Prague, August 22, 2024
Church of St. Olga in Františkovy Lázně. Photo: ceskenoviny.cz
Earlier this month, it was reported that the Czech Republic has revoked the permanent residency of Archpriest Nikolai Lischenyuk, 51, who served as rector of the Russian Orthodox Church’s representative church in Karlovy Vary from 2006 to 2022.
Without providing any evidence of any political activities on the part of Fr. Nikolai, Czech authorities accuse him of “creating an influence structure with the support of Russian state authorities and could threaten state security.”
Now the Senate Security Committee is calling for a further investigation into not only the Russian Church’s parish in the Czech Republic, but even the autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, reports ceskenoviny.cz.
“Freedom of religion and association shouldn’t be misused for illegitimate influence by a hostile foreign power,” said committee chairman Pavel Fischer.
If current regulations don’t allow the state to respond to security threats posed by the misuse of churches, the government should propose an amendment that would give the state the necessary powers, similar to the case of associations or political parties, Fischer added.
The committee chairman reminded that the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic is a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is linked to Russian state power and led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, whom the Czech government placed on its sanctions list in April 2023, for his support of the war in Ukraine.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský said brazenly: “I don’t consider the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to be a Church and its representatives to be clergy. It’s part of the Kremlin’s repressive machinery that participates in Russia’s influence operations.”
Although acknowledging that the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia is wholly separate from the Moscow Patriarchate, the committee alleges that it too has come under increasing influence from “persons connected to Russian power structures” since 2014.
Fischer refers to the alleged misuse of a cemetery chapel for other purposes, though without explaining it’s connection to the Moscow Patriarchate.
According to the committee, the government should also task Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan with ensuring that the police make every effort to detect and investigate any possible criminal activities by Orthodox Christians in the Czech Republic.
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