Russian Orthodox Church Defrocks Rebel Monk and Raises Questions about Child Abuse at Monastery

By Nataliya Vasilyeva
The Telegraph
July 3, 2020

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/03/russian-orthodox-church-defrocks-rebel-monk-raises-questions/

Father Sergei, right, has long been accused of running a religious cult CREDIT: Vladimir Podoksyonov/AP

A religious court in Russia has defrocked a controversial monk who has sabotaged coronavirus lockdown restrictions, with the chairman of the court also saying it had reports of child abuse at his monastery.

Father Sergei Romanov, abbot of the Sredneuralsk monastery outside the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals mountains, has for years been running what many scholars described a religious cult worshiping the family of Russia’s last czar Nicholas II who were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

As the coronavirus epidemic struck Russia, Father Sergei, previously known for hate speech, publicly cursed those closing down the churches in line with lockdown orders and urged believers to disobey the restrictions....

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