KARABANOVO, Russia (Reuters) – For years till the outbreak of struggle in Ukraine, Father Ioann Burdin served as a priest within the Russian village of Karabanovo, 370 km (230 miles) northeast of Moscow. Now he’s a convicted heretic, banned from conducting companies and hounded from his parish.
In spring 2022, Burdin denounced the battle in a sermon to his parishioners and in feedback on-line, saying Christians couldn’t simply stand by “when a brother kills a brother”.
He stated the blood of Ukrainian civilians could be on the palms of Russia’s rulers, its troopers and everybody who accredited of the struggle or just saved silent.
As a consequence, he was fined for “discrediting the Russian army”, and in June 2023 banned from conducting companies by a Russian Orthodox Church court docket that convicted him of “heretical” pacifism and of undermining belief in Patriarch Kirill, head of the church and a detailed Kremlin ally.
However chatting with Reuters at an undisclosed location in Russia, Father Burdin stated he doesn’t see his preaching as anti-war, as a substitute invoking the Biblical injunction in opposition to homicide.
“From my perspective, it was a Christian sermon, not an anti-war one,” he stated. “We are all Christians, and we should not kill each other.”
Any assassin, he stated, “bears the sin of Cain”, who killed his brother Abel within the Previous Testomony.
The Church hierarchy, strongly loyal to the Kremlin, has thrown its help behind Russia’s struggle effort and ordered monks since September 2022 to recite a particular prayer for victory throughout companies.
Burdin is amongst dozens of monks punished for opposing the battle, in keeping with Christians in opposition to Struggle, an internet group uniting believers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
In January, a church court docket stated outstanding liberal priest Aleksiy Uminsky must be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath by refusing to learn the victory prayer.
In line with parishioners in Karabanovo, response to Father Burdin’s outspokenness on Ukraine was blended
Alexander, a church employee who didn’t give his surname, stated among the congregation had responded by asking Burdin to keep away from politics, and focus as a substitute on the non secular lives of his parishioners.
One lady, he stated, “got indignant and said you, Father, had better take care of the service, we do not need to be told about politics.”
However Alexander stated he continues to respect Burdin regardless of the ban, and want to see him restored to his place in Karabanovo.
“He is a very good person for me. It never happened that I was hungry or had no clothes here. For me he is a normal and good man,” he stated.
Burdin stated that after the controversy over his sermon, he had travelled to Bulgaria and contemplated changing into a priest there, a switch he stated was opposed by the Russian church authorities. However he stated he had returned to Russia as a result of he felt he was wanted there.
Regardless of being banned, he stated he continues to see himself as a priest and a servant of God. He stated he had been struck by the phrases of his 12-year-old daughter, who informed him the church couldn’t prohibit anybody from persevering with to serve God.
“I remain the same Father Ioann for all my parishioners who have known me as such,” Burdin stated. “I am not defrocked. I am simply banned from serving.”
