Police Report by Sr. Lt. A.L. Rimsky

(addressed to Patriarch Alexis II)

To your inquiry No. 3052 of 1 July 1997, I communicate the following:

An official investigation was conducted into the occurence of a conflict that happened on 29 June 1997 in the church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Pechatniki at the address, Moscow, Sretenka st., bldg 3, conducted by the 18th department of the police of Moscow. As a result it was established that on 29 June 1997, at approximately nine o'clock, a call came to the duty desk of the 18th department of the police from an unknown male, who reported a fight occurring in the church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Pechatniki. After arriving on the scene, the emergency squad discovered a fight in progress in the sanctuary between two priests, one of whom (who later was identified as Dubovitsky, Mikhail Vladimirovich) had signs of a beating and torn clothing. After breaking up the fight the police officers asked for explanations from those present at the incident. To this one of the priests who were involved in the fight, whose family name is Kochetkov, declared that Dubovitsky was a psychologically abnormal individual who at the time of the liturgy had begun to behave abnormally and the priests who were present had taken measures to calm him. Not satisfied with this explanation, the officers determined that without appropriate medical examination the priests had no right to declare the psychological incompetence of anybody, much less to beat him as a result. After this the clergy summoned "first aid," which took Dubovitsky to the psychiatric hospital no. 14 for examination. The duty officer of the precinct, police major Kuznetsov, talked on the phone with the physician on duty at the hospital, who explained that citizen Dubovitsky had been determined to be absolutely healthy and after examination had been released to go home.

Thus, the official investigation has shown that priest Dubovitsky was not arrested by police officers nor taken to the 18th police department, much less during his performance of the divine liturgy, that is, while he was performing his duties. The actions of the officers of the department are recognized as appropriate and reasonable, which is confirmed by the testimony of eyewitnesses: clergy of the Moscow monastery of the Presentation which is located in the vicinity of the church, at the address, Moscow, Bolshaia Lubianka st., bldg 19, who also were present when this confrontation ended.

Similar events involving the parishioners and clergy of the church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Pechatniki had occurred previously, and because of this the command of the department fervently request you to take all measures for immediate restoration of order in this church that is within the jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchate.

With respect,

Sr. Lt. of police, A.L. Rimsky

APPEAL FROM BISHOPS AND OTHER CLERGY AGAINST FR GEORGY KOCHETKOV

To: His Most Holiness Alexis II, patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus

18 June (1 July) 1997

Your most holiness, our supreme lord, merciful archpastor and father!

We prostrate ourselves before your most holiness as loving children, hoping upon your care, filled with awe and humility.

On Sunday, 16/29 June, in the very center of Moscow an amazing iniquity was committed. The gloomiest imagination could not imagine such an event, although we have seen dreadful confrontations on church grounds, and not just in the provinces of our fatherland.

The priest who, in accordance with the instruction of the church hierarchy, insisted that the divine liturgy in the church be conducted in the Church Slavonic language and in keeping with the canons of the church, was attacked in the sanctuary of the chruch and subjected to bodily injury, pulled by the hear, forcefully disrobed and with the help of armed policemen removed from the sanctuary and stuffed into an ambulance, which took the priest to the facility for the mentally ill. And all of this was carried out under the leadership, not of some Komsomol leader who was fulfilling the task of closing a church, but of a priest who promotes himself for his democracy and antitotalitarianism.

Disturbed to the depths of our souls by these events, about which all of the church public of Moscow learned right away, we breathed a sign of relief when by evening we learned that the priest Mikhail Dubovitsky, as should have been expected, was declared completely healthy and released from the hospital. But on the night of the first of July there was more dreadful news: the priest had again been admitted to the clinic in critical condition with symptoms that indicated either serious bodily harm or treatment with psychotropic drugs.

Everything that has happened raises with new force the question about the nature of the activity of Fr Georgy Kochetkov. Hiding behind eloquent words about the return to primitive Christian standards of church life (which, apropos, was always displayed on the banners of protestantism), he actually was creating a totalitarian sect. Fanatically confident of their righteousness, Kochetkovites had easily mastered the jesuitical morality which justifies any means for the achievement of their ends. While aggressively setting his community against all who do not share his views, Fr Kochetkov trained his parishioners in the spirit of arrogance and conceit. In every diocese where adherents of Fr Kochetkov show up, bitter conflict immediately erupts.

Your most holiness! We trust completely your archpastoral wisdom and paternal love. We fully understand and profoundly value all attempst of your most holiness to find a peaceful resolution of the conflicts arising around the activity of Fr Kochetkov. But recent days have shown that we are in the presence of a new stage of this activity. The mask of meakness and innocence has been torn off. What has appeared is the face of a person who is hysterical in his egoism and arrogance. And in view of this dreadful spectacle we await and hope for a firm word of ecclesiastical truth from the eminence of your patriarchal throne that the insult against Christ's worthy warrior, Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky, will receive the appropriate canonical evaluation.

By our calculation, the limit has been reached. Arrogant, vindictive, and horrible evil will spread like an irresistible flood across the face of the Russian land if an authoritative hand does not extirpate it.

With respect to your worthiness and with unlimited filial love for your most holiness, the unworthy devotees:

Archbishop Viktor of Tver and Kashinsk
Bishop Savva of Krasnogorsk
Bishop Tikhon of Bronnitsky
and the abbots of the largest monasteries and rectors of churches, comprising 209 signatories.