He did not forgive the president of "blasphemous words"

Bishop Evtikhiy (Kurochkin), Rector of the Epiphany Cathedral in Ishim of the Tyumen region, in January publicly announced the reluctance to vote for the current president Vladimir Putin in the next elections.

Bishop Evtichiy posted a statement about the reluctance to support Putin in the election on his VKontakte page in January of this year. Vladyka Evtikhiy, in particular, wrote: “More recently, I publicly expressed my regret that an obstacle arose in my desire to vote for Putin. The obstacle was that Vladimir Vladimirovich made a very malicious remark addressed to Peter Arkadievich Stolypin:“ We know, and “Stolypin” wagons and “Stolypinsky“ ties ”was shocked And he expressed the hope that I would hear from the lips of the president a kind of excess of those irresponsible words. How does this differ from the relics of the saints for the Orthodox, but just for Christians? "

I had to remove criticism from Putin from my page due to a large tributary offering friendship

The bishop in his reasoning went further, calling the president “darkness”: “If what you think in yourself is darkness, then what is your darkness?!”-the words of Christ. And I will go, contrary to Christ, vote for the darkness or someone will advise to do this?!-No, no! ”

In less than two weeks, Bishop Euthychius deleted his critical post. He explained this on his page in the same social networks as follows: “I had to take criticism of Putin from his page because of a large influx of proposing friendship. Following their custom, I get acquainted with the content of the pages of those who offer friendship. Most likely people judge, not because I expressed it, but by the way the media conveyed everything, and I have their own goals and not at all interesting.”

"Siberia. Realii" asked Bishop Euthychius to comment on their statements on the social network and asked if his position on the upcoming presidential election had changed.

- Is your reluctance to vote for Vladimir Putin only with his statement to Stolypin? Or have other questions to the president you have?

- In addition to indignation, the fact that the activities of Peter Arkadyevich Stolypin are defended and Lenin’s remains to the relics of the saints are equated, I have no more background when I spoke out on this subject.

- Do I understand correctly that your decision is not to vote for Putin and after you deleted your post on this on the network, has not changed?

- Well, yes.

- You seem to be the first of the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, who publicly, and even on the eve of the election made such a statement. Was it difficult to decide on him?

- How can you tell you? It's just forced. If I just say only about the remains of Lenin and the memory of Peter Stolypin, no one will hear me or pay attention. Therefore, the topic of voting came, although for me it is completely not relevant.

- Many people took your words as a call to the flock, to those people who respect you personally, also not to vote for Vladimir Putin. Is this the right interpretation?

- It was, is and will remain at the will of every person personally. It is impossible to order here.

- Are you not afraid that in connection with your statement about voting will you have problems with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church? Still, the vast majority of hierarchs support Vladimir Putin.

- I understand, but I think that no one supports the comparison of Lenin's remains with the relics and the absolute majority, even all, we can say, they see the blasphemy and insulting the feelings of believers.

-Some of the hierarchs of the Church called you or somehow reacted to your statement that you will not support the current president?

- The complete silence. Both in Russia and abroad.

The other day, on the page of Bishop Evtikhia in VKontakte, one of his friends asked to comment on the video of five years ago, in which the priest asks the flock to vote for Putin. A video called "Bishop Evtikhiy (Kurochkin) campaigns for Putin" is available on YouTube video hosting, it has 32.6 thousand views.

" Although I, like many of you, find a lot of wrong in our government and I do not advise you to get involved in some political, party affairs, but I ask you to go and vote for Putin. Why? Because this is the biggest guarantee of calmness. With any change, even unexpected excitements, troubles, non-confusion can be, and this will necessarily take advantage of to do worse people. It is said that the external enemies are also not asleep.

Now the priest explains the reasons for the change of his position as follows:

"My appeal to the flock 5 years ago was dictated by the rule: of the two evils, they choose the smallest. And then there were no attacks on the part of the candidate on Stolypin and the blasphemy of the equity of the mummified body of the God -finded with the holy relics."

Bishop Euthychius, as the New Gazeta writes , is a person who has a rather ambiguous reputation in the Russian Orthodox Church, and he is not the first time for some “free -thinking”. In the 1980s, he became a clergyman of the Omsk-Tyumen diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, where he had conflicts with the authorities. During the collapse of the USSR, Euthychius joined the Russian foreign church, in 1994 he became a bishop of Ishim and Siberian there. The first parishes of the Russian Foreign Church were independent and even oppositional Moscow Patriarchate, and the Euthychius was prohibited for the schismal of the Russian Orthodox Church Anthony Tobolsky and Tyumen.

In the Russian foreign church, Bishop Euthychius, in turn, entered into conflict with the conservatives opposed to the Moscow Patriarchate. Then he took an active part in the "reunification" of the two churches, which was initiated by President Putin. The merger of churches, that is, the actual acquisition of the ROCZ, the Moscow Patriarchate, occurred in May 2007 by the signing of the relevant act in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In 2010, Patriarch Kirill awarded Bishop Evtikhia (Kurochkina) in connection with his 55th anniversary the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh degree, noting his special role in the reunification of the ROCZ with the Moscow Patriarchate. As a reward for his works, the Euthychius received the title of Vicar Patriarch and the titular Domodedovo department. In 2012, after the shift of the Patriarch, he retired and received Sinecura in the form of his native Epiphany in Ishim.

- You were the opponent of the association of the Russian Church abroad with the Russian Orthodox Church, then - an active supporter of the union. You are even awarded the Order for the promotion of the unification of churches. Why did you change your position then?

-Firstly, I moved to the foreign church, being sure, getting acquainted with the documents that this is the canonical branch of Russian Orthodoxy. That they have no violations, and therefore, counting the Church of the One, I saw that it is artificially divided due to political circumstances. What was simply forced by our Moscow bishops, primarily Patriarch Sergius, to break relations with a foreign synod.

I have no complete confidence in any of the candidates now

I went there, being sure that there are no church borders between us, only an artificial separation that the Bolsheviks arranged for us. Therefore, I considered this compound the best. It was in the context of the connection. After all, the Moscow Patriarchate believed that the "foreigners" should come, bow and ask for their inclusion, entrance to the Moscow Patriarchate. Moreover, the Patriarchate will then still consider which of the people who [in the Russian Church abroad] has the right to enter the Russian Orthodox Church, and who is not. Of course, I was against such a connection on the "mentor" conditions.

But in 2000, after the Cathedral of the Moscow Patriarchate, when the royal martyrs and new martyrs were considered to be the saints, the victims from the Bolsheviks, I raised the question of the creation of a commission on relations with the Moscow Patriarchate in front of the Council of Foreign Church. The commission was soon created and worked for seven years.

- Then you even brought repentance for "participation in the split" ...

Now such an authoritarian situation is that, in fact, there are no folk remedies of management at any level. If you just just be nominal "approval". I don't want to take part in this booth

- The bishop of Anthony was imposed on me for a ban on serving. Yes, I asked me to be removed from me. And this was a necessary procedure, because for eight years I was a clergyman of the Moscow Patriarchate, and then left, without any sanction, without the permission of the Holy, it was impossible at that time, to get consent for this. Through repentance, I was restored in the sacred dignity, although I left the hegumen, and returned to the bishop. My status was not subjected to doubts, those priests that I ordained were also adopted by the Moscow Patriarchate.

- One way or another, you changed your mind regarding the unification of the Russian church abroad with the Russian Orthodox Church. Also changeable is your attitude to the president, as it seems. You called to vote for Putin. Now say the exact opposite. It may turn out that you will change your position again. What should happen for you to change it?

“ I think only God's miracle can tell you what to do in this position.” I have no rational decisions, and now I have no confidence in any of the candidates.

- You spoke only about Putin publicly, but what about other candidates, you will not vote for anyone?

- About most other candidates I know very superficially. It is much known about Zhirinovsky, of course, from childhood it is known about the Communists. And others are very unfamiliar to me personally people.

- That is, correctly, I understand that you will not go to the elections on March 18?

- No, I won’t go.

- And before you went to vote?

- Well, I went before.

-After all, you yourself have a political experience, you were a deputy of the city council in Ishim in the 90s of the last century. Do you have no desire to participate in political life again?

- Yes, I was a deputy of the city council in Ishim. But it is impossible to enter the same river twice, the water flows. In addition, now such an authoritarian situation is that, in fact, there are no folk remedies of management at any level. If you just just be nominal "approval". I do not want to take part in this booth.

-What should still change in Russia so that you again want to participate in political life or at least vote in the elections?

- It is necessary that at least there are no such untrue assessments of history. To figure out, in the end, the successor of which system, the Communists or the Tsar, is the current government. A rather impressive period of time should pass, the assessment should be gradual, should not be populist. For some reason there is no such assessment.

- Thank you for the conversation.

- He told his head. Come on, with God.