How much does Patriarch Kirill earn - the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a former entrepreneur. Who finances the construction of churches in Russia or At whose expense is the banquet at the Russian Orthodox Church? Income of the Russian Orthodox Church
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 my parents' ashtrays, exchanging this leisure time for helping to clean the temple, including extinguishing candle stubs.
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 facts 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 the Novo-Tikhvin Monastery they ask three times less - 2800. In a situation where the priest is a manager, God-given power can become a commodity. This “product” is sold by the Ascension Caves Monastery, 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. The production of church candles with a diameter of up to 2 cm costs 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 mentioned only at bishops' councils that up to half of the income comes from donations from individuals and companies. Where does everything else come from? Press Service of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, 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 at least such plants must pay 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 Sergey 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.
FederalPress learned how the budgets of Orthodox churches are formed
The events of recent days have given new ground for reflection on the topic of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Moscow Patriarchate received parishes in Western Europe and went a long way in relations with the Greeks. This fact can be regarded not only from a foreign policy point of view, but also ... from a financial one. The ROC is not considered a poor structure at all, and with the expansion of the “geography of presence”, the budget is likely to be adjusted even more. FederalPress conducted its own investigation and found out how the Orthodox Church is financed, whose money is used to repair churches, who pays salaries to priests, and why the Europeans are ready to sue our hierarchs. Details are in the material of our agency.
The price of "victory"
Recently, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated a triumph: parishes in Western Europe joined the Moscow Patriarchate. “We are talking about the fact that the archdiocese of Russian parishes in Western Europe (mostly the clergy) has reunited with the Russian Church. Such was the wish of its founder, Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievsky). This is a big natural step that many have been waiting for.”- notes the archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.
The clergyman acknowledged that the accession was not easy. “There were people from the old intelligentsia who were suspicious of modern Russia. But the Parisian theological school has always been famous for its greater liberality. Father Vsevolod noted. According to him, migrants of recent years from the countries of the post-Soviet space no longer think that the church in modern Russia is somehow “wrong”. Therefore, the long-standing talk of accession has now been decided in favor of Moscow.
Chaplin believes that those who disagree to join Moscow are likely to face an unenviable fate: "Small parishes will simply dissolve under the leadership of Constantinople or other churches."
At the same time, the priest notes that in Russia itself, the accession was ambiguous. Some fear too much European modernist influence on our church. But this, Father Vsevolod is sure, will not happen.
As is often the case, it was not without a fly in the ointment. According to the historian and religious scholar Konstantin Mikhailov, if there are economic benefits from accession, then this is a “secondary issue” . “The Russian Orthodox Church is in a difficult position. Last week, the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa recognized the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that is, he did not take the side of Moscow in this discussion.” Mikhailov commented.
But “against the background of what is happening in Ukraine, including support for the Church of Alexandria, Western European parishes are not such a big success,” says a Christian publicist, researcher at the Institute for Religious and Social Research Vladimir Semenko.
According to the scientist, not all parishes joined the ROC, but about 40%. The expert predicts "a number of protracted court cases." Those who did not support the accession will challenge the property rights of the Western European Church's real estate objects so that they do not come under the control of the Moscow Patriarchate. And we are talking about the largest temples and land plots. For example, Semenko notes, "a big lawsuit is brewing regarding the fate of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris."
The ROC benefits from joining foreign parishes. But this is not a one-sided game. Whether the Moscow Patriarchate itself invests in foreign churches is not known for certain, but the state is actively pouring money into them.
Often, of course, not directly from the budget. For example, the Moscow Center for International Cooperation spent almost a million budget rubles last summer to "help the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in acquiring church utensils and literature." The data is published on the public procurement website. Almost 300 thousand rubles were spent by the same center in October of this year on the purchase of utensils and literature in the church of Chisinau, 200 thousand rubles were allocated for the same purposes to the church in the city of Rezekne (Latvia), 635 thousand rubles - in Magdeburg (Germany) and almost half a million parish in Dublin, Ireland.
However, this is a tiny fraction of the cost. According to a source of "FederalPress" in the Russian Orthodox Church, we are talking about much larger sums. “Hundreds of thousands are spent through various funds and international cooperation organizations. The state budget of Russia provides significant financial assistance to the Russian Orthodox Church abroad”,– said the source.
Despite this, as Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told FederalPress, parishes in Western Europe have more independence. “The archdiocese in Western Europe has been given the right to choose its own priest. This practice exists in Estonia and in a number of other countries. Yes, in this case there is some danger of influence on the choice of the bishop by political and financial elites. But such threats are easily overcome when there is a genuine church spirit. And a few quasi-liberals from the Parisian school will not make the weather.”, says the priest.
Faith Economy
Legally, the Russian Orthodox Church belongs to religious NGOs. That is, it is not taxed and is entitled to benefits. Among them are such "bonuses" as the right to an indefinite lease of state land, for which the church does not pay.
“In Russia, churches and the land under them are on permanent lease from the state. In Moldova, there are a number of parishes where land and real estate are privately owned or belong to the community,”- said researcher Vladimir Semenko.
An employee of the diocese, on condition of anonymity, told Federal Press how financial schemes are arranged in the church. According to him, the amount is set on the basis of the possibilities of a particular parish. The diocesan administration collects money from everyone and further distributes it in accordance with certain "coefficients". Some churches get more money, some less. Part of the amount is deducted to Moscow.
“Each parish has a clear plan (earnings). A number of churches carry out this plan easily, a number - with difficulty, hence the difference in the well-being of the priests. There is no clear control over the amount of money temples earn,”- added the diocesan worker.
Religious scholar Vladimir Semenko confirms this scheme. “According to unofficial rules, we have an average of 20% should be transferred to the central church bodies”- said Semenko.
To fulfill the plan, everyone tries their best. In tourist areas, they make money on souvenirs (often from China). In many monasteries in Moscow and other cities, any secular person can dine in the refectory and buy local cosmetics. Another source of income is pilgrims. It's no secret that a pilgrimage is cheaper than a regular secular tour of the same places. But the biggest profit comes from the importation of large shrines with international status: pilgrimage trips and the sale of religious objects bring fabulous profits on such days.
A gold cross bought in a temple is usually two to three times more expensive than the same cross in a jewelry store. What does it depend on? It's just that the income itself sets the price. The same applies to candles, the cost of which is a penny, but they are sold for tens or even hundreds of rubles. However, this is not the case everywhere. “For example, in the Novospassky Monastery (in Moscow) there is no fixed fee for notes and candles. There is a box - lower as much as you can. And for magpie (remembrance for 40 days in a row) or a yearly commemoration, a certain fee is set. It depends on the local leadership, like the salary of a priest.”- said the religious scholar Vladimir Semenko.
By the way, Semenko calls it a big illusion that all clergy earn a lot. Service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is one thing, somewhere in the outback is another. There are parishes where priests do not receive payment at all. Formally, the salary of a priest should be set by the parish meeting, and in central Russia this system is indeed strictly built. But no ruling metropolitan bishop will determine the salary of a priest in the regions - there, after all, the size of the payment depends on the capabilities of the community.
Moreover, as Vladimir Semenko said, there are no pensions for priests in Russia. The social stratification characteristic of Russia is also manifested in the church. “Even in the center of Moscow there are a number of parishes where priests survive as best they can after retirement. For example, at the expense of relatives. There is a narrow layer of super-rich church bureaucracy, the rest live in poverty., the expert notes.
This is not the case in all countries. For example, in Greece, Orthodox priests have the status of civil servants, receive salaries, allowances and pensions, and report on their income.
It is difficult to judge whether the state is able to control the income and expenses of religious organizations. More likely no than yes. But the church itself cannot guarantee the controllability of cash flows in different parishes.
And you can also remember the bank "Peresvet", which at one time the media associated with the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill. Back in 1992, Peresvet was a subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Then it was still called "Expobank". “The structures of the financial and economic management (FHU) of the ROC became the owner of an almost controlling stake in the bank - 49.99%. The patriarch, after being elected, left the board of directors, but it included the head of the FHU of the Russian Orthodox Church, vicar of the patriarch Tikhon (Zaitsev) ", - noted in one of the journalistic investigations.
In 2015, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church left the board of directors. The bank later went bankrupt. However, the Peresvet website (probably, like the bank) is still working, and is regularly updated.
"Secular state
According to Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, at the beginning of 2019, there were 38.5 thousand parishes in Russia, including about 900 parishes in the near and far abroad (before annexation). Over the past 20 years, the number of parishes has grown significantly. For example, in Moscow, the target program "200 churches" is even being implemented. Its essence is that each district of the city should have its own church. True, according to expert Vladimir Semenko, "in some areas they build large presentable churches, in others - small typical buildings." However, at the same time, as the historian and religious scholar Konstantin Mikhailov notes, “church attendance in our country is rather low.”
By the way, there are tenders on the public procurement website for the construction of new churches on the territory of military units at the expense of the Ministry of Defense.
Despite the fact that according to the Constitution in Russia the church is separated from the state, the authorities are actively helping the ROC. According to an RBC investigation, in 2012-2015, the Orthodox Church and related structures received at least 14 billion rubles from the budget and state organizations (an average of 4.6 billion rubles a year). According to a source in church circles, funding is maintained and even growing.
Significant funds go through the Ministry of Culture of Russia. Financing is provided within the framework of the national project "Culture". It is planned to allocate over 100 billion rubles for the implementation of this project in Russia over the next five years: it's just that many old churches are architectural monuments, objects of cultural heritage. Monitoring of the public procurement website shows that almost all churches in Russia are being repaired at the expense of the federal budget. For example, only the development of design estimates for the reconstruction of the temple costs from 5.6 million rubles and more. Repair the roof or floor in the temple of St. Petersburg - from 20 million. Restoration of the church actually from the ruins in the Holy Trinity Skete - about 26 million rubles. In all cases, the customer is the Russian Ministry of Culture.
Meanwhile, today in Russia there are about six thousand abandoned churches that have remained outside the attention of the state. Old churches are being restored very slowly and not everywhere, and even then only at the expense of charitable foundations, private organizations, rarely - at the expense of the budget. The reason is banal - in the extinction of the village. For example, in the Kaluga region there is one restored bell tower and a stand with information that before the revolution there was a flourishing place with its own temple, school, hospital, police station. And now three rickety huts and a livestock complex, which restored the bell tower and added a sign. What is the point of restoring the temple here?
There are priests who, without receiving any salary, are themselves looking for money in order to “preserve ancient churches with their enthusiasm until better times” . They believe that Russia begins from a small village, and that a bell will once again ring in an ancient temple. “These are essentially holy people. But I can’t say that they are strongly supported from the center, Semenko notes. - The community itself cannot maintain temples and buildings. At a certain moment, the carrier of the financial resource comes(sponsor. - Approx. ed.) and pays for construction and reconstruction.
The administrations of a number of regions also allocate funds from regional budgets to organize pilgrimage trips for Orthodox believers. In addition, in many cities, Orthodox schools have the status of municipal institutions, and therefore receive funds from the budget. The public procurement website has the following tenders: the purchase of office equipment for the needs of the municipal Orthodox gymnasium in Zvenigorod, placed in October 2019, the holding of the Solovetsky Orthodox Forum (a tender for 5 million rubles was placed in July 2019), the improvement of the territory near the private Orthodox gymnasium in Gus-Khrustalny (the first stage) - 8.6 million rubles. Budgetary funds are actively allocated for the purchase of Orthodox literature in the libraries of universities, and in some cases - for the writing of church books.
State support for the ROC cannot be denied. At the same time, experts talk about "some bias." “I cannot give ethical assessments to this, but the fact that the state helps to reconstruct the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church, but does not help the Baptists, for example, looks somewhat surprising,”- says expert Konstantin Mikhailov.
In other words, four traditional religions have been supported in one way or another in Russia over the past 20 years. However, the Orthodox Church is in a privileged position - it is she who receives the main funding. According to religious scholar Vladimir Semenko, it is understandable why: the country's leadership will not ignore a large influential structure, because the majority of Russians still identify themselves with Orthodoxy.
Photo: FederalPress / Viktor Vytolsky, Ekaterina Lazareva, Evgeny Potorochin, kremlin.ru
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 business of the Russian Orthodox Church works.
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], – these phrases answered questions for the material by the press secretary of the patriarch priest Alexander Volkov.
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 activities, 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 Patriarchy 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, except for the 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 abbots of Orthodox churches abroad also work in secular jobs, and hold services in their free time.
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 Russia 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 from the conduct of 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. At the 1997 Council of Bishops, Patriarch Alexy II reported that the ROC received most of its 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 those 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 objects 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, a Sunday school, an almshouse, and so on. 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 is for St. 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 at least 14 billion rubles from the budget and from state organizations. At the same time, only the new version of 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 onto the Internet - the holiday was celebrated with pomp in the hall of church cathedrals of the 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 ROC includes medicines, jewelry, renting out conference rooms, Vedomosti wrote, as well as agriculture and the funeral services market. According to the SPARK database, the patriarchy is a co-owner of Pravoslavnaya Ritualnaya Servis CJSC: the company is now closed, but the subsidiary established by it, OAO Ritual Orthodox Service, operates (revenue for 2014 is 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 Russia. 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 is a 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 the 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 Helena. 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 the company Sodeystvie LLC, owned by the Russian Orthodox Church. 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. In economic activities, the church, says Abbess Xenia (Chernega), "does not hire contractors", coping with its own resources - 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 Patriarchy 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 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.
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
The recent exception has been the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), which partially discloses 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
