Moscow, April 6, 2017
Photo: ria.ru Satanist parents, who named their children Lucifer and Voldemar, angered by the secret Baptism of their children, are starting a petition to ban clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church from baptizing children under fourteen years of age, reports RIA-Novosti.
“I want to create a petition. The point is to restrict the rights of the Russian Orthodox Church to baptize children—either to generally forbid the Baptism of children younger than fourteen, or to require the written and notarized consent of the parents for the Baptism of their child, without which celebrating this rite would be a crime,” writes Natalia Menshikov on her personal social media page.
In her opinion, if a priest were to baptize a child under fourteen, or without parental notarized consent, he should be punished and serve a prison sentence. She also asked for help in preparing the petition from like-minded individuals.
In the post, the mother explains that her children were secretly baptized by family members in the summer of 2016. The parents have only recently become aware of it. “It was like a knife in the back, a terrible betrayal. We are depressed and hysterical. My mother, my husband’s grandmother, and my mother-in-law were all in on it. Even my husband’s brother knew, and no one said anything,” the woman complains.
She and her husband broke relations with their family members over the matter, from which her family has begun to experience financial difficulties, as previously they had depended on relatives for support. Now the husband takes care of the children while Natalia works for 20,000 rubles ($355) a month. Thus, Lucifer and Voldemar’s parents are willing to give interviews only for a fee.
