Russian Orthodox Church calls for ultimatum of Finland over Zavgorodnyaya

Moscow, October 3, Interfax – Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, the head of the Synodal Department For Relations with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, believes the Russian authorities should toughly react to the seizure of four children from Russian citizen Anastasiya Zavgorodnyaya, who lives in Finland.

“I don’t know what leverage out authorities have, but I would put an end to this once and for all. We need to stop this kind of treatment of Russian citizens. We need to give them a serious ultimatum. Every time they do something intricately based!” the clergyman told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday.

He said modern Europe preaches “aggressive religion of liberalism,” which is targeted “against Christianity and family as a God-given form of existence of mankind.”

“A result of this is the destruction of family. In Finland, it is clearly manifested, family has no value there. Officials, who are financially interested in seizing children, are given powers without a trial,” the priest said.

“A normal person cannot live in such a world,” Father Dimitry said.

“Liberal religion is a totalitarian sect supported by European countries. The news coming from ‘educated Europe’ are ‘Parent No. 1, Parent No. 2’ and ‘gay pride parade for children.’ It can’t be called a product of human civilization, it’s pure Satanism,” the clergyman said.

He said he believes there is a need to inform as many people as possible in Russia on the situation in Finland “to make them less tempted to marry Finns and go there because it can always lead to the destruction of families and many years of pointless torture, which was not practiced even by fascists,” the priest said.

“In Russia, we need to raise people’s awareness. There are Finnish diplomatic missions, embassies, and consulates. We need to express our disagreement within the framework of the law,” the priest said.

He said a threat to family exists in Russia too. “They are preparing the same thing: an official comes and does what he sees fit. It’s very dangerous,” Fr. Dimitry said.

He also said he is convinced that if Russia adopts the Western model of life regulation, “it will mean ultimate death of the nation.”

Anastasia Zavgorodnyaya, who lives in Vantaa, has recently had her four children, including a newborn son, taken away from her after her six-year-old daughter Veronika said at school “my daddy has slapped me”. Zavgorodnyaya and her husband plan to register the boy as a Russian citizen and arrange for him to be baptized in an Orthodox church.

The Finnish authorities allowed Zavgorodnyaya to see her baby once a month, but prohibited her from breast-feeding him.

The Orthodox parish in Helsinki, of which Anastasia is a member, has stood up for her and plans to contest the seizure of the children.
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