The Moscow Patriarch Kirill issued decrees by which he personally placed two priests under interdiction (prohibition from serving).
The first is prot. Andrey Kordochkin, who has been serving in Spain for many years (as a priest in the cathedral of the Spanish-Portuguese Diocese of the ROC in Madrid and until August 25, 2022, he was secretary of the diocese). Father Andrey is known for his clear anti-war stance, which he openly speaks about both on social media and in the press. A denunciation was filed against him in the Moscow Patriarchate by “outraged parishioners”.
The second is Fr. Ioan Koval, priest in the church “St. Andrei Parvozvani” in Lublin, who is not known, nor has he had any public speeches. The reason for the decision is that the priest changed one word in the “Prayer for Holy Rus” sent for mandatory reading in all Russian churches. Father John, during his service, replaced the word “victory” with the word “peace”. Instead of saying, “Arise, O God, to the aid of Thy people, and grant us Thy power to give us victory,” he prayed, “Give us peace by Thy power.”
Parishioners who did not like this prayer complained in writing about him.
The banning order said the priest was accused of “self-incrimination”. He was forbidden to perform religious services “until the completion of the consideration of his case by the Disciplinary Commission of the Moscow Diocesan Council.”
Publicist and theologian Sergei Chapnin commented on the decrees as follows: “A day after celebrating the 14th anniversary of his enthronement, Patr. Cyril made a number of extremely harsh decisions, which clearly show that he has decided to start a new and even more terrible stage in the history of the Moscow Patriarchate. I wish I was wrong, but this looks like the beginning of the “great terror”. The difference is that the showdown with the clergy begins not with the secret services, not with external forces, but with the patriarch himself and his faithful church officials. Unfortunately, it is quite predictable that the pendulum of repression will swing. The majority of the bishopric and clergy are frightened and silent. But there are still a few who are willing to stand up to the lies and insanity. It is with them that the showdown begins.”
