Letter to ROC Patriarch in defence of Uminsky signed by 8100 people in a day

Archpriest Alexei Uminsky, banned from the priesthood. Photo: Anna Danilova's FB page

A special website has been set up online for signatures under a letter to Patriarch Kirill in defence of Archpriest Alexei Uminsky, the former rector of the Trinity Church in Moscow, who was dismissed and banned from ministry. The letter was signed by more than 8,100 people in one day alone.

The letter says that "Father Alexei Uminsky is a priest who has brought a significant number of people to faith and created a large, vibrant, and active community at the Holy Trinity Church in Khokhlovsky Lane in Moscow."

It is also mentioned that he "personally travels around Moscow and the Moscow region to give communion to dying children under the care of the Children's hospice 'House with a Lighthouse', visits terminally ill children and adults in hospitals, and supports parents whose children have died in the hospice."

The letter's compilers indicate that the priest's ban will "deprive thousands of people of spiritual support" and ask Patriarch Kirill to reconsider his decision "for the spiritual well-being of the believers".

At the same time, accusations have emerged online that not all signatures under the letter are genuine. The Patriarch's vicar Archbishop Savva (Tutunov), on his Telegram channel, accused supporters of Father Alexei Uminsky of falsehood. Someone signed the letter on behalf of "Tutunov Sergey Andreevich, Archbishop of the ROC" under number 2287.

"I would never sign against the Church and the Homeland. This is unthinkable for me," wrote the hierarch and expressed regret that "Father Alexei Uminsky turned out to be so unwise."

As reported, a Moscow priest was banned over his well-known anti-war stance.

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