VASILY RAZUMOV, Russian Orthodox Church (Yaroslavl, Russia)

Vasily Razumov

Vasily Razumov, a linguist, lecturer of literature, in the recent past — a teacher of literature at the Ignaty Brianchaninov Orthodox Gymnasium; he starred in Maria Sandler’s film The Unholy Holy about the Orthodox Church in the modern world.

Razumov wrote anti-war posts on social media. One of those posts from 17 March 2023 was saved as a screenshot by one of the parents of the gymnasium students and passed to the principal. The school staff handed over the contacts of the teacher to the police. According to human rights activists, Razumov was fined 30,000 Russian rubles by the Kirov District Court in Yaroslavl under the article on discrediting the army; according to other sources, the fine was 130,000 Russian rubles.

Razumov was also fired from the gymnasium. The dismissal was caused not only by his social media posts, but also conflicts between the teacher and parents who objected Razumov’s imaginative teaching style and appearance.