“Romanov said that he would appeal the verdict passed to him the other day, since he did not admit guilt, and also said that a case was being held against him on charges of extremist activity, according to which he, on the basis of Art.
51 does not testify to the Constitution, ”Ivanov said.
The former schema-abbot is being held in a three-bed cell with former law enforcement officers, as he himself served in the police.
He does not complain about the conditions in the pre-trial detention center, although he says that he is almost 67 years old, and spent three months in the prison hospital, where he was diagnosed with a number of diseases and offered an operation, but he refused it.
He only has complaints about being transported to court - it is cramped in the paddy wagon, it’s hard for him, a non-smoker, and the journey takes several hours.
During his imprisonment, Nikolai Romanov once met with the prison priest.
“About 10 months ago I met a priest in the pre-trial detention center, once it happened.
We discussed the arrangement of the prison church, I want to leave a good mark, and I asked for the size of the iconostasis, altar, chandelier, bells, all this I could pass on to the temple with my spiritual children, ”the human rights activist quoted Romanov as saying.
The former priest lamented that he had not received the required dimensions.
"By the way, he does not recognize the eruption of dignity and excommunication and insists that Father Sergius turn to him," said the interlocutor of RT.
In the Russian Orthodox Church, commenting on the initiative of the former schema-abbot to equip the prison church, they explained that on this issue he should contact the administration of the pre-trial detention center, the priest who will take care of the temple or the head of the synodal department for prison ministry.
“There are no canonical prohibitions on accepting temple utensils as gifts from the excommunicated; there are cases when the rulers of Muslim countries erected Orthodox churches and handed them over to the churches.
But I would advise Nikolai Romanov to repent first and atone for the evil that he has caused by repentance, "Bishop Savva (Tutunov), deputy head of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, told RT.
Romanov was detained on the night of December 28-29, 2020.
He was charged under three counts: suicidal tendencies, arbitrariness, and offending religious feelings.
In September of the same year, it became known that Schemamonk Sergius had been excommunicated for conducting divine services, despite being deprived of his dignity.
On November 30, 2021, the court sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison.