Translated material
The choice of Father Alexei
Having made it both for this, both the temple and San, - Archpriest Uminsky did not prove anything to those who decided to execute him and demand repentance
The decision of the “five judges” - the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church - will enter into force after the approval by the Patriarch of All Rus' Kirill. “It is recognized that on the basis of the rule of the 25th Holy Apostles, Father Alexei Uminsky is subject to eruption from the Holy San for violating the priestly oath (oath-crime)-a refusal to fulfill the patriarchal blessing to read the prayer for Holy Rus' for the Divine Liturgy.” Such a verdict on January 13, 2024 issued a diocesan court of Moscow in relation to one of the most famous Moscow priests - the former rector of the Trinity Church in Khokhlah, father Alexei Uminsky.
Father John Koval, the cleric of the Church of St. Andrew the First -Called in Lublino, who was the same, was waiting for the decision of Patriarch Kirill for 4 months. In May 2023, the Diocesan Court deprived his father John San for “incorrectly” read the “Prayer for Holy Rus'”. In this prayer, Father John Koval replaced the word “victory” with the word “world”.
Father Alexei Uminsky also suffered because of this prayer. It all started with the fact that he was summoned to a meeting of the disciplinary commission of the Moscow Patriarchate on January 5, 2024, where they asked why he did not read this prayer, and also asked questions about his November interview with Alexei Venediktov*, in which he, in particular, said: said: said:
Those parishioners who are more important for the church pray for peace, and not for victory, should find a temple where they pray for peace.
How did Patriarch Cyril and the church court know that Father Alexei Uminsky did not read the “Prayer for Victory”, which Patriarch Kirill demanded to read to all priests and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church? Did this know this as a result of denunciation? Why did the private opinion expressed in an interview become “criminal”? Did the diocesan court conduct a linguistic examination of the statements of Father Alexei? Alas, we do not know anything about this, because the meetings of the church court are held closed, they do not report anything to the public or reporters about them.
" Five judges"
This week I spoke twice on the phone with the secretary of the diocesan court by Father Alexander Mironov, who constantly left my direct questions, citing the fact that "all the information about the church court was closed." I carefully studied the provision on the church court, and I was struck by how much he was a parody of court.
The accused of a church offense - and in the case of father Alexei Uminsky, we are talking about “violation of a priestly oath” - it is not able to defend himself, the lawyer is not laid down to the accused. In the traditional court, it was accepted that the accused or his lawyer before the meeting get acquainted with the case file and could contrast them with something. In the church court, such an order is not provided. There is no prosecutor, prosecutor in the church court. The prosecutors are the judges themselves. There are five of them.
Here they are.
The Chairman of the Diocesan Court (since 2010) - Father Mikhail Ryazantsev , Klyuchar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 69 years old, played at the court in the Pussy Riot case as one of the victims.
Vladislav Tsypin , Deputy Diocesan Court of Moscow, cleric in the Church of the Great Ascension in Moscow, born in 1947, Doctor of Church History, Doctor of Church Law, Candidate of Theology, Head of the Department of Church and Practical Disciplines, Lecturer in the Moscow Theological Academy and the Sretensky Spiritual Seminary.
Alexander Dasaev , rector of the Church of the Resurrection in Sokolniki, chairman of the liturgical commission at the diocese council of the city of Moscow, 73 years old.
Vladimir Chuvikin , Rector of the Patriarchal Compound of the Temples of the Nikolo-Pereervinsky Monastery in Moscow, 77 years old.
Alexander Mironov , rector of the Church of Sofia of the Wisdom of God at the cannon court and the temple of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the FSB of Russia, 74 years old.
"Prayer of Patriarch Kirill": is it canonical or not?
Obviously, there is no need to talk about the independence of these judges from Patriarch Kirill, who initiated church repression against his father, Alexei Uminsky. All of them have been serving in large Moscow churches for many years and have proved their loyalty. As for the “crime” itself, imputed by Father Alexei Uminsky (and it seems that he is the first to be attracted to the fact that he allegedly does not read the “Prayer for Victory”), it is controversial.
“Prayer for Holy Rus'” was written by Patriarch Kirill, and he first read it in the service on September 22, 2022, that is, the day after the announcement of a partial mobilization in Russia.
According to church canons, if this prayer is mandatory for reading in all temples, it should be approved by the Synodal Service Commission. And then it should be approved by members of the Holy Synod. That is, only following the results of such a serious process, this prayer becomes part of the worship and only in this case it is required to read all the clergy.
It is known that in some Russian parishes there are priests who do not consider this canonical prayer precisely because it is not approved by the Holy Synod.
That is, in simple language, this prayer is optional. And to deprive the priest of the dignity due to the fact that he does not read it-according to many, illegally.
Moreover, after 2014, Patriarch Kirill blessed to read a prayer for the world, and they read it in the temples. In some temples, after the liturgy, priests arranged prayers and also prayed for the world. Father Alexei Uminsky told in an interview with “New” in March 2022 that together with their parishioners they compiled this prayer “of all possible petitions about the world from already known texts in a prayer book. And they added to this prayer and prayer for the multiplication of love and eradication of all hatred. ”
I myself, coming to the temple on Sunday, attended such prayers several times. And I always had a feeling of unity of people who sincerely pray for peace, crave peace.
White Crow in the Russian Orthodox Church
I note that the father of Alexei none of the representatives of the highest clergy never reproached for the fact that such a prayer was served in his temple. And in general, for 30 years of his ministry - and the service of bright - no one told him that he should not give interviews, act on television, go to prisons and colonies to visit prisoners, come to the courts, where, in his opinion, they tried innocent people, go to the hospices, commune hard sick children, comfort their parents, arrange charitable fairs in favor of the homeless. All this activity of Father Alexei Uminsky and his arrival attracted more and more new people who were looking for living faith.
I remember how I first came to his confession, this was my first confession over many years. And she left after a conversation with Father Alexei frustrated, because it turned out that this intelligent and such “his own” seemed to the father is a strict priest who requires a real, and not a formal attitude towards yourself and others. I must say that that confession helped me a lot and allowed me to understand a lot.
About how about 12 thousand people signed in an open letter about what an important shepherd for many Orthodox people became Father Alexei Uminsky, who has signed about 12 thousand people. The authors of the letter ask the patriarch to reconsider his decision, since
“The ban in the ministry of the priest Alexei Uminsky will deprive thousands of people of spiritual support. This is a great tragedy for many believers, for patients with a children's hospice, for hundreds of prisoners and thousands of homeless people. In our difficult time, it is important to preserve for people the possibility of spiritual support for their beloved and important priest for them. ”
It is clear that the parishioners of the Trinity temple in Hokhlah and thousands of people who knew Uminsky according to his interviews and books could simply “swallow” the Patriarch’s decision on the ban on an important priest for them. And even if they did not hope for a positive result, they simply could not remain silent with such injustice.
It is clear to me that the ill -wishers and “professional” church scammers had long watched his father Alexei and his arrival. Father Alexei behaved as the dissidents who lived in the totalitarian Soviet Union behaved like a free man in a free country. And in this sense, of course, he had long been a white sheep for the Russian Orthodox Church, because the Christianity of Uminsky was very different from the "Christianity" of Patriarch Kirill.
Father Alexei Uminsky believed that the Church should have entered the unfairly convicts, he wrote and spoke of the convicted historian Yuri Dmitriev, signed a letter from Russian priests and laity to the Christians of Belarus. This letter was written in November 2020 - a letter of solidarity and comfort about repressions in Belarus. When Alexei Navalny was starving in the colony, his defenders and the family were worried about his health, Father Alexei Uminsky called for mercy and asked to be allowed for Navalny doctors.
Obviously, these completely normal actions of the Orthodox believer were recorded in the “personal case of Uminsky”, and at a certain moment it was decided to give these notes a move.
On the one hand, if the church is considered an ideological institution from which they expel the “politically alien”, the deprivation of the dignity of Father Alexei looks logical and inevitable.
But I, understanding how his voice was important, his sermons in these gloomy and vague times, on the side of those who are longing and lamenting, who will never make this decision of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In March 2022, when we talked with Father Alexei about what awaited us in the future, and discussed that our friends and his parishioners were leaving Russia, we decided that we would try to do their job. He is to serve in the temple, I - write articles. We talked with him about the choice that always stands in front of a person. About personal choice.
And it seems to me that the story of Father Alexei Uminsky is primarily the story of a personal choice.
Those five priests who deprived him of the dignity made their choice on January 13, 2024. And about this will be written in history textbooks in the head of the Russian Orthodox Church "The times of Vladimir Putin."
Uminsky, who did not come to the church court, also made his choice. I would venture to assume: he understood that the decision was already made and he could not prove anything to these people who are going to execute him or would demand repentance from him.
Explaining what choice is always facing a person, Father Alexei retold me the story of the fall of Adam and Eve when Satan seduced them. “When he put this fruit to them, he said:“ You will be like gods who themselves know what good and evil are. ” According to Father Alexei, Adam and Eve tried this fruit because they were seduced by the right to decide by themselves, “what is good and evil, what to call the truth and what is a lie, what to call light and what to call the world and what is the war.
A person has this choice, and it is so pleasant when I can decide for myself that good will be for me today and that there will be evil today. In fact, there is nothing more dangerous and more important for a person: always in his life to make this choice between good and evil. ”