Russian Orthodox Priest Chided for ‘Yid’ Jibe at Girl With Jewish Mother
Russian Church officials suspended a priest for using an anti-Semitic pejorative while baptizing a girl.
The two-month ban on Andrey Evstigneeva was announced earlier this month on the website of the Diocese of Saratov, a city situated 450 miles southeast of Moscow.
It followed complaints by the family and by the Russian Jewish Congress, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.
The girls’ parent said Evstigneeva used the Russian pejorative “zhidovskym,” or “kike,” in reference to the girl’s name. The girl’s mother is Jewish.
Names were not included in reports about the incident.
Church officials said Evstigneeva acknowledged the incident and insisted that “nothing untoward had happened.”
Evstigneeva’s behavior was “incompatible with clerical dignity and disrespectful of parish members,” the diocese’s statement read. “During the ban, you lose the right to wear the symbols of the church and teach believers; administer benedictions or hold services.”
Matvey Chlenov, deputy executive director of the Russian Jewish Congress, said the Church’s “swift and public” response was a cause for optimism.
“Notably, Church officials took this case as serious and requiring in-depth investigation,” he said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
