Statement of the Holy Synod

STATEMENT OF THE HOLY SYNOD

The faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church and our fellow-citizens have been shocked by the brutal murder on March 21 of hieromonk Gregory (Yakovlev), rector of the church of the Holy Trinity at the Tura village, Evenkia, diocese of Krasnoyarsk. This outrage was committed with particular brutality and was followed by sacrilegious actions. According to the information available today, the murderer put into his action a certain religious meaning.

This tragedy has become another manifestation of a profound spiritual crisis that our society is experiencing today. The raging of crime, the loss of value and moral pointers, the propaganda of violence and all-permissiveness — all this has become that nourishing soil on which all kinds of satanic and occult sects, which deny the value of human life and openly demonstrate hatred towards Christianity and its spiritual traditions, flourish today. The existence of destructive cults presents an extreme danger to society. Tolerance and neglect of the criminal fruits of their activities are fraught with new, ever more tragic consequences.

The Church grieves over the martyrdom of hieromonk Gregory, remembering at the same time that Orthodoxy asserts itself by the blood of martyrs. Death for Christ has become the crown of the life of the deceased who devoted himself wholly to the service of God and people. We pray that the All-merciful Lord may give rest to His servant hieromonk Gregory in the dwellings of the righteous and make his memory eternal.