Hieromonk AFANASY (BUKIN), Russian Orthodox Church (Jerusalem, Israel)

Hieromonk Afanasy (Bukin), a St Petersburg Theological Academy graduate and former treasurer of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the Moscow Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

On 7 February 2023, he fled the Mission and boarded a plane to Antalya. Upon landing, he used Facebook to publish an open letter announcing his leaving the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution.

On 14 March 2023, he arrived at Chevetogne Abbey, Belgium. On the following day, he received a decree from the Patriarch on his suspension from holy orders under the 15th rule of the Holy Apostles, his dismissal from the Mission, and referral to the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga for consideration of his case by the Disciplinary Commission of the Eparchy. The decree is dated 20 February 2023.

On 31 March 2023, the commission held a meeting considering how defrocking would be achieved. The 15th Canon of the Holy Apostles does not permit it, but an identical requirement (a promise not to abondon the place of service without the archpastor’s permission) is contained in the ordination oath. Since the oath has been violated, and this constitutes an infringement of the 25th Canon of the Holy Apostles, defrocking is required. The decision to defrock was made on 12 April 2023. It was sent to Bukin on 7 June 2023. It is unknown when exactly the Patriarch approved this decision; according to the Moscow Patriarchate Administration’s letter from 10 October 2023, this happened no later than the end of the third quarter of 2023.

On 26 June 2023, the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy ordered Bukin to be expelled from the list of its applicants. This was based on the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ decree and the Church Court of the St. Petersburg Eparchy’s decision on defrocking.

On 3 April 2023, Bukin started a Telegram channel. On his Facebook page and in the Telegram channel, he shared how the meeting of the disciplinary commission was held (1, 2), and about the objections of some believers of the Russian Orthodox Church. He also shared the reasons for his actions with the Public Orthodoxy web portal. He spoke out against the persecution of the Greek Catholic community in Omsk by the Russian authorities.

On 26 June 2024, in an interview with the Flemish publication Tertio, he spoke about the Russian Orthodox Church’s stance regarding the war in Ukraine and civil society in Russia.

In early September 2024, he gave an interview to Radio Liberty / Free Europe speaking about the need to analyse history and evaluate it properly, including repentance. He took part in the Imaginer la Paix peace meeting organised by the St Egidius community and held in Paris on 22-24 September 2024.

On 27 September 2024, Bukin participated in a meeting with Pope Francis in Leuven held on the occasion of the beginning of the celebrations dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the KU Leuven University. During the meeting, he asked the Pontiff to be tougher to official representatives of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. In connection with the meeting, he gave an interview to the Flemish Catholic portal Otheo and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of KU Leuven’s website explaining the details of his appeal to the Pope.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, Bukin completed a short research master’s program at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium (KU Leuven). After successfully completing it, he entered the doctoral program at the same university. He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation, Augustine of Hippo’s De Baptismo contra donatistas: Ecclesiological and Forensic Rhetoric Perspective, under the supervision of Prof. Dr Anthony Dupont.