Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Church business in Russia Participation of commercial organizations in the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church

If you open the website of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2018 and look at the members of the Holy Synod, of whom there are more than 400, you will notice that exclusively black monks are at the helm of the church. It is not easy to meet a parish priest in the Synod, because they only carry out the decisions made by the monks.

A more careful analysis leads to another discovery: less than a quarter of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2018 have a higher secular education. On the contrary, about half in their youth were promoted from the posts of subdeacons under the bishops who were then acting. But the fact that most of the members of the Synod have roots in Bessarabia and in the south-east of Ukraine, in Donetsk and Lugansk, is almost impossible to calculate. Although this is the holy truth and the root of all the modern ills of Russian Orthodoxy, the author of the Lenta.ru investigation argued in 2018.

It is in the southeast of Ukraine and the east of Moldova that the Russian Orthodox Church has traditionally held the most patriarchal views. It was here that hundreds of Orthodox Christians committed suicide in tsarist times. It is from here that hatred of TIN and any passport comes from. It was here that cheerful fellow villagers most often disappeared. It was here that the "Black Hundred" was born. It is from here that Father Pyotr Kucher comes from, and many other princes of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolises and dioceses

As of July 2018, there are 79 metropolises and 356 dioceses in the structure of the ROC, including:

Influence groups

Assets

Parishes

As of July 2018, almost 40 thousand elders, more than 5 thousand deacons and almost 400 bishops serve in the church.

In 1991, when the USSR collapsed and the religious revival began, the ROC had about 6.5 thousand parishes, two-thirds of them in Ukraine. As of August 2018, there are more than 36 thousand parishes in the Russian Orthodox Church, of which about 25 thousand are in Russia.

The number of monasteries has exceeded a thousand - there was no such number before the revolution.

Three new parishes open every day.

In mid-2017, the thousandth monastery was opened in Russia, and as of January 1, 2018 there were 1,010 of them. For comparison: before the Khrushchev persecutions in the USSR there were only 14 monasteries (most in the Ukrainian SSR), in the 1980s - four ( Trinity-Sergius and Pskov-Pechersk Lavras, Riga Hermitage (female) and the Assumption Monastery in Pyukhtitsa, Estonia).

commercial activity

• "Art and Production Enterprise (HPP)" Sofrino "
• hotel "Danilovskaya"
• management of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, owned by the Government of Moscow
• OJSC "Ritual Orthodox Service" (for 2016)

State support

Financing from the budget

According to RBC's estimates, in 2012-2015, the Russian Orthodox Church and related structures received at least 14 billion rubles from the budget and from government organizations. At the same time, only in the version of the budget for 2016, 2.6 billion rubles are provided.

In particular, in 2014-2015, the organizations of the Russian Orthodox Church were allocated over 1.8 billion rubles. for the creation and development of Russian spiritual and educational centers under the federal program “Strengthening the Unity of the Russian Nation and Ethnocultural Development of the Peoples of Russia”.

Another program that supports the church is Culture of Russia: since 2012, almost 10.8 billion rubles have been allocated for the preservation of religious sites under the program. In addition, RUB 0.5 billion. in 2012-2015, it was allocated for the restoration of objects of religious significance, said a representative of the Department of Cultural Heritage of Moscow.

Among the major recipients of contracts on the public procurement website is the Orthodox Encyclopedia Church Research Center (founded by the Patriarchy), which publishes the 40-volume tome of the same name edited by Patriarch Kirill. Since 2012, public schools and universities have spent about 250 million rubles to purchase this book. A subsidiary of the Orthodox Encyclopedia, the Orthodox Encyclopedia Foundation, received 56 million rubles in 2013. from the Ministry of Culture - for the filming of the films "Sergius of Radonezh" and "Snake Bite".

In 2015, the Ministry of Education allocated about 112 million rubles from the budget. Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities.

The Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexis under the Moscow Patriarchate received 198 million rubles from the Ministry of Health in 2015; the new budget for the hospital provides for another 178 million rubles.

The 2016 budget provides for about 1 billion rubles. "Charitable Foundation for the Restoration of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Stavropegic Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church" - the founder of the foundation is the monastery itself.

In addition, from 2013 to 2015, Orthodox organizations received 256 million rubles. within the framework of presidential grants. The ROC has no direct relation to the recipients of grants, they were simply “created by Orthodox people,” says Archpriest Chaplin. Although the church does not directly participate in the creation of such organizations, there are no random people there, Sergei Chapnin, the former editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, is sure.

According to the same principle, he says, money is distributed in the only Orthodox grant program, Orthodox Initiative (funds were allocated by Rosatom, two sources familiar with the program told RBC; the corporation's press service did not answer RBC's question).

"Orthodox Initiative" has been held since 2005, the total amount of funding over the years of the competition - almost 568 million rubles.

Tax incentives

As of August 2018, the ROC, like any officially registered religious organization in Russia, has benefits, but every one of them is key. She is completely exempt from paying:

That is, in fact, the ROC does not pay anything to the budget at all.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation clearly stipulates: exemption is only from religious activity, and all commercial, even those carried out by the Russian Orthodox Church, are subject to compulsory taxation. Therefore, according to reports, the church does not conduct any commercial activities at all. And it is useless to argue with this. True, according to a high-ranking Russian official, in fact, they simply do not want to get involved with the church.

“The priests are now included in absolutely all elected bodies of all levels of government, from local parliaments to various kinds of public councils and supervisory commissions - up to ministerial and federal. This, of course, is correct, but it opens doors for them to leaders of any rank, where they can simply cry in order to recall the commission or close their eyes to the identified shortcomings. And believe me - the churchmen take advantage of this. Moreover, on the direct instructions of his management, ”he explains.

Paradoxical as it may sound, government support makes the entire economy of the Russian Orthodox Church black. Or gray - after all, no parish is accountable to anyone. Nobody checks them, except for the Church itself.

Transfer of real estate

An equally strange story happened to a woman who worked as an agent for an employee of the department for combating apartment fraud for many years and uncovered the schemes of several gangs of "black realtors". She was introduced into a group suspected of legalizing the apartments of old women who allegedly sold their homes and left for a monastery. Suddenly, she broke off all contacts with the officer who supervised her and turned off the operation on her own, and then sent her daughter to church school, changed her dress style and began to attend church regularly.

Experienced criminals know that they will always find shelter in the monastery - the Russian Orthodox Church categorically refuses to give law enforcement agencies any information about those who have found refuge behind the church wall. In the summer of 2017, a certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs was even leaked to the press with a complaint about the rectors of the temples obstructing the investigation. The answer to it from Archpriest Sergius also got into free access. He reports that the church sees no reason to provide passport data for persons in the dioceses.

Father Sergiy himself, in the world a native of Bryansk Sergey Privalov, until 2001 served in the armed forces of the USSR and the Russian Federation. After retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he changed his green field uniform to a black church one, and over the next 11 years made a dizzying career: he became an archpriest, cleric of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Petrovsky Park, a candidate for theology, a member of the Supreme Synodal Council, as well as chairman of the Synodal Commission for Cooperation with the armed forces and law enforcement agencies. In other words, he is the highest official of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose decision can hardly be reversed.

So it is not surprising that it is Archpriest Sergius who regularly refuses law enforcement officers to take fingerprints from monastery employees and seize genetic material from them.

Pursuit of fugitives from monasteries

As you know, one of the most terrible church sins is escape from the monastery. According to the charter, one cannot just leave the monastery - one must take off one's vow, that is, one must become defrocked. And this procedure is not quick, so it is easier to escape - the secular authorities still do not consider this an offense. As of July 2018, there are between 300 and 400 men and women who have escaped from monasteries in the Russian Federation. The police do not formally accept such statements - running away from the monastery is not considered a criminally punishable act, but such people need to be looked for and punished so that others are discouraged. This is the responsibility of the security officers of the Russian Orthodox Church. True, such an organization does not exist officially. There was only one private security company, Sofrino, in the structure of the Church, but in June 2017 it stopped working and handed over all weapons to the licensing system of the Russian Guard.

Previously, the Russian Orthodox Church was among the founders of the Peresvet bank. It is there that one of the most serious security services in Russia is working for 2018. In October 2017, it was headed by Oleg Feoktistov, a former FSB general, the author of an operational combination that ended in a prison term for the Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev. Peresvet security officers were seen in at least two crime scenes associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, and at one of them, as a police operative would later write in an explanatory note, they were engaged in “fixing trace objects using forensic techniques”. That explanatory one was never given a move, and the crime itself remained unsolved. It is about the murder of a priest on the threshold of the Nikolsky Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky. The same monastery, the abbot of which is Archimandrite Dimitri, the confessor of Mother Lyudmila from the ill-fated village of Moseitsevo.

The security service of the Russian Orthodox Church is also actively conducting operational-search work - that is, it secretly collects information about people, including using technical means. For example, it sets the phone numbers from which the girls from Moseytsevo used to access the Internet. After all, few people know how, having seen a profile on VKontakte, quickly find out from which phone number a person was on the network, and calculate his location. Someone from the entourage of the Moseycev mothers did it in a matter of seconds. And a certain Matrona Yaroslavskaya, just a few minutes after the discovery of the girls' profiles, knew not only their mobile numbers, but also the address of the recently created e-mail. At the same time, it was not possible to establish the identity of Matrona herself.

The same fate befell several journalists who wrote about church-related topics: they suddenly learned that the content of their personal letters was becoming known to the highest church hierarchs. In other words, the security service of the Russian Orthodox Church does not formally exist, but in fact it is actively working. In any case, in December 2017, after the verdict was passed on the mothers from Moseitsevo, someone wanted to find out the fate of their adopted children. By that time, absolutely all the documents had been changed for them, but the registry office of the Yaroslavl region tried to get a list of the issued birth certificates, and the orphanage administration received a request, allegedly from a legal bureau, demanding to provide the girls' personal files. And someone else searched and opened their e-mail boxes, and did it very professionally.

One can argue for a long time whether there is a special unit of monks-hackers inside the ROC, but dozens of priests interviewed by the author of the Lenta.ru investigation in 2018 said one thing: the metropolitans literally knew the content of their e-mails and correspondence in closed groups of social networks. And, despite the motto "Internet is sinful", church followers actively use the World Wide Web. Especially when you need to find someone.

There were many rumors that the princes of the Russian Orthodox Church had the title of the KGB of the USSR and party cards. This cannot be argued - many priests in the 1980s were very oppositional and even opportunistic. But this also cannot be considered an absolute lie. In any case, in 2015, special religious departments operated in the structures of the territorial departments of the FSB, which, in fact, played the role of arbitrators, especially at a time when conflicts were gaining resonance. In Moseytsevo, for example, it was the FSB officers who assured the operatives of the criminal investigation department that no one would hinder them in the investigation of the criminal case, but there was no need to dig to the side. In Bogolyubovo, officers of the specialized units of the FSB also smoothed sharp corners. At the same time, it is the FSB in Moscow that prevents the adoption of amendments to laws that would make the budget of religious organizations transparent.

It is often said in the Western press that money for bribing officials and paying for intelligence information, especially political, goes to various countries through church channels. But in our country, these data, even in translated articles, do not appear. And not because someone formally prohibits, - there is an internal censorship. In rare cases, the authority of the editor. It is no secret that Orthodox parishes often provide assistance to compatriots.

Lack of labor legislation

In 2017, the study commission of the Moscow Patriarchate arrived at the Vladimir Theological Seminary for a check, then almost by accident found out: out of a dozen reputable professors, only two are formally employed - the rector and the first vice-rector. And the rest worked for many years without registration, work books and deductions to the Pension Fund. They received their salary in envelopes and thought that it should be so. Having learned the truth, we went to bow to the Patriarchate. And there they said: the pension will be paid by those whom you have taught now. In fact, the case was let down on the brakes. People have quit, but no one will make up for the missed years - neither in seniority, nor in compulsory deductions. And these teachers have nowhere to go - the ROC has a monopoly on spiritual education.

Russians will be very surprised when they find out that priests have absolutely no rights. Yes, they were forced to issue work books for them, but not everyone still has them - in every church, in every monastery they were assigned to the required minimum of clergy. But no one has employment contracts. Even the standard form was not developed.

Salaries of priests

For 2018, the salary of a Russian priest ranges from 20 to 40 thousand rubles a month. Some say that they are withheld personal income tax, some say that they are completely exempt from taxes. The abbot gets much more.

Moreover, under the conditions of the hierarchy, the issues of prestige are manifested especially clearly. Therefore, an ordinary priest will never buy a car more prestigious than from the abbot; the abbot will not appear in public at a higher price than the bishop's; and the bishop will not have a rarity that the patriarch does not. Therefore, the desire to stand out manifests itself in a different way.

In June 2018, one of the recruiting agencies was looking for a personal chef for the abbess of the holy monastery. The salary was promised at 90 thousand rubles. According to the employees of the agency, the abbess was going to pay her own money.

Workers 'and Peasants' Army

In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, a fundamental problem arose for the ROC: there was essentially no one to revive religion and its institutions. After all, all the churchmen were exterminated as a class.

“The growth rates of the Russian Orthodox Church are colossal,” Father Nikolai said in July 2018, in the world - Nikolai Dmitrievich Gundyaev (namesake), a former priest who left the Church after criticizing the structure of the church. In the early 1990s, during the period of the reconstruction of the Russian Orthodox Church, a tragic utopianism was superimposed on book Orthodoxy: the world is falling into tartaras, it will not exist for long, the third world war is ahead, it is necessary to escape - and a mass of destitute people from broken families fell into monasteries in search of, if not a better life, then with the thought of where to save their children from debauchery, from alcohol, from drugs, from prostitution. Then the monasteries were still such utopian communities of Tommaso Campanella (the author of "City of the Sun", according to VI Lenin, is one of the predecessors of scientific socialism) and represented not so much Orthodoxy as military communism. People all left the Soviet Union, having a collective farm before their eyes as a model. This is it, and not the apostolic community, and they built it. Therefore, it was not God's houses that were obtained, but the same collective farms, only with the Gospel in their hands. People from Bessarabia and from the south-east of Ukraine were especially appreciated. And by itself it turned out that out of all possible Orthodoxy we began to build a peasant one. Again, with all the ensuing consequences - with the promotion of natural economy and peasant culture, as well as with the rejection of urban life. Why do the peasants need passports? Taxpayer identification number (TIN)? Books? Cards? Overseas trips? The peasants have always lived off subsistence farming! Well, that is, such a peasant practicality. It was then that the roots of the current troubles of the ROC were laid - it so happened that the monastic, black clergy in Russia is traditionally less educated than the white clergy. This is our specificity, in contrast, for example, to Catholics: their monks are more educated than parish priests. Since then, from the moment of the revival of the Church, people who have taken monastic vows have been making a frenzied career. Lightning fast. Where a white priest has to plow and plow, serve and serve, the blacks could in two years decorate themselves with everything they can, and take such positions that an ordinary priest never dreamed of. Accordingly, from rags to riches, without education - without the appropriate length of service - forward. These are again Stalin's falcons, non-commissioned officers who became generals of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, who studied according to the principle of "take off - landing - ready to fight." ...

At the end of the period of stagnation, the questionnaire of the average head of the district level looked like this: eight classes of education, a technical school, service in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, a proletarian (or collective farm) specialty, University Marxism-Leninism and election to the post of secretary of the district executive committee. Today, the official profile of a spiritual pastor looks similar: eight or nine grades of school, military service, work as an electrician, miner or combine operator, ordination and service as a deacon, seminary (or academy - depending on the status of the bishop) and rank in the parish. However, both there and there were exceptions, also very similar: long-term service in the armed forces and immediately - a leading position one step higher, but not under a cap, but under a hood. Both have very low educational qualifications, which means they lack real academic knowledge, including systemic ones.

Serf convicts

In 2018, a pop defrocked living in the Baikal region easily explained the everyday tricks of the lower level of Russian Orthodoxy.

- If you want to recover - go for the Ural-stone. They take everyone there - the last bandits and convicts. The more serious the crime, the further east you have to go. It is very difficult here, but they count three days. I personally know a dozen elders, completely officially ordained to the dignity, each of whom is a convict and murderer, on their conscience not one or not two, but ten to twenty victims, including those added already in the ministry. There is REAL serfdom here, because you cannot leave here. They don't pay money, but they ask for work.

Beyond the Ural Mountains, even officials and the leadership of power structures speak openly about serfdom in the monasteries and hermitages of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2018. This is a problem that needs to be solved, but no one knows how to solve it. Although there are many advisers. Already in December 2017, one Siberian journalist, having learned the story about Moseitsevo, looked the narrator in the eyes for a long time and incomprehensibly, and then said: "You there in Europe do not know life at all." We do not raise a fuss about such nonsense. The law is taiga. Look for fistulas.

According to him, dozens of people, mostly released prisoners, are missing. They find themselves in distant settlements, where they work for free for the good of the church.

He specified that law enforcement officers often cover these so-called Orthodox sketes. But they cover up - the word is not very accurate: they do not take money for concealment. Another thing is more curious: since the 1990s, those released from places of imprisonment began to actively settle in monasteries in Central Russia, and later in the Russian south. For them, even the term exists - "winter monks", that is, those who take tonsure for the winter in order to sit out the cruel times in warmth and satiety. In fact, in the opinion of law enforcement officers, a unique symbiosis has arisen: the carriers of the criminal culture ensure order in monasteries using Zon methods, which guarantees an influx of material benefits, and the church gives them protection from law enforcement agencies and the flock.

Education system

2018

In 2018, the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church was headed by the ambitious Moscow archpriest Maxim Kozlov, the former rector of the Church of St. Tatians at Moscow State University. For a year, he inspected almost all theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church and even suspended the work of the most hopeless ones.

However, he had to admit that the Sretensky Theological Seminary of Metropolitan Tikhon has the best indicators in the system: over the 20 years of its existence, it has graduated 550 seminarians, of which 70% became clergymen, and the rest work in various synodal structures.

1994-2018

From 1994 to 2018, the Educational Committee of the Patriarchate was headed by Archbishop Eugene (Reshetnikov). After several attempts at reforms, stagnation reigned in the economy under his jurisdiction.

Numerous provincial seminaries, which opened in the wake of the "religious revival" of the 1990s, could not find applicants and funds to feed their students. But even the leading theological schools of the country - the Moscow and St. Petersburg Academies - were catastrophically losing their graduates who did not want to serve in the church line. They had to introduce something like a partial serfdom - when graduates of academies and seminaries sign legally significant obligations for at least three years after receiving their diploma to work in the church or cover astronomical amounts for tuition and maintenance at their own expense. Under Eugene, theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church switched to the Bologna system, which implies a two-level structure of higher education: a seminar course was equated with a bachelor's degree, and an academic course with a master's degree.

2016: The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church for the first time met with the Pope

In February 2016, the first meeting of their primates in the history of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches took place in Havana. It resulted in a joint document designed to draw the attention of the world community to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the decline of moral values ​​in the world.

The meeting between the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Pope had been prepared for almost twenty years. For the first time it was planned to hold it back in 1997 in Austria. During preliminary negotiations, a draft joint statement was then prepared, which, in particular, contained the rejection of Uniatism as a means of reuniting churches and of Catholic proselytism in Russia and other CIS countries. But at the very last moment, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church decided to exclude these points from the joint document, and the meeting had to be canceled. In 2002, there was a new round of aggravation in relations between the churches, when Pope John Paul II raised the status of the administrative structures of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia to the level of dioceses without prior consultation with the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result, the possibility of a meeting between the two first hierarchs was reduced to zero for a long time.

Only after the accession to the Holy See of Pope Benedict XVI, who managed to relieve the tension that existed during the previous pontificate, the Orthodox-Catholic relations took on a positive and progressive character. Most likely, if Pope Benedict XVI had not retired in 2013, he would have met with Patriarch Kirill. Pope Francis continued his predecessor's policy of normalizing relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate, which ultimately allowed for a historic meeting.

The first meeting of Orthodox and Catholics "at the highest level" after the division in 1054 of the Christian church into Eastern and Western (not counting the Florence Cathedral in 1439) took place almost 53 years ago: on January 5, 1964, Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople and Pope Paul VI met in Jerusalem. As a result, mutual anathemas were lifted in 1965. The meeting became possible thanks to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which "opened" the Catholic Church for dialogue with other religions: "Truth must be sought through exchange and dialogue."

It was decided to hold the first meeting of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia with the Pope in Cuba at the Jose Martí International Airport. This was due to the fact that from the very beginning Patriarch Kirill did not want it to take place in Europe, since it was there that the centuries-old difficult history of divisions and conflicts between Christians was unfolding.

The main topic of the talks in Cuba was the discussion of acute social, political and moral problems of our time. The final document, which was signed by the patriarch and the pope, in particular, spoke about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The hierarchs called on the international community "to take immediate action to prevent the further ousting of Christians from the Middle East." In addition, they made an appeal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. One of the principal points of the document is the recognition by the Pope that union is not a means of restoring church unity. The document also spoke about the protection of family values ​​and about the rapprochement of the Orthodox and Catholic positions on the issue of proselytism: the parties urged to abandon it, since it "has practical significance for peaceful coexistence." At the same time, both churches emphasize that neither theological nor canonical issues were discussed at the meeting. This suggests that it was organized not to resolve dogmatic differences, but to draw the attention of the world community to existing problems - in particular, to armed conflicts, persecution of Christians and the decline of moral values ​​in the world. The Patriarch and the Pope showed the world that, despite the dogmatic differences, Christians are ready to jointly defend common Christian values ​​in an increasingly secular world.

1980s: 4 thousand out of 6.5 thousand parishes in Ukraine

At the end of the 1980s, when the church revival began in the USSR, officially called the "return to faith," there were 6.5 thousand parishes in the Russian Orthodox Church. Almost 4 thousand of them are in Ukraine, with the majority in its southeastern part. About 500 more in Moldova - more precisely, in that part of it that was traditionally called the Bessarabian province, or Bessarabia. Then in the USSR there were three seminaries - Zagorsk, Leningrad and Odessa, and two Theological academies - Moscow and Leningrad. The state policy was such that most of their applicants already had an incomplete higher secular education.

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Recently, an investigation by RBC "What the Church Lives On" was released, where some secrets of the Russian Orthodox Church were revealed. Naturally, some of this information was already known, but nevertheless a systematic presentation shows what the Russian Orthodox Church is in fact, what motivates the priests, in addition to "spiritual nourishment" of the parishioners.

The main conclusion: the Russian Orthodox Church is a large corporation that has income not only from parishioners, but also from real business. The church owns shares in banks and firms, and has investments in large projects.

Officially, the ROC's profit for 2014 was 5.6 billion rubles. However, this is a profit only from the sale of church goods. Naturally, this profit is not taxed, since it is officially believed that the church does not conduct any trading activities at all, and these incomes are donations.

Despite the fact that the ROC clearly stands out among other "non-profit organizations", it is still unlikely that its status will be changed. And it is unlikely that they will even admit in the near future that they really do trade in the church.

The structure of the ROC is as follows: any parish is registered as an NPO. At the moment there are 34.5 thousand parishes. Every year the parish gives to the dioceses from several thousand to several million rubles. It is clear that if the parish does not bring enough money, then it will be "reformed", since the center has certain requests for retail outlets.

Any outlet must transfer up to 50% of the proceeds to the diocese. And the diocese owes the patriarchy 15% of all income. Such is the pyramid. Naturally, the most important thing is to transfer money to the diocese, and if there is no such transfer, then personnel changes are possible.

It is important to note that there is still no data on how the budget of the Russian Orthodox Church is formed. Over the years, some representatives of the clergy argued that more than 50% of the ROC's income comes from commercial activities, 40% - "donations" (from the state and from "sponsors", including oligarchs), and 5% - deductions from dioceses. It turns out that the income from retail outlets is just a pleasant "bonus" for the patriarchy (those same 5.6 billion).

From the state, for example, the Russian Orthodox Church only for 2012-2015. officially received 14 billion rubles. The 2016 budget for the ROC provides 2.6 billion. And this is not to mention the interaction of the ROC with regional authorities or ministries (for example, with the Ministry of Culture), where revenues are also received separately.

But the most important thing in this story is that no one can find out in any way how the Russian Orthodox Church spends its funds. There are no organizations to follow this. But not so long ago, officials generally allowed the ROC not to report to the Ministry of Justice, because the church supposedly has no foreign sponsors, which means that nothing needs to be checked.

Legoyda, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church who took Chaplin's place, said about the church's expenses:

"There is no need to disclose the items of expenditure of the ROC, since it is absolutely clear what the church spends money on - for church needs."

It turns out that, for example, the "dacha" of Patriarch Kirill is a church need. Not to mention the "surplus" that is typical of the clergy. And the expenses of the church are an interesting thing, because too much money is spent too easily, which obviously is not earned by hard work. Thus, RBC experts believe that about 20 million rubles had to be spent on the patriarch's tour of Latin America.

It is not entirely clear why a corporation, which may make more money per year than X5 Retail Group, is not taxed at all. It is not clear why the state, at the expense of taxpayers, is pouring money into this business empire.

It is quite obvious that the structure will have a very bad time if the government observes the law, that is, follows the principles of a secular state.

Treasurer of the Sretensky Monastery - about what some media outlets present as "hot" topics: does the Church pay taxes? what is the donor's money spent on? why churches and monasteries are forced to engage in "trade"?

- Today there are many rumors that the Church has become rich, while the grandmothers bring the last money to the church, and the priests do not disdain anything when they perform services. Claims against the clergy and monastics are growing. Any mention of the Church and its income raises a lot of questions. What can you answer to this? And is it a sin to be rich?

- The topic you are touching is multifaceted. The Scriptures recognize the fact that there are rich and poor people with different social status. When Christ came to earth, He said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matt. 5: 3). In another case, He says that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven - it is easier for a camel to pass through the ears of a needle (see: Matthew 19:24). And throughout the text of the Gospel, we can conclude that Christ gives preference to the poor. He does not say that the rich will not be saved, but that it is difficult for those hoping for riches to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Consequently, the ideal of a disciple of Christ is the one who leaves everything: home, family, property, completely entrusting himself to the hands of the Teacher, and follows Him, carrying the cross.

But in the Gospel there is also a very interesting story - how one woman (we do not know her name, and she is not even called rich) brought the Lord myrrh worth 300 denarii and, breaking the vessel, anointed His feet (see: Luke 7:37 –48). In the 1st century, the value of this world was equal to the annual earnings of a soldier. And now, unexpectedly for everyone, the Teacher of Poverty says: “... why are you embarrassing a woman? she has done a good deed for me: for you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me ... ”(Matthew 26: 10-11). When Jesus enters Jerusalem afterwards, He, as the "Son of David", receives truly royal honors: He is met by the people with palm branches in their hands and exclaiming: "Hosanna is in the highest!" So, Christ, having no personal property on earth, accepts a rich offering when He wants to emphasize His dignity as the King of Glory.

The Old Testament constantly points out that the very best should be dedicated to the temple of God, as the seat of the Glory of the Lord, to bring the first portions of the fruits, sacrifices from livestock, tithes, and so on.

Based on this, in the church environment since ancient times there has been a different attitude towards property. One thing is property acquired and used personally for oneself and one's luxury (possession of wealth for the sake of its endless multiplication is sinful), another thing is property dedicated to God, aimed at decorating temples, creating an atmosphere of splendor at divine services to glorify God and His saints. The same applies to the clergy. It is one thing - personal property (in his home, a priest should be a model of meekness and non-covetousness), another thing - church property, including priestly clothes, which should be majestic, noble, since during the service the priest is the image of Christ.

In this respect, an example for us is, who was a great beggar. He distributed money to the needy, arranged home care for the sick and obsessed with the ailment of drunkenness. But when it came to his priestly cassock, pectoral cross, he did not refuse gifts and, like the shepherd of Christ, always wore a solid, solid cassock.

When it comes to the prosperity of modern clergy, no one asks the question whether he drives his own car or was he given a car "by proxy"? Does he live in his apartment or wander around in rented rooms? The main thing for an outside "observer" is that the priest, in principle, allowed himself to get into a comfortable car - even if one of the parishioners takes him to the hospital to receive communion with the patient.

Of course, there are also unworthy examples when a priest, disposing of temple property, appropriates it for himself. But such examples are few. The presence of a delicious meal or good clothing for a priest is often the fruit of the care of parishioners who love him, who want to express their gratitude for spiritual and prayer help in this way. In my opinion, this is not the biggest ethical problem against the background of the extremes that happen in society, especially among wealthy people.

- So there is a big difference between using and owning property?

- Yes, from a legal point of view, use and ownership are different categories. A priest may, for example, use the parish apartment for his entire life, but he cannot bequeath it to his children and grandchildren. They will have to earn their own living.

- An old, but probably not losing its relevance question: why trade in books and utensils is not directly called trade? Is it possible to hide behind the words “distribution” and “donation” the obvious fact of parish trade?

- Yes, now many temples "distribute" books and utensils for the so-called fixed donations. If items are bought from third parties and resold at a premium, this is very much like a trading activity, like a resale.

To answer this question, we need to make a small digression. Structurally, the Russian Orthodox Church consists of many legal entities, united by uniform norms of canon law. These legal entities can be of different types: synodal departments, dioceses, monasteries, parishes, seminaries, publishing houses, gymnasiums, Orthodox orphanages, and so on. They are united by the fact that according to their statutes, like grape vines, they are associated with a single root founder - the Moscow Patriarchate - and are registered as religious organizations. In all these legal entities scattered throughout the country and abroad, there are uniform internal rules that do not contradict civil laws - and even older than the laws of the Russian Federation - and are recognized by the state as having the force of internal regulations.

On this basis, the products of one religious organization (books, utensils, icons) can be transferred to another religious organization within a single ROC without any extra charge and taxes. The range of goods sold at an ordinary church, as a rule, consists of such intra-church exchanges. If the final retailing temple sets its markup to the original price, it earns income.

But the main difference between this type of activity and ordinary trade is that this income is not "profit" - it is fully directed to the statutory activities of the monastery or parish, primarily to social service, as well as to the restoration and decoration of the temple.

- Well, well, with the books it is clear. What about pies, honey, tea? These are not religious goods.

- Yes, food is not a religious product. At the same time, raising sheep or cows, producing dairy products, and fishing are historically justified occupations of the monasteries. Honey, tea, kvass, wine have been made and sold at monasteries since ancient times. Now even a monastery cannot sell its own honey without paying taxes to the state. Of course, if food products are sold without paying taxes at a monastery or temple, this is a big risk for a religious organization. But at present, there is already a tendency for the transfer of trade in these types of goods from a religious organization to some individual entrepreneur or LLC. Therefore, if there is a stall with pies on the temple grounds or near the metro, it is not a fact that this is “temple trade”. It is quite possible that this is already a separate legal entity that pays rent to the temple or helps the temple, but conducts commercial activities (trade) with the corresponding payment of taxes and is responsible for its actions before the state independently, separately from the parish.

- Another source of income for the Church is organization.

- Here it is necessary to make clear distinctions: the organization of trips for pilgrim groups - and the reception of pilgrims on the territory of a monastery.

We have two laws that can be applied to “religious travel”: the Tourism Fundamentals Act and the Religious Associations Act. Tourism is a commercial activity aimed at providing services at the request of the client, according to the rules of interest to the client. Pilgrimage is a path to self-restraint, to adjusting oneself to the spiritual rules created in the Church.

Pilgrimage initially has its own unique character, different from tourism. A pilgrim group is a religious group. Christian pilgrimages to holy places, to Jerusalem, to Rome, to places of execution of martyrs have been known since the 4th century. Since ancient times, the rulers of Europe and Asia not only did not tax pilgrimages, but also financed and decorated holy places with expensive contributions. The pre-revolutionary Russian government built pilgrimage centers in the Holy Land and took care of the safety of the pilgrims. Pilgrims have always been different from tourists. They had a different goal - not rest, but prayer and worship of the shrine.

At present, Russian pilgrims, before leaving on a journey, perform prayers, a priest or religious mentor, curator travels with them. Travelers wear religious clothing, observe the relevant rules and fasting. Coming to the place of pilgrimage, pilgrims go, first of all, to the shrine. At the same time, whether the shrine is an architectural monument or not is not important. The pilgrim is interested in the shrine itself, and in this he differs from a religious tourist who simply goes to see religious sites. In addition, pilgrims in monasteries can be attracted to free labor, to obediences (for example, to washing dishes in a refectory, cleaning a church, looking after flowers in a flower bed), and if pilgrims stay overnight at a monastery, they will be woken up early in the morning for a divine service. Religious tourism is when a group, for example, of the Chinese goes to inspect the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, or the Russians visit the Egyptian pyramids. They don't go there to pray. That is why they are not pilgrims, but tourists.

Let's go back to income. Paradoxically, the main income from organizing pilgrimage trips goes to third parties. Plane tickets are bought from commercial airlines, buses are rented from transport companies, meals on the road are in secular cafes and restaurants. Accommodation for the night abroad, and in our country, most often - in ordinary hotels. Rarely does a monastery have a pilgrim hotel with it. Pilgrims in Diveyevo, for example, most often live and eat in the private sector, and not at the monastery.

Only large monasteries, such as lavra, can afford the construction of pilgrim hotels. And in this case, there is no question of special income. After free accommodation and lunches of bishops, clergy, relatives of monastics of the monastery, students of seminaries, Sunday schools, workers, the poor - the monastery itself, the owner of the hotel, little remains of the donations collected from the pilgrim groups. Everything that is collected from some is immediately spent on others. Considering that pilgrims and people themselves are extremely economical, you won't make much money on pilgrim hotels. This is so, the missionary activity of the monastery plus obedience for its novices or novices.

- So where does the money come from the Church, from the parishes? How does the parish make a living, where does it spend money?

- Nowadays it is rare to find a sober assessment of how the structure of income and expenses of an ordinary parish is formed. In the press, this issue fades into the background. Some kind of pies sold on the street under the guise of a monastery courtyard, or charlatans who gather at the so-called "Orthodox exhibitions" of the Moscow VDNKh, are striking. After all, no one is prohibited from registering their LLC under a name like “Svyataya Zemlya Publishing House”. But this does not mean that such an LLC is an Orthodox religious organization and the Church will receive income from the activities of such structures.

But we got distracted. So, sometimes one gets the impression that the income of the parish is formed, first of all, from trade. This is not true. Any temple generally has three of the most common types of income and expenses.

The first is income from donations for candles, the recording of names in synodics, from the performance of requirements and the so-called registered notes. These revenues mainly offset the costs of utilities for the maintenance of the temple, the salaries of the clergy and key staff (accountant, cleaners, choir). For more, these funds are not enough. Thanks to the donations of its parishioners, the parish only makes ends meet, provided, of course, the minimum staff and minimum wages. Any development is an increase in the number of choral singers, social and charitable activities, etc. - often it becomes possible only thanks to "profitable" projects: publishing, agriculture, handicrafts.

The second type of income is from the distribution of books and church products. These "trade" proceeds go to educational projects, Sunday schools, orphanages, gifts to prisoners, feeding the beggars, and so on. There will be no such income - churches will not have socially significant projects. "Trade" creates a "reserve" for the stable functioning of long-term social projects. But this money cannot be used to build a new church, and the monastery buildings cannot be repaired.

The third type of income is earmarked donations for construction and renovation programs. We are talking about the restoration of churches, overhaul of the monastery buildings, improvement of the adjacent territory. This requires funds from external sources, which, as a rule, are targeted projects to finance a particular construction. For these purposes, the Board of Trustees of a temple or monastery is formed, a program for the construction of a temple or reconstruction of a building is created, a design concept, an architectural project are developed, and requests are sent to potential donor organizations. A patron of such a project can be one organization (commercial company, bank, fund) or more than ten, twenty or one hundred trustees with different shares of contribution to the common cause.

At the same time, by a decision of the Board of Trustees, the rights to manage the progress of financing construction may be left to a religious organization or transferred to a specially created charitable foundation. If donors trust a temple or monastery and this religious organization knows how to work with a large flow of technical and financial documents, then the money will be sent by benefactors directly to the account of the temple or monastery, which will be the direct customer of the construction and the beneficiary of its results.

But if the monastery or temple is not able to independently manage the financing of the construction, the Board of Trustees can entrust this matter to a separate organization, the trusteeship fund. In this case, there are fewer suspicions of “misappropriation of funds”, but there is also less control from the church. If the appropriate state authority is undertaken for the restoration of monuments of federal significance, it would, of course, prefer this very principle of financing. In addition, some government departments themselves act as building customers, directly contracting with contractors. However, if the builders work on their own, without the participation of the communities that will later pray in this temple, there is a possibility that the sensors and devices will be installed in places where they cannot be placed in any way from the point of view of the temple decoration (under the dome, in the place where the iconostasis was installed, in the altar, etc.). Because of this, it will be difficult to pray in such a temple after the construction is completed, something will have to be redone.

At the same time, regardless of whether public or private money went to the construction of the temple, they cannot be spent for other purposes. If money was given for bricks, it can only be spent on bricks, and not to pay for the choir.

If we compare the income "from the notes" with the targeted financing of construction, the difference in amounts will be tens, hundreds, thousands of times. Therefore, I repeat, it is extremely difficult to build a new church on the basis of notes and requests.

Not every church gets the attention of society and the state. The state, as a rule, restores only the most famous and visited federal monuments, and businessmen - those churches in which prominent priests, good preachers, well-known organizers of church projects, and revered confessors serve. The community of believers is formed around a famous priest, not a federal monument.

Therefore, when a new temple is being built for the already existing community of believers, headed by a priest, then after the completion of the construction the temple does not remain empty. The community with its donations will be able to further support the functioning of the temple.

- Can a temple get away from trade? For example, to expand collection of donations and finance various social projects at their expense? After all, non-profit organizations live somehow?

- Are there many of them? How often do you see the opening of new children's sports clubs, nursing homes? Do you hear anything about societies for the protection of nature, unions of poets, young physicists and aircraft modelers? Now only those non-profit organizations that "feed" from the budget live well. The rest of the NGOs are barely alive, do not develop, or they also have to engage in commercial activities. For example, human rights organizations often provide consultations on a paid basis, psychology clubs conduct trainings for money. To survive, non-profit organizations also have to “spin”.

I would like to raise the question of why it is so difficult to live on donations alone. We do not have a culture of charity, public support for selfless deeds for the benefit of the people. Russia is one of the few countries in the world where charity is not supported at the legislative level. For example, in many European countries, in the United States, a philanthropist who wants to support a non-profit organization receives tax breaks. For example, in the United States, an entrepreneur who assisted a Boy Scout Club, a women's organization, or a Protestant church is considered to have fulfilled his tax debt to the state. Money spent on non-profit organizations reduces the amount of taxes that must be transferred to the state treasury.

In Russia, the sponsoring firm donates money to charity only after all taxes have been paid, from the net profit. It turns out to be a paradox. The commercial organization paid all taxes, transferred money to the parish for the construction of the temple. And the temple, buying, for example, building materials, again pays a tax - VAT. In fact, this is, if not double taxation, then it is. So, the lack of tax incentives for legal entities and public support leads to the fact that the business sector is not always interested in charitable activities.

It's not that simple with individuals either. Yes, for them, according to the Tax Code, there are so-called "tax deductions". If, say, you donated money from your salary to a charity fund for maternity protection, then you have the right to claim a certain deduction for personal income tax. But in order to get this "deduction", you need to collect papers, take them to the tax authority to recalculate your taxable base, run around the offices, wait for an answer. At the same time, the taxation system is difficult for the average person to understand, and something changes in it every year. Not everyone has enough time to do this; not everyone knows that this is possible in principle. Yes, and it makes sense to do this only for those who have declared large salaries, who donate large sums and their donation is formalized with a carefully completed receipt. When it comes to small donations thrown into a box in a temple, and the like, the tax relief declared by the state for individuals is virtually unavailable.

The conclusion is this: at the state, legislative level, we do not have incentives aimed at supporting non-profit structures. This applies to all NGOs, not only religious organizations.

At the same time, parishes, priests somehow still manage to feed the homeless, visit prisons, but they don't go there without gifts, and they are distributed to all prisoners in a row - believers and unbelievers. And parents who bring their children to Sunday school, most often people are not rich, hope that "at the expense of the church" their children will be taught some kind of needlework, will be engaged in creative work with them, they will be taken somewhere for free on an excursion. As a rule, the church does not have enough funds for this from notes and demands, they must be sought, constantly asked from someone. Or "spinning", selling Orthodox products in the parish, "earning" for social projects. Do you think that the priests themselves like this business? They would gladly abandon church production and trade if the issue of legislative encouragement of social care and charity were regulated.

- Is there a control on the part of donors over how donations are spent? For example, if the sponsor is from another region, he cannot come to the construction site every day?

- For this, there is a system of contractual relations determined by the law of the Russian Federation and standards for the preparation of reporting documentation. Each donor can check the primary documents. If they are not provided in the manner prescribed by law, he may interrupt funding. Moreover, if this is provided for by the contract and the money is not used for its intended purpose, the donor can recover the amount of the unspent donation back.

Therefore, I repeat, the money spent on the construction of the temple cannot be used for other purposes - paying for singers or buying cars for the parish. The philanthropist controls all targeted expenses primarily because he himself can be controlled, for example, by the Federal Tax Service. In addition, the tax service can also control the activity of the parish: if the expenditure of earmarked funds is not documented, this money as "non-earmarked" can be levied by the supervisory authority with income tax.

So there is a double check: both the benefactor controls the parish, and he is also checked by the relevant state control bodies. In this case, a religious organization is equal to any secular one. Despite the fact that the temple, the religious community, as a rule, maintains simplified accounting records, when it comes to earmarked funding, the accounts are drawn up to the smallest detail. All documents - from construction estimates, KS-2, KS-3 to the last invoice - must be reliable and correctly executed.

- Does the situation with the search for funds turn the church rector into a “top manager”? Isn't there a danger of forgetting the main purpose of the ministry - to pray to God together with people?

- You can answer "yes" and "no". A priest is always obliged to pray to God - and not only for the benefactors, but also for the little ones of this world, for whom the temple is actually being built. A priest must always remain a spiritual shepherd, a good shepherd. It happens that the abbot of a church has to turn into a “foreman” or “manager” when there are no qualified assistants, there are no funds to hire a person from the outside who would receive a decent salary of a professional - the organizer of the construction site. But such a situation, as a rule, has economic reasons: there is little money for construction, but a lot needs to be done. But at the same time, the priest still tries not to abandon social projects - this is also part of his vocation. So he has to work for two, three, four specialists.

Of course, if, by a lucky chance, the headman of the church is an architect, builder, or at least a qualified lawyer, then the abbot will gladly shift a significant part of the household duties onto him. There would be such "helpers" who came to church not for earnings, but for the sake of labor for the "glory of God" ...

- What do you need in order to get a job in the temple? Even if not for earnings, but in the form of a volunteer contribution to a common cause. Does this impose additional responsibilities - fasting, attending services?

- With regard to religious requirements, the parish of the church as a legal entity is very tolerant of its employees. Nobody will pull the employee forcibly to worship, confession or. Therefore, at the church one can meet both believers and shallowly believing workers. Someone is churched while working in the church. This is the personal will of everyone. Although the Church has the right to prescribe in the employment contract some restrictions regarding the manifestation of respect for worship, for the clergy; the style of dress adopted in the temple - this does not contradict the Constitution, but it is rarely used. On the one hand, everything is clear. If you come to work in a temple, then you must behave piously in a holy place. But on the other hand, there are also some indulgences.

With regard to highly intellectual work, preference is given to professionals, regardless of the depth of their faith. A professional accountant can become churched over time, the main thing is that he or she always fulfills his or her duties as an accountant professionally. If a lawyer visits the temple on a regular basis, but cannot draw up documents for the land - what good is he? It is better to let him continue to pray, and the other forms the land.

On the other hand, unskilled labor can be used by the abbot as a way to provide material assistance to socially disadvantaged people, believers or those in a difficult situation who want not only to receive a handout from the church in the form of “material assistance”, but honestly earn a penny for themselves. So, for some categories of workers - the weak, the illiterate, released from prison, the unemployed - work at the church is often the last chance for employment. In other places, no one wants to bother with them.

- What kind of specialists are needed first of all?

- First of all, we need believing singers. They are needed everywhere, there are always open vacancies. After all, parishioners want the divine service to be beautiful and touching. Any temple needs three or four good singers, especially if they sing for more than just money. Everywhere you need a good accountant, although not always full-time, if the parish is small. Large parishes may need a secretary or a lawyer to handle office work, paperwork for land, buildings and structures. Required persons of construction specialties, locksmiths, plumbers who do not drink and know their business.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that there is little gold in our churches, attempts at robberies have become more frequent lately. Therefore, a watchman may be required. Nowadays, not only thieves are a problem for churches, but, unfortunately, homeless people who can eat at the same temple. It is a pity for them, but they often go to services in dirty, dirty clothes, harass parishioners, carry away bags left by accident, even try to rob donation boxes. By the way, this is an indicator of the level of our spiritual culture.

Let's return to the demanded specialties. If the temple is carrying out some kind of construction, professional architects, foremen are needed, and better - a construction organization that can carry out all the work according to a reasonable estimate.

Some parishes for targeted construction projects agree to pay for the services of a professional contractor. But, unfortunately, sometimes it happens that firms spoiled by government orders do not understand the requirements. The temple needs quality work, not "sawing" the budget. It is necessary to execute an agreement with fixed deadlines and estimates, and not a constant increment of estimates, taking advantage of the poor construction training of the abbots. Now, unfortunately, there is a big difficulty - to find a contractor who does not steal, does not “master the funds”, but works normally, with high quality, keeping within the terms prescribed by the contract.

In addition, the abbot of the temple, working with a contractor, does not know who the latter will take as his subcontractor. For example, a contract is concluded with a serious, well-established company with a name like "Brothers Rus", but in fact the final builders are low-skilled citizens of the Central Asian republics. These subcontractors not only perform poorly, but also change like gloves. In the end, their works do not fit together, and it is not clear who, as a result, will be responsible for putting the building into operation, bear warranty obligations. In general, a good foreman and an honest builder are now a rarity! And the temples really need them.

- How does the parish itself comply with the Labor Code?

- With regard to everything related to labor discipline, vacations, sick leave, material assistance, the temple is the same legal entity as any secular organization. The parish is obliged to draw up a staffing table, conclude employment contracts with employees, make contributions to the Pension Fund, social insurance funds, pay taxes on the income of its employees. Safety instructions should be provided, fire safety measures should be provided. Holidays, bonuses, material assistance - formalized by orders of the abbot, etc. That is, it is necessary to observe labor and tax discipline in full.

- A question that is now periodically asked by businessmen: does the Church pay taxes?

- It is an illusion that the Church does not pay taxes. The Church, like any legal entity, is, according to the Tax Code, a taxpayer. It is easier to list two or three articles on which the Church has benefits, than to retell the rest of the Tax Code, which does not give any exemptions. The church pays taxes.

If the monastery has non-religious fixed assets, such as arable land or agricultural buildings, property tax is paid for them. If the parish sells non-religious property or rents out premises, VAT and income tax are paid from this. Transport tax is paid on cars. The parish of the church is obliged not only to deduct income tax for individuals, but also to bear social benefits. Even for late submission of payments to the Pension Fund, a huge fine can be imposed on a temple or monastery.

There are only two tax breaks that many parishes are trying to take advantage of. First of all, this is a profit tax benefit. For example, donations from worship services, religious services and other religious activities, as well as the distribution of religious literature, are not subject to income tax. Another benefit is the value added tax (VAT) in relation to religious items, according to the list approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation in March 2001. According to this list, VAT is not subject to VAT on the sale of liturgical or religious and educational literature, candles, incense, icons, various church items, crosses, including some jewelry, audio and video discs, etc. The list is wide. But this privilege, oddly enough, does not include such traditional ritual objects as scarves and wedding rings.

- You have a simple answer to any question. Still, it is not clear: the country's economy is barely developing, and churches and monasteries are growing by leaps and bounds. How is this possible?

- Maybe this suggests that churches are in demand by society? Despite all the difficulties in the economy, philanthropists appear who want to leave such a historical trace on earth as a temple.

Or maybe they just steal less in the Church? Any abbot, even one who wears good shoes and drives a comfortable car, is more interested than anyone else in that no one "saws off" anything from the construction site. And therefore, he is making every effort to ensure that all donations "for the temple" - down to the last penny - go to their intended purpose. If this is a brick, then let the highest quality brick be bought, let there be the best building materials, reliable electrical wiring, the most durable entrance doors, and so on. This is a question of cost efficiency.

At the same time, boards of trustees are not created in the Russian provinces, money is collected by the whole world, from each according to his capabilities. For example, in the south of Russia, in Ukraine, parishioners donate not money, but their own labor, bring food, cement, wood products, sheet metal to the construction site. Sometimes you yourself are surprised at what risk some parish rectors take when they start building without having the full budget for the temple. They risk very much, but they very much hope that with God's help they will eventually find the full amount of money somewhere. I know such priests who even mortgaged their own apartments, spent the night at a construction site, worked as loaders and foremen, just to build a beautiful temple in the most rational way, and then donate it to people. Unfortunately, the press is silent about these devotees ...

- So it's not all that bad?

- There are a lot of difficulties, including in the Church - no one denies this. But there is immeasurably more good!

Near-church economic activity is a closed topic and little studied, although there are a lot of the most contradictory rumors about it. The church fathers themselves, for obvious reasons, avoid talking about this. Therefore, we asked the director of the Institute for the Study of Religion of the Baltic States and the CIS, Candidate of Historical Sciences Nikolai Mitrokhin to talk about the church as a subject of economic relations.

-What is the Russian Orthodox Church as a subject of economic activity?

The Russian Orthodox Church is a giant corporation where hundreds of thousands of independent economic agents operate under a single brand name. Starting with small enterprises created by individual priests and ending with church-wide enterprises.

what is the scale of its activities, its share in the Russian economy?

- During the year, the ROC receives from its economic activities the same income as an average metallurgical company. On an all-Russian scale, of course, this is not a lot. But besides this, the church controls a certain number of enterprises with a more significant turnover. In addition, there are donations from public and private companies for various Orthodox programs. And this amount is already two to three times more than the funds that the church earns on its own.

- Why are the official data on the economy of the Russian Orthodox Church so scarce?

Because the governing bodies of the church themselves do not have intelligible information about what individual divisions are doing - dioceses, parishes. In addition, the church habitually hides all data about its economic activities, because many sources of its funds are contrary to the expectations that people place on the church. This is a game in the financial markets, and oil export, and obtaining quotas from the state for the import of certain goods, etc.

-From what means are the general church incomes made up?

Formally, they should consist of receipts from dioceses and the results of the activities of synodal departments. But according to the information officially announced at the Councils of Bishops, the income consists of the income from the activities of the church-wide enterprise "Sofrino" and the hotel "Danilovskaya". Plus, the Moscow Patriarchate receives about 50% of the funds from certain operations in the financial market, managing temporarily free funds. And income from dioceses is only about 2.5% of the total. The budget of specific departments of the Patriarchate has never actually been publicly disclosed.

- And what is all this money spent on?

- According to the church, the main budget goes to the maintenance of three educational institutions of general church significance. But now the largest of them has been transferred to the balance of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, so that at the moment the funds are being spent, apparently, on presentations and "maintenance" of the apparatus. And in the event of any emergency expenses, sponsors are involved. For example, when the Patriarch goes to an orphanage, one of the Orthodox entrepreneurs gives money for gifts.

- But what about the restoration of churches?

- No, this is done by the state and companies around the state. Almost all of the largest corporations have special temple building programs. The church itself is not capable of either building temples or undertaking a serious reconstruction of them.

- What, in your opinion, does the tightening of the state tax policy towards the church lead to?

- To ensure that, in the medium term, priests become civil servants, i.e. received a salary from the state. On the one hand, the church does not want this, on the other hand, it needs to receive state support, otherwise many parishes will soon have to be closed. Only a priest from a large city can support himself at the expense of parishioners, and those who serve in the village feed only from their own garden. And how many years will he endure such a situation? I believe that religious organizations should survive on their own. But while we see that the state finances large church educational programs, the Orthodox encyclopedia comes out at the expense of the state, the state is on the verge of starting to fully finance the teaching of the basics of Orthodox culture, and I think it will come to the point that provincial priests will willingly accept how this is it was before the revolution, the state salary.

- And should, in your opinion, near-church production be taxed, along with ordinary entrepreneurs?

I think no. There is a sector of non-profit organizations that pay very serious taxes: 36% of the unified social tax, 13% from salaries. In my opinion, the ROC, like all religious organizations, is the same non-profit organization. Another thing is that the state should not put up with the fact that somewhere in the provinces, as was the case, for example, in the Tula or Ivanovo regions, the priest actually becomes the owner of the distillery and tries to announce it as a church enterprise, at the expense of which the church is being built. How much it costs to build or reconstruct a temple - no one can say for sure, there are no evaluation criteria. The restoration of this temple may take decades, and what, all this time, this conditional distillery will work? I think it is necessary to cut off such commercial enterprises from non-commercial ones.

Maybe the state, refusing to transfer some religious buildings to the ownership of the church, is trying to preserve the possibility of influencing the ROC?

- About 15,000 real estate objects were transferred to the church for long-term lease - in fact, into ownership. No inventory has been carried out so far, no one knows what has become of them. The most significant case took place in Ulyanovsk. A café was opened in the house where the Diocesan Administration was located before the revolution. When this building was transferred to the church under the promise to open a shelter here, the cafe simply renewed the lease agreement with the church now. In certain circles, there is hope that the church will receive ownership of the land, become a large land owner and, at the expense of the funds received from the land, will finance itself. But in this case, the question arises: why are the churches returning their former property, while people who are descendants of the noble, merchant and Cossack estates do not. Moreover, the church lays claim to a colossal number of objects that did not really belong to it before the revolution. They belonged to parish communities or landowners, or some other structure.

In addition, there are a huge number of properties that the church does not need. Recently, in the Novgorod region, I came across an abandoned monastery complex in quite decent condition. In theory, the diocese could have demanded it, but what will it do with it? It must be restored, a road must be built there, monks must be settled. And there are no funds and monks. In the Vladimir region, out of 900 existing churches, about 400 were transferred to the church. And if another five hundred buildings are transferred to it (although, as far as is known, it does not ask for them), where will the diocese take the funds to restore them? And so the priests already complain that all the companies send them out from the doorway: "We have already given for this church and this one." And most importantly - who will go there? The Patriarch, at the last Diocesan meeting, said that the number of parishioners is decreasing. And this is not related to the opening of new temples.

How is church-related production developing? Are there any enterprises that offer at least some kind of competition to the famous Sofrino?

Near-church production is developing and taking different forms: from some successful enterprises that have a turnover of millions (in dollars), to grandmothers and aunts who sew one vestment a week. In principle, this is also a near-church production. Or, for example, a team of carpenters that travels around the diocese and makes iconostases.

There are many large church companies that are comparable to Sofrino in terms of production, but they prefer not to advertise themselves. One of the most famous in Moscow is located in the Novospassky Monastery and specializes in the production of small wooden icons with pasted paper images. Trinity-Sergius Lavra is considered the largest manufacturer of candles and printing. And Sofrino is just a brand, and not the most popular one. At each Council of Bishops, the patriarch calls on bishops to buy Sofra's products, they, of course, buy a little, but in reality they prefer cheaper goods.

- They say church products are exclusively "environmentally friendly".

- The ROC positions all its products as environmentally friendly. In Russia, this has a perspective. The brand "Orthodox" may well become synonymous with "environmentally friendly". But in fact, no one tested these products. It's just that in Russia now there is low competition in the market for environmentally friendly goods. As soon as it escalates, the Orthodox Christians there will be "crushed" by large companies. An example of this is the story of The Holy Source, which began as a purely American campaign. The producers simply paid a certain amount to the local bishop for help with tax evasion, an Orthodox label with his signature and a promise to spend some of the money on temples. A year ago, the brand was bought by the Nestle company. And now the same water is advertised without any nods to the Russian Orthodox Church (especially since the bishop has ceased to fulfill his obligations), the emphasis is on a well-known brand. Each region has bottled water, which is produced by some distillery, simply by sticking a label with the image of a local monastery. Therefore, it can be argued that now at least half of the goods produced as "Orthodox", in fact, have nothing to do with the church.

-How do you think the prospects for the development of the church's economy look like?

- It is difficult to make any predictions here. The situation is relatively stable so far. But on the one hand, the number of people who associate their lives exclusively with the church is growing; on the other hand, the number of non-regular visitors to the church is decreasing, i.e. consumers of products of near-church production.

-What factors can influence the improvement of the financial condition of the church?

- The church must establish its own internal management. So that different, as they say in the church itself, "bugs", that is, priests or near-church leaders who receive good incomes, to a greater extent spend them on the church. But this will only become possible with the emergence of mechanisms that ensure transparency, the separation of functions of the clergy, and the maintenance of the corporate spirit. So that the thieving priest does not pay a "kickback" to the secretary of the diocesan administration, but is expelled by the priests themselves. This should be an inner-church understanding and a decision that it is impossible to live like this any longer. And although there is already criticism of the episcopate, coming from both fundamentalist and liberal circles, so far the majority are satisfied with this situation. So, in the coming years, any changes are hardly possible.

Lyudmila Mekhontseva

In the news feeds, no, no, yes, there will be information about the mythical budget of the Russian Orthodox Church, about the incredible spending of the Orthodox clergy, about legislation that makes the church practically inviolable. It is no wonder that against this background, many are asking the question: "Is the church taxed in Russia?" We will answer it in as much detail as possible.

What is the Church

To find out whether the church pays taxes in Russia, let us define what the ROC is in essence from a "business" point of view. Religious organizations in our country are considered full-fledged participants in economic relations - they conduct certain activities, own any property - movable, real estate, land. It is logical that with all this they have the right to be called legal entities.

In addition to all of the above, religious organizations are engaged in specific cult activities - they conduct certain rituals and ceremonies, meetings and events. Art. 8 Federal Law No. 125 "On freedom of conscience and non-religious associations" defines the concept of "church" as follows: a voluntary association of groups of citizens, which is formed to spread the faith and its joint confession, among other things, registered as a legal entity.

Legal framework and church

Consider the legal acts, one way or another related to the taxes of the church to the state in Russia:

• Federal Law No. 7 "On Non-Profit Organizations": the church has the right to engage in entrepreneurship, as well as create a number of its own enterprises and organizations.
• "On state registration of individual entrepreneurs and legal entities": the church and its branches are subject to mandatory state registration.
• The previously mentioned Federal Law No. 125, Article 11: for religious organizations, a special procedure for state registration is implied.
• Tax Code of the Russian Federation, article 3, paragraph 1: products of religious significance are exempt from VAT.
• Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 251 (31.03.2001): the document contains a complete list of items and services sold by the church and exempt from VAT.
• Agreement "On the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials": imported religious imported products are subject to taxes no higher than those applicable to similar goods on the territory of the host state.

Church income

Does the church pay taxes in Russia and on what income? This is a very interesting question for Russian citizens. Let's list the main points that make up the profit of a religious organization:

• donations of believers for services, commemorations;
• donations from patrons, sponsors;
• sale of candles;
• sale of books and religious attibutics;
• "kruzhniy" collection after service;
• income from the activities of commercial church organizations;
• transfer of a number of church facilities to;
• receipts from the state budget of the Russian Federation.

VAT for church

Speaking about what taxes the church pays in Russia, it is imperative to touch upon those payments from which a religious organization is exempt or which deducts to the treasury on a preferential basis. First of all, let's pay attention to VAT - we give a list of what the sale directly by the church gives it the right not to pay this 18% tax to the state treasury:

• Objects of religious worship: icons, statues, altars, calvary, etc., as well as elements that make up an indivisible whole with them: covers, icon frames, vestments, etc.
• Interior decoration items, architectural elements: iconostases, tombs, crayfish, censer, candlesticks, gates, window bars, thrones, altar cabinets, etc.
• Items of paraphernalia of the Orthodox religion: crosses, belts with prayers, staves, medallions, standards, banners, rods, amulets, artistic forms of Easter eggs, etc.
• Necessary elements and substances, without which it is impossible to conduct divine services: incense, oil, censers, candles, myrrh, devices for unction, cherubs, seals for prosphora and artos, etc.
• The clothes of clergymen: robes, belts, handcuffs, clubs, legguards, felonies, kerchiefs, aprons, etc., as well as holders, hangers, cases, chains, shafts, etc. for them.
• Paper products: liturgical books (Holy Scripture, prayer books, saints, sheet music, rite performances, religious calendars, etc.), religious educational, educational books, official letterheads and printed products of religious organizations (letters, diplomas, postcards, messages, prayers, canonical images, photos, etc.)
• Video and audio production of the church: materials that visually teach, educate, illustrate the elements of doctrine, religious practice, worship, etc.
• Repair and restoration work required for the temple - if they are carried out by an organization licensed for such activities.

It is important to note that VAT exemption on the listed items is available not only directly for the church, but also for a commercial company, whose authorized capital is entirely the contribution of a religious association.

Property tax for church organizations

Art. 381 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation exempts the church from paying property tax, but only in relation to that movable and immovable property that is directly used for religious activities. A church dormitory, a building for brethren, etc., will already be subject to this tax in the same amount as for other Russian taxpayers. But here there is one thing: the property tax is regional, which means, in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 12, clause 3, entities can independently set its size for non-commercial payers. For religious organizations, it is made equal to zero.

Land tax for the church

Asking whether the church is exempt from taxes in Russia, let us touch upon such an important revenue for the budget as the land tax. Plots belonging to the church are exempt from it in two cases - if it has:

• Land owned by the right of perpetual use.
• Areas where temples, churches, chapels, as well as structures for both religious and charitable purposes were built. The latter include:
  • buildings for the implementation of certain services, prayer, religious buildings, rooms for meetings, rituals, ceremonies;
  • pilgrim centers and hotels for pilgrims directly owned by the church;
  • - seminaries, theological schools, religious schools and student dormitories;
  • charitable canteens, hostels and hospitals, Orthodox orphanages, educational institutions with the status of charitable, etc.

According to the letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-06-02-02 / 41. the entire site belonging to the church is exempt from land taxation, even if there are structures on its territory that are not related to the above. And the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (p. 395, p. 4) states that the privileged land will be the property of the Orthodox Church, but on which buildings and structures of other religious denominations are located.

Continuing the theme "Does the church pay taxes in Russia?" letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-05-04-02 / 31 of May 7, 2008 warns that a site belonging to a religious organization, but having on its territory only buildings and structures for the sale of paraphernalia, literature, etc., without the presence of religious buildings and charitable purposes, fully subject to land tax.

Religious organization and income tax

Church tax in Russia is also a tax on profits. According to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 246, item 1, the religious organization is its payer. However, a number of benefits are provided for her here too - when compiling the tax base, the following is not taken into account:

• Property (including money) and property rights that came to the church budget in connection with the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, as well as as a result of the sale of their profile paraphernalia and literature.
• Targeted receipts (except for those related to excisable). This includes:
• donations and contributions;
• property transferred by will, inheritance;
• property received for the implementation of statutory activities;
• grants from individuals and organizations included in the List of Government Resolution No. 485 (28.06.2008).

Earmarked receipts are not taxed only if they were spent strictly for their intended purpose - a detailed report must be submitted to the tax authority by the church.

Church taxes

Does the church pay taxes to the state in Russia? 91% of those interested in this issue cannot find what is taxed on the activities and property of the church. The religious organization pays the following:

• Transport tax: on all vehicles run by the church, tax is paid in the same amount as for other taxpayers.
• Excise taxes (RF Tax Code, Art. 181): cosmetics and perfumes, alcohol-containing substances, medicines, prophylactic agents, etc. Note that jewelry, including those sold by the church, is not an excise item.

So does the church pay taxes in Russia? The answer will be positive, but with a number of but - after all, in the Russian Federation religious organizations are endowed with a large number of tax benefits.