Today, March 16, Governor of the Kurgan Region Alexey Kokorin held a meeting in which Metropolitan Joseph of Kurgan and Belozersk, Bishop of Shadrinsk and Dalmatov Vladimir, members of the regional government took part, the press center of the Kurgan diocese reported. The meeting was held behind closed doors, but some details are in the FederalPress material.

Informed sources reported that the topic of the conversation was preparations for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of our fellow countryman Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin). He was born in the village of Baturino, Shadrinsky district. In the history of Orthodoxy, the archimandrite is known as the “builder of Russian Palestine” (part of the territories of the modern state of Israel).

In the Trans-Ural region, 2017 has been declared the Year of Archimandrite Antonin. In his homeland, in the village of Baturino, they plan to hold the Orthodox festival “Baturin Shrine” at the end of August - beginning of September. Funds are being raised for the restoration of the Transfiguration Church in the village of Baturino and a monument to Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin).

As reported by RIA FederalPress, back in June 2016, the president of the Orthodox charitable foundation “Baturinskaya Shrine” Mikhail Kharlov said that “the foundation cooperates in organizing celebrations and preparing for them with the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, the committee of honorary members of which is headed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.” The planned visit of Patriarch Kirill to the celebrations in the Trans-Urals was recently announced.

The reason for the operational meeting with the governor was, as some observers note, the concern of Metropolitan Joseph of Kurgan and Belozersky regarding preparations for the celebrations and the visit of the patriarch, and he openly expressed this concern at the working meeting of the heads of metropolitans and diocesan bishops of the Ural Federal District that took place yesterday, March 15 with the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh.

At this meeting, as eyewitnesses reported, Metropolitan Joseph stated that he was “surprised that the head of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius, announced the patriarch’s visit to the region.”

“We are not ready for the visit,” the bishop said, noting that planned work has not been completed in some churches. “I would be ashamed to receive the patriarch there.” The Epiphany Cathedral has not yet been completed in construction and has not been put into operation.”

“My assessment of the state of the Kurgan diocese: it stopped in the mid-90s. This is a concern. The second aspect is the moral state of the clergy of the diocese. For a number of years, the Kurgan diocese was rocked by contradictions between bishops and clergy. A number of media outlets published openly slanderous materials regarding the bishop,” the head of the metropolis complained.

“There are only a few months left before the visit. Something, of course, can be done so as not to lose face, but today we need to combine all the possibilities. Tomorrow we will meet with the governor and discuss the steps that are needed,” Joseph said.

Igor Kholmanskikh in response to this he noted: “I think you correctly characterized the state of affairs in the Kurgan metropolis, I think that’s why the patriarch is coming to you: to mobilize you to prepare the meeting, and the authorities, so that the Kurgan region looks decent. The picture you painted is gloomy, but you see what the challenges are, and I think this will help you mobilize and solve the problems. If you need help, support, you can ask us.”

The position of Metropolitan Joseph greatly surprised the State Duma deputy from Trans-Urals Alexandra Iltyakova, who took an active part in the construction of the Epiphany Church in Kurgan. “We will do everything on time, for sure, because it’s still March. We will start work in April, and everything will be done as it should be. We are used to keeping our word,” emphasized Alexander Iltyakov in a conversation with a FederalPress correspondent.

There is no official information about the results of today’s meeting yet, but we note that the governor of the Kurgan region Alexey Kokorin has repeatedly stated that the priority in preparation for the anniversary of Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) is the restoration of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in his homeland and the improvement of the area around it. “With joint efforts we will definitely restore the temple. Our task is to make the village of Baturino a place of pilgrimage,” says the governor.

And ordinary Kurgan residents, when surveyed today, assessing the situation that has arisen, said that “the patriarch’s visit does not need to be turned into a parade,” “let Patriarch Kirill see how the diocese really lives,” “the main thing is to adequately celebrate the memory of the archimandrite in the soul,” “ It’s not the walls that are important, but the common desire to pay tribute to a worthy person.” And it’s hard to disagree with this.

Some also believe that Metropolitan Joseph is resisting Patriarch Kirill’s visit because the diocese has a conflict with the Kurgan authorities over the unauthorized construction of a garage in the very center of the city near a historical and architectural monument - the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. This story has received wide publicity and does not look good on the leadership of the diocese, according to city residents.

FederalPress will follow developments.

With the arrival of Metropolitan Joseph in the Trans-Ural region in 2014, conflicts within the Orthodox diocese intensified. After the recent visit of Patriarch Kirill, the scandal flared up with renewed vigor. The priests turned to the head of the church with a letter in which they accused the Metropolitan’s closest associates of pedophilia and drug trafficking. In addition, they claim that the rector of the Epiphany Church in Kurgan, Archimandrite Innokenty (Kosarikhin), who died in the spring of 2017, is alive and hiding from justice.

According to the insider, the letter dated September 1 was signed by more than 60 priests (the editorial office only has its text - the ministers refuse to provide signatures, allegedly for fear of revealing their names). In the appeal, the patriarch is asked to restore order in the Kurgan diocese. The previously voiced accusations against the Metropolitan are repeated that he disposes of church values ​​at his own discretion, brings dubious clergy closer to him to the detriment of those who are popular with the flock, and behaves rudely, thereby scaring away parishioners.

What came as a surprise was the new charge of assisting in the distribution of drugs and connections with pedophiles. As URA.RU managed to find out, it is based on the fact that two ministers of the diocese were involved in criminal cases. In May 2016, student Ivan Liang, who worked at the Alexander Nevsky Church in Kurgan, was convicted. He was found guilty of illegal possession of drugs on a large scale and robbery. In February 2017, the administrator of the parish of the Epiphany Cathedral, Boris Orlov, was behind bars. He was previously convicted of extortion and rape of a minor. In 2014, the Leninsky District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region sentenced Orlov to three years of suspended imprisonment for large-scale drug possession. The convict did not comply with the terms of the sentence, and in November 2016 he became involved in a new criminal case, so the court decided to replace the suspended sentence with a real one.

Boris Orlov came to Kurgan following Metropolitan Joseph and Archimandrite Innocent (he was rector of the Epiphany Church, secretary of the diocese). The latter took an active part in the fate of Orlov and even spoke in his defense in court. Archimandrite Innocent died suddenly at the 40th year of his life, at that moment he was outside the Kurgan region in Serpukhov. However, sources familiar with the situation claim that the priest hastily left Kurgan after he learned that law enforcement agencies had questions about him. According to the agency's interlocutors, several witnesses stated that the death of Archimandrite Innocent was staged. Rumors are spreading that they want to exhume the priest’s grave.

“It is unlikely that there will be believers who would want to trust such clergy,” says the letter to the patriarch. In addition, the Trans-Ural priests note that they are afraid of persecution and revenge from Metropolitan Joseph. “There are cases when, after parishioners appealed in favor of the clergy, the metropolitan, by his sole decision, removed them from service or sent them into exile in an abandoned and practically unvisited church,” write the anonymous priests.

Circular No. 27 of December 27, 2017 “On Epiphany bathing” Kurgan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church...

Recently, so-called “Epiphany bathing” has become quite common. Mass bathing in the Epiphany ice hole is by no means a religious injunction, but only recently, with the help of the media, a folk custom that has come into wide circulation, and therefore cannot be called, as secular officials put it, a “cult event.” It's more of a social entertainment.

The “Handbook for Priestly Church Servants” by Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov (Kharkov, 1900, p. 17, note 2), republished with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' KIRILL in St. Petersburg in 2010, says the following :

“In some places there is a custom on the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord to bathe in rivers; especially those who dress up at Christmastide, tell fortunes, etc., bathe, superstitiously attributing to this bathing a cleansing power from these sins.

Such a custom cannot be justified by the desire to imitate the example of the Savior’s immersion in water, as well as the example of Palestinian pilgrims who bathe in the Jordan River at all times. In the east it is safe for pilgrims, because there is no such cold and such frosts as ours.

This custom cannot be supported by the belief in the healing and cleansing power of the water consecrated by the Church on the very day of the Baptism of the Savior, because swimming in winter means demanding a miracle from God, or completely neglecting your life and health.

It goes without saying that customs such as those described, as violating the sanctity of the celebration being celebrated and contrary to the spirit of true Christianity, cannot be tolerated and must be destroyed."

As stated in the very rite of the Great Blessing of Water, “that all who draw and receive communion may have it for the purification of souls and bodies, for the healing of passions, for the consecration of houses, and for all good.” That is, the Church Charter suggests taking consecrated water into one’s home for use, but not bathing in it.

On the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, the Church Charter prescribes only the Great Blessing of water in churches, and where this is possible according to the norms of sanitary and epidemiological rules, in bodies of water (rivers, lakes, ponds, springs, wells), in order to sanctify nature in memory of the Baptism of the Lord water, but, as we saw above, the Church does not call for “Epiphany bathing” and disapproves of it.

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Tomsk city Epiphany bathing in 2014 on White Lake

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However, in many places the custom of such folk bathing has already been established. The Diocesan Council of the Kurgan Diocese discussed the current situation and decided that if local authorities are ready to take care of organizing and carrying out this folk custom, the parishes of the diocese can provide the necessary assistance in this. The parishes and clergy themselves should not act as initiators and organizers of such events that have no basis in the Church Charter.

On May 16, 2015, Archbishop Joseph of Kurgan and Belozersky, head of the Kurgan Metropolis, arrived at his place of service in Kurgan. In the Cathedral of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, Bishop Joseph was met by the flock, the clergy of the newly formed Kurgan and Belozersk diocese and Archbishop Konstantin, who served as Administrator of the now divided Kurgan and Shadrinsk diocese for almost 7 years and was appointed by the Holy Synod as the head of the Karelian Metropolis.

Archbishop Constantine warmly welcomed the archpastor and addressed the flock, introducing the new Administrator of the diocese, the head of the Kurgan Metropolis, Vladyka Joseph: “Your Eminence, dear and beloved archpastor, Vladyka Archbishop Joseph of Kurgan and Belozersky, head of the Kurgan Metropolis! Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! The solemn moment has come when the flock meets their archpastor, who, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on May 5 of this year, was appointed Administrator of the newly formed Kurgan Metropolis. Bishop Joseph worked for many years in the Birobidzhan diocese, in very difficult conditions he created and established church life.

Since May 5, the Trans-Urals have been expecting a new Vladyka, and I have already celebrated the farewell Liturgy here on May 10, just as you, Vladika Joseph, said goodbye to your flock, who loved you very much for many years of your selfless service in Birobidzhan. Also here, the believing Trans-Urals will surround you, dear Vladyka, with Christian love, care and warmth,” concluded Vladyka Konstantin.

Before the prayer service for the beginning of a good deed, Archbishop Joseph of Kurgan and Belozersk addressed all those gathered with an archpastoral word: “Your Eminence, dear Vladyka Konstantin, both you and I are beginning a new and difficult period of life, when we will have to perform our episcopal service in a different capacity. and carry out broader activities for the revival of church life. Of course, we are getting used to the place where we live and serve, and I spent twelve and a half years in the Far East, starting the revival of the diocese with one wooden church. In the Far East, in Soviet times, no temples or shrines were spared, and previously, in the territory that today is covered by the Birobidzhan diocese, there were more than thirty churches, when this region was annexed to Russia. After the revolution, not a single temple remained, and when I arrived in Birobidzhan in 2002, one small village temple was waiting for me, and nothing more. When twelve years later, last year, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Birobidzhan diocese, he noted that it was small, but one of the best dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Here, in the Trans-Urals, the potential is, of course, greater, there are more opportunities, and I am already accepting a well-organized diocese, where Vladyka Michael worked, laying the foundation for the revival of church life. You have worked a lot, dear Vladyka Konstantin, a lot has been done with your hands, and you have invested all your great archpastoral experience, love, faith, strength to revive church life here in the Trans-Urals. While still a hierodeacon of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, I was familiar with the Kurgan and Shadrinsk diocese, but still nothing connected me with the Urals, Trans-Urals, but when I was appointed Manager of this diocese and I began to get acquainted with the life of the diocese on the Internet, I was surprised to find , that here, in Kurgan, the Church of the Epiphany was built, which is an exact copy of the Church of St. John the Baptist on the Volga in Uglich. In 1999, I became the Bishop of Uglich, vicar of the Yaroslavl diocese, and I opened this Church of St. John the Baptist, it was very difficult for the Russian Orthodox Church to get it back, because it is a unique monument of federal significance, a historical monument, with which is connected the tragic story of the martyrdom of the locally revered Holy Martyr Infant John. With great difficulty we managed to recapture this temple, and suddenly, now I find out that an exact copy of this temple stands here in Kurgan, this is surprising to me.

Dear fathers, brothers and sisters, of course, we are all united by a common love for Christ, a common veneration of the Mother of God and our Russian shrines and saints. I really hope that you and I, together, through common efforts, will continue the work that Vladyka Constantine has begun here to revive church life. I hope that the Lord will continue to pray for us in the future, just as we will constantly offer our prayers for him, prayers of love. I hope that you, dear Vladyka Constantine, will help me with your fraternal advice, and that we will all be good co-workers, and the laity will not only be passive contemplators of how church life proceeds, but together we will actively establish and approve it , and about this today let us offer prayers to the Throne of God’s Grace and ask God’s blessing for the upcoming labors,” concluded the Ruling Master.