Czech Republic deports ROC rector and deputy of the DECR MP due to threat to national security

This was reported by DenikN, according to Religion in Ukraine.

The priest's permanent residence permit was revoked on suspicion of posing a threat to the national security of the country.

The clergyman has repeatedly tried and failed to cancel said decision over the past year.

The publication notes that although in 2023, the Czech Republic included Patriarch Kirill in the sanctions lists, he continued to act through his agents like Lischenyuk. According to Czech security officials, Lischenyuk created an influence structure with the support of the Russian state authorities, which could threaten the security of the state.

Nikolai Lishchenyuk, a 51-year-old Russian with a Ukrainian surname, arrived in the Czech Republic around 2000. According to his official biography, he worked in the church at the Russian Embassy in Prague and later in Karlovy Vary at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

In 2009, Lischenyuk was put in charge of the Patriarch of Moscow's court at the OCCLS, known as "a controversial Orthodox church that operates legally."

In August 2022, Lischenyuk was appointed deputy head of the DECR MP (Department of External Church Relations).

In 2023, the head of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS), former head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Sergei Stepashin, presented Lischenyuk with the Yevgeny Primakov Medal: "An experienced church diplomat, Archpriest Nikolai Lishchenyuk made a great personal contribution to promoting the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, representing the Russian Orthodox Church to the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. For a long time, Archpriest Nikolai Lishchenyuk contributed to the international activities of the IOPS, including the settlement of complex issues of the creation and arrangement of the ROC church in Prague in the name of the Holy Martyr Lyudmila, the Blessed Princess of Bohemia, as well as a number of land and property issues of the ROC in the Czech Republic. We must also note the successful work of Fr Nikolai in establishing an Orthodox gymnasium for the Russian-speaking population in Karlovy Vary."

This is not the first time the security agencies of European countries have expelled ROC employees on suspicion of espionage and threats to national security.

In September 2023, the Bulgarian authorities expelled Archimandrite Vassian Zverev, rector of the ROC courtyard at the Bulgarian Church. Before that, the North Macedonian authorities had banned this priest from entering the country.

It should be noted that earlier this year, the Estonian authorities expelled the head of the EOC MP, Metropolitan Yevgeny Reshetnikov, on the same suspicion of posing a threat to national security.