Dissident Orthodox Priest in Kazakhstan Moves to Create Alternative to Moscow Church There

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 10 – Father Iakov Vorontsov, defrocked by the Moscow Patriarchate and subject to criminal charges for his call to create an autocephalous Orthodox church in Kazakhstan subordinate to any larger patriarchate except Moscow, has now resumed his campaign following the dismissal of those charges.

            Vorontsov attracted public attention first for his efforts in 2023 to create a rival Orthodox church in Kazakhstan and then for the criminal charges the Kazakhstan authorities brought against him. (For his earlier efforts, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/12/seeking-autocephaly-church-dissident-in.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/12/some-orthodox-in-kazakhstan-seek.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/07/orthodox-leaders-in-kazakhstan-now-say.html; and for the case against him which arose from a Facebook post in which he called the Russian authorities fascist, see https://orda.kz/ugolovnoe-delo-protiv-svjaschennika-s-iakova-voroncova-snjali-obvinenija-401445/.).

            Since the case was dismissed in May, Vorontsov has resumed his efforts to create an alternative Orthodox church in Kazakhstan. He now insists he isn’t trying to replace one Orthodox church with another but to give believers in that country a choice (orda.kz/byvshij-svjaschennik-rpc-hochet-otkryt-novuju-pravoslavnuju-cerkov-v-kazahstane-404122/).

            He says that many Orthodox Christians are unhappy with the Moscow Patriarchate’s position on Putin’s war in Ukraine and are now worshipping in the Uniate congregations there. But the establishment of a new Orthodox church in that country, possibly subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople will give them more options.

            The Moscow Patriarchate for its part is unlikely to see Vorontsov’s new position as acceptable. Instead, the ROC MP is certain to view what the dissident priest is now doing as another effort to break the Orthodox Christians away from the Moscow Patriarchate and thus to weaken Russia.

            That the Kazakhstan authorities have dismissed the case against him and that he is resuming his activities suggests, however, that Vorontsov enjoys some support within the Kazakhstan government and is likely to become even more active than he was before government charges were brought against him.