"In Slavyansk-on-Kuban, security forces detained a priest for "discreditation" of the army, seizing money from the donation box during a search in the temple
Security forces conducted a search at the Holy Intercession Tikhon Church in Slavyansk-on-Kuban and detained the hieromonk Iona (real name - Ilya Sigida), reported the "Caucasian Knot" with reference to eyewitnesses.
Iona is an assistant to the 87-year-old Cuban archbishop Victor Pivovarov. In March 2023 Pivovarov was fined 40 thousand rubles for "discrediting" the army in anti-war sermon. In April 2024 he was fined 150 thousand rubles in a criminal case of discreditation of the army because of an article condemning war.
According to the parishioners, on the day of November 27, about ten armed men wearing masks broke into the temple "nearly tore the door off the hinges". Security forces took donations from the church cash register and the international passport of Pivovarov and Sigida, leaving document covers on the temple floor.
'I was terrified. Thought it was some kind of criminal gang because they started to overturn and turned out to be after money. He raked all the donations from the temple's cash register up to a penny and poured it into his pockets,"
- said one of the witnesses.
The 87-year-old Archbishop Pivovarov fell ill during the search, and an ambulance was called to him.
The mother of the hieromonk Iona evaluated her son's detention as a kidnapping and went to the police. There she was told that Sigid was taken to the Investigative Committee, where they plan to launch a criminal case against him due to publications on the site of the priests of the temple.
The woman objected that her son has not written anything on the website for over a year. Security forces answered that on the site there are "enough old articles", because of which the priest can be accused of discrediting the army. "
Abp. Viktor's website: https://eshatologia.org
For the sake of full transparency and for a personal request of my own, I have spoken to Hieromonk Iona over email and consider him a dear friend. I heard some more information about the events and wrote this public message:
"Please pray for my dear friend Hieromonk Iona. He was arrested by the FSB this morning in Slavyansk-na-Kubani for speaking out against Putin's war and persecution against True Orthodoxy.
He was beaten unconscious by Putin's thugs during the arrest and is now facing up to 10 years in prison. His poor mother is distraught."
