“They were afraid and afraid”: what is known about the shegumen of Sergius (Romanov), who closed in the Sredneuralsky monastery

The Central Ural Monastery, captured by schema-man Sergius (Romanov), is closed for an indefinite period. Protection of the monastery does not allow pilgrims and journalists to enter its territory. Romanov himself, banned from serving because of his sermons about the fiction of the coronavirus, continues to be in the monastery, while the abbess left his territory. Meanwhile, he is awaiting both the church and the administrative court of Romanov in video appeals calling for the resignation of the powers of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. Who is shegumen Sergiy - RT understood.

Preaching all sorts of conspiracy theories, dancing nuns and choral singing “Toast for the Russian people” with an accordion, practice of exorcism and veneration of Stalin along with Nicholas II - Father Sergius (Nikolai Romanov in the world) has been known for several years as one of the most odious priests in Russia. Some of the shiigumen’s public statements are extremely harsh, but this time Romanov attacked the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the end of April, in his video sermon, Father Sergius called the coronavirus epidemic a fabrication, urged the flock to take to the streets and go to church, and also burst out a curse on those who close the churches. In response, the Yekaterinburg diocese banned Sergius from preaching, but this did not stop the scandalous monk. Romanov made a new video message, this time about chipping through a coronavirus vaccine.

For this, the diocese banned him from serving until the decision of the church court. Soon an administrative case was instituted - under part 9 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses ("Abuse of freedom of the mass media", a fine of up to 100 thousand rubles). Mother Varvara and a number of nuns left the Central Ural Monastery, where Father Sergius is now. On June 27, a message appeared in the group for pilgrims on VKontakte that the monastery was closed. Security at the entrance does not allow pilgrims and visitors, including journalists.

“There are signs of sectarianism”

The official position of the diocese is as follows: “Mourning the fallacy of the former confessor of the monastery, for the sake of pacifying the situation, Mother Superior decided together with the sisters who did not share the schismatic position of the schemygumen Sergius to temporarily leave the territory in order to avoid unnecessary strife towards which Father Sergius is now inclined. , and give him the opportunity to change his mind and bring repentance. "

Local media report an unofficial version: the nuns suspected that a coronavirus had entered the monastery, decided to take a test and, if necessary, receive treatment, which Romanov categorically opposed. Father Sergius also stated that the abbess declared him a schismatic.

“First, testing, then vaccination, then chipization and the fascist regime,” Romanov announced in response to Varvara’s departure in his video message.

Together with the abbess, several more nuns left the monastery.

After Romanov's refusal to comply with the requirements of the diocese and the actual capture of the monastery, several dozen people arrived in the monastery, including celebrities, to support his spiritual father.

They love Romanov almost fanatically: they make films about him, in groups on social networks they share stories of healings and miracles allegedly revealed by a monk. In the religious community they have already started talking about the appearance of a new totalitarian sect.

“Regardless of what he says or does, these people are completely loyal to him, support him in everything, even when he says obvious rubbish. And this absolute obedience of people is very scary, because it is not known what further the Romanov will push them to, ”commented RT researcher of modern sectarianism, president of the center for religious studies in the name of Irenaeus of Lyons, professor Alexander Dvorkin.

However, the opinions of religious scholars were divided on whether or not to consider the followers of the shiigumen a sect.

According to Dvorkin, the sect has already, "of course, developed." “The main thing in the sect is the leader, to whom everyone is obliged to obey implicitly. We see that it is precisely this role that Romanov plays, ”the expert explains.

Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University Vladimir Vinokurov believes that it is still too early to call the sect of the Sergius community “The signs of intra-church sectarianism in this group are: increased authority of the clergyman, increased magical thinking instead of religious, faith in the apocalypse, the introduction of their own rituals and rituals, harsh remarks in relation to a certain“ source of all ills ”- masons or world government, for example, - explained RT Vinokurov. - But one of the main criteria of the sect is a tough organization and personal membership. And we are not observing this yet. ”

According to Vinokurov, the Romanov community should be assigned to the church-wide sect-like groups.

Among the journalists in Yekaterinburg there is talk that Romanov has already prepared his own escape route. In recent years, in the remote taiga in the abandoned villages, several hermitages were allegedly created where his followers live.

Everybody is a monk

“I first heard about him in the early 2000s, when mothers and other relatives of missing people started contacting me,” Orthodox journalist Raisa Ilyina told RT.

Many of the missing people were then discovered in the newly opened convent in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God, “The Sporegiver of the Breads,” where Sergei Romanov served as confessor and builder, says Ilyina.

“After staying there for a while, they themselves became not their own, showed aggression towards their relatives when trying to pick them up from there, fanatically followed every word of Romanov,” Ilina continues. - People were massively lured to that monastery, mainly women in difficult situations, after a divorce, with their children. But there were also very young girls of 17–20 years old who sometimes traveled from other cities without even warning their parents and in fact abandoning them to live their life alone. ”

According to the journalist, today the situation with the “flight” to the monastery remains, although according to church rules, leaving to monasticism is possible only with the blessing of the parents. At first glance, most people still go to the monastery voluntarily. But many, Ilyina claims, simply do not know what awaits them there: "They fall under the charm of Romanov, especially women, people weakened by difficult life circumstances."

“This is a charismatic. One person can see that it is hardly possible to convince him of something, but he can do it, ”the religious expert Vladimir Vinokurov estimates the abilities of Father Sergius.

Get into the monastery in different ways. Someone is being sent by priests from the parishes of the person’s place of residence, someone is being campaigned to come “to the old man” during religious processions and at nun's Orthodox fairs.

But the main goal of such a “recruitment”, according to Ilyina, is free labor, as well as money from newly made inhabitants and novices.

“Romanov invites everyone indiscriminately to his monastery, promising salvation - they say, only he can be saved. It only forces you to sell housing, and bring money to him, ”says Ilyina.

A lot of evidence for her words can be found, for example, on the forum of the center for religious studies in the name of the holy martyr Irenaeus of Lyons, who is engaged in the fight against totalitarian sects and assistance to victims of them. Here are the most noteworthy posts.

“The first thing that interested him was the size of my salary! Evasively answered that she had not yet received, only got a job. Then he began to tell me that I should become a nun! Seeing me for the first time, not knowing anything ... I am not fit into any monks and have never shown such a desire. A real old man rarely blesses anyone as a monk, people walk for years and ask! And shegumen Sergius blesses everyone there. ”

“Yesterday I managed to talk with my relative, who got there. He is seriously preparing to sell his apartment and go into the woods! Purchases all sorts of batteries, rechargeable batteries, flashlights and more. Waiting for the "go-ahead" from the "elder", that is, his direct personal blessing. "

Not only women come to the monastery to Romanov. Workers constantly live and work there, have their own farm with livestock, gardening, workshops, a children's school, and also a hospice, although the monastery’s administration calls it a "clinic for cancer patients."

Sex, drugs, monastery

Getting into the "Bread dispenser", says Raisa Ilyina, people become virtually powerless, becoming completely dependent on Sergius. They are forced to destroy passports and other documents, for disobedience they are severely punished.

“People are systematically beaten here, including minors,” says Ilyina. “I talked with a man who, personally, as a monk, with the blessing of Sergius, beat the children who lived there.”

Shortly before the scandal with the capture of the monastery, a video appeared on the Internet recorded by one of the former pupils who lived there from 2006 to 2010. In it, the girl talks about the terrible customs and lawlessness that reigned in the monastery. On the network, the shooting did not last long - the girl was persecuted by the followers of Sergius and even threatened her with physical harm. As a result, Karina (the name was changed in the interests of the heroine's safety) deleted the video from all social networks, but RT has it at her disposal.

According to Karina, despite the fact that the monastery is female, male workers are also accepted into it, many of whom previously served their sentences in prisons, including for serious crimes - murders and pedophilia. In the monastery, they, according to Karina, “raised the youths,” but besides this, Father Sergius forced them to beat children and adolescents. One of such workers “with domes on her chest,” as the girl recalls, “jokingly” sent a gun at her when she was only ten years old.

“And when I threatened to tell my sisters and father about this (I mean Karina’s own father, who sometimes came to visit her. - RT ), he replied that he would cut dad’s throat,” the girl says.

One day, Karina recalls, during such a visit, her father saw the same worker “beating the lad” in the hayloft.

“When the father tried to intercede for her, he answered:“ Who are you to break the blessing of the father? ” - says Karina.

She also suspects that there has been sexual abuse of minors in the monastery.

“One girl who lived there for 11 years was diagnosed with HIV as a result,” Karina says. - I saw that she lives separately from everyone, and someone constantly came to her cell, beat her, and maybe did something else. Otherwise, where would HIV come from in the monastery ?! ”

However, on this score there is another assumption voiced by the regional media - in the monastery “there were drugs in use,” including opiates.

Raisa Ilyina spoke about what was happening in the monastery back in 2013, and, according to her, she repeatedly tried to draw attention to the problems of the monastery by law enforcement agencies and the administration of the Sverdlovsk region, but to no avail.

“In the meantime, people continued to come to me for help whose loved ones fell under the influence of Romanov,” says Ilyina. In total over the past ten years, she received about a dozen such appeals. In recent years, the center headed by Alexander Dvorkin has received the same amount, the latter two years ago.

From prisoners to the holy fathers

Police operative by profession, in 1985, the future priest Nikolai Romanov himself came into the view of law enforcement officers. Romanov was suspected of embezzlement of state property and traffic accidents, and then another of murder in robbery. Sentenced to 13 years, which he spent in IK-13 in Nizhny Tagil. Freed in 1997, Romanov decided to stay in the Urals and devote himself to God.

In 1998, he entered as a novice at the monastery in the name of the New Martyrs of Russia, built on the site of the murder of members of the royal family in the city of Alapaevsk, Sverdlovsk Region.

Just two years later, in 2000, he became the first abbot of the monastery of the Holy Royal Martyrs. A year later, he was ordained hieromonk at that time by the Archbishop of Yekaterinburg Diocese of Vincent. According to church canons, a person who killed a person could never become a priest. But Romanov succeeded.

“The bishop could not know about it, since he himself was connected with crime, at least take the scandal with the export of icons when he moved to the new diocese,” Raisa Ilyina expresses her personal opinion.

And in 2002, with the blessing of the same Vincent, Sergius was appointed confessor of the women's monastery under construction in the name of the Icon of the Mother of God, the “Sporegator of the Breads" near Sredneuralsk.

“Formally, he has no authority there, he is not and cannot be the rector, he just lives there. But in fact, he is the only confessor of the monastery and decides everything there, ”explains Alexander Dvorkin. It was Sergius, and not the Mother Superior Barbara, who actually single-handedly led the life of the monastery from its very foundation.

The current public scandal is far from the first in which the name of Father Sergius appears. For many years he was called the confessor of Natalia Poklonskaya (the State Duma deputy herself denies this, but believes that Romanov is “a good man”).

The scandalous priest, a convinced Tsarevozhnik, believes in the doctrine of the atonement of Nicholas II for the sin of the infidelity of his people. Romanov - supported a large-scale campaign against the film "Matilda" by Alexei Uchitel. Allegedly, the film offends the feelings of believers and demonstrates "sacrilege" in relation to the royal family. Recall that during the protests in several cities of Russia pogroms occurred: cars were set on fire in Moscow, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the studio of director Alexei Uchitel in St. Petersburg. However, it was not possible to ban the film.

It should be noted that the Yekaterinburg diocese itself constantly conducts, among other things, a public conversation with civil society. For example, in 2019, a conflict broke out over the idea of constructing St. Catherine’s Church in a park in the center of Yekaterinburg. Then the opponents of the construction began to hold public actions in defense of the square, while the Yekaterinburg priests came to rallies, but not in order to aggravate the conflict, but, on the contrary, to explain the position of the church, to argue in favor of the church and not to aggravate the split in society. As a result, including due to the position of the diocese, the deal ended in a compromise: they decided to build the church in another place, also in the center of Yekaterinburg. The diocese took a restrained position during the scandalous process in the case of the blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky, who caught virtual Pokemon in one of the churches: the diocese said that if the young man repents, the Church will petition for his pardon. As a result, Sokolovsky was sentenced to two years and three months probation.

Cossacks and security forces

Probably one of the reasons why the scandalous monk gets away with it is that Romanov had extensive connections. The media, for example, is named among the spiritual children and admirers of the shiigumen vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk region Sergey Bidonko. After refusing to comply with the requirements of the Diocese of Romanov, the founder of Ural Dumplings Dmitry Sokolov, hockey player Pavel Datsyuk and other famous people supported him.

Romanov also enjoys the support of the Ural Cossacks, although unofficially. In his sermon, he called on the Cossacks to defend him; some of them actually arrived at the monastery. At the same time, the official register Cossacks of the Orenburg military Cossack society disowned Romanov.

But one of the informal associations and at the time of publication continues to guard the monastery. Presumably, we are talking about the Ural Cossack army led by ataman Oleg Senenko. Previously, it was already “famous” for the breakdown of winter car races on Lake Baltym. And his chieftain was involved in yet another scandal - local media found his assets in London.

“Perhaps Romanov is supported by some security forces. The content of his sermons is becoming more and more radical from day to day - he calls on officers to become alert, justifies Hitler’s genocide, claims that a “satanic Jewish Masonic regime” has been established in Russia, and calls to oppose him. It just could not go unpunished. Any other person who publicly says much less than Sergius would have long been under criminal responsibility and brought to trial, ”said Alexander Dvorkin.

The siloviki (at least the former) really openly speak out in support of Romanov - for example, deputy chairman of the public council of the Ministry of Public Security of the Sverdlovsk region, reserve major-general Sergey Ivanov posted the video in defense of Sergius.

Among other things, he said that he considers "the coronavirus and the pandemic to be artificially created conditions in order to separate people, peoples and ensure the coming to power of a shadow world government."

“I can declare that it exists with all responsibility, because in my previous position I dealt with just these issues,” Ivanov said.

Star of Prison Orthodoxy

“When we received complaints from the victims in his monastery, messages from those who came there and were impressed by the rules that prevailed there, I repeatedly turned to the Yekaterinburg diocese, but did not receive official answers. When informally asked local fathers about Romanov, they said that he still had very great connections in the criminal world, various thieves in law supported him. Some claimed that he kept thieves in the monasteries. They also said that in a paradoxical way he has great connections with local law enforcement officers, and of a high rank, ”says Alexander Dvorkin. “It's a mystery to me why the diocese has not done anything for so long.” It can be assumed that they were afraid of him and are afraid of him. ”

Among the specific representatives of the criminal world, allegedly associated with Sergius, the late criminal authority Timur Sverdlovsky (Mirzoyev), the nephew of Grandfather Hassan, is most often called.

“He once sat in the cell with him. And Timur later came to the monastery to him, and he accepted him, despite the open form of tuberculosis, ”says Raisa Ilyina.

Indirectly, this information is confirmed by the operational survey of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the detention of participants in the gathering held in Yekaterinburg in 2013. Mirzoyev was also present at it, and one of the other "authorities" said that before the meeting they "went to the monastery and to receive communion."

The media called Mirzoyev a “looker” beyond the Urals. But even if Romanov really knew the grandfather of Grandpa Hassan, this could hardly have provided him with the influence and impunity that he possesses, said political analyst Platon Mamatov.

“Here, in the Urals, the newcomers of the criminal world, such as Mirzoyev, have never waited or complained. Yekaterinburg and the region "belong" to the Ural "respected people", the expert is convinced. As an example, he cites an episode when in 2004 in the center of the city the participants of the Uralmash JPS convened a rally against the appointment of a person “looking” from another region - more than a thousand people went to the rally. Since then, Mamatov emphasizes, little has changed: “Now these same“ respected people ”are represented in local business, city and regional authorities. So a stranger, no matter who he is appointed, can only claim to influence in places of imprisonment, where he can collect some tribute and have some weight. "

However, it is here - in prisons and colonies - that Romanov’s influence is really great, Mamatov said.

“In places of deprivation of liberty, people who consider themselves believers relate to him with more attention and reverence than to other representatives of the Church. Because the man, a former robber and killer, spent many years in prison, ”the expert explains.

In addition, according to Mamatov, the current confrontation with the Russian Orthodox Church adds to Sergiy’s popularity among the prison population: “This only adds weight to their eyes, for them it is a sign of quality. Now in almost all prisons, inmates have telephones, including those with the ability to watch YouTube. And what Romanov preaches, he says, including for them. ”

The court hearing in the administrative case against Romanov will be held on July 7. The church trial of the shiigumen was to be held on June 26, but Romanov did not appear at it. The next meeting should be held on July 3.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, RT explained that before the church trial of Father Sergius they would not give comments.