Anti-war Russian Orthodox priests struggle in German exile

After Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of Orthodox priests faced repression because they disagreed with the policies of Russian secular and church officials, according to estimates by human rights activists.

A number fled Russia, fearing prosecution, or were banned from ministry by the Russian Orthodox Church controlled by Moscow. Others were imprisoned for speaking out against Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

As well as encountering the classic immigrant challenges, such as applying for a visa and finding a job, the fleeing clergy face unique issues as they often don't have transferable skills.

DW talked with several Russian priests living in exile in Germany to find out how they are adapting to life in their new home.

Washing dishes and studying German

Father Yakov, whose name has been changed for safety reasons, had been officiating at an Orthodox church in Russia's west since the late 2010s. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he became involved in anti-war initiatives.

This engagement allowed him to obtain a humanitarian visa for an Eastern European country shortly before Russia announced the partial mobilization of military reservists in September 2022.

"Even though I wasn't prosecuted directly by either secular or church authorities, I realized that I had no more prospects of staying in Russia ... under the current political regime and the situation in the Russian Orthodox Church," he told DW.

Yakov said he had already planned to leave Russia but after the mobilization was announced, he only had a few days to pack up and flee. 

Although clergy can gain an exemption from military service, he said, even if that was true at the time, he was worried that "tomorrow everything could change."

But Yakov struggled to get back on his feet in the new country. For several months, he washed dishes illegally, earning just €3.50 ($3.65) an hour. Later, he was offered a scholarship to study German in Germany where he has been living since September 2023.

Yakov is still worried about the future. He wants to keep studying in Germany but said his job as a Russian Orthodox priest makes it hard to find a position anywhere in Western Europe.

"It's possible if you have some decent secular job. For instance, if you are an IT specialist priest or have a scientific background, it's much less of a problem," he said.

IT specialist priest and human rights activist

Like dozens of other anti-war clergy from Russia, Yakov receives help from the nonprofit Peace unto All, which was co-founded by Father Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky.

In 2024, the organization helped 45 clerics and their families with financial support totaling €120,000, Dunin-Barkovsky said. 

"The question of finances is decisive for us. The main thing that those in need require is time. Some need to learn a new profession after they were banned from ministry. Some need to live in a third country to apply for a visa. Some must wait for their case to be reviewed, so they'll be allowed to serve in a new country," he told DW.

Dunin-Barkovsky, who is now based in Germany, became involved in the church while still in Russia.

In 2018, his eldest son was prosecuted for attending demonstrations organized by then-Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in 2024.

"So we realized we had to leave," Dunin-Barkovsky said. "I received an offer and left my well-paid position in Moscow for some strange job in Germany. And I've been here ever since."

Now Dunin-Barkovsky works in IT and serves as a priest in the Orthodox parish of St. Nicholas in Düsseldorf in Germany's west.

In his Düsseldorf parish, he said, the number of parishioners has at least doubled since the invasion of Ukraine.

Moving from Spain to Germany

Father Andrey Kordochkin, another co-founder of the Peace unto All project, has been a Russian Orthodox cleric for more than 20 years, including at a parish in Spain's capital, Madrid.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Kordochkin found himself at the center of attention "without intending to," he said.

"Spanish media needed to communicate with someone from Russia. And, since the embassy had gone into deep defense at that point, we and our golden-domed church were quite in a spotlight," Kordochkin told DW.

Even though he was part of the Russian Orthodox Church it was important for him not to "share the sociopolitical agenda that became mainstream in Moscow," Kordochkin said.

Because of his anti-war comments, in early 2023 the Russian Orthodox Church suspended him for three months.

He realized at the time that his "exodus from Madrid can be considered a done deal." After the Protestant Church in Germany offered him a small scholarship, Kordochkin moved to Germany where he is working toward a postdoctoral thesis on the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of Russia's war against Ukraine.

Hard life for clergy from Russia

Kordochkin is also the rector of an orthodox parish in Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands. His parish falls under the administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople rather than the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russia broke ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate in 2018 after it granted independence (autocephaly) to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which previously answered to Russia.

But, said Kordochkin, this doesn't mean other Russian Orthodox priests can also easily find work with the Constantinople Patriarchate.

It's extremely difficult to transfer from one patriarchate to another, he pointed out, even if a cleric was previously banned from the Russian Orthodox Church. He doesn't know of a single case of the German diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepting either a Russian or a Ukrainian clergyman.

For those priests moving from Russia to a European country he sees only two options: either finding an income source that helps a cleric support his family, or seeking asylum and "sharing all the hardships of life as a refugee."

Both Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky and Andrey Kordochkin believe that numerous Orthodox churchgoers in Germany would welcome attending a parish outside of Russia's control.

"These days, a lot depends on people who believe and want to maintain their loyalty to Jesus and the Gospel," said Dunin-Barkovsky, — people, he said, who understand that, just as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters can't take Russia away from them, the Russian Orthodox Church "can't take away the Orthodox faith."

Edited by: Kate Hairsine