Thousands of Orthodox priests faced suppression after Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 because, in the opinion of human rights activists, they disagreed with the guidelines of Russian liberal and church authorities.
A variety fled Russia, fearing trial, or were banned from government by the Russian Orthodox Church controlled by Moscow. For speaking out against Russia’s brutality in Ukraine, people were imprisoned.
The fleeing priests face special challenges because they frequently lack transferable skills, in addition to the typical immigrant challenges of getting a job and getting a visa.
DW spoke with a number of Russian monks who are adjusting to life in their new home in captivity in Germany.
dishes to be washed and studying European
Father Yakov, whose brand has been changed for health reasons, had been officiating at an Catholic church in Russia’s north since the late 2010s. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he became involved in anti-war activities.
Prior to Russia’s announcement of the limited participation of military conscripts in September 2022, he was granted a philanthropic visa for an Eastern European nation through this engagement.
” I realized that I had no longer any hopes of staying in Russia… given the current political government and the position in the Russian Orthodox Church,” he told DW.
Yakov claimed to have already planned to leave Russia, but that he only had a few days to pack up and leave.
Even if that was the case at the time, he claimed, he was concerned that” tomorrow all was change”.
However, Yakov had a difficult time adjusting to life in the new nation. For several months, he washed dishes illegally, earning just €3.50 ($ 3.65 ) an hour. Eventually, he was given a scholarship to study European in the European city where he has been residing since September 2023.
Yakov is also concerned about the future. He claims that despite his work as a Soviet Catholic priest, it is difficult to find a location anywhere in Western Europe because he wants to continue studying in Germany.
” It’s possible if you have some respectable liberal career. For example, if you are an IT specialist pastor or had a medical history, it’s much less of a problem”, he said.
IT expert, dissident, and human rights activist
Like lots of other anti-war priests from Russia, Yakov receives support from the volunteer Peace unto All, which was co-founded by Father Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky.
In 2024, the firm helped 45 monks and their families with fiscal aid totaling €120, 000, Dunin-Barkovsky said.
” We are indecisive about the financial issue. Day is the main requirement for those in need. After being expelled from the government, some people need to pursue a fresh career. Some people must apply for a card while living in a second nation. Some may wait for their situation to be reviewed, but they’ll be allowed to function in a new state”, he told DW.
Dunin-Barkovsky, who is now based in Germany, became involved in the chapel while still in Russia.
His eldest boy, Alexei Navalny, the then-Russian opposition leader, was charged in 2018 for attending marches that he had organized in his lifetime.
” So we realized we had to left”, Dunin-Barkovsky said. I accepted an offer and left my well-paying work in Moscow for a peculiar job in Germany. And I’ve been here ever since”.
Then Dunin-Barkovsky works in IT and serves as a preacher in the Catholic church of St. Nicholas in Düsseldorf in Germany’s north.
In his Düsseldorf district, he said, the number of parishioners has at least doubled since the invasion of Ukraine.
Moving from Spain to Germany
Father Andrey Kordochkin, another co-founder of the Harmony unto All job, has been a Russian Orthodox priest for more than 20 times, including at a church in Spain’s money, Madrid.
Kordochkin found himself at the center of interest “without wanting to,” he claimed when Russia invaded Ukraine.
” Spanish advertising needed to speak with a Russian journalist. And, since the ambassador had gone into deep protection at that point, we and our golden-domed religion were really in a spotlight”, Kordochkin told DW.
Even though he was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kordochkin felt it was important for him not to” reveal the political agenda that permeated Moscow,” Kordochkin said.
Because of his anti-war opinions, in first 2023 the Russian Orthodox Church suspended him for three weeks.
He was aware at the time that his “exodus from Madrid” could become regarded as a “done deal.” Kordochkin relocated to Germany where he is pursuing a doctoral thesis on the philosophical and religious aspects of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine after receiving a small scholarship from the Protestant Church there.
Hard lifestyle for priests from Russia
Kordochkin is also the dean of an catholic church in Tilburg, in the north of the Netherlands. Instead of the Russian Orthodox Church, his church is administered by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Russia severed ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate in 2018 after granting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church ( autocephaly ) its independence.
But, said Kordochkin, this doesn’t imply another Russian Orthodox clergy can also quickly discover work with the Constantinople Patriarchate.
Even if a priest was originally barred from the Russian Orthodox Church, he noted that it is extremely challenging to move from one patriarch to another. He is unaware of any instances in which the German province of the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted a Russian or Ukrainian pastor.
For those monks who are moving from Russia to Europe, he only has two alternatives: seeking hospital and” sharing all the hardships of life as a refugee” with a priest who supports his home.
Both Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky and Andrey Kordochkin think that many German Catholic catholics would be happy to visit a district outside of Russia’s power.
” These times, a lot depends on people who believe and want to keep their commitment to Jesus and the Gospel”, said Dunin-Barkovsky, — folks, he said, who understand that, just as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his followers didn’t consider Russia away from them, the Russian Orthodox Church” doesn’t take away the Catholic faith”.
