Suzdal Police Illegally Detain Two Clerics of the ROAC and Tried to Arrest Them on False Charges for Stealing Icons
On April 1st, at the doors of the ROAC Krestonikolsky Church, officers of the Suzdal Police Department detained two ROAC clerics - Fr. Deacon Dimitry Karpenko and Fr. Hierodeacon Benjamin (Banin).
A reporter for Portal-Credo.ru stated that the two deacons were removing a metal chest containing vestments from the church to the Synodal Building, located 50 yards away.
The police treated the clerics quite rudely, and held them in custody for two hours on false charges of trying to steal icons from the church. Fingerprints were taken, and they started filling out reports containing absurd charges.
Upon learning that the deacons were in custody, Metropolitan Valentine, the First Hierarch of the ROAC, came to the police station. The policemen were very rude to him as well. One of the officers, who knows the Metropolitan personally, began accusing him of "bestowing a hierarchal rank upon himself." Nonetheless, the First-Hierarch managed to have the clerics released.
Representatives of the Holy Synod of the ROAC believe this incident to be connected with the confiscation of 13 churches in Suzdal from their "alternative Church," which has been scheduled for mid-April. Among those scheduled for "return to government oversight" is the above-mentioned Krestonikolsky Church, which had restored by the ROAC and consecrated back in 1992 by the then Bishop Valentine. Representatives of the local Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate had appealed to the local police with an unofficial demand to "not allow anything of value, including religious/liturgical objects to be taken out of the churches that have been scheduled for return."
On April 1st, 2009, the ROAC Synod was visited by a representative from the US ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, who is concerned by the unprecedented persecution of Orthodox Christians who do not recognize the jurisdiction of Moscow Patriarchate in contemporary Russia.
Translated from an article on portal-credo.ru (http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=ne ... &topic=574)
Remarks:
Deacon Dimitriy Karpenko visited our Diocese with Metropolitan Valentine and Archbishop Theodore during the summer of 2008.
