Russian Orthodox Church defrocks coronavirus-denying monk

Russian Orthodox Church on Friday defrocked a coronavirus-denying monk who has defied Kremlin lockdown orders and taken control of a monastery.

A church panel in Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg ruled to defrock Far Sergiy, who has attracted nationwide attention by urging believers to disobey church leership and defy church closures during pandemic.

monk didn't show up at session and dismissed verdict. In a video posted by one of his supporters, he urged his backers to come to defend Sredneuralsk women's monastery where he has holed up since last month.

church banned monk from ministry in May, but he has continued preaching and last month took charge of monastery outside Yekaterinburg that he h founded years ago. Scores of volunteers, including battle-hardened veterans of separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, helped enforce his rules, while prioress and several nuns have left.

Far Sergiy has declared coronavirus pandemic n-existent and deunced electronic passes introduced in Moscow and some or regions to stem outbreak as “Satan’s electronic camp.” monk has described vaccines being developed against COVID-19 as part of a global plot to control masses via chips.

He also urged believers to disobey closure of churches during nationwide lockdown. Orthodox churches across Russia were closed to parishioners on April 13 amid a quick rise in COVID-19 cases and were allowed to reopen in early June as authorities eased restrictions.

Speaking last month in a video from his monastic cell where icons and ims of Orthodox Church hierarchs of past orn wall alongside pictures of Russia’s last Czar, Nicholas II, and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Far Sergiy warned church officials that y will need to seize monastery by force to get him out.