How much money does Patriarch Kirill have. For what should the servant of God Cyril thank the “slave in the galleys
Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev Vladimir) - Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, and also after the elections in 2009 by the Local Council - Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Chairman of the DECR and a permanent member of the Holy Synod. Prior to his enthronement, he served as Metropolitan of the Smolensk and Kaliningrad churches.
Born in the autumn of 1946 in Leningrad. In high school, he combined his studies with work. After completing his studies, he entered the Seminary of the Clergy.
In the late 1960s he was tonsured, and a year later he graduated with honors from the Academy of the Clergy. Two years later, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and in the same period became the representative of the Metropolitan Patriarchate in Geneva.
In the mid-1970s, he was elevated to the rank of bishop of the Vyborg diocese, and later assumed the office of archbishop. Since the beginning of the 90s, he has been chairman of the commission of the Holy Synod, and a year later he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.
In early 2009, he became a candidate for the post of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', and two days later he won the vote with 75% of the vote.
A significant event in 2016 was his meeting with Pope Francis, which took place on neutral territory in Havana.
Family
His mother worked as a foreign language teacher, and his father was the chief mechanic at the factory, but in the end he decided to take the priesthood. Grandfather was also close to Orthodox faith and fought against the destruction of churches during the Soviet era.
The elder brother - Nikolay, holds the position of archpriest and is the rector of one of the cathedrals, worked as a professor at the academy of the clergy. The younger sister, Irina, works as a director in a gymnasium with Orthodox education.
Where does Patriarch Kirill live?
The main residence is the estate located in the village of Peredelkino. On a plot of two and a half hectares, there is a main three-story building and separate buildings adjacent to it, including: personal apartments, reception halls, a house church, a hotel, utility rooms and a health complex, as well as a parking lot and a food storage box.
In addition, there is a pond and a park area with sculptures and households on the territory. household buildings.
The estate itself is furnished with luxury interior items brought from Italy, and the facade of the building resembles the Terem Palace in the Kremlin.
The DECR chairman travels a lot around the cities of Russia and conducts educational activities, so he does not have a permanent place of residence. The main places where he stops are: St. Danilov Monastery, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, residences on Valaam and Chisty Lane for working meetings, as well as several mansions: on Solovki, in Trinity-Lykovo and on Rublevka.
A few years ago in Gelendzhik in the village of Praskoveevka, on an area of just over 16 hectares, the construction of the Spiritual and Educational Center under the Russian Orthodox Church began. This construction was covered in different media in different ways.
According to one report, meetings and meetings of the Holy Synod will be held here, for whose members living quarters are also being built. In addition, this center will conduct educational work with youth and receive Primates and delegations from other churches.
According to other reports, this estate will serve as a dacha to a greater extent and is being built mainly for the summer holidays of the patriarch.
Apartment of Patriarch Kirill
While still a metropolitan, he lived for a long time in Serebryany Bor in a small wooden house. The area of the land plot is about seven thousand square meters. Outbuildings and buildings for educational and church activities are located on the territory, but the main house is small and already quite dilapidated.
During this period, President Boris Yeltsin and his entourage decided to improve their living conditions and presented to the clergyman five-room apartment 140 sq. meters. The living space is located in the famous "House on the Embankment" on Serafimovich Street, house 2.
He does not live here and never has. Initially, the donated property was in very poor condition and not suitable for habitation. Over time, the apartment was put in order and a collection of rare books, which Kirill's father began to collect back in Soviet times, was moved here for storage.
The apartment is located on the top floor of the building and has a magnificent view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This is the only property officially owned by Vladimir Gundyaev.
According to CIAN, apartments at Serafimovicha, 2 are larger than 100 sq. meters cost from 95 to 300 million rubles.
welfare Orthodox Church rests not only on the considerable assistance of the state, the generosity of patrons and donations from the flock - the ROC also has its own business. But where the earnings are spent is still a secret.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, spent half of February on distant wanderings. Negotiations with the Pope in Cuba, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, landing on Waterloo Island near the Antarctic coast, where Russian polar explorers from Bellingshausen station live surrounded by gentoo penguins.
To travel to Latin America, the patriarch and about a hundred escorts used the Il-96-300 aircraft with tail number RA-96018, which is operated by the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment. This airline is subordinate to the presidential administration and serves the first persons of the state ().
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' at the Russian station Bellingshausen on the island of Waterloo (Photo: Press Service of the Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church/TASS)
The authorities provide the head of the Russian Orthodox Church not only with air transport: the decree on the allocation of state guards to the patriarch was one of the first decisions of President Vladimir Putin. Three of the four residences - in Chisty Lane of Moscow, Danilov Monastery and Peredelkino - were provided to the church by the state.
However, the income items of the ROC are not limited to the help of the state and big business. The church itself has learned to earn.
RBC figured out how the economy of the Russian Orthodox Church works.
layered cake
“From an economic point of view, the ROC is a giant corporation uniting under a single name tens of thousands of independent or semi-independent agents. They are every parish, monastery, priest,” wrote sociologist Nikolai Mitrokhin in his book The Russian Orthodox Church: Current State and Current Problems.
Indeed, unlike many public organizations, each parish is registered as a separate legal entity and religious NPO. The income of the church for conducting rites and ceremonies is not subject to taxation, and income from the sale of religious literature and donations are not taxed. At the end of each year, religious organizations draw up a declaration: according to the latest data provided by RBC to the Federal Tax Service, in 2014, non-taxable income of the church amounted to 5.6 billion rubles.
Mitrokhin estimated the entire annual income of the ROC in the 2000s at about $500 million, while the church itself rarely and reluctantly talks about its money. At the Bishops' Council in 1997, Patriarch Alexy II reported that the ROC received the bulk of the money from "managing its temporarily free funds, placing them in deposit accounts, acquiring state short-term bonds" and other securities, and from the income of commercial enterprises.
Three years later, Archbishop Clement, in an interview with Kommersant-Dengi magazine, for the first and last time, will say what the church economy is made up of: 5% of the patriarchate's budget comes from deductions from dioceses, 40% from sponsorship donations, 55% comes from the earnings of commercial enterprises of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Now there are fewer sponsorship donations, and deductions from dioceses can make up a third or about half of the general church budget, explains Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who until December 2015 headed the department for relations between the church and society.
Church property
The confidence of an ordinary Muscovite in the rapid growth of the number of new Orthodox churches around does not strongly contradict the truth. Since 2009 alone, more than five thousand churches have been built and restored throughout the country, these figures were announced in early February at the Bishops' Council by Patriarch Kirill. These statistics include both churches built from scratch (mainly in Moscow; about how this activity is financed -), and given to the ROC under the 2010 law "On the transfer of religious property to religious organizations."
According to the document, the Federal Property Management Agency transfers objects to the Russian Orthodox Church in two ways - in ownership or under a contract for gratuitous use, explains Sergey Anoprienko, head of the department for the placement of federal authorities of the Federal Property Management Agency.
RBC analyzed documents on the websites of the territorial bodies of the Federal Property Management Agency - over the past four years, the Orthodox Church has received over 270 property items in 45 regions (unloading was carried out before January 27, 2016). The real estate area is indicated only for 45 objects - a total of about 55 thousand square meters. m. The largest object that has become the property of the church is the ensemble of the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage.
Ruined temple in the Kurilovo tract in the Shatursky district of the Moscow region (Photo: Ilya Pitalev/TASS)
In the case of the transfer of real estate ownership, explains Anoprienko, the parish receives a plot of land near the temple. Only church premises can be built on it - a utensils shop, a clergy house, a Sunday school, an almshouse, and so on. It is impossible to erect objects that can be used for economic purposes.
The Russian Orthodox Church received about 165 objects for free use, and about 100 for property, follows from the data on the website of the Federal Property Management Agency. “Nothing surprising,” explains Anoprienko. - The Church chooses free use, because in this case it can use state funding and count on subsidies for the restoration and maintenance of churches from the authorities. If the property is owned, all responsibility will fall on the ROC.”
In 2015, the Federal Property Management Agency offered the Russian Orthodox Church to take 1,971 objects, but so far only 212 applications have been received, says Anoprienko. The head of the legal service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Xenia (Chernega), is convinced that churches are given only destroyed buildings. “When the law was being discussed, we compromised, did not insist on the restitution of property lost by the church. Now, as a rule, we are not offered a single normal building in large cities, but only ruined objects that require a lot of money. We took a lot of destroyed temples in the 90s, and now, of course, we wanted to get something better, ”she says. The church, according to the abbess, will "fight for the necessary objects."
The loudest battle is for St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg
St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg (Photo: Alexander Roshchin/TASS)
In July 2015, Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga appealed to the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko with a request to give the famous Isaac for free use. This called into question the work of the museum located in the cathedral, a scandal ensued - the media wrote about the transfer of the monument on the front pages, a petition demanding not to allow the transfer of the cathedral collected over 85 thousand signatures on change.org.
In September, the authorities decided to leave the cathedral on the city balance, but Nikolai Burov, director of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum complex (which includes three more cathedrals), is still waiting for a dirty trick.
The complex does not receive money from the budget, 750 million rubles. he earns his annual maintenance himself - on tickets, Burov is proud. In his opinion, the Russian Orthodox Church wants to open the cathedral only for worship, "jeopardizing the free visit" of the object.
“Everything continues in the spirit of the“ best Soviet ”traditions - the temple is used as a museum, the museum management behaves like real atheists!” - retorts Burov's opponent, Archpriest Alexander Pelin from the St. Petersburg diocese.
“Why does the museum take precedence over the temple? Everything should be the other way around - first the temple, because this is how our pious ancestors originally thought, ”the priest is outraged. The church, Pelin has no doubt, has the right to collect donations from visitors.
budget money
“If the state supports you, you are closely connected with it, there are no options,” says priest Alexei Uminsky, rector of the Trinity Church in Khokhly. The current church interacts too closely with the authorities, he believes. However, his views do not coincide with the opinion of the leadership of the patriarchate.
According to RBC estimates, in 2012-2015, the ROC and related structures received at least 14 billion rubles from the budget and from state organizations. At the same time, only the new version of the budget for 2016 provides for 2.6 billion rubles.
Near the Sofrino trading house on Prechistenka is one of the branches of the ASVT group of telecommunications companies. The firm at 10.7% at least until 2009 was also owned by Parkhaev. The co-founder of the company (through Russdo CJSC) is the co-chair of the Union of Orthodox Women Anastasia Ositis, Irina Fedulova. ASVT's revenue for 2014 is over 436.7 million rubles, profit is 64 million rubles. Ositis, Fedulova, and Parkhaev did not answer questions for this article.
Parkhaev was listed as the chairman of the board of directors and the owner of Sofrino Bank (until 2006 it was called Old Bank). The Central Bank revoked the license of this financial institution in June 2014. Judging by the data of SPARK, the owners of the bank are Alemazh LLC, Stack-T LLC, Elbin-M LLC, Sian-M LLC and Mekona-M LLC. According to the Central Bank, the beneficiary of these companies is Dmitry Malyshev, ex-chairman of the board of Sofrino Bank and representative of the Moscow Patriarchate in state authorities.
Immediately after the renaming of Old Bank to Sofrino, the Housing Construction Company (ZhSK), established by Malyshev and partners, received several major contracts from the Russian Orthodox Church: in 2006, the ZhSK won 36 competitions announced by the Ministry of Culture (formerly Roskultura) for restoration temples. The total volume of contracts is 60 million rubles.
Parkhaev's biography from the site parhaev.com reports the following: he was born on June 19, 1941 in Moscow, worked as a turner at the Krasny Proletarian plant, in 1965 he came to work in the patriarchate, participated in the restoration of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, enjoyed the favor of Patriarch Pimen. The activities of Parkhaev are described not without picturesque details: “Evgeny Alekseevich provided the construction site with everything necessary,<…>solved all the problems, and trucks with sand, bricks, cement, metal went to the construction site.
The energy of Parkhaev, the unknown biographer continues, is enough to manage, with the blessing of the patriarch, the Danilovskaya Hotel: “This is a modern and comfortable hotel, in the conference hall of which local councils, religious and peacemaking conferences, and concerts are held. The hotel needed just such a leader: experienced and purposeful.”
The daily cost of a Danilovskaya single room with breakfast on weekdays is 6300 rubles, apartments - 13 thousand rubles, services include a sauna, bar, car rental and organization of holidays. Income of "Danilovskaya" in 2013 - 137.4 million rubles, in 2014 - 112 million rubles.
Parkhaev is a man from the team of Alexy II, who managed to prove his indispensability to Patriarch Kirill, the interlocutor of RBC in a company manufacturing church products is sure. The permanent head of Sofrino enjoys privileges that even prominent priests are deprived of, confirms a RBC source in one of the major dioceses. In 2012, photos from the anniversary of Parkhaev got onto the Internet - the holiday was celebrated with pomp in the hall of church cathedrals of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. After that, the guests of the hero of the day went on the ship to Parkhaev's dacha in the Moscow region. The photographs, the authenticity of which no one disputed, show an impressive cottage, a tennis court and a marina with boats.
From cemeteries to T-shirts
The sphere of interests of the ROC includes medicines, jewelry, renting out conference rooms, Vedomosti wrote, as well as agriculture and the funeral services market. According to the SPARK database, the patriarchy is a co-owner of Pravoslavnaya Ritualnaya Servis CJSC: the company is now closed, but the “daughter” established by it, OAO Ritual Orthodox Service, operates (revenue for 2014 is 58.4 million rubles).
The Yekaterinburg diocese owned a large granite quarry "Granit" and a security company "Derzhava", the Vologda diocese had a plant for reinforced concrete products and structures. The Kemerovo diocese is a 100% owner of LLC Kuzbass Investment and Construction Company, a co-owner of the Novokuznetsk Computer Center and the Europe Media Kuzbass agency.
There are several retail outlets in the Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow: the monastery shop and the Danilovsky Souvenir shop. You can buy church utensils, leather wallets, T-shirts with Orthodox prints, Orthodox literature. The monastery does not disclose financial indicators. On the territory of the Sretensky Monastery there is a shop "Sreteniya" and a cafe "Unholy Saints", named after the book of the same name by the rector, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov). The cafe, according to the bishop, "does not bring money." The main source of income for the monastery is the publishing house. The monastery also owns land in the agricultural cooperative "Resurrection" (the former collective farm "Voskhod"; the main activity is the cultivation of grain and legumes, animal husbandry). Revenue for 2014 - 52.3 million rubles, profit - about 14 million rubles.
Finally, since 2012, the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church have owned the building of the Universitetskaya Hotel in the south-west of Moscow. The cost of a standard single room is 3 thousand rubles. The pilgrimage center of the Russian Orthodox Church is located in this hotel. “In the “Universitetskaya” there are Big hall, you can hold conferences, accommodate people who come to events. The hotel, of course, is cheap, very simple people settle there, very rarely - bishops, ”Chapnin told RBC.
Church cash desk
Archpriest Chaplin was unable to realize his long-standing idea - a banking system that excludes usurious interest. While Orthodox banking exists only in words, the patriarchate uses the services of the most ordinary banks.
Until recently, the church had accounts in three organizations - Ergobank, Vneshprombank and Peresvet Bank (the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church also own the latter). The salaries of employees of the synodal department of the patriarchate, according to RBC's source in the Russian Orthodox Church, were transferred to accounts in Sberbank and Promsvyazbank (the press services of the banks did not respond to RBC's request; a source close to Promsvyazbank said that the bank, among other things, holds church funds parishes).
More than 60 Orthodox organizations and 18 dioceses were served in Ergobank, including the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. In January, the bank's license was revoked due to a "hole" found in its balance sheet.
The church agreed to open accounts with Ergobank because of one of its shareholders, Valery Meshalkin (about 20%), RBC's interlocutor in the patriarchate explains. “Meshalkin is a church man, an Orthodox businessman who helped churches a lot. It was believed that this was a guarantee that nothing would happen to the bank, ”the source describes.
Ergobank office in Moscow (Photo: Sharifulin Valery/TASS)
Valery Meshalkin is the owner of the Energomashkapital construction and installation company, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the author of the book The Influence of Mount Athos on the Monastic Traditions of Eastern Europe. Meshalkin did not answer questions from RBC. According to a RBC source in Ergobank, the money was withdrawn from the accounts of the ROC structure before the license was revoked.
In turned out to be no less problematic 1.5 billion rubles. ROC, a source in the bank told RBC and confirmed by two interlocutors close to the patriarchate. In January, the bank's license was also revoked. According to one of the interlocutors of RBC, the chairman of the board of the bank, Larisa Markus, was close to the patriarchate and its leadership, so the church chose this bank to store part of its money. According to the interlocutors of RBC, in addition to the patriarchate, funds in Vneshprombank were held by several funds that carry out the instructions of the patriarch. The largest is the Foundation of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena. RBC's source in the Patriarchate said that the fund raised money to help victims of the conflicts in Syria and Donetsk. Fundraising information is also available on the Internet.
The founders of the fund are Anastasia Ositis and Irina Fedulova, who have already been mentioned in connection with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the past, at least until 2008, Ositis and Fedulova were shareholders of Vneshprombank.
However, the main bank of the church is the Moscow "Peresvet". As of December 1, 2015, funds of enterprises and organizations (85.8 billion rubles) and individuals (20.2 billion rubles) were placed on the bank's accounts. Assets as of January 1 - 186 billion rubles, of which more than half are loans to companies, the bank's profit - 2.5 billion rubles. On the accounts of non-profit organizations - more than 3.2 billion rubles, follows from the reporting of "Peresvet".
The financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church owns 36.5% of the bank, another 13.2% belongs to the company Sodeystvie LLC, owned by the Russian Orthodox Church. Other owners include OOO Vnukovo-invest (1.7%). The office of this company is located at the same address as "Assistance". An employee of Vnukovo-Invest could not explain to the RBC correspondent whether there was a connection between his company and Assistance. Phones are not answered in the Assistance office.
JSCB Peresvet could cost up to 14 billion rubles, and the share of the Russian Orthodox Church in the amount of 49.7%, presumably, up to 7 billion rubles, Dmitry Lukashov, an analyst at IFC Markets, calculated for RBC.
Investment and innovation
Not much is known about where ROC funds are invested by banks. But it is known for sure that the Russian Orthodox Church does not shy away from venture investments.
Peresvet invests in innovative projects through Sberinvest, in which the bank owns 18.8%. Financing of innovations is shared: 50% of the money is provided by Sberinvest investors (including Peresvet), 50% - by state corporations and funds. Funds for projects co-financed by Sberinvest were found in the Russian Venture Company (the press service of RVC refused to name the amount of funds), the Skolkovo Foundation (the fund invested 5 million rubles in development, the fund representative said) and the state corporation Rosnano (on $50 million were allocated to Sberinvest projects, a spokesman said).
The press service of the state corporation RBC explained: in 2012, the Nanoenergo international fund was created to finance joint projects with Sberinvest. Rosnano and Peresvet each invested $50 million in the fund.
In 2015, the "Fund Rusnano Capital S.A." - a subsidiary of Rosnano - applied to the District Court of Nicosia (Cyprus) with a demand to recognize Peresvet Bank as a co-defendant in the case of violation of the investment agreement. The statement of claim (available to RBC) states that the bank, in violation of procedures, transferred “$90 million from the accounts of Nanoenergo to the accounts of Russian companies affiliated with Sberinvest.” The accounts of these companies were opened in Peresvet.
The court recognized Peresvet as one of the co-respondents. Representatives of Sberinvest and Rosnano confirmed to RBC the existence of a lawsuit.
“This is all some kind of nonsense,” Oleg Dyachenko, a member of the board of directors of Sberinvest, does not lose heart in a conversation with RBC. - We have good energy projects with Rosnano, everything is going on, everything is moving - the composite pipe plant has completely entered the market, at a very high level silicon dioxide, we process rice, we get heat, we have reached an export position.” In response to the question of where the money went, the top manager laughs: “You see, I am free. So the money is gone." Dyachenko believes that the case will be closed.
The press service of Peresvet did not respond to repeated requests from RBC. So did the chairman of the board of the bank Alexander Shvets.
Income and expenses
“Since Soviet times, the church economy has been non-transparent,” explains Rector Alexei Uminsky, “it is built on the principle of a household: parishioners give money for some service, but no one cares how it is distributed. And the parish priests themselves do not know exactly where the money they have collected goes.”
Indeed, it is impossible to calculate church expenses: the ROC does not announce tenders and does not appear on the public procurement website. In economic activities, the church, says Abbess Xenia (Chernega), “does not hire contractors”, coping with its own resources - monasteries supply products, workshops melt candles. The layered pie is divided within the ROC.
What does the church spend on? the abbess asks again and answers: “Theological seminaries are maintained throughout Russia, this is a fairly large share of the costs.” The church also provides charitable assistance to orphans and other social institutions; all synodal departments are financed from the general church budget, she adds.
The Patriarchate did not provide RBC with data on the expenditure items of its budget. In 2006, in the Foma magazine, Natalia Deryuzhkina, at that time the accountant of the patriarchate, estimated the cost of maintaining the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Seminaries at 60 million rubles. in year.
Such expenses are still relevant, Archpriest Chaplin confirms. Also, the priest clarifies, it is necessary to pay salaries to the secular staff of the patriarchate. In total, these are 200 people with an average salary of 40 thousand rubles. per month, according to RBC's source in the patriarchy.
These expenses are negligible against the background of the annual contributions of the dioceses to Moscow. What happens to all the rest of the money?
A few days after the scandalous resignation, Archpriest Chaplin opened an account on Facebook, where he wrote: “Understanding anything, I consider the concealment of income and especially the expenses of the central church budget to be completely immoral. There cannot be the slightest Christian justification for such a concealment in principle.”
There is no need to disclose the expenses of the ROC, since it is absolutely clear what the church spends money on - for church needs, Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the synodal department for relations between the church, society and the media, reproached the RBC correspondent.
What do other churches live on?
It is not accepted to publish reports on income and expenses of the church, regardless of confessional affiliation.
Dioceses of Germany
An exception to Lately became Roman Catholic Church(RCC), partially disclosing income and expenses. So, the dioceses of Germany began to disclose their financial performance after the scandal with the Bishop of Limburg, for whom in 2010 they began to build a new residence. In 2010, the diocese valued the work at €5.5 million, but three years later the cost almost doubled to €9.85 million. In order to avoid claims in the press, many dioceses began to disclose their budgets. According to reports, the budget of the RCC dioceses consists of income from property, donations, as well as church tax, which is collected from parishioners. According to 2014 data, the diocese of Cologne became the richest (its income is €772 million, tax revenues are €589 million). According to the plan for 2015, the total expenditure of the diocese was estimated at 800 million rubles.
Bank of the Vatican
Now published and data on the financial transactions of the Institute of Religious Affairs (IOR, Istituto per le Opere di Religione), better known as the Vatican Bank. The bank was established in 1942 to manage the financial resources of the Holy See. The Vatican Bank published its first financial report in 2013. According to the report, in 2012 the bank's profit amounted to €86.6 million, a year earlier - €20.3 million. Net interest income was €52.25 million, income from trading activities was €51.1 million.
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR)
Unlike Catholic dioceses, ROCOR's income and expenditure reports are not published. According to Archpriest Peter Kholodny, who was ROCOR Treasurer for a long time, the economy of the church abroad is simple: parishes pay deductions to ROCOR dioceses, and they transfer money to the Synod. The percentage of annual deductions for parishes is 10%, 5% is transferred from the dioceses to the Synod. The richest dioceses are in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the USA.
The main income of ROCOR, according to Kholodny, comes from renting out the four-story building of the Synod: it is located in the upper part of Manhattan, on the corner of Park Avenue and 93rd Street. The area of the building is 4 thousand square meters. m, 80% is occupied by the Synod, the rest is rented to a private school. Annual rental income, according to Kholodny, is about $500,000.
In addition, ROCOR receives income from the Kursk Root Icon (located in the ROCOR Cathedral of the Sign in New York). The icon is taken all over the world, donations go to the budget of the foreign church, Kholodny explains. The ROCOR Synod also owns a candle factory near New York. ROCOR does not transfer money to the Moscow Patriarchate: “Our church is much poorer than the Russian one. Although we own incredibly valuable plots of land - in particular, half of the Garden of Gethsemane - this is not monetized in any way.
Featuring Tatiana Aleshkina, Yulia Titova, Svetlana Bocharova, Georgy Makarenko, Irina Malkova
How did Patriarch Kirill become a billionaire?
How Patriarch Kirill became a billionaire Novaya Gazeta wrote about the "personal capital" of the current primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Kirill's fortune was estimated by some experts at $4 billion.
Novaya Gazeta, in its publication on February 15, touched on the topic of “personal capital” of the current primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The publication started talking about this in connection with the statements of the Patriarch, made at a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Russian traditional confessions, reports NEWSru.com
As you know, the Patriarch mentioned there the “curvature” of Russian history, which the country fell into in the “dashing nineties” and which, according to him, Vladimir Putin personally “successfully corrected”.
Meanwhile, as Novaya Gazeta notes, it was in the 1990s that the current head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and then the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (DECR MP), Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad "won a position and made a fortune", which, according to "Novaya Gazeta", allowed him "in the end to take the patriarchal throne." Before accession to this throne, Kirill's personal fortune was estimated by some experts at $4 billion, the newspaper claims.
Talking about the “business” of Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev (such is the secular name of the Patriarch), which began in 1992-1994, the newspaper refers to the “extensive dossier” compiled by Sergey Bychkov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, who published more than a dozen articles, mainly about tobacco business of the future patriarch. None of his publications has been officially refuted, in many ways Kirill admitted that the facts collected by Bychkov are true, Novaya Gazeta notes.
One of the sources of income was the "cigarette business". In 1993, with the participation of the Moscow Patriarchate, the financial and trading group "Nika" arose, the vice-president of which was Archpriest Vladimir Veriga, the commercial director of the DECR MP, led by Metropolitan Kirill. A year later, under the Government of the Russian Federation and under the DECR MP, two “parallel” commissions for humanitarian aid appeared: the first decided what kind of aid could be exempted from taxes and excises, and the second imported this aid through the church line and sold it to commercial structures. Thus, most of the tax-exempt aid was distributed through the regular trade network, at normal market prices.
According to the data of the Government Humanitarian Aid Commission quoted by Novaya Gazeta, in 1996 alone, the DECR MP imported about 8 billion cigarettes into the country. This caused serious damage to the "tobacco kings" of that time, who were forced to pay duties and excises and therefore lost in the competition of the DECR MP. It is believed that they "ordered" the information campaign to expose the business of the chairman of the DECR MP.
According to Novaya Gazeta, Kirill's tobacco business is piquant because in Orthodoxy smoking is considered a sin that is detrimental to human health and life. Cyril himself tried to justify his participation in this business in this way: “The people who were doing this didn’t know what to do: burn these cigarettes or send them back? We appealed to the government, and it made a decision: recognize it as a humanitarian cargo and provide an opportunity to implement it.” . Meanwhile, government representatives categorically denied this information, after which Patriarch Alexy II liquidated the DECR-MP commission and created a new ROC Humanitarian Aid Commission headed by Bishop Alexy (Frolov).
According to Novaya Gazeta, in addition to the Nika fund, the DECR MP in the 1990s was the founder of the commercial bank Peresvet, JSC International Economic Cooperation (MES), JSC Free People's Television (SNT) and a number of other structures . The most profitable business of the head of the DECR MP after 1996 was the export of oil through the MES, which was exempted from customs duties at the request of Alexy II. Metropolitan Kirill was represented at the MES by Bishop Viktor (Pyankov), who now lives as a private individual in the United States. The company's annual turnover in 1997 was about $2 billion, according to the publication, while the publication emphasizes that“due to the secrecy of this information, it is now difficult to understand whether Kirill continues to participate in the oil business.” However, the article says, there is one very eloquent fact: a few days before the start of the US military operation against Saddam Hussein, Kirill's deputy Bishop Feofan (Ashurkov) flew to Iraq.
Cyril's third line of business is seafood, the newspaper writes. Referring to the information Portal-Credo.ru ”, the publication reports that in 2000, information was made public about the attempts of Metropolitan Kirill to infiltrate the market for marine biological resources (caviar, crabs, seafood).The relevant government structures have allocated Region JSC, a company allegedly founded by Kirill, quotas for catching king crab and shrimp with a total volume of more than 4,000 tons.
In addition, according to Kaliningrad journalists cited by Novaya Gazeta, Metropolitan Kirill, as the ruling bishop of the Kaliningrad diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, participated in an automobile joint venture in Kaliningrad. It is characteristic that Kirill, even after becoming a patriarch, did not appoint a diocesan bishop to the Kaliningrad cathedra, leaving it under his direct control, the newspaper notes.
According to Nikolai Mitrokhin, a researcher at the Center for Shadow Economy Research at the Russian State Humanitarian University, in 2004 the value of assets controlled by the then chairman of the DECR MP was $1.5 billion. Two years later, the journalists of Moskovskiye Novosti "counted" these capitals and reached the figure of $4 billion.
Novaya Gazeta concludes its publication with a reminder of the "signs" of luxury that surround the life of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church - from the Breguet watch worth 30 thousand dollars, which Ukrainian journalists noticed next to the rosary on the hand of the Patriarch - to a private plane, a villa in Switzerland , "terema" in Peredelkino, a palace in Gelendzhik and a penthouse in the "House on the Embankment" (a penthouse overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, according to The New Times magazine, was bought in 2002 and is the only apartment in Moscow registered specifically on clergyman "by his secular surname Gundyaev, about which there is a corresponding entry in the cadastral register").
This information, which was also mentioned more than once in media publications, was accompanied by a quotation from one of the Patriarch's speeches in Ukraine, not without irony: “It is very important to learn Christian asceticism... Asceticism is the ability to regulate one's consumption... This is a person's victory over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both the rich and the poor possess this quality.
March 8th, 2015
Actually, there are a lot of links on the net on this topic, who just didn’t write about it, from deacon Kuraev to Stas Sadalsky:
http://blagin-anton.livejournal.com/46223.html
http://wap.nationalizm.forum24.ru/?1-8-0-00000049-000-0-0-1251218670
http://irizz.livejournal.com/117597.html
http://i-hate-the-snow.livejournal.com/46649.html
http://www.luchmir.com/Declarations/2Slovo09.htm
http://forum.dpni.org/archive/index.php/t-36574.html?s=
http://3rm.info/index.php?newsid=1294
This is almost a recognition for future generations, isn't it?
I was interested in the words of A. Nevzorov in his interview on Echo this week:
O. Bychkova – In history modern Russia All murders are mysterious. Because 20 years have passed since Listyev was killed and nothing is still clear.
A. Nevzorov – Yes, everything is clear there. There, simply, no one will stir up that pile, because in fact both the customers and the performers have all been dead for a long time. And there is, for example, the death of Ridiger, Alexy II, where even a criminal case was not initiated. Where was it released on such soft brakes, moreover, I will tell you as an anatomist that in order to crush the posterior ear vein with a blow to the toilet bowl or some hard surface, in a small room, you need to hit this hard surface 15 times, and each time do it with increasing force. Because it is very well protected, and it has, anatomists know, such unpleasant slipperiness. And there was not even a criminal case. And no investigative experiments and nothing at all.
And here's more about it:
About how the High Priest of Putin's Reich, Patriarch Kirill, made his billions of dollars in tobacco and alcohol speculation and oil (exempted from taxes and excises) in the dashing 90s, how he, the head of the bandit empire of the Russian Orthodox Church, eliminated and liquidated his competitors, many have already written. Yes, yes, in those very dashing 90s, about which he once put it this way:
"The fact that a huge role in correcting this curvature of our history(dashing 90s) you personally played, Vladimir Vladimirovich. I would like to thank you. You once said that you work like a slave in a galley - with the only difference being that the slave did not have such a return, and you have a very high return.
All patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the current one, are KGB officers:
During the criminal tobacco war of the 90s, the winner of which was the future Patriarch, and then the godfather of the shadow business of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Gundyaev, many people were killed, including Zhirinovsky's assistant Gennady Dzen, a bandit from Smolensk, the head of Roskontraktpostavka, and another his assistant, Alexander Frantskevich. Zhirik himself also took part in this war. In those years, the thieves "Tobacco" was attached to Gundyaev, but now he is more often called another klikukha - Lyzhneg, because he loves to go skiing in the soulless geyropa country of evergreen doormen in Switzerland, where he has his own villa, to which he flies on his own plane .
Materials from the archives of the KGB, studied in 1992 by a parliamentary commission headed by the dissident priest Fr. Gleb Yakunin, revealed that most of the church hierarchy was connected to the secret police.
Kirill Gundyaev, 62, was codenamed Mikhailov, while Filaret was identified as agent Ostrovsky. It is suspected that Clement worked for the KGB under the pseudonym "Topaz".
Metropolitan Philaret, who was appointed Metropolitan of Minsk in 1978, was head of the Department for External Church Relations in the 1980s. In 1989, this powerful structure was headed by Metropolitan Kirill.
The Commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia in early 1992 officially drew the attention of the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church to the "deep infiltration of intelligence agents" into the Church, which "represents a serious danger to society and the state." In the same year, meeting with students of Moscow State University, Kirill stated: "The fact of the meeting of the clergy with representatives of the KGB is morally indifferent."
In addition to a villa in Switzerland, Tobacco Ski-Patriarch has palaces in Peredelkino, in the Danilov Monastery, in Gelendzhik, next to Putin's palace, and a penthouse with a terrace in the House on the Embankment - overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior:
And the former right hand His Eminence - Bishop Victor (in the world - Pyankov) now, having stolen, lives in the sinful States as a private person. Surely indulges in fasting and prayers, and, as Zhvanetsky said, "he regrets terribly."
Read more in Novaya Gazeta, as well as or see for yourself:
Since then, the Gundyaev Palace near Gelendzhik, for which the reserved forest was cut down from red and other unique trees, has long been built. Here is how the chief priest of Russian morality lives:
Cyril's residence, which occupied the entire territory from the sea to the highway, not only “gnawed off” half a kilometer of the public coastline and road, but also blocked the last opportunity for people to safely access the forest and the cemetery. Now they need to make a detour no longer a kilometer, but three kilometers (!), One of which is along the highway.
The Road of Death was named because people die on it.
And all so that someone could stick their belly out and no one could see it.
When a native of Gebni, Reverend Comrade. Gundyaev, who replaced Alexy II, who was killed by him, the area of the residence increased 10 times (!), Moreover, 12.7 hectares of the State Forest Fund, covered with relic Pitsunda pine, were transferred for construction, cutting down and complete fencing of the church, which were built up, cut down or fenced the law PROHIBITES IN PRINCIPLE.
Read about how the community has been trying to fight against all these lawlessness for many years, there are a lot of details, links, photos and documents.
The patriarch still loves not only to teach the people about life (well, for example: “ It is very important to learn Christian asceticism... Asceticism is the ability to regulate one's consumption... It is the victory of man over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both the rich and the poor have this quality.”), but also to fray “for” corruption and stigmatize corrupt officials:
Austerity is a good thing, especially when your fortune is 4 times the fortune of Rottenberg Sr. and 8 times the fortune of Rottenberg Jr., and this is without taking into account the cost of the almost billion-dollar palace in Gelendzhik.
Such an ascetic kodla ...
P.S. As writes famous philosopher Boris Paramonov, what Patriarch Gundyaev has in common with the soulless geyropa is not only that he skis there like pastor Shlak. As it turns out, the patriarch himself - that:
“One could talk about similar scandals in the Russian Orthodox Church. But here Deacon Kuraev has already told a lot. Except to remember that Metropolitan of Leningrad Nikodim (Rotov) was a homosexual, which everyone knew, even my church-going mother-in-law. He had the current patriarch, as they say in church language, "night cell attendant" or, as Wikipedia says, "performed the obedience of a personal secretary."
Luxurious transport always causes envy and unfounded talk. Especially when it comes to the ministers of the church. So the yacht of Patriarch Kirill in 2011 made a lot of noise.
The most beautiful yacht in Russia
You can't stop billionaires from spending their money on luxury ships and stylish sea yachts. But what if such an expensive transport is seen in the possession of a servant of God? We are talking about the most beautiful yacht "Pallada". This is a chic black boat with tinted windows. The cost of such a “toy” is $4,000,000. The numbers are shocking, and the question arises: "Is this the personal yacht of Patriarch Kirill, or did he just decide to ride with the breeze?"
The ship was built back in 2003, it was designed by the architect Guido de Grota. The total length of the yacht is 32 meters, its width is 7.45 meters. Initially, this ship was registered with the President of the Russian Federation. Today it is the yacht of Patriarch Kirill. It has four crew members who live in two cabins. The ship can also accept guests, but in the amount of 8 people.
What's inside the yacht?
The yacht of the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill is equipped with the most powerful instruments. The design of each cabin is royal. It is impossible not to mention the elite white wood, which was used for interior decoration. The designers also used mahogany and oak. All furniture is made according to special sketches of expensive material, sheathed with genuine leather.
The snow-white deck goes well with the dark hull. The yacht "Pallada" of Patriarch Kirill regularly receives guests from all the churches of the world. High-ranking spiritual leaders relax in a luxurious living room. There is not only a bar, but also the best home theater. The room is well insulated, so it is pleasant to be in it, even when the weather is raging outside.
Eight people can dine in the dining room. Each bedroom has a royal bed. In the bathroom you can take all the necessary water treatments and even enjoy the warmth of the sauna. For those who cannot imagine life without physical activity, a full-fledged fitness room is provided.
Where did the Patriarch of Moscow get the yacht from?
The personal life of the leaders of the Orthodox world is always of interest to ordinary people. And when strange news about luxury vehicles or expensive accessories appears, the people begin to criticize and accuse every minister of the church of dishonesty. This is exactly what happened when the yacht of Patriarch Kirill was discovered.
Journalists on the Internet began to talk indignantly about expensive apartments and how they would affect the prayerful mood of all those present. But the very first question that each person asked was very logical: "Where did Patriarch Kirill get a yacht from?"
Gifts from oilmen
In 2005, on July 25, the former yacht of Vladimir Vladimirovich was seen at the pier of Krestovsky Island. The Valaam Monastery received such water transport through intermediaries. The ship was donated by a well-known oil
The monastery has long had its own fleet of ten ships. But there was no status vessel in this collection. Guests with a special spiritual status are supposed to ride on special yachts. Therefore, the gift came to the court, and it is not at all scary that the name is pagan.
An attraction of unknown generosity?
The yacht of Patriarch Kirill made a lot of noise. What the ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) says about her is still unknown. Its representatives prefer to simply remain silent and shrug. Of course, this is a gift, but it is not customary to condemn for gifts.
The press secretary of NK Lukoil Dmitry Dolgov gave interviews to many printed publications. That's just about why they give such gifts, he is silent. The man only said that the yacht was not used by the company itself. It was specially purchased for Gundyaev, who represents the entire community of the clergy of our country.
Who is Pallas?
Athena's milk sister was named Pallas. This pagan name was baptized on a yacht destined for the leader of the state. No one paid attention to this until the yacht became owned by the RCP. In 2007, the ministers of the church promised that they would change the name to a Christian one - "The Tsaritsa". That's what the icon is called. Mother of God. But so many years have passed, and the yacht still has not changed its name.
Journalists often asked church ministers questions about this. Those, in turn, found strange explanations for such behavior. Another special indignation is caused by the coats of arms of the Russian Federation located on the ship. As you know, the state emblem cannot be used by the RCP.
Land transport of Patriarch Kirill
In order to carry the word of God to the masses, it is necessary to move all the time. The yacht of Patriarch Kirill added to the collection, which is on the balance sheet of the Russian Orthodox Church. According to the gift from the oil company itself, it came in handy. This is despite the fact that church leaders already had ten courts at their disposal. The yacht, of course, is a noticeable transport, but there are others that are not inferior to the vessel in terms of luxury and assembly:
- Vehicle fleet required to move on land. In the collection of the Patriarch of Moscow - "Mercedes" deluxe series S, Toyota Land Cruiser, limousine and even the Soviet rarity "Victory".
- Armored wagon with an icon on the facade.
Other generous gifts
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow regularly receives gifts from thousands of parishioners. Among them there are quite wealthy people who can afford gifts for $30,000. This is how much a Breguet watch costs. In them, the leader of Christianity repeatedly appeared in the frame, but sometimes they were removed by diligent editors. After all, such accessories will cause outrage among many people.
And the dacha in the form of a temple still shocks everyone who happened to be next to it. These mansions are located on the coast of the Krasnodar Territory. For the sake of their erection, hundreds of trees of the state forest fund were cut down.
Another yacht of the patriarch
Before people had time to forget about the generous gifts from the oil workers to the minister of the church, a new scandal erupted in September 2015. In the center of events - again the ship, the cost of which is about 600,000 dollars. Patriarch Kirill was seen on a yacht in August by local residents, but the information was leaked to the World Wide Web on 22.09. Even photographs were taken. They show that the gray-haired old man is at the helm. Further, photographs were taken showing the bathing of the patriarch. The action takes place in the Blue Bay, which is located near the village of Divnomorsky (Krasnodar Territory).
Journalists with particular zeal began to call everyone who could confirm the presence of Kirill on the Azimut yacht. But the rest of the clergy preferred to remain silent about the patriarch's boat trip. Silence only added questions, therefore, this could be. It is also known that ministers of rural churches repeatedly wrote letters to Patriarch Kirill himself. They accuse him of encouraging debauchery and turning a blind eye to expensive gifts that are inappropriate for all who serve the Christian faith.
But Alexey Nevzorov (a well-known publicist) openly points out that all the leaders of the clergy live on the money of parishioners and taxpayers. People simply put unimaginable sums into the purse of the RCP, buying candles, icons and other church paraphernalia. He also writes that ordinary mortal men and women who like luxury are hiding behind all these cassocks, expensive cars and large balances. They are people who have forgotten what sin is and how to give their property for the good of faith. These people simply promote righteous views, but are not ready to throw gold and status off their shoulders.
This is how scandals arise when Patriarch Kirill rides on a yacht. The refutation appeared immediately after the unscrupulous accusations on the Internet. But in these words there was a lot in common and little information on the fact of Cyril's bathing in the Black Sea.
How does the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' live?
In 2014, in an interview, Kirill said a phrase that spread all over the Internet: "We live today as richly as we have never lived after the revolution." This statement caused a lot of comments. People tried to decipher what exactly the minister of the church had in mind. Perhaps the proposal was addressed to the Russian Orthodox Church. Since the people live quite poorly, especially in 2014, when the financial crisis began in the yard. The country's economy was also in at its best, after all, commodity prices fell at a catastrophic rate. The state budget was replenished by taxes and fines.
Today, the Patriarch of Moscow also lives well. Especially if he cuts the waves of the Black Sea on a yacht, the cost of which is about 600,000 dollars. His close associates claim that this person has no time to be distracted by the holidays and entertainment of ordinary mortal people. He prays every day for the salvation of Russia and all its people. And the fact that there are several best cars in his fleet, the yacht of the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill Gundyaev is at the pier, and the car is made of bulletproof material - these are just the costs of his life. He is a public person, so you need to match the status.
Of course, whether to condemn the patriarch or not is a personal matter for everyone. No one knows what secrets this person keeps and how exactly he communicates with the Creator. In any case, his word is believed, and thousands of Christians are ready to follow him. And cars and yachts are the basic needs of civilized people. He should not live in an adobe hut and ride a cart. Moreover, the yacht has become an ordinary gift. So the rest of the transport was presented as a gift or purchased with the money of the Russian Orthodox Church. The budget in this treasury is far from small. Cyril has said many times that all the transport he uses is not his property. It remains only to believe the words of this great man, until the next provocative pictures leaked to the Internet.