Report of the Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov. Report of the Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Ryazan and Mikhailov
In July, Mosproekt-2 filed nine lawsuits with the Moscow Arbitration Court against the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church. The total amount of claims is more than 6.9 million rubles (for two claims, the amount is not specified). As Olesya Bobkova, deputy general director of Mosproekt-2 for economics and finance, told Life, all claims were filed for unpaid design work temples.
- These are not the last lawsuits, they refuse to pay. Under the program "200 temples" we did a number of projects. Some have been completed and paid for, and some have not only been designed, the temples are already standing, but there is still no money. Long persuasion and trips to Vladyka in the Patriarchate did not yield results. Letters repeatedly came asking just to donate to him and that they would not pay for the work done, says Bobkova.
At the same time, according to her, ROC Mosproekt-2 cannot donate work worth several million rubles out of greed: the receipt of funds under already concluded agreements must be reported to the tax office, where the cancellation of the agreement may be considered fraud.
- I am a believer, but for me this [the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church] is just a legal entity. But I can’t forgive debts in order to prevent losses for the enterprise - this is my job, - Bobkova feels awkward.
It is a commercial secret to say exactly how many temple projects remained unpaid and how much she refuses.
- A lot of them. On Akademika Millionshchikov Street, on Yurovskaya, Dezhnev Passage (there is both a temple and a clergy house), on Barclay (there is already a temple there), on Marshal Savitsky. Further Krasnodarskaya street, Melnikova, Ukhtomskaya, Mozhayskoye highway, possession 54. There are a lot of them, says Bobkova.
At the same time, according to her, temple projects were made for minimal amounts - at cost.
- Only the estimated cost of works according to collections, according to standards, was taken into account. These are ridiculous sums for such works: 364, 200, 70 thousand rubles. These are not millions, we do not profit from the Patriarchate. I don’t know why they do this,” Bobkova throws up her hands.
Why the ROC refuses to pay remains unknown to us. According to the statistics of the Federal Tax Service, the income of the Russian Orthodox Church cannot be called modest.
For example, last year the church received 1.79 billion rubles from "performing rites and ceremonies" and also from "selling religious literature and religious objects." And the amount of donations from citizens and organizations "to conduct statutory activities" amounted to another 4.03 billion rubles. In addition, the ROC receives money from the state as part of federal programs related to the development of spiritual and educational centers, the preservation and restoration of churches. In the budget for this year, 2.6 billion rubles were allocated for the church.
The income of the Moscow Temple Construction Support Fund, which finances the construction under the 200 Temples program, is not presented in open sources. The founder of the fund is the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, according to the SPARK database, completed 2015 with 77 million rubles of net profit (96.5 million profit minus 19 million income tax).
The financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church did not respond to Life's request. It was not possible to get through to the chairman of the synodal department for relations between the church, society and the media.
This is not the first story when the ROC refuses to pay its debts. Thus, in February-March 2015, the Research and Design and Survey Institute (NIiPI) of Urban Planning and System Design (GSP) filed six lawsuits for the total amount of 29.7 million rubles against the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church. After six months of proceedings on all claims, the proceedings were canceled: the parties agreed to conclude settlement agreements. According to them, the Russian Orthodox Church undertook to pay off debts within a month, and the designers refused to collect a penalty for late payment. It was not possible to discuss the situation with representatives of NIiPI GSP.
In the spring of 2015, the Legat-stroy construction company also sued the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to satisfy the claim in full (7,925,877 rubles for construction work and 62,629 state duties), and the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
- They threw dozens of organizations for money, - Andrey Nikishin, the general director of Legat-stroy, is sure.
Having built a temple in honor of the Holy Martyr Tatiana of Rome on Krasnodarskaya Street, his company, like Mosproekt-2 now, faced the unwillingness of the Russian Orthodox Church to pay and an offer to make a donation.
- Initially, we began to work even before the conclusion of the contract, on trust. Only after a year of work were they able to force them to sign an agreement under the threat that we would demolish everything. Then they refused to pay, newspapers and television were told that we were philanthropists, although this was not so. So I had to go to court. We are still lucky that we signed the contract, many organizations fail to do this - they are thrown, and you can’t even sue them, - says Nikishin.
Nikishin was really lucky - after all, now the courts allow the ROC to pay not only with money, but also with services. So, at the end of last year in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the arbitration court allowed the local diocese to return part of the debt to the contractor who installed the boiler house with prayers.
The firm was supposed to receive almost a million rubles, but only 458 thousand were paid to it. The decision was made as part of a settlement agreement. According to the document, the diocese had to pay the organization another 200 thousand rubles, and also pledged to "pray for the health of the servant of God Arsenyev Ivan Mikhailovich and the servant of God Lepustin Sergey Alexandrovich, their families and well-being in all their good deeds and undertakings" on account of the remainder of the debt .
MOSCOW, September 29 - RIA Novosti. Head of External church connections(DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk compared the possible renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church into the "Russian Church in Ukraine" with the actions of the Nazis in Nazi Germany.
"Ukrainian authorities want to completely seize Ukrainian church, put it outside the law, and various bills are being created for this. For example, there is such a bill that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be renamed the “Russian Church in Ukraine,” Metropolitan Hilarion said on Saturday on the air of the Church and the World program on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
However, he noted, the UOC is not a Russian church, but a Ukrainian one, since "the believers of this church consider themselves Ukrainians, they are patriots of their country."
“And besides, renaming the church right now, when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is at an acute stage, renaming it the Russian Church is the same as putting on a yellow six-pointed star for Jews in Nazi Germany. That is, it means marking the church as an enemy organization, and this bill was created for this purpose," the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
Earlier, the Holy Synod of the UOC called on the Verkhovna Rada to refuse to adopt bills that are under consideration in parliament and related to the activities of the UOC, as they "are aimed at the legal liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church through its raider seizure through a change of name, illegal interference in government bodies and seizure of property (shrines, temples and monasteries).
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is trying to achieve recognition of non-canonical religious structures and the creation of a single local autocephalous church in Ukraine. Previously Patriarch of Constantinople AT "in preparation for granting autocephaly" appointed its exarchs in Kyiv. In addition, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople announced that he intends to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. The UOC called such actions an invasion of the canonical territory of another local church and called on Patriarch Bartholomew to stop his interference, and the "exarchs" of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to leave Kyiv.
The Russian Orthodox Church, in turn, went to the actual "severance of diplomatic relations" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Synod of the Russian Church announced the termination of the commemoration of Patriarch Bartholomew during patriarchal services. In addition, a decision was made to withdraw from the structures chaired by representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and Constantinople found themselves in such a crisis only once in its entire more than a thousand-year history.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Holy Synod of the UOC suspended their service with the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The well-being of the Orthodox Church rests not only on the considerable assistance of the state, the generosity of patrons and donations from the flock - the ROC also has its own business. But where the earnings are spent is still a secret.
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.
To travel to Latin America, the patriarch and about a hundred escorts used the Il-96-300 aircraft with tail number RA-96018, which is operated by the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment. This airline is subordinate to the presidential administration and serves the first persons of the state ().
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' at the Russian station Bellingshausen on the island of Waterloo (Photo: Press Service of the Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church/TASS)
The authorities provide the head of the Russian Orthodox Church not only with air transport: the decree on the allocation of state guards to the patriarch was one of the first decisions of President Vladimir Putin. Three of the four residences - in Chisty Lane of Moscow, Danilov Monastery and Peredelkino - were provided to the church by the state.
However, the income items of the ROC are not limited to the help of the state and big business. The church itself has learned to earn.
RBC figured out how the economy of the Russian Orthodox Church works.
layered cake
“From an economic point of view, the ROC is a giant corporation uniting under a single name tens of thousands of independent or semi-independent agents. They are every parish, monastery, priest,” wrote sociologist Nikolai Mitrokhin in his book The Russian Orthodox Church: Current State and Current Problems.
Indeed, unlike many public organizations, each parish is registered as a separate legal entity and religious NPO. The income of the church for conducting rites and ceremonies is not subject to taxation, and income from the sale of religious literature and donations are not taxed. At the end of each year, religious organizations draw up a declaration: according to the latest data provided by RBC to the Federal Tax Service, in 2014, non-taxable income of the church amounted to 5.6 billion rubles.
Mitrokhin estimated the entire annual income of the ROC in the 2000s at about $500 million, while the church itself rarely and reluctantly talks about its money. On the Bishops' Cathedral In 1997, Patriarch Alexy II reported that the Russian Orthodox Church received most 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.
Three years later, Archbishop Clement, in an interview with Kommersant-Dengi magazine, for the first and last time, will say what the church economy is made up of: 5% of the patriarchate's budget comes from deductions from dioceses, 40% from sponsorship donations, 55% comes from the earnings of commercial enterprises of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Now there are fewer sponsorship donations, and deductions from dioceses can make up a third or about half of the general church budget, explains Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who until December 2015 headed the department for relations between the church and society.
Church property
The confidence of an ordinary Muscovite in the rapid growth of the number of new Orthodox churches around does not strongly contradict the truth. Since 2009 alone, more than five thousand churches have been built and restored throughout the country, these figures were announced in early February at the Bishops' Council by Patriarch Kirill. These statistics include both churches built from scratch (mainly in Moscow; about how this activity is financed -), and given to the ROC under the 2010 law "On the transfer of religious property to religious organizations."
According to the document, the Federal Property Management Agency transfers objects to the Russian Orthodox Church in two ways - in ownership or under a contract for gratuitous use, explains Sergey Anoprienko, head of the department for the placement of federal authorities of the Federal Property Management Agency.
RBC analyzed documents on the websites of the territorial bodies of the Federal Property Management Agency - over the past four years, the Orthodox Church has received over 270 property items in 45 regions (unloading was carried out before January 27, 2016). The real estate area is indicated only for 45 objects - a total of about 55 thousand square meters. m. The largest object that has become the property of the church is the ensemble of the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage.
Ruined temple in the Kurilovo tract in the Shatursky district of the Moscow region (Photo: Ilya Pitalev/TASS)
In the case of the transfer of real estate ownership, explains Anoprienko, the parish receives a plot of land near the temple. Only church premises can be built on it - a utensils shop, a clergy house, Sunday school, almshouse, etc. It is impossible to erect objects that can be used for economic purposes.
The Russian Orthodox Church received about 165 objects for free use, and about 100 for property, follows from the data on the website of the Federal Property Management Agency. “Nothing surprising,” explains Anoprienko. - The Church chooses free use, because in this case it can use state funding and count on subsidies for the restoration and maintenance of churches from the authorities. If the property is owned, all responsibility will fall on the ROC.”
In 2015, the Federal Property Management Agency offered the Russian Orthodox Church to take 1,971 objects, but so far only 212 applications have been received, says Anoprienko. The head of the legal service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Xenia (Chernega), is convinced that churches are given only destroyed buildings. “When the law was being discussed, we compromised, did not insist on the restitution of property lost by the church. Now, as a rule, we are not offered a single normal building in large cities, but only ruined objects that require a lot of money. We took a lot of destroyed temples in the 90s, and now, of course, we wanted to get something better, ”she says. The church, according to the abbess, will "fight for the necessary objects."
The loudest battle for Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg
St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg (Photo: Alexander Roshchin/TASS)
In July 2015, Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga appealed to the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko with a request to give the famous Isaac for free use. This called into question the work of the museum located in the cathedral, a scandal ensued - the media wrote about the transfer of the monument on the front pages, a petition demanding not to allow the transfer of the cathedral collected over 85 thousand signatures on change.org.
In September, the authorities decided to leave the cathedral on the city balance, but Nikolai Burov, director of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum complex (which includes three more cathedrals), is still waiting for a dirty trick.
The complex does not receive money from the budget, 750 million rubles. he earns his annual maintenance himself - on tickets, Burov is proud. In his opinion, the Russian Orthodox Church wants to open the cathedral only for worship, "jeopardizing the free visit" of the object.
“Everything continues in the spirit of the“ best Soviet ”traditions - the temple is used as a museum, the museum management behaves like real atheists!” - retorts Burov's opponent, Archpriest Alexander Pelin from the St. Petersburg diocese.
“Why does the museum take precedence over the temple? Everything should be the other way around - first the temple, because this is how our pious ancestors originally thought, ”the priest is outraged. The church, Pelin has no doubt, has the right to collect donations from visitors.
budget money
“If the state supports you, you are closely connected with it, there are no options,” says priest Alexei Uminsky, rector of the Trinity Church in Khokhly. The current church interacts too closely with the authorities, he believes. However, his views do not coincide with the opinion of the leadership of the patriarchate.
According to RBC estimates, in 2012-2015, the ROC and related structures received from the budget and from government organizations at least 14 billion rubles. However, only in new version The budget for 2016 provides for 2.6 billion rubles.
Near the Sofrino trading house on Prechistenka is one of the branches of the ASVT group of telecommunications companies. The firm at 10.7% at least until 2009 was also owned by Parkhaev. The co-founder of the company (through Russdo CJSC) is the co-chair of the Union of Orthodox Women Anastasia Ositis, Irina Fedulova. ASVT's revenue for 2014 is over 436.7 million rubles, profit is 64 million rubles. Ositis, Fedulova, and Parkhaev did not answer questions for this article.
Parkhaev was listed as the chairman of the board of directors and the owner of Sofrino Bank (until 2006 it was called Old Bank). The Central Bank revoked the license of this financial institution in June 2014. Judging by the data of SPARK, the owners of the bank are Alemazh LLC, Stack-T LLC, Elbin-M LLC, Sian-M LLC and Mekona-M LLC. According to the Central Bank, the beneficiary of these companies is Dmitry Malyshev, ex-chairman of the board of Sofrino Bank and representative of the Moscow Patriarchate in state authorities.
Immediately after the renaming of Old Bank to Sofrino, the Housing Construction Company (ZhSK), established by Malyshev and partners, received several major contracts from the Russian Orthodox Church: in 2006, the ZhSK won 36 competitions announced by the Ministry of Culture (formerly Roskultura) for restoration temples. The total volume of contracts is 60 million rubles.
Parkhaev's biography from the site parhaev.com reports the following: he was born on June 19, 1941 in Moscow, worked as a turner at the Krasny Proletarian plant, in 1965 he came to work in the patriarchate, participated in the restoration of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, enjoyed the favor of Patriarch Pimen. The activities of Parkhaev are described not without picturesque details: “Evgeny Alekseevich provided the construction site with everything necessary,<…>solved all the problems, and trucks with sand, bricks, cement, metal went to the construction site.
The energy of Parkhaev, the unknown biographer continues, is enough to manage, with the blessing of the patriarch, the Danilovskaya Hotel: “This is a modern and comfortable hotel, in the conference hall of which local councils, religious and peacemaking conferences, and concerts are held. The hotel needed just such a leader: experienced and purposeful.”
The daily cost of a Danilovskaya single room with breakfast on weekdays is 6300 rubles, apartments - 13 thousand rubles, services include a sauna, bar, car rental and organization of holidays. Income of "Danilovskaya" in 2013 - 137.4 million rubles, in 2014 - 112 million rubles.
Parkhaev is a man from the team of Alexy II, who managed to prove his indispensability to Patriarch Kirill, the interlocutor of RBC in a company manufacturing church products is sure. The permanent head of Sofrino enjoys privileges that even prominent priests are deprived of, confirms a RBC source in one of the major dioceses. In 2012, photos from the anniversary of Parkhaev got on the Internet - the holiday was celebrated with pomp in the hall church councils Cathedral of Christ the Savior. After that, the guests of the hero of the day went on the ship to Parkhaev's dacha in the Moscow region. The photographs, the authenticity of which no one disputed, show an impressive cottage, a tennis court and a marina with boats.
From cemeteries to T-shirts
The sphere of interests of the Russian Orthodox Church includes medicines, jewelry, renting out conference rooms, Vedomosti wrote, as well as Agriculture and the funeral services market. According to the SPARK database, the patriarchate is a co-owner of CJSC Orthodox Ritual Service: now the company is closed, but its subsidiary, OJSC Ritualnaya Orthodox service”(revenue for 2014 - 58.4 million rubles).
The Yekaterinburg diocese owned a large granite quarry "Granit" and a security company "Derzhava", the Vologda diocese had a plant for reinforced concrete products and structures. The Kemerovo diocese is a 100% owner of LLC Kuzbass Investment and Construction Company, a co-owner of the Novokuznetsk Computer Center and the Europe Media Kuzbass agency.
There are several retail outlets in the Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow: the monastery shop and the Danilovsky Souvenir shop. You can buy church utensils, leather wallets, T-shirts with Orthodox prints, Orthodox literature. The monastery does not disclose financial indicators. On the territory of the Sretensky Monastery there is a shop "Sreteniya" and a cafe "Unholy Saints", named after the book of the same name by the rector, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov). The cafe, according to the bishop, "does not bring money." The main source of income for the monastery is the publishing house. The monastery also owns land in the agricultural cooperative "Resurrection" (the former collective farm "Voskhod"; the main activity is the cultivation of grain and legumes, animal husbandry). Revenue for 2014 - 52.3 million rubles, profit - about 14 million rubles.
Finally, since 2012, the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church have owned the building of the Universitetskaya Hotel in the south-west of Moscow. The cost of a standard single room is 3 thousand rubles. The pilgrimage center of the Russian Orthodox Church is located in this hotel. “In Universitetskaya there is a large hall, you can hold conferences, accommodate people who come to events. The hotel, of course, is cheap, very simple people settle there, very rarely - bishops, ”Chapnin told RBC.
Church cash desk
Archpriest Chaplin was unable to realize his long-standing idea - a banking system that excludes usurious interest. While Orthodox banking exists only in words, the patriarchate uses the services of the most ordinary banks.
Until recently, the church had accounts in three organizations - Ergobank, Vneshprombank and Peresvet Bank (the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church also own the latter). The salaries of employees of the synodal department of the patriarchate, according to RBC's source in the Russian Orthodox Church, were transferred to accounts in Sberbank and Promsvyazbank (the press services of the banks did not respond to RBC's request; a source close to Promsvyazbank said that the bank, among other things, holds church funds parishes).
More than 60 Orthodox organizations and 18 dioceses were served in Ergobank, including the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. In January, the bank's license was revoked due to a "hole" found in its balance sheet.
The church agreed to open accounts with Ergobank because of one of its shareholders, Valery Meshalkin (about 20%), RBC's interlocutor in the patriarchate explains. "Meshalkin - church man, an Orthodox businessman who helped churches a lot. It was believed that this was a guarantee that nothing would happen to the bank, ”the source describes.
Ergobank office in Moscow (Photo: Sharifulin Valery/TASS)
Valery Meshalkin is the owner of the Energomashkapital construction and installation company, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the author of the book “The Influence of Mount Athos on Monastic Traditions of Eastern Europe". Meshalkin did not answer questions from RBC. According to a RBC source in Ergobank, the money was withdrawn from the accounts of the ROC structure before the license was revoked.
In turned out to be no less problematic 1.5 billion rubles. ROC, a source in the bank told RBC and confirmed by two interlocutors close to the patriarchate. In January, the bank's license was also revoked. According to one of the interlocutors of RBC, the chairman of the board of the bank, Larisa Markus, was close to the patriarchate and its leadership, so the church chose this bank to store part of its money. According to the interlocutors of RBC, in addition to the patriarchate, funds in Vneshprombank were held by several funds that carry out the instructions of the patriarch. The largest is the Foundation of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Elena. RBC's source in the Patriarchate said that the fund raised money to help victims of the conflicts in Syria and Donetsk. Fundraising information is also available on the Internet.
The founders of the fund are Anastasia Ositis and Irina Fedulova, who have already been mentioned in connection with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the past, at least until 2008, Ositis and Fedulova were shareholders of Vneshprombank.
However, the main bank of the church is the Moscow "Peresvet". As of December 1, 2015, funds of enterprises and organizations (85.8 billion rubles) and individuals (20.2 billion rubles) were placed on the bank's accounts. Assets as of January 1 - 186 billion rubles, of which more than half are loans to companies, the bank's profit - 2.5 billion rubles. On the accounts of non-profit organizations - more than 3.2 billion rubles, follows from the reporting of "Peresvet".
The financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church owns 36.5% of the bank, another 13.2% belongs to owned by the ROC LLC "Sodeistvie". Other owners include OOO Vnukovo-invest (1.7%). The office of this company is located at the same address as "Assistance". An employee of Vnukovo-Invest could not explain to the RBC correspondent whether there was a connection between his company and Assistance. Phones are not answered in the Assistance office.
JSCB Peresvet could cost up to 14 billion rubles, and the share of the Russian Orthodox Church in the amount of 49.7%, presumably, up to 7 billion rubles, Dmitry Lukashov, an analyst at IFC Markets, calculated for RBC.
Investment and innovation
Not much is known about where ROC funds are invested by banks. But it is known for sure that the Russian Orthodox Church does not shy away from venture investments.
Peresvet invests in innovative projects through Sberinvest, in which the bank owns 18.8%. Financing of innovations is shared: 50% of the money is provided by Sberinvest investors (including Peresvet), 50% - by state corporations and funds. Funds for projects co-financed by Sberinvest were found in the Russian Venture Company (the press service of RVC refused to name the amount of funds), the Skolkovo Foundation (the fund invested 5 million rubles in development, the fund representative said) and the state corporation Rosnano (on $50 million were allocated to Sberinvest projects, a spokesman said).
The press service of the state corporation RBC explained: in 2012, the Nanoenergo international fund was created to finance joint projects with Sberinvest. Rosnano and Peresvet each invested $50 million in the fund.
In 2015, the "Fund Rusnano Capital S.A." - a subsidiary of Rosnano - applied to the District Court of Nicosia (Cyprus) with a demand to recognize Peresvet Bank as a co-defendant in the case of violation of the investment agreement. The statement of claim (available to RBC) states that the bank, in violation of procedures, transferred “$90 million from the accounts of Nanoenergo to the accounts of Russian companies affiliated with Sberinvest.” The accounts of these companies were opened in Peresvet.
The court recognized Peresvet as one of the co-respondents. Representatives of Sberinvest and Rosnano confirmed to RBC the existence of a lawsuit.
“This is all some kind of nonsense,” Oleg Dyachenko, a member of the board of directors of Sberinvest, does not lose heart in a conversation with RBC. “With Rusnano, we have good energy projects, everything is going on, everything is moving - the composite pipe plant has completely entered the market, silicon dioxide is at a very high level, we process rice, we get heat, we have entered the export position.” In response to the question of where the money went, the top manager laughs: “You see, I am free. So the money is gone." Dyachenko believes that the case will be closed.
The press service of Peresvet did not respond to repeated requests from RBC. So did the chairman of the board of the bank Alexander Shvets.
Income and expenses
“Since Soviet times, the church economy has been non-transparent,” explains Rector Alexei Uminsky, “it is built on the principle of a household: parishioners give money for some service, but no one cares how it is distributed. And the parish priests themselves do not know exactly where the money they have collected goes.”
Indeed, it is impossible to calculate church expenses: the ROC does not announce tenders and does not appear on the public procurement website. AT economic activity the church, says Abbess Xenia (Chernega), “does not hire contractors,” coping on its own - monasteries supply products, workshops melt candles. The layered pie is divided within the ROC.
What does the church spend on? the abbess asks again and answers: “Theological seminaries are maintained throughout Russia, this is a fairly large share of the costs.” The church also provides charitable assistance to orphans and other social institutions; all synodal departments are financed from the general church budget, she adds.
The Patriarchate did not provide RBC with data on the expenditure items of its budget. In 2006, in the Foma magazine, Natalia Deryuzhkina, at that time the accountant of the patriarchate, estimated the cost of maintaining the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Seminaries at 60 million rubles. in year.
Such expenses are still relevant, Archpriest Chaplin confirms. Also, the priest clarifies, it is necessary to pay salaries to the secular staff of the patriarchate. In total, these are 200 people with an average salary of 40 thousand rubles. per month, according to RBC's source in the patriarchy.
These expenses are negligible against the background of the annual contributions of the dioceses to Moscow. What happens to all the rest of the money?
A few days after the scandalous resignation, Archpriest Chaplin opened an account on Facebook, where he wrote: “Understanding anything, I consider the concealment of income and especially the expenses of the central church budget to be completely immoral. There cannot be the slightest Christian justification for such a concealment in principle.”
There is no need to disclose the expenses 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.
What do other churches live on?
It is not accepted to publish reports on income and expenses of the church, regardless of confessional affiliation.
Dioceses of Germany
An exception to recent times became Roman Catholic Church(RCC), partially disclosing income and expenses. So, the dioceses of Germany began to disclose their financial performance after the scandal with the Bishop of Limburg, for whom in 2010 they began to build a new residence. In 2010, the diocese valued the work at €5.5 million, but three years later the cost almost doubled to €9.85 million. In order to avoid claims in the press, many dioceses began to disclose their budgets. According to reports, the budget of the RCC dioceses consists of income from property, donations, as well as church tax, which is collected from parishioners. According to 2014 data, the diocese of Cologne became the richest (its income is €772 million, tax revenues are €589 million). According to the plan for 2015, the total expenditure of the diocese was estimated at 800 million rubles.
Bank of the Vatican
Now published and data on the financial transactions of the Institute of Religious Affairs (IOR, Istituto per le Opere di Religione), better known as the Vatican Bank. The bank was established in 1942 to manage the financial resources of the Holy See. The Vatican Bank published its first financial report in 2013. According to the report, in 2012 the bank's profit amounted to €86.6 million, a year earlier - €20.3 million. Net interest income was €52.25 million, income from trading activities was €51.1 million.
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR)
Unlike Catholic dioceses, ROCOR's income and expenditure reports are not published. According to Archpriest Peter Kholodny, who was ROCOR Treasurer for a long time, the economy of the church abroad is simple: parishes pay deductions to ROCOR dioceses, and they transfer money to the Synod. The percentage of annual deductions for parishes is 10%, 5% is transferred from the dioceses to the Synod. The richest dioceses are in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the USA.
The main income of ROCOR, according to Kholodny, comes from renting out the four-story building of the Synod: it is located in the upper part of Manhattan, on the corner of Park Avenue and 93rd Street. The area of the building is 4 thousand square meters. m, 80% is occupied by the Synod, the rest is rented to a private school. Annual rental income, according to Kholodny, is about $500,000.
In addition, ROCOR receives income from the Kursk Root Icon (located in the ROCOR Cathedral of the Sign in New York). The icon is taken all over the world, donations go to the budget of the foreign church, Kholodny explains. The ROCOR Synod also owns a candle factory near New York. ROCOR does not transfer money to the Moscow Patriarchate: “Our church is much poorer than the Russian one. Although we own incredibly valuable plots of land - in particular, half of the Garden of Gethsemane - this is not monetized in any way.
Featuring Tatiana Aleshkina, Yulia Titova, Svetlana Bocharova, Georgy Makarenko, Irina Malkova
Dear Vladimir Iosifovich! Dear Vladimir Vasilyevich! Dear fathers! Brothers and sisters! I welcome you to our section "New Temples for the City of Moscow" within the framework of the XXIV International Educational Christmas Readings.
Today, January 26, the conference “Construction of Orthodox churches: traditions and modernity”, which was organized by the Financial and Economic Department of the Russian Orthodox Church as part of the XXIV International Christmas Educational Readings.
The conference was co-chaired by Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky, Chairman of the ROC FHU, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation "Support for the construction of churches in Moscow"; IN AND. Resin, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; V.V. Chernikov, Head of the Department of National Policy, Interregional Relations and Tourism of Moscow.
Recall that within the framework of the Christmas Readings, Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky, Chairman of the FHU ROC, curator of the Program for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow, heads
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We bring to your attention the Report of the Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky:
Dear Vladimir Iosifovich! Dear Vladimir Vasilyevich!
Dear fathers! Brothers and sisters!
I welcome you to our section "New Temples for the City of Moscow" within the framework of the XXIV International Educational Christmas Readings.
The most urgent and burning topic of today, of course, is the economic crisis. We hear from experts all the time about the economic downturn, about the numerous threats associated with it, we also see in our Program how large organizations that have expressed a desire to take an active part in the construction of temples are not always able to fulfill their initial obligations.
However, after analyzing the results of the implementation of the Program for 2015, we can say with confidence that we managed to do more in all indicators, and in some areas - much more than in 2014.
EARTH
More land was registered: by the end of 2015, 166 land plots were registered, for comparison: in 2014, only 143 were registered.
If earlier contracts were drawn up for 2 years, now they are for 9 years. ( “Old” expired contracts were also re-registered for 9 years).
Another important news: In 2015 we registered the first built complex with a church in the property of the parish All-Merciful Savior in Mitino. (We handed over the object, registered the property of the FHU: the temple, the parish house and the land, and then transferred it to the ownership of the parish).
In 2015, another church was designed directly into the property of the parish (bypassing the FHU) - Beheading of John the Baptist in Brateevo (Klyuchevaya St., 18A). (The parish has yet to formalize the land).
FINANCING
Despite the crisis and the difficulties faced by Russian companies and ordinary citizens, the amount of donations for the construction of churches that went through FHU, compared to 2014, has almost doubled.
An even larger amount was made up of direct donations. That is, when during the year benefactors donated for the design and construction of temple complexes directly to the parishes, without the participation of the FHU ( money and work).
On behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodox residents of the city, I would like to express special gratitude for the serious contribution to the common good cause of reviving the spiritual and cultural heritage of the capital to the following companies: OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel;ZAO Novatek; CJSC "Inteko"; LLC "Polytechstroy"; GC "Tashir"; Concern "Krost"; LLC Agrofirme Kosino;
OOO "Seven Development";LLC "Riotex"; to benefactors on Khodynkaanddonors Temple of the Matrona of Moscow.
CONSTRUCTION
In 2015, we not only started construction on 11 temple complexes, but also challengedlong-term construction.
This year, almost completed 7 objects where work began in 2012. These are the Temple of the Vvedensky on Ketcherskaya, the temple of "Education" on Volskaya, the temple of Tatiana of Rome on Krasnodarskaya, Alexy of Moscow (Mechev) on Veshnyakovskaya and Alexander Nevsky in Aleksanrovka (Zelenograd). Two of these seven complexes have been put into operation: the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius on Melnikov and St. Spyridon on Sudostroitelnaya.
TOTAL under our Program at the end of 2015, 22 (19 plus 3) churches were built, 8 completed the main construction and installation work, 34 (26 plus 8) churches were under construction.
THE GREAT SANIFICATION
HOWEVER, the real completion of the construction of the temple is not the receipt of documents for putting the object into operation, which, of course, is very important. The true crown of all the works of architects, builders, icon painters is the great consecration of the temple - the House of God.
And 2015 brought long-awaited results to the Program. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' drew up a schedule for the great consecration of the churches built. That is, churches where the main construction and installation work, external and internal decoration have been completed, heat and electricity have been supplied, iconostases have been installed and regular services are being held.
Already in the spring, His Holiness plans to consecrate several churches.
Last year, a significant event took place for our Program.
December 13, 2015, on the day of the celebration of the memory of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' performed the rite of the great consecration of the temple in honor of the saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius and Kirill, teachers of Slovenian, on Melnikova street, ow. 7, and then led the service of the Divine Liturgy.
This temple in honor of the Enlighteners of Rus' was laid first in our Program on April 29, 2011 by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (in memory of the victims of the Dubrovka terrorist attack). And this day was the official birthday of the Program.
That is, today we are talking not just about the construction of temples, but also about the intermediate results of the entire Program.
Rectors
And, of course, speaking about the results of the Program, we must remember the role of the individual in history, and in our case, the role of the personality of the rector in the Temple Construction Program.
The success of temple construction, of course, largely depends on the activity of the rector. This year, the best temple builder can be called the rector of the parish St. Sergius Radonezhsky on Khodynka Archpriest Vasily Bikseya. He emerged victorious from the most difficult situation and erected the temple almost under the domes.
I would also like to note the works of the abbots of the churches under construction: Alexander Nevsky in Zelenograd, Priest Maxim Kazakov; Church of Seraphim of Sarov in Kozhukhovo Archpriest Alexy Vorobyov; Church of the Monk Sava the Sanctified in Lublin, Priest Georgy Ivanov; Church of the Presentation of the Lord on Saransk Archpriest Dimitry Arzumanov; Church of St. Nicholas of Myra in Biryulyovo, Archpriest Vitaly Togubitsky; temple of all reverend fathers Archpriest Alexy Petukhov of Kiev-Pechersk in Old Cheryomushki; Church of the Prophet of God Elijah Hieromonk Onesimus (Bamblevsky).
It is very important that the rectors at each stage of all work: design and construction adhere to a clear algorithm of actions developed over four years. Maximum attention should be paid to: 1) the need to coordinate with the designers of places for the construction of temporary temples, taking into account the existing communications and planting of the main temple; 2) without fail to coordinate the start of work with local authorities; 3) keep the grounds clean, etc.
In 2015, in order to better organize the interaction of all participants in the Program, His Holiness the Patriarch appointed a person responsible for the construction of churches in each vicariate.
DESIGN
Back in 2014, we announced the need to diversify the palette of projects in our Program. We talked about the harmony and conciseness of forms, about the modernity of architecture, about the functionality of the interior space of new temples and the economical maintenance of the built complexes. And if in 2014 the process of developing and searching for good current projects had just been launched, and the abbots still often turned to standard projects, then in 2015 the vast majority of projects for which documentation was developed for further construction had already become individual.
In addition, due to the difficult economic situation, special attention was paid to new projects of low-budget temples. One of them, costing only 50 million rubles for all general construction work, is being built today at the parish of Seraphim Sarovsky in Kozhukhovo.
So a crisis is a crisis, and our task is to further develop the work of temple construction entrusted to us by His Holiness the Patriarch and not be afraid of difficulties.
The act that preceded the creation of the Economic Directorate of the Moscow Patriarchate was the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR signed by Stalin in 1945, which provided the Moscow Patriarchate, diocesan administrations, monasteries and passages with legal rights to "acquire vehicles, produce church utensils, sell to believers, rent, build and the purchase of ownership of houses for church needs ... The same Decree allowed bell ringing and the planned supply of church communities by the state with the necessary building material.
On June 20, 1946, by decision of the Holy Synod, the Regulations on the Economic Administration of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church were adopted.
One of the main tasks of the Economic Administration, in addition to controlling the financial activities of the Church, was the creation of an enterprise that would produce products necessary for church life: candles, vestments, church utensils, and so on. In addition to organizing the work of the Production Workshops, the competence of the HOZU included the construction and restoration of the Patriarchal residences, monasteries and temples.
Revived by the decision of the Holy Synod of March 31, 2009. Archimandrite Tikhon (Zaitsev) was appointed Chairman of the revived Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, who was appointed by the Synod to be Bishop of Podolsk, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese.
Bishop Tikhon described the functions of the Financial and Economic Department as follows:
The Financial and Economic Department has a lot of functions related to the internal life support of the Russian Orthodox Church. If we draw secular parallels, then, in fact, the FHU is the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economics rolled into one. First of all, FHU helps His Holiness Patriarch and the Holy Synod to exercise the functions of managing the property of the Russian Orthodox Church. And related to this are the issues of taxation and accounting, and the formation of a general church budget, and construction, and restoration, and much more. After all, we also have something like ... a budget process, but the model, of course, is incomparable with the secular one. The Church from the beginning of its existence, from the beginning of centuries, existed and exists on donations, so what plans can there be? Relatively speaking, there is no income plan, but there is a spending plan. And we try to organize their financing .
