The police detained John Burdin, rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Karabanovo, Kostroma Region, and filed a protocol against him under a new article of the Code of Administrative Offenses for speaking out against the war during a sermon and a link to the “No to War” petition on the Change.org website posted on the parish page, writes zona .media.

“Burdin V.V., being in a public place in the premises of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ during the religious service he was conducting in the presence of about 10 parishioners, committed public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which are conducting a special operation based on the decision of the President of the Russian Federation and the decision of the Council Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,” the protocol says.

In addition, according to the police, the priest inspired “the parishioners of the church with information about the presence of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine, the ongoing shelling of Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov, etc.), the murders of Ukrainian residents (brothers and sisters in Christ).”

On the website of the parish and on social networks, there are indeed posts calling for an end to the war.

“Brothers and sisters! In the early morning of February 24, Russian troops attacked Ukraine. There are shelling of Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov, Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities. Russian soldiers are killing their brothers and sisters in Christ. We Christians do not dare to stand aside when a brother kills a brother, a Christian kills a Christian. Let us not repeat the crimes of those who hailed Hitler’s actions on September 1, 1939. We cannot shyly close our eyes and call black white, evil good, say that Abel was probably wrong in provoking his older brother. The blood of the inhabitants of Ukraine will remain on the hands of not only the rulers of the Russian Federation and the soldiers who carry out this order. Their blood is on the hands of each of us who approved this war or simply remained silent,” the statement, signed by two priests, Priest John Burdin and Priest Georgy Edelstein, says.