He ends up as a priest!? He served mass for Navalny, the patriarch punishes him. Widow begs for help

Safronov was until now a priest in one of the Moscow temples, and after the death of Navalny, he joined the clergy who publicly called on the Russian authorities to release the body of the deceased to his family, the Meduza server wrote, recalling that the authorities did so only nine days after Navalny’s death. According to the media, Safronov prayed several times at his grave and held a memorial service there on March 26.

Before that, according to the Reuters agency, he recalled over the grave that Navalny had urged the Russians not to give up. “Evil can only be defeated by one thing, good. If we try to beat evil with evil, then we multiply evil… We will remember Alexey, remember his legacy, we will pray for him and hope that he will pray for us at the throne of God,” Safronov said on March 9 at the oppositionist’s grave.

Penalty for three years

On Tuesday, a decree appeared on the website of the Moscow Diocese, relieving Safronov of his priestly duties and ordering him to do penance for three years. According to the decision of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was sent to another church to fulfill the duties of psalm reciter, writes Meduza. The church did not give reasons for the decision. “At the end of the period of penance, based on the feedback, a decision will be made about the possibility of his further priestly service,” it is in the decree.

According to Reuters, it is another one of the a series of punishments imposed by the Russian Orthodox Church on clerics it deems sympathetic to the Russian opposition or has not sufficiently supported Russia’s war against Ukraine. Dozens of priests faced punishment for bucking her line on the war, such as reading prayers for peace instead of victory.

Dmitry Safronov came to Alexei at the cemetery several times and held a service for the deceased. I am very grateful to him,” tweeted the widow Julija Navalná, calling on people to help the priest and his family.

Navalny has been the face of the Russian opposition for years and has been a vocal critic of Putin’s regime, particularly for corruption. Since 2021, he has been in prison, successively serving sentences of 2.5 years, nine years and 19 years in prison. He denied guilt and attributed his imprisonment to the regime’s efforts to silence opponents and critics. In mid-February, he died suddenly in a penal colony in Siberia at the age of 47. Authorities say he died after becoming ill. Those close to Navalny claim that Putin’s regime is behind his death – either directly or indirectly. The Kremlin has denied that the state was involved in Navalny’s death.

The authorities did not release Navalny’s body to his mother until February 24. Until then, they refused to hand him over, claiming that the investigation into the cause of death was ongoing. According to Navalny’s associates, representatives of the investigative committee after Lyudmila Navalny, before releasing the remains, demanded that she agree to a secret burial without a public farewell. Navalna refused, and her son was buried at the beginning of March at Borisovsky Cemetery in Moscow.

Thousands of people attended the farewell. No civilian ceremonial hall attended the farewell. As the survivors hoped, the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow’s Marjino district, where Navalny used to live, offered them services. Only a few relatives were allowed inside, but crowds were waiting in front of the church.