The ex-schema monk Sergiy (Romanov), excommunicated from the church, was preparing a mass suicide of his parishioners, police believe. This became known on December 29 to the REN TV channel.
According to him, the reason for the arrest of Romanov was a video of a sermon. It was posted online on December 5th. At the end of the service, the ex-schema-monk asked the parishioners how many of them were ready to “die for Russia”. About 300 people raised their hands.
According to the detainee’s lawyer, the investigators indicted Romanov, who was excommunicated from the church, under three articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on inclinations to suicide, arbitrariness and insult to religious feelings.
The security forces carried out a real special operation in order to penetrate the territory of the monastery seized by the ex-schema-abbot, as it was guarded by the Cossacks. Force support was provided to the investigators by the OMON unit.
Sergius was escorted to a police car, taken to the regional office of the Investigative Committee, and then sent to Moscow.
In the spring, Sergiy Romanov, during a sermon, urged citizens not to believe in the coronavirus pandemic and to abandon security measures. At the end of May, the diocesan authorities banned him from serving. After he was defrocked.
In September it was reported that Ek-Schema-monk Sergiy was excommunicated by the decision of the court of the Yekaterinburg diocese. Later, in October, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia approved the decision of the ecclesiastical court of the Yekaterinburg diocese.