The Church Court of the Russian Orthodox Church declared pacifism alien to the church heresy. This is stated in the case file of the church court on the defrocking of the priest John Burdin, who spoke out against the war – in his sermon he said that "we Christians do not dare to stand aside when a brother kills a brother, a Christian kills a Christian." Sota drew attention to the materials of the case.
The publication writes that since autumn Burdin has been trying to move from the ROC to the Bulgarian Church, but he was warned that “in the event of an attempt to transfer to another jurisdiction, a ban and deprivation of dignity may follow: they say that no one is released from the ROC.” He nevertheless filed a formal request to transfer. Immediately after that, on March 16, Burdin was banned from serving, and a church court was appointed for June 16. He was also told that the decision to deal with the priest was made personally by Patriarch Kirill, writes Sota.
"Pacifism is not compatible with the actual teaching of the Orthodox Church"
The publication studied the materials of the case. In them, the ROC calls pacifism a heresy that is alien to it.
“…the pacifism with which Priest Burdin tries to hide behind accusations against him is not compatible with the actual teaching of the Orthodox Church, in particular, set forth in the Fundamentals of the Social Concept. Pacifism in different eras of church history was present in heretical doctrines … "
In the materials of the case, the clergy also accuse Burdin of "pseudo-pacifism." In particular, it says that Burdin criticized the Russian authorities, not the Ukrainian ones, and was silent about the “auto-da-fé arranged in his hometown of Odessa” – the burning of people in the House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014. In addition, in the materials, the church court directly writes about the political engagement of the ROC.
"If anyone annoys the king, or the prince, not in truth: let him be punished"
“So his pacifism is imaginary, one-sidedly oriented, his anti-Russian political position is clearly visible behind him, which is perceived in our country as unacceptable, and, what is important to emphasize, is radically at odds with the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, which he undoubtedly knows.”
In addition, the church court writes that Burdin violated many canonical rules. All of them deal with the topic of submission to superiors.
“84 canon of the Holy Apostles: “If anyone annoys the king or prince, not in righteousness, let him be punished. And if such is from the clergy: let him be deposed from the sacred rank; if a layman: let him be excommunicated from the fellowship of the Church.