As the Russian government does with opponents of the war, the Russian Orthodox Church attacks the last dissenting voices. On the eve of Christmas, Father Alexis Uminsky, who did not hide his hostility to the military operation carried out by the Russian army in Ukraine, was dismissed from his post as rector of the Church of the “Holy Life-Giving Trinity” right in the center of Moscow. An ecclesiastical court made the decision this Saturday, January 13, to defrock him.
A well-known and respected figure in the Orthodox world, Father Alexis Ouminsky pays for his freedom of tone. “ We cannot feel joy, happiness or applaud a story about military operations. This causes grief to so many people », he said in November 2023, at the microphone of Alexeï Venediktov, the former editorial director of the independent radio Echo of Moscow, closed by the authorities. This interview, in the opinion of some observers, could have been the “ drop of water that breaks the camel’s back ».
Since the start of the offensive on February 24, 2022, few priests of the Russian Orthodox Church have spoken out openly against the war.
Formally, what the patriarchate reproaches Father Alexis Ouminsky for is not having recited, during the liturgy celebrated in his church, the prayer “for Holy Russia”, a text with bellicose overtones, which asks God grant victory to Russia. The reading of this prayer became “ a test of loyalty » vis-à-vis the church authorities, notes Ksenia Luchenko, journalist, expert in religious issues, who knows the fallen priest well.
“ Among the majority of priests who have a different position from that of Patriarch Kirill on questions of war, geopolitics and others, this prayer raises big questions. When a person sincerely prays to God during the divine service, he cannot utter meaningless false words », underlines the guest researcher as part of the “Wider Europe” program within the European Council on International Relations (ECFR) in Berlin. However, for Father Alexis Ouminsky, “ it is very important to act in such a way that you do not feel ashamed before God, and not before people. He is a very free man internally, and he has always lived as a free man. He is also a very kind man, who always knows how to find words of support or consolation. “, she notes.
Prayer to Holy Russia
This is not the first time that the Moscow Patriarchate has attacked priests who do not adhere to this prayer. Last May 2023, the Moscow ecclesiastical court dismissed and stripped Father Ioann Koval, 45, of his priestly rank for replacing the word “victory” with “peace”. He has now found refuge in Turkey, where the Patriarchate of Constantinople has restored his status as a priest, believing that his actions were motivated by a deep conviction in favor of peace.
With square-cut white hair and a well-trimmed beard, Alexis Ouminsky, 63, comes from a family of the non-believing Soviet intelligentsia. He was a hippie in 1980s Moscow, was baptized as a student of Romance languages and taught French. Ordained a priest in the early 1990s, he remained very connected to the social and artistic life of the country. The Church of the “Holy Life-Giving Trinity”, in the heart of Moscow, of which he was rector for three decades, welcomed many personalities from the world of culture, journalists, lawyers and politicians who became his friends. In September 2022, he celebrated the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev.
No politics
Alongside his pastoral activity, Father Alexis Ouminsky is a media figure. For many years he has presented television shows, published numerous books and is very involved in charitable works, caring for incurable children, homeless people, visiting prisoners, anonymous people or personalities, such as former boss of the Yukos oil group, Mikhail Khodorkovksy, when he was imprisoned, or the opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence. He appeared as a witness in the trial which resulted in the dissolution of Memorial, the best-known Russian human rights association.
However, believes Ksenia Luchenko, “ he never carried out political activity. He was asked to go visit prisoners, and he went, regardless of the profile of the person, political prisoner or real criminal. He simply lived according to the Gospel ». “ His life and service to the church follow the precepts of Christ », Adds Zoya Svetova, journalist known for her commitment to human rights, who interviewed him on several occasions. “ He never refused to answer questions when it related to subjects that concerned him. He did it with the aim of helping people navigate our world affected by tragedy and drama. ”, she explains.
In 2021, in a video, Alexis Ouminsky also called on the authorities to “ show Christian mercy and authorize a doctor » to examine Russia’s best-known opponent and prisoner, Alexeï Navalny. This statement earned him the nickname “criminal in a cassock” on the television channel of the Russian Orthodox Church SPAS, which is the subject of sanctions by the European Union.
“ The Russian Orthodox Church has established an unwritten rule that all priests must obey the word of the Patriarch », emphasizes Zoya Svetova. “ It seems to me that the patriarch imagines that all the priests and clerics are his soldiers and that they must obey him as a general. All the priests who are pressured, who are banned from service, dismissed from their parishes, or even defrocked, are those who do not accept being soldiers of Patriarch Kirill ».
Father Alexis Ouminsky was replaced in his church by a priest more in line with the line of the Moscow Patriarchate. Andrey Tkachev, originally from Lviv in western Ukraine, a defector from the Ukrainian Church who fled to Russia in 2014 after the pro-European Maidan revolution, says that “ Russian soldiers are in Ukraine to fight against Satan “. In shock, a group of faithful sent an open letter to Patriarch Cyril, asking him to reconsider his decision. “ Since 1990, Father Alexis Ouminsky has been a priest who has brought many people to the faith. It has created a large, lively and active community (…), which notably carries out important social work, helping seriously ill people in adult and children’s hospices, the homeless and prisoners»,can we read in the declaration, which had collected nearly 12,000 signatures on Saturday.
Also listenWar in Ukraine: the Orthodox Church divided