A priest from Bashkorston publicly disowned the Russian Orthodox Church over the war in Ukraine

In the Russian Federation, Hieromonk Peter (Stepanov) from Bashkorston published an open letter on 9 February about his break with the Russian Orthodox Church because of the church's support for the war in Ukraine. The letter was published on the Russian social network VKontakte.

By your actions you have dipped your Mother's hands up to your elbows in the blood of Ukrainian and Russian people. You have turned away from God and sworn allegiance to Satan. From the pulpit you call for Love, while you support the bloody massacre. You have lost the Bishop's grace like any Bishop who supported this war," he wrote, addressing Bashkir Metropolitan Nikon (Vasyukov).

He has also started blogs on YouTube and LiveJournal, which he calls Church media, and asks others to send their stories to a secure email account.

The hieromonk has recorded several videos where he talks about how he served in a temple in the Yangan-Tau geopark in Bashkortostan. He said he witnessed the theft of millions of dollars in donations to rebuild the temple, while the police and the diocese failed to act.

The priest spoke about the rallies in Bashkortostan that took place in January 2024 and were brutally suppressed by the authorities. He called the crackdown on the protests revenge of the region's head Radiy Khabirov and urged protesters to flee: "Don't wait for someone to come to you."

Hieromonk Pyotr (Stepanov) is 35 years old and comes from Magnitogorsk. He was tonsured a monk in 2016 and became a priest in 2020.