What belongs to the ROC. On financing the Russian Orthodox Church from the budget

A religious organization has benefits, but every one of them is key. It is completely exempt from:

That is, in fact, the ROC pays nothing at all to the budget.

The tax code of the Russian Federation clearly stipulates: the exemption is only from religious activities, and all commercial, even carried out by the ROC, is subject to mandatory taxation. Therefore, according to reports, the church does not conduct commercial activities at all. According to a high-ranking Russian official, in fact, they simply do not want to get involved with the church.

Chronicle of economic activity

2019: Seminar on project management, fundraising and crowdfunding

2018

Purchasing paraphernalia in China

Diocese assets: factories, computer centers, construction companies

JSC "Ritual Orthodox Service"

According to the SPARK database, the patriarchate was a co-owner of CJSC Orthodox Ritual Service. For 2016, the company was closed, however, at that time, the “daughter” established by it, OJSC “Ritualnaya Orthodox service"(revenue for 2014 - 58.4 million rubles).

2015: Donations are less (4.03 billion rubles), and incomes grew by 27% to 1.79 billion rubles

On June 7, 2016, it became known about the growth of the income of the ROC from ritual and ceremonial activities by 27%, and the volume of donations slightly decreased.

Income of religious organizations from "performing rituals and ceremonies", "sales of religious literature and religious items" grew by 27% in 2015 and reached 1.79 billion rubles, media reported, citing statistics from the Federal Tax Service.

The amount of donations from citizens and organizations "for the conduct of statutory activities" decreased slightly - by 3%, to 4.03 billion rubles.

In 2014, the Russians donated more. Donations amounted to almost 4.2 billion rubles, but income from the sale of candles and icons, rituals reached 1.4 billion rubles.

The vast majority of these incomes are related only to the Russian Orthodox Church, since it is not customary in Islam to conduct religious rites similar to those held in Russian churches. Therefore, donations from parishioners of other faiths do not fall into the official statistics.

2012: Annual income of $100-150 million. Scheme of legal entities

2003-2010: 25% share in BMW Russland car dealer

Between 2003 and 2010 ZAO Vital, controlled by the Russian Orthodox Church, owned a quarter of BMW Russland, but in 2010 the company was liquidated, and BMW Russland Trading LLC was registered in its place.

2000: 55% of income - commercial enterprises

In 2000, Archbishop Kliment, in an interview with the Kommersant-Dengi magazine, for the first and last time, will say what the church economy is made up of:

• 5% of the budget of the patriarchate - deductions from the dioceses,
• 40% - sponsorship donations,
• 55% comes from the earnings of commercial enterprises of the ROC.

1997: Deposits, government bonds and business ventures

At the 1997 Bishops' Council, Patriarch Alexy II reported that the ROC received the bulk of the money from "managing its temporarily free funds, placing them in deposit accounts, acquiring state short-term bonds" and other securities, and from the income of commercial enterprises.

1990s: Cigarette imports and vodka trade

In the 1990s, structures of the Russian Orthodox Church carried out duty-free importation of cigarettes and trade in vodka.

The Russian Orthodox Church lives not only on donations from parishioners, considerable state assistance and sponsorship funds, the ROC also has its own business.

By the way, the profit of the church is not taxed, despite the fact that in 2014 alone it amounted to 5.6 billion rubles. RBC journalists conducted an investigation and found out how the Russian business works Orthodox Church.

There is no exact data on the formation of the budget of the ROC

In early 2000, Archbishop Clement spoke of what makes up the church economy:

5% of the Patriarchate's budget is deductions from the dioceses, 40% is donations from sponsors, 55% comes from the earnings of commercial enterprises of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to Vsevolod Chaplin, former head of the church-society department, there are fewer donations now, and deductions from dioceses can reach half the budget. Chaplin did not give exact data in an interview with RBC.

According to RBC, there are 293 dioceses and over 34.5 thousand churches in Russia. Churches allocate to the dioceses a certain percentage of the donations received.

Each of the parishes brings from 5 thousand to 3 million rubles. income monthly in the form of donations profit from religious activities: baptism, wedding, consecration of cars, apartments and other items.

Part of the donations (from 10 to 50%) are transferred by the parishes to the dioceses, which transfer a 15% share of this amount to the patriarchate, RBC reports.

Every year, the amount of deductions is growing, priests of regional churches complained to the RBC correspondent.

“Under Patriarch Alexy II, I transferred 10% to the diocese, now it is 27%. This is due to the fact that after the arrival of Patriarch Kirill, the number of dioceses was tripled and the workload on the parishes increased greatly,” complains the rector of a church near Moscow.

If the priest is not able to pay the fee, he can be fired.

It should be noted that the financial and economic department of the patriarchate, headed by Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky, did not answer questions from RBC.

And in the federal budget “there are closed articles”, it’s up to the church itself how to manage it [its budget],” priest Alexander Volkov, the press secretary of the patriarch, answered questions for the material with these phrases.

Government funding

In 2012-2015, the Russian Orthodox Church and related structures received 14 billion rubles from the state. The budget for 2016 includes 2.6 billion rubles for the ROC.

The state gives money to the church within the framework of federal programs related to the development of spiritual and educational centers, the preservation and restoration of churches.

By the way, since 2009, more than 5,000 churches have been built and restored throughout the country. The Federal Property Management Agency transfers objects to the ROC in two ways - in ownership or under a contract for gratuitous use.

According to RBC, the Russian Orthodox Church received about 165 objects for free use, and about 100 for property.

One of the main sources of income for the Moscow Patriarchate is the Sofrino plant.

This enterprise produces church furniture, bowls, icons, candles and so on. A lot of goods costing from a few rubles to 1.5 million rubles.

According to RBC, according to priests, buying from Sofrino is strongly recommended in dioceses. The plant provides church items to half of Russian parishes.

The church economy is opaque

IN economic activity the church, writes RBC, “does not hire contractors”, coping with its own resources - monasteries supply products, workshops melt candles. The multi-layer cake is divided inside the ROC, the publication emphasizes.

The Patriarchate did not provide RBC with data on the expenditure items of its budget. In 2006, the patriarchy's accountant estimated the cost of maintaining the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Seminaries at 60 million rubles. in year.

Such expenses are still relevant, confirms Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.

“There is no need to disclose the expense items of the ROC, since it is absolutely clear what the church spends money on - for church needs,” Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the synodal department for relations between the church, society and the media, reproached the RBC correspondent.

The Patriarch's tour of Latin America cost at least 20 million rubles

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, spent half of February on distant wanderings.

Negotiations with the Pope in Cuba, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, landing on Waterloo Island near the Antarctic coast, where Russian polar explorers from Bellingshausen station live surrounded by gentoo penguins.

After analyzing the data on the flights of the patriarch, RBC correspondents calculated that about 20 million rubles were spent on transportation costs alone. Of these, more than 12 million rubles. the journey of the patriarch and his entourage of 30 people to Antarctica was worth it.

The incomes of the clergy largely depend on the generosity of the parishioners, but Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin notes that “people have become much poorer and tightfisted”

“The money that is donated in the temple ends up in piggy banks. These piggy banks can be targeted donations, they can be general: for candles, notes. Every last Sunday of the month, our audit committee - there is one in every church - writes a corresponding act. This money is taken to the bank and deposited into our church account. The priest, as a rule, has a salary, let's say in secular terms, which is determined depending on the income of the parish. Our parish, frankly, is not very rich. This is the minimum wage in the Moscow region - 14,200 rubles.

If there are several priests in the state of the temple, then the amount of salary is determined by the rector at his own discretion. It is clear that it is very difficult to live on a bare salary. But the priest also has an additional income. These are donations for trebes, such as a funeral service or the consecration of an apartment. Often these funds make up the bulk of income. It happens that parishioners give gifts - food, things, household items. But this is rare and not much. If there is a wealthy donor - lucky.

In the village, the priests have household plots. Many combine church service with secular work - most often they teach in schools, and not the word of God, but, for example, history or the Russian language. There are those who work as a taxi driver or a programmer.

Cleric rewards are not the same and can vary greatly. It all depends on where the church is located and how many parishioners it has, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, rector of the Moscow church of St. Theodore the Studite, told Business FM:

“In the city, temples are usually a little more affluent or much more affluent than in the countryside. There is, of course, a big difference depending on how many people there are in one temple. If, for example, a temple is in a village, but there is only one per district, then, of course, there are more people there. And if in a small town there are 10-20 operating churches, then, of course, they will all be beggars. Maybe apart from cathedral, which stands in the very center. In general, the drop in cash receipts is going on in literally all church communities. This applies even to the rich Moscow outskirts. Well, in the center, the temples gradually go into the minus. People have become much poorer and much more stingy.”

Father Vsevolod Chaplin says that he receives 20 thousand rubles a month. At the same time, the rector of the temple has many duties, and worship of them takes only a third. This is the solution of issues related to the management and maintenance of the temple, interaction with authorities, reporting, and so on.

As for the rewards of the higher clergy, as one of the priests near Moscow told us, there is a completely different story, but he did not disclose the details.

Photographs of people in cassocks in luxury cars and with Rolex watches periodically pop up in the media. It is also known that for misdeeds a cleric can be sent to a small parish and his income will drop sharply. They can also be fired, especially after the scandalous stories that get into the press.

Parishes outside of Russia are usually very poor, and priests live on a token allowance. Many of the pastors Orthodox churches abroad, they also work in secular work, and worship services are held in their free time.

Including the BMW trade, and found details that could provoke the priests to sin.

Symptom of cinders

When I was eight, and I ran away from home for the third time, having lived a day and a half on a wild apple tree in the forest, my parents, recovering from hysteria, sent me to an Orthodox Sunday school. That is how I saved myself, that is, by translating into worldly language, I stopped hiding diaries with deuces and poking at the request of the boys bulls from parental ashtrays, exchanging this leisure time for helping to clean the temple, including extinguishing candle ends.

Here the whole secret is that at least half a centimeter is left of the candle - otherwise it will be difficult to get it out of the candlestick. And, knowing this secret, I was very surprised when a few months ago I noticed a grandmother in one of the half-empty churches of the Sergiev Posad Lavra, extinguishing half-burned candles. I remember that case precisely because I did not find an explanation for it then.

But I found it now, taking up this material. It turned out that cinders are such a symptom. A symptom of the disease of the church, which cannot understand in any way who it is - company"Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church", the manager, or the house of God. “All you find is gossip,” said all my Orthodox friends in unison. I found data and concluded also about the symptom of the disease of a society that, out of fear of disappointment, prefers turning a blind eye to problems rather than solving them.

Cinders are sweet

The symptom of cinders has been repeatedly described by bloggers. Here the girl describes how her own candle was extinguished. Here the girl was not allowed to put a candle that was not bought in the temple. Why is this happening? Cinders are sent for remelting, and new candles are made from them - this is not a secret. For example, the Ascension Church asks to bring cinders even from homemade candles to church. The temple has its own benefit - it belongs to the Yekaterinodar diocese, which, according to Rosstat on January 1, 2010, is a 100% owner "OTD Candle Workshop".

According to the same Rosstat, the Samara and Syzran dioceses have their own candle factories (that’s what they call Samara Diocesan Candle Workshop LLC), and the ROC directly has HPC Sofrino ROC LLC, which supplies candles to all of Moscow and the same Sergiev Posad Lavra. That is, in churches and Moscow, too, there is a risk of catching sidelong glances by entering with your candles. After all, this whole situation puts the priests in an ambiguous position: as managers, they must take care of the material well-being of the parish, like the holy fathers - about the spiritual. The result of a heavy internal struggle is inscriptions-compromises like "Do not enter with other people's candles".

Another compromise between the spiritual and the material is the price tags for sacred sacraments: baptisms, funerals, weddings. According to statistics Yandex, get married most often people want to . I call to find out how much it will cost - it turns out, from 10 thousand rubles and only after an interview with the priest. In Yekaterinburg, where salaries are three times less, for the same wedding in Novo-Tikhvin Monastery they ask three times less - 2800. In a situation where the priest is a manager, power, given by God may become a commodity. This "goods" Voznesensky Pechersky monastery sells, for example, directly through the online store. In my shopping cart "Eternal commemoration" for 3000 rubles.

ROC Corporation

Saturday. Four o'clock in the evening. A church shop inside a small church of Elijah the Prophet in the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro area. Woman with a bag Calvin Klein holds out two hundred-ruble notes and asks for six candles of 20 rubles each. He throws the change into the box "For the restoration of the temple." Behind her, a grandmother in a polyester scarf holds out ruble coins and asks for two candles for a nickel. This is the best proof that the parishioners are not against giving the church an opportunity to earn extra money. Production church candles up to 2 cm in diameter up to 1 ruble. In temples, the price of these candles reaches up to 15 rubles. So profit reaches 1500% excluding savings on the remelting of candle cinders. But we humbly buy candles, considering the difference in price as our victims of the church.

Information about the income structure of the Russian Orthodox Church is a secret, guarded more carefully than the work of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. At least journalists are allowed there. It was publicly spoken about only on bishops' cathedrals that up to half of the income comes from donations from individuals and companies. Where does everything else come from? Press service His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Rus', as well as the Synodal Information Department did not answer questions for this article.

ROC is registered as a legal entity - non-profit religious organization "Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church". She directly owns, according to SPARK, 145 monasteries, churches and dioceses (which, in turn, also own churches and monasteries). All of them have the status of religious organizations. It allows don't pay taxes from the land on which churches and monasteries stand, to the buildings of churches and monasteries themselves, and finally, don't pay from the sale of church books, candles, from funerals and baptisms.

The problem is that the law does not list specific objects that are exempt from taxes, but rather vague formulations are given - “religious purpose” and “religious activity”. Thanks to this, the church does not pay taxes not only from icons, but also, for example, from computers, as well as from factories owned by it. Last thing - serious problem for the Federal Tax Service, which was even forced to draw the attention of its regional branches to the fact that such plants must pay at least land tax.

In addition to parishes, as of August 8 this year, five commercial organizations hung on the balance sheet of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The largest of them is already mentioned "HPP Sofrino ROC". This is such an official supplier of church utensils, icons, candles and clothes. The last time information about this company was announced in 1997. Then its turnover reached 120 million rubles a year in today's money. But since then, the number of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church has grown by 67% (from 18,000). With a high degree of probability, the turnover of Sofrino increased by the same amount and then reaches 200 million rubles. in year.

The second company is CJSC Orthodox Ritual Service. She is not as interesting as her "daughter" with a similar name - OAO "Ritual Orthodox Service". This is one of the largest companies in the Moscow market of funeral services (co-owner is the government) with a turnover, according to SPARK, of 133 million rubles over the past year. A year ago, the company almost lost its "license" for funeral business - because of the huge number of complaints about poor quality work.

The third company is "Bankhouse Erbe", hanging in the middle of the fourth hundred rating of banks. The ROC also admitted that it was a co-founder of the bank "Peresvet", which ranks 69th in terms of assets as of August this year.

The rest of the assets are quite predictable - these are publishing- "Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchy" and "Patriarchal Publishing and Printing Center"; financial information is not disclosed.

Even from the meager information on official sources of income, it becomes clear that ROC assets exceed $1 billion- and this is the entrance threshold to the Forbes golden hundred.

Hidden Assets

The loudest scandal in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church happened in 1997. Then the MK journalist Sergei Bychkov published articles accusing the church of selling tobacco and alcohol under the guise of humanitarian aid, which made it possible not to pay taxes. According to the State Customs Committee, the Russian Orthodox Church imported 18 billion cigarettes and 21 million liters of wine into Russia, which caused the budget to receive less than 1 trillion. rubles. After the scandal benefits have been canceled, even despite the fact that journalist Bychkov lost all lawsuits filed against him by the church.

In the hope of avoiding lawsuits, I approach the issue monumentally - I analyze the SPARK databases, looking through the diocese by diocese, daughter by daughter, granddaughter by granddaughter, and discover an incredible fact. A year ago, through the network of affiliated companies of the ROC traded cars bmw , being a co-founder of BMW Russland LLC together with the Austrian division of BMW (BMW OSTERREICH HOLDING GMBH, registered in ). (The chain is long: RO "Moscow Patriarchy" owns 100% of the "Orthodox TV Fund", which owns 25% of JSC "Vital", which, in turn, controls 25% of "BMW Russland" LLC. This company was registered in 1999 until 2005, apparently, through her concern BMW Russia sold his cars assembled at the Avtotor Kaliningrad plant). Press service BMW Russia declined to comment for this article.

Religious organizations' income from "performing rites and ceremonies" and also from "sales of religious literature and religious items" grew by 27% last year, to 1.79 billion rubles. This is evidenced by the statistics of the Federal Tax Service, which Life got acquainted with.

The amount of donations from citizens and organizations "to conduct statutory activities", on the contrary, slightly decreased, by 3%, to 4.03 billion rubles.

In 2014, Russians, on the contrary, donated more, but bought spiritual literature less often and ordered services. Donations amounted to almost 4.2 billion rubles, but income from the sale of candles and icons, as well as from rituals, amounted to only 1.4 billion rubles.

We are talking about the ROC. According to Roman Silantyev, chairman of the expert council for conducting state religious expertise under the Ministry of Justice, the vast majority of such income relates to the Russian Orthodox Church, since, for example, it is not customary in Islam to conduct religious rites similar to those held in Russian churches. Therefore, donations from parishioners of other faiths, as a rule, do not fall into official statistics.

In the statistics of the Federal Tax Service for 2015, data appeared on how many churches were listed by their various subsidiaries - although they look somewhat underestimated. If in 2014 the subsidiaries transferred 25 million rubles, then last year the amount increased by more than 50%, to almost 40 million rubles. The main donors of the ROC are the Sofrino Art and Production Enterprise, the Danilovskaya Hotel on the territory of the St. Danilov Monastery, and the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate.

"Sofrino" produces icons, church furniture, tombs, bowls, wax and paraffin candles, providing church parishes with these items. The report is not published. The Danilovskaya Hotel offers single rooms for up to 4,100 rubles per day with breakfast, and apartments for up to 13,000 rubles per day. In 2014, the hotel's revenue amounted to, according to the Spark database, 112 million rubles, the profit was slightly more than 1 million rubles.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, sexton of the local church of St. Peter the Metropolitan of Moscow Vitaly Milonov confirms the data of the Federal Tax Service. According to him, in the "period of trials" that our country is now experiencing, people are more likely to turn to God:

“According to my observations, there are more parishioners in churches, and they began to write down more names for services, buy candles and various literature. Here is a simple example for you. new church where there were zero parishioners. And now 50-70 people go there every day. Considering that for Last year Since hundreds of new churches have opened across the country, it is safe to say that the number of parishioners has increased significantly. But somewhere the church was too far away, and many simply could not get to it."

The Russian Orthodox Church did not officially comment on these statistics. Earlier, the press service of the patriarch noted that they did not have data on the financial activities of the Church. As the data from the Spark database show, almost every parish of the ROC is a separate legal entity, and the consolidated reporting of the ROC is not published in open sources.

It should be noted that the income of the Church is not profit per se. In 2012, the Society for the Protection of Consumer Rights (OZPP) filed a lawsuit against the Russian Orthodox Church demanding that it be illegal to distribute goods on the territory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In its lawsuit, the OZPP asked to oblige the farmstead to place signs on all pavilions, issue price tags on all goods, install cash desks and issue checks for goods to all visitors.

"The reason for going to court was the systemic and long-term violations of consumer protection legislation committed by this organization in the course of commercial activities for the sale of goods and services," the OZPP said in a statement.

The Khamovniki Court of Moscow took the side of the Russian Orthodox Church, stating that the actions of the Church do not fall under the law on consumer protection. Also, the legal department of the patriarchy denied the allegation that the temple is engaged in any commercial activity, including the sale of religious objects.