Chechnya’s Alaudinov criticises Sochi priest over Islamophobic remarks

The commander of Chechnya’s Akhmat unit has criticised Schema-Archimandrite Gavriil, a priest based in Sochi, over Islamophobic remarks he made in a sermon. He later issued an apology to the priest ‘out of respect for his age’.

Gavriil, the Valaam Monastery’s representative in Sochi, was suspended from his position on 5 June, a day after giving a sermon painting Islam in a negative light.

The suspension was announced by the monastery’s press office via its official Telegram channel. The press office did not provide an official reason as to why Gavriil was being suspended.

In the sermon, themed around the ‘strength of faith’, the priest pointed to ‘healthy, sober men who all practise wrestling and go to gyms’ — worshippers at the central mosque on Prospekt Mira in Moscow. He described how they filled the area around the mosque to such an extent that ‘there was no traffic on the twelve-lane road’. According to the priest, these men were ‘bound by their faith, even if misguided’. Gavriil went on to call the mosque-goers an ‘army’ and suggested that ‘if a mullah ordered them to slaughter Muscovites, the Interior Ministry wouldn’t even have time to react’.

Lieutenant General Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit and deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence, was among the first to condemn Gavriil. On 4 June, he described the priest as a ‘moron’ and a ‘servant of the Antichrist’ in a post on his Telegram channel, denouncing his words as ‘provocative agitation’.

‘Some moron in a cassock is telling two billion Muslims that their faith is wrong. I ask you — who are you to say such things? There are 30 million indigenous Muslims in Russia. Are you trying to tell us what the correct faith is?’ Alaudinov said on his Telegram.

He also questioned why no criminal proceedings had been initiated against the priest and why Gavriil had not publicly apologised.

‘Do we really need someone to break the law for these people to stop making such statements? Why are there no criminal charges? Why are there no public apologies?’ he asked.

On Saturday, Alaudinov published a follow-up video in which he apologised to Gavriil — not for the content of his criticism, but because of the priest’s age.

‘Perhaps, as a man from the Caucasus, I shouldn’t have insulted him, because of his age. So yes, I apologise purely out of respect for his age’, he said.

Nevertheless, Alaudinov reaffirmed his disapproval of Gavriil’s remarks, emphasising that calling Islam ‘incorrect’ was a divisive act during a time of heightened tensions.

The Russian Orthodox activist movement, Sorok Sorokov, has since launched a petition addressed to the Investigative Committee and Ministry of Defence in support of Gavriil. In Moscow, a procession was held in his defence.

‘The words of Father Gavriil were entirely within the bounds of law, ethics, and morality. We know the kind of migrants arriving here and how crime rates surge in their home countries after deportation from Russia’, read the group’s appeal.

Schema-Archimandrite Gavriil headed the Valaam Monastery’s representation in Sochi, serving as a spiritual adviser and being known as a traditionalist in Russian Orthodoxy.

Under Russian criminal law, public expressions that incite hatred or offend religious sentiments are prosecutable offences. If convicted, individuals may face administrative or criminal penalties.

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OC MediaElizaveta Chukharova