Archpriest Chaplin censored by Russian media since dismissal
Moscow (AsiaNews) – Since his dismissal last December as head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Relations between Church and Society, because of differences with the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin has been denied space to defend his positions on almost all the national media.
In a post on his personal Facebook page Chaplin states that some news sites as Newsru.com. “are trying to avoid any of my statements from being carried on almost all Russian media”. The Archpriest believes that "the highest church leadership may be involved in this (I have the right to assume that the directive was given by the Patriarch himself ) and the leaders of President of the Russian Federation ".
Chaplin backed up his claims with some facts. For example, on December 28 a press conference announced already long ago and that was to be held at the headquarters of the agency Interfax was canceled; December 29, the state agency Russia Today reported his comments in connection with the dismissal - wanted by the Synod – but never published them. On January 5, another pre-recorded interview for Channel Life News, on issues related to the Christmas celebrations never aired. "The RSN (the Russian News Service) invited everyone, except me, to discuss my dismissal," writes the Archpriest, noting that the only exceptions to this trend was Echo of Moscow Radio, the Snob newspaper and Dozhd TV, all usually critical of the Kremlin.
Some Russian media, such as the Moskovski Komsomolets, commented immediately after Chaplin’s post by pointing out that the priest, formerly spokesman of the more conservative positions of the Church, has "radically changed his attitude to the Church leaders, accusing the Patriarch of autonomously making decisions on the life of the Church. "
The comments accompanying Chaplin’s post on Facebook also did not seem very supportive of his complaint and some have criticized his decision to make his "personal" disagreements with the Patriarch public.
Immediately after the dismissal, the archpriest had hinted at the fact that he expected to be deprived of visibility in the national media and has not ruled out the possibility of creating its own media outlet. (MA.)
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