Priest fired in Finland for pro-Russian ties
Finnish Orthodox Church ceased cooperation with the priest Oleksandr Zanemonts, who worked with Ukrainian refugees, after it emerged that he had ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.
Details of the scandal
First, Zanemets said that he allegedly lived in Israel, However, the investigation showed that he actually lived in moscow.
It also turned out that Less than six months before moving to Finland, he was ordained in the structure of the UOC-MP, The Russian Orthodox Church is closely linked to the Russian Church.
During an event marking the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a priest delivered a speech in Russian, in which he spoke of «brotherly nations» and «forgiveness», without once mentioning Russian aggression.
Community response
Zanemonets' speech caused outrage among the Ukrainian community in Finland.
After the publicity Finnish Orthodox Church admits it hired him without a background check, and decided to resign.
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