A priest who oversaw a memorial service for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been suspended for three years by the head of the country’s Orthodox Church.
Dmitry Safronov held a memorial service by Navalny’s grave in Moscow on March 26 to mark 40 days since the politician’s death, an important ritual within Russia n Orthodox tradition.
An order published Tuesday on the Moscow diocese website publicly demoted Safronov from his position as priest to that of a psalm-reader and stripped him of the right to give blessings or to wear a cassock for the next three years. He was also transferred to another church within the capital.Navalny died suddenly on Feb. 16 in the remote Arctic penal colony where he had been serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges widely seen as politically motivated.
During his more than two decades in power, Putin has massively boosted the Russian Orthodox Church’s standing, increasing its prestige, wealth and power after decades of oppression or indifference under Soviet leaders.and it has been commonplace to see its clergymen blessing troops and equipment heading into battle and invoking God’s blessings in the campaign.
Alexei Navalny Russia General News Europe Vladimir Putin Orthodox Church Funerals And Memorial Services Moscow Patriarch Kirill A Religion World News
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