Covid-denying Russian priest storms convent and installs armed guards after barred from preaching

A coronavirus-denying Russian priest has stormed a convent and installed armed guards after he was banned from preaching his sermons. 

The controversial Orthodox Father Sergei Romanov seized the Sredneuralsk women’s monastery, outside the city of Yekaterinburg, on Tuesday. 

The convent’s mother superior and several nuns fled the scene and guards described as Cossacks are now patrolling the site.

Authorities had banned the priest from preaching in April after he repeatedly refused to follow coronavirus guidelines. 

During a sermon he claimed the pandemic did not exist and cursed those who called for the closure of churches. 

A month later in May he was stripped of his right to wear a cross after encouraging followers to disobey public health orders.   

The ultraconservative priest and former police officer – who spent 13 years in prison for murder – was a key founder of the Sredneuralsk Convent. 

Since then hundreds of devout followers have flocked to hear his sermons, and he is seen as the figurehead of the ‘tsar worshipper’ cult within the church that pays homage to Russia’s final tsar Nikolai II. 

The movement is allegedly rooted in secrecy, conspiracy theory and apocalyptic visions.

Devout believers have gathered outside the convent to offer their support for the ultraconservative Russian priest Sergei Romanov, who was stripped of his right to preach last month  

Romanov’s supporters gather by the convent, outside the city of Yekaterinburg. He is reportedly refusing access to journalists and has said he is ‘not going anywhere’

Romanov previously described the coronavirus crisis as a ‘pseudo-pandemic’, accusing religious leaders of ‘working with the forerunners of the Antichrist’, the BBC reported.

After his suspension in May the Russian Orthodox Church organised an ecclesiastical court to determine his future.

The session took place on Monday, during which Romanov said his conscience was clear and that he would have to be kicked out of the monastery by force. 

He reportedly disappeared from the meeting, only to storm the site the next day while flanked by the armed fighters, The Independent reported. 

Romanov has reportedly said he is ‘not going anywhere’ and that: ‘They’ll have to chase me out with police and the National Guard.’   

Church representative Vakhtang Kipshidze told reporters: ‘His actions entail real violence.

Romanov, pictured above in his robes, told an ecclesiastical court on Monday that his conscience was clear and he would have to be kicked out of the monastery by force

Romanov sits in his ornate dwellings, surrounded by religious paintings and memorabilia, inside the Sredneuralsky Convent. He is refusing to surrender his post after storming the site on Tuesday 

‘We hope that someone from his congregation will take stock of the situation and make the right decision not to damage their own security and spiritual well-being.’

It is also alleged he has stopped a priest dispatched by the local diocese from replacing Mother Superior Varvara, who has led the monastery since it was founded in 2005.  

The local diocese said she left voluntarily to avoid ‘infighting’ and give Romanov the opportunity to ‘come to his senses’.    

The mother superior and several nuns fled the convent and it is reported that armed Cossack guards are now patrolling the site 

Police visited the site on Wednesday but no arrests have been made.

The diocese has warned that any rites performed by Romanov will be void and illegal, and any clerics found to be serving with him face suspension. 

Russia has so far seen more than 561,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and close to 7,700 deaths.