Abuse of Power by Clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church

Abuse of power by clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church

Abuses occur when a priest assumes power and authority without allowing parishioners the opportunity to question or challenge his decisions. This shift implies moving from general respect for a priest to one in which parishioners loyally submit to him without objection. This includes, for example, the abuse and excessive incidence of the so-called "church discipline." As a result, parishioners may suffer from psychological problems and exhibit symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In February 2007, I became a parishioner of the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Uzkoe, a historic estate in southwest Moscow. The senior priest of the church was Archimandrite Peter (Nikolai Petrovich Polyakov), a rude and ill-mannered man. He would interrupt the Devine Service at the most sacred moment to reprimand a parishioner for an accidental cough. Moreover, during the Service, he would send his altar servers to escort the accidentally coughing parishioner out of the church and onto the porch.

I remained in Father Peter's parish until August 2008, when Russia invaded neighboring Georgia with the tacit consent of the Russian Orthodox Church. I could not believe that one Orthodox nation was fighting another Orthodox nation, and the Russian Church was not protesting. So I began attending the Moscow Georgian community Church of Saint George in Gruziny – a former Georgian settlement on the banks of the Presnya River, before it flows into the pond that is now part of the Moscow Zoo. They were collecting donations there to help those affected by the Russian invasion.

In February 2009, I began attending the Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in Khokhly, a historic district in central Moscow, not far from a former Ukrainian settlement. The senior priest of the church was Father Alexey Anatolyevich Uminsky. He was not that rude and usually had quite good manners but at least to my mind, he was an unkind and unchristian person. I knew him fairly well since he offered me a position of his altar server and I accepted it. I assisted him during Devine Services for almost six months, but eventually, I had to apologize and quit my altar service. Many a time he would lose his temper and would loudly shout at my fellow altar servers during the Service, which was incompatible to my idea of a good Christian.