At one time, ROCinU priest Ioan Kurmoyarov, who is reportedly also a “Doctor of Theology,” pursued pro-active anti-Ukrainian efforts across social media, operating from the Tulchyn eparchy in Vinnytsia region,
His blogs were often shared by pseudo-religious outlets, including the SPZh. This wannabe “theologian”, with a purchased master’s degree, did not recognize Russian aggression, referred to the ongoing war with Russia as “infighting,” considered the Ukrainian language and literature second-rate, etc. He especially criticized what was at the time called the Kyiv Patriarchate. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation and its pocket ROC was the “kingdom of heaven” in his understanding. Then the cleric got too overwhelmed with own enthusiasm and eventually crossed the “red line.” A report was drawn up against the “blogger” (under Part 1 Article 173-3 of the Criminal Code). When things started to heat up, the pro-Russian church leadership quickly got rid of their “theologian.” The cleric then fled to his dream land of Russia, all the way up north to Novosibirsk. There he was offered the position of seminary teacher and settled in a local dormitory. This is how he went public in Russia. It would seem that life has gotten better for him. But over time, Kurmoyarov began complaining that there were things he didn’t like too much about his “beloved and praised” mother Russia.
In 2020, he was banned from clergy and ultimately fired. The ROC, which Kurmoyarov so zealously defended in Ukraine, turned out to be less “welcoming” for him than he expected. On his Facebook page, the hieromonk started posting reports criticizing the ROC’s main military temple, as well as church leadership.
Kurmoyarov didn’t stop there as he filed a legal claim against the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Can you imagine what this led to? Deprived of a job to pay his rent, Kurmoyarov started to file more complaints and sue more officials. He even wrote to the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. In his begging spree, Kurmoyarov suddenly realized that “the main systemic problem is that the church in our country merges with government, becoming a social institution…”
Finally, the “theologian” realized the obvious truth that the ROC is part of Russia’s state apparatus, which serves their tsar.
After that, Kurmoyarov left the Church ranks and joined the schismatics, the ROC Abroad, led by Agafangel Pashkovsky. So it turned out that Kurmoyarov had been defending the monster that eventually devoured him. So much for fighting against the “schismatics” in Ukraine, defending the interests of the ROC and ROCinU… It all boiled down to the cleric finding himself thrown out of the church as a schismatic. Indeed, the devil is skillful in guiding the souls of those who don’t seek salvation in the Church, but cultivate their own ambitions and desires. May God protect you all from this!
This is the story of only one of the many “apologists of the Russian World.” Plenty of Russophiles in Ukraine still hold Ukrainian citizenship, eat Ukrainian bread, drink Ukrainian water, having been born in Ukraine, but grown to have a crush on Russia. Now they may be praising Moscow but time will come when they will be the first ones to be persecuted by the Russians. May God help them understand this in time. I’d like to wish Kurmoyarov speedy repentance and return to the bosom of the Church, without which there is no salvation.
Authored by Hieromonk Sofroniy (Chupryna)
