was heading to the temple to serve an early liturgy, when an unknown person knocked him down and began to beat him feet, filming what is happening on the phone. Father John was able to serve the Liturgy.
May 24, 2011 church rector Fr. Alexander Borisov, commenting on the incident, confidently said that the beating could in no way be connected with the ban on feeding the homeless , because "Fr. John has other duties in the temple." The attacker filmed the beating on his mobile telephone , - the priest reminded, - You never know now all sorts of neo-Nazis, skinheads and others who so need to assert themselves .

The attack was reported to the police.

June 6, 2011, answering a question from Blagovest-Info correspondent Yulia Zaitseva about possible the reasons for the beating of the priest John Vlasov, Fr. Alexander Borisov suggested that " this may be a representative of a neo-pagan group, hating Christians ."

Sources

Orthodox priest beaten in Moscow // Religion and Mass Media. 2011. May 23. (With reference to the Daily Journal)
Beaten in the center of Moscow, an Orthodox priest was examined in a hospital // Blagovest-info. 2011. May 24.

An Orthodox priest was beaten in Moscow