Russia: Orthodox priest fined for preaching about peace

Photo by Andriy Tod on Unsplash

Source: Kostroma.news, Moscow Quakers

A Russian Orthodox priest who called for peace in the Ukraine in a sermon last Sunday, was detained for several hours by police and later fined 35,000 rubles (about £200) by a court.

In February 2022, Fr John Burdin (Viktor Valeryevich Burdin) rector of the Orthodox Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Karabanovo, Kostroma region, published a statement on his church website, condemning the special military operation in Ukraine. This was signed together with Archpriest Georgy Edelstein a veteran dissident from the Soviet era who founded the church in Karabanov.

On Forgiveness Sunday, 6 March, 2022, before the liturgy, Fr Burdin delivered a sermon about the unacceptability of the "special operation" in Ukraine. The service was attended by a few dozen people. One member of the congregation reported him to the police.

Kostromo.news report Fr Burdin's comments. He said: "when there was yet another flare-up in Donbas. I stepped forward and said essentially the same as I did this time, 'Brothers and sisters, this is a fratricidal war. A Christian does not have the right to raise his hand against another person, and especially against a brother in Christ.'

"After this sermon, a man came up to me. And, with some embarrassment, he said: 'Holy Father, bless me. I have to go to Donbas.' And, you know, I could not refuse. I blessed him and said: 'May the Lord protect you.' I felt, that it was two different things - to be against (the war) and to be concerned for a person, who might be killed and who, it may be, is not acting of his own free will. .

"And in this lies the whole tragedy of the situation; it's what tears you apart inside. You are not choosing between good and evil, but between the greater and lesser evil.

"It seems perfectly natural to me that, after my recent sermon in Karabanov, they tried to present me as some sort of extremist. Broadly speaking, the most extremist book in the world is the Bible. And still more extremist are the Evangelists. When you speak truthfully about Christ, sooner or later, you will begin to say things that won't please those who govern this world. This isn't anything complicated. And so, when I woke up on the morning of February 24, and read the news…I needed time to collect myself. The world we knew had gone. Something new had begun. How do I live in it? How do I talk to people? How do I go to church? How do I perform the liturgy? I did not know.

"…I had some time to think. I was sick with COVID, before that I had buried my mother. In the end, I came to this conclusion: If you eliminate the minor details, the ones they now think of as discrediting the Russian army, the essence of what I said is simple: a person does not have the right to shed the blood of another person. Christians should not kill Christians. As for the blood, which now being shed, the responsibility for it lies on all of us.

"It was important for me to express these thoughts, and not because I wanted to preach about something. I chose the time leading up to the service, because I believe, feel and know: at the time of the liturgy, I am standing before God. It's not that some sort of holy flame is going to descend upon me, I won't talk nonsense - no holy flame is going to come down. But I believe that it is impossible to deceive God. To act as if nothing has been going on in the world -that's telling a lie before God.

"And any lie is obvious to him. That is why I said what I said. I was making myself visible to God, who is always asking a person who he is. The person who informed on me to the police was making himself visible In exactly the same way. And you cannot reproach anyone for this, you cannot deny a person that freedom, which was given to him by God. Yes, freedom may be a tragedy, but that's the way it has to be."

LINKS

Kostroma priest detained for preaching about peace - https://kostroma.news/news/kostromskogo-svyashhennika-zaderzhali-za-propoved-o-mire/

Court in Kostroma fined a priest for preaching about peace - https://Karabanov/news/sud-v-kostrome-oshtrafoval-svyashhennika-za-propoved-o-mire/