Father Romanov
Here's Russia Today's somewhat tepid report about the stand-off:
A Russian priest who believes Covid-19 is an invention by evil forces hellbent on "chipping the population" has apparently used Cossack fighters to seal off a women's convent after church authorities prohibited him from preaching.That claim is denied by the priest/'protestors'.
According to local media sources, Shiigumen Sergius ousted the abbess of the convent, Varvara, along with several nuns, and took control of the building after his ban. Prior to the takeover, he was an informal leader of the community but was subservient to the regional diocese.
Since the incident, the cleric has not allowed local religious leaders to visit, and journalists from the area have claimed that the site is being guarded by Cossacks loyal to Sergius.
It's also interesting that RT opted to call him by his old name, whereas his new name is legally Romanov. Their report continues:
Sergius was forbidden from conducting religious duties at Ekaterinburg's Central Urals Monastery after criticizing the reaction of Russian authorities and Patriarch Kirill to the Covid-19 "pseudo-pandemic." Due to the precarious epidemiological situation, churches in Russia have been ordered to close for the safety of parishioners.'Chipping the population' was not the primary motive for declaring the pandemic, but the priest is essentially correct in that it in no way justified the lockdowns and mass suffering they caused. The media, as usual, caricatures the dissenting view in a manipulative effort to malign it in readers' eyes.
Sergius claimed on many occasions that the pandemic was an excuse to microchip the public, and complained that the closure of churches during the crisis was done under pressure from "the atheistic authorities."
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