The court extended the detention in the pre-trial detention center of the former hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church and Doctor of Theology John Kurmoyarov until February 8, 2023. Sota reports .
Kurmoyarov is accused under an article about "fake" about the army, which he allegedly voiced in his personal video blog.
The case against Kurmoyarov was opened because of a video titled “Who will be in hell and who will be in heaven?”, Published in March. In it, the priest said:
“In paradise are ‘blessed are the peacemakers’. "Peacekeepers", do you understand what the problem is? And those who unleashed aggression will not be in paradise.”
Law enforcement officers sent the video for linguistic examination, which showed that "the author of the video expresses deliberately false information about the RF Armed Forces." They searched his house, confiscated equipment, two icons, a wooden cross and a cassock.
Hieromonk taught theology in Novosibirsk, in 2020 he was banned from serving due to criticism of the main temple of the Armed Forces, which then opened in the Moscow region. “This is another example of how Orthodoxy is turning into banal paganism, with its temples, heavenly patrons, icons of military branches, churches according to professional affiliation,” the priest wrote on Facebook.
Later, Metropolitan Nikodim of Novosibirsk and Berdsk lifted the ban on serving Kurmoyarov, but forbade him to teach at the Novosibirsk Theological Seminary. After that, the priest left the city.