Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev) fell during the consecration of a church in Novorossiysk. The video of the fall was published by the Rise Telegram channel, the record of the service was removed from the Soyuz TV channel.
Gundyaev slipped on the marble floor during the liturgy, after which other priests and guards helped him up.
As Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev stated , coronavirus restrictions are to blame for everything, because of which the patriarch does not allow to touch himself.
“An unpleasant incident occurred today at the consecration of a church in Novorossiysk. After the completion of the consecration of the temple, Patriarch Kirill fell down from the pulpit, slipping on the expensive marble floor. Neither the security guards, nor the protocol service, nor the bishops standing nearby were in time. The patriarch hurt his back on the edge of the pulpit. The liturgy continued. Metropolitan Gregory and the local bishop Theognost look guiltily at the patriarch and wait for a reaction. But the coronovirus restrictions are to blame, because of which the patriarch does not allow to be touched and supported on the steps.”
On June 16, the British authorities added Gundyaev to the sanctions list. He is banned from entering the UK, and the sanctions also include freezing assets and restricting doing business with organizations that are associated with people from the "black" list.
Earlier, Pope Francis said that Patriarch Kirill, during a conversation via video link, read from a piece of paper for twenty minutes and gave arguments justifying Russia's war against Ukraine. Later, the Russian Orthodox Church published a speech by Gundyaev, in which he, addressing the Pope, spoke about the "flying time of missiles" and the expansion of NATO.
In April, 190 priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate demanded that Patriarch Kirill be placed under a church tribunal (the church tribunal in question is a council of primates of the Ancient Eastern churches). Ukrainian priests decided to file a lawsuit due to Patriarch Kirill's support for Russia's war of conquest against Ukraine. Among the accusations leveled against him are the preaching of the “Russian world” doctrine, which is inconsistent with Orthodox teaching, and “moral crimes”: the blessing of the war against Ukraine and its full support.