In Russia, a well-known liberal priest faces expulsion from the Orthodox Church for refusing to read a prayer asking God to lead Russia in victory over Ukraine. The diocesan court decided this in a meeting yesterday, Saturday. The court declared that Father Alexei Uminsky, former rector of Moscow's Trinity Church in Khokhly, “violated the priestly oath by refusing to fulfill the patriarchal blessing of reading the prayer for Holy Russia during the Divine Liturgy.” Prayer that Vladimir Putin made obligatory during church services. The trial took place without the participation of Alexei Uminsky, who did not even appear at the two previous sessions; and now the decision must be approved by Patriarch Kirill, a staunch supporter of the Kremlin's decisions. In an interview last November, Uminsky explained that the language of war and “special military operations” was “in no way compatible” with the church's liturgy; and had encouraged the faithful to seek priests who “pray for peace rather than victory and understand that every victory in these wars is always a Pyrrhic victory.” The prayer contains sentences such as: “Arise, O God, to help your people and give us victory through your power” and “For you are intercession, victory and salvation for those who trust in you and send you We honor.” “. It is not the first time that priests have been punished for questioning the official line of the Orthodox Church. Priest Ioann Koval of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called was excluded from ministry because he was in replaced the word “victory” with “peace” in the same prayer; then an ecclesiastical court removed it. In April 2021, Uminsky called on authorities to show Christian grace and allow a doctor to visit anti-Putin blogger Alexei Navalny, who was on hunger strike at the time.
