Russian priest spoke harshly about personnel policy in the Russian Orthodox Church
Scandals surrounding the exposure of pedophile priests indicate a serious problem with personnel policy in the Russian Orthodox Church, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
This was stated by the conservative Orthodox publicist, Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Vsevolod Chaplin, commenting on his telegram channel Orthodox Politics on a fresh scandal with accusations of Archpriest Alexy Mokievsky, the rector of the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Lipin Bor, Vashkinsky district, Vologda region, of pedophilia and seduction of a 12-year-old girl.
“There was a lot of controversy regarding this priest; earlier he was accused of committing indecent acts towards his adopted daughter. There were both accusers and defenders. But now he himself has admitted his guilt. And this should be enough to defrock him. You can, of course, wait for the verdict, but what else is there to discuss?” says Chaplin.
According to him, this case makes us think about personnel policy in the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Very often, people who are dubious in all respects become clergy: they either cause fatal accidents, fight, or initiate fundraising, promising guaranteed results from their prayers. It seems to me that we need to follow the principle: less is more. When dioceses strive to report on a large number of new churches opened, and the quality of pastors is alarmingly poor, then this approach is wrong,” says the archpriest.
According to him, the Russian Orthodox Church currently has more churches than priests ready to serve in them.
“We have more than two thousand more active churches than there are priests, and in many churches there are from two to five priests, which means that at least three thousand parishes exist only formally and are not full-fledged church communities with their own permanent pastor. The staffing problem is understandable - but why establish non-viable parishes? Let such churches be assigned, with periodic visits by the clergy. And it is better not to have a priest in some distant place than to ordain anyone. It is necessary to reconsider the situation in which random, dubious people, people with dirty behavior can be ordained,” summed up Vsevolod Chaplin.
A Russian priest has harshly criticized the Russian Orthodox Church's personnel policy.