Czech Security Services Investigate Activities of Russian Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Times, an independent news site that covers issues relating to Orthodoxy and Christianity reported on Friday that the Czech secret intelligence services have launched an investigation into the potential security threat posed by the Russian Orthodox Church in Czechia.

The move follows concerns expressed by the security committee of the Czech Senate that the Church which has close ties with the Moscow Patriarchate might be a vehicle for spreading Russian propaganda and exerting influence.

According to reports in Czech media, the minister of culture Martin Baxa will assess whether the activities of both the Russian Orthodox Church and the Czech Orthodox Church are operating legally.

Baxa said that should any violations of the country’s laws and security be found, he is prepared to recommend suspending their operations.

“Foreign powers should not exploit concepts such as freedom of religion and the right of association to exert influence. The Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic must not be used as tools by the Russian Federation to act against the interests of the Czech Republic,” Pavel Fischer Chairman of the Senate security committee said.

In April 2023, the Czech government placed Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who is the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, on its sanctions list because of his public support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Czech authorities also revoked the residence permit of the Russian Orthodox priest Nikolai Lysenyuk, after he was accused of establishing a Russian-backed influence network aimed at developing secessionist movements within the European Union.

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“I do not consider the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to be a legitimate church, nor its representatives to be true clergymen. It is a part of the Kremlin’s repressive apparatus, involved in Russia’s influence operations,” Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said.

The Czech Orthodox Church, like its Ukrainian counterpart, is formally independent from the Russian Orthodox Church and is the country’s second-largest religious denomination. However, the security committee feels that since the initial 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Church has increasingly been influenced by individuals connected to Russian power structures.

The Ministry of Interior has been tasked with investigating potential criminal activities by members of both the Russian Orthodox and the Czech Orthodox Church.

Early this week Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill that will ban the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the law is expected to come into force at the end of September.

On Thursday, the Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate officially declared administrative independence and voted to remove references to the Moscow Patriarchate from its name.