Over 24 Orthodox priests murdered in Russia since 1990

[Ioannis]

24 Orthodox priests and two monks murdered in Russia during 17 years
August 24th 2007, 17:50 | WWW

Moscow, August 24th, Interfax - 24 Orthodox priests and two monks have
been murdered in Russia since 1990.

According to the Moscow Patriarchate's website, the murder of
Archpriest Alexander Men is the first of the list of those notorious
crimes. Fr. Men was died at his home because of blood loss after he
was hit with something heavy in the morning September 9, 1990 near
the Semkhoz railways station.

Tree monks of the Optina Pustyn monastery, Hieromonk Vasily
Roslyakov, Monk Trofim Tatarnikov and Monk Ferapont Pushkaryov were
murdered on the Easter Day, April 18, 1993. Their murderer Nikolay
Averin said that the devil made him do that.

The rector to the church of Archangel Michael in Grozny Fr. Anatoly
Chistousov was murdered on February 14, 1996 by a Chechen gang led by
Ahmed Zakayev after he refused to urged Russian soldiers to
surrender. The priest was tortured before being shot dead.

Archpriest Alexander Zharkov was murdered on September 14, 1997 in
St. Petersburg. Shortly before that he left the Moscow Patriarchate
for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Archpriest Peter Sukhonosov, the rector of the church of the
Intercession of the Mother of God in Sleptsovsakay, Ingushetia, was
kidnapped from his church on March 28, 1999 by a group of four
bandits, and subsequently murdered.

Hieromonk Grigory Yakovlev, the rector of the church in the town of
Tura, Krasnoyarsk Region, was murdered on March 21, 2000 in the
church of the Holy Trinity. The murdered, Ruslan Lyubetsky, 26,
severed the priest's head and placed it on the holy table. The same
day he was arrested. He said it was 'the god Krishna' who made him do that.

Priest Andrey Nikolayev, the rector of the Holy Trinity church in the
village of Pryamukhino, Tver Region, was burned in the night on
December 1 to 2, 2006 in his house together with his wife Ksenia and
their three kids.

Priest Oleg Stupichkin, the rector of the church of SS. Peter and
Paul in the town of Neyvo-Shaytansky, Sverdlovsk Region, was murdered
on the Christmas Eve, December 6, 2007. His murderers, Roman
Sukhachyov and Sergey Davlyatchin, who had already spent some time in
prison before, stayed in church after the service and killed the
priest with a cut of the iron pipe. After that, the criminals stole
twenty icons and tried to burn the church. They were detained the
same night. Fr. Stupichkin was married and had four children.

Hegoumen Avenir Smolin, the rector of the church of the Ascension of
Our Lord in the town of Furmanov, Ivanovo Region, was murdered in the
night on the August 21 to 22, 2007 in his house. His murderer, a
formerly convicted townsman of Furamnvo, confessed that he with his
accessory killed the priest in order to rob min.

[Errigal]

If these men had been religious leaders of another, more favoured group we never would have heard the end of it in the mainstream international media but because these murders have no propaganda value they go without comment.