The income of Patriarch Kirill is of great interest not only among Orthodox parishioners, but also among people far from the church. Legends circulate about the condition of the patriarch of all Russia ; stories about his earnings and possessions are astounding. It is believed that in the 90s he was directly involved in the organization of the oil, tobacco, food and automobile businesses. Currently, he has at his disposal an apartment in the legendary House on the embankment, a watch worth about 30,000 euros, luxurious private houses in Gelendzhik and Peredelkino, and even a personal fleet. In this article we will tell you what is known about the business of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, his place of residence, the scandals that surrounded him.
Early career
The exact income of Patriarch Kirill remains unknown. With confidence, we can only say that he is not a poor person. According to expert estimates, the condition of Patriarch Kirill is estimated at several billion dollars.
The hero of our article was born in Leningrad in 1946 in the family of a priest. His father was a priest of the temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, and his mother taught German at school. The family of Patriarch Kirill consisted of an older brother Nikolai and a younger sister Elena.
After graduation, he entered the theological seminary, and then to the academy. He was tonsured a monk in 1969 under the name Cyril. Since then, the family of Patriarch Kirill is a church, his life is entirely devoted to serving God.
Bishopric
Cyril's career has developed very successfully. Soon after graduating from the academy, he was appointed representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Then he headed the diocesan council of the Leningrad Metropolis and the Theological Academy as rector.
In 1976, in the biography of Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev, such a name he had in the world, an important event occurred. He received the rank of bishop, and two years later he led the patriarchal parishes in Finland.
In 1984, he was appointed Archbishop of Vyazemsky and Smolensky, and two years later expanded the parish after the inclusion of the Kaliningrad Region. In 1991 he was introduced to the rank of Metropolitan.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, he stood in a peacekeeping position, gaining respect among the population. In the 90s in modern Russia, the Moscow Patriarchate began to play an important role in political activity. Cyril was actually the second person after Patriarch Alexy. It is believed that he made a great contribution to stabilizing relations with the Vatican, reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriarchal throne
At the time of the death of Alexy II in 2008, Cyril was the most famous Orthodox priest in the country. This was facilitated by the television program “The Word of the Shepherd,” which has been broadcast on Channel One since 1995. He worked closely with the federal government, was the author of the concept in the field of church-state relations.
Kirill was elected Patriarch at the Local Council, received 507 votes out of 677 possible. Cyril still remains a patriarch, in this status he often makes visits abroad, where he earned the authority of a person with fundamental knowledge, high intelligence and wide erudition.
Often communicates with Western religious leaders, it was under Patriarch Kirill that a historic meeting with the Pope took place. Cyril and Francis talked in February 2016 in the building of the international airport in Cuba.
House
The main residence where Patriarch Kirill lives is his manor, located in the village of Peredelkino near Moscow. The three-story building is located on a plot of 2.5 hectares. It includes the priest’s private apartments, hotels, a house church, a health center, domestic facilities, and a box for storing food.
In the house of Patriarch Kirill there are luxury interior items that were specially brought from Italy, the facade of the building resembles the Terem Palace in the Kremlin.
On the territory of Russia, he has several more residences. Among the places where Patriarch Kirill lives, there are mansions in Trinity-Lykovo, on Solovki, on Rublevka.
In Gelendzhik, in the village of Praskoveevka, construction of a spiritual and educational center began on an area of ​​16 hectares. Some media reported that this estate will be intended primarily for the summer holidays of the patriarch.
In the 90s, President Boris Yeltsin presented the clergyman with a 5-room apartment in the legendary House on the embankment with a total area of ​​140 square meters. This is the only real estate that officially belongs to Patriarch Kirill, in the world, Vladimir Gundyaev.
Car park
Journalists celebrate the priest’s rich and diverse fleet. The car of Patriarch Kirill, on which he moves most often, is an elongated and armored Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse Pullman.
Also at his disposal are American SUVs - two Cadillacs. However, they are not considered his property, but are recorded on the Kremlin’s special purpose garage.
Often Cyril appears on "The Seagull" with a half-century history.
Scandals
The way Patriarch Kirill lives often becomes a cause of indignation among believers, the basis of scandals in the yellow press. The construction of his summer house in Gelendzhik was widely discussed. It all started with the fact that environmental activists entered the territory of the facility under construction and found out that about ten hectares of a unique forest were fenced with a 3-meter-high fence. In the center was a pathos building with domes, similar at the same time to the mansion and the temple.
At the same time, according to official information, the ROC had only two hectares. Moreover, this land belonged to the Forest Fund, which means that no capital structures can be built on it. According to environmentalists, 5 to 10 hectares of valuable tree species were cut down. This was confirmed by images from space. At the same time, Rospotrebnadzor did not record illegal logging.
Details of how Patriarch Kirill lives often testified to his love for luxury objects. According to foreign journalists, his fortune is estimated at four billion dollars. It is not easy to confirm or deny this information, since Patriarch Kirill is not required to submit a declaration of income.
In 2009, the media drew attention to the fact that the cost of hours worn by a clergyman is about 30 thousand euros. The scandal erupted when the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate decided to retouch the clock on Kirill’s hand during his meeting with Federal Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov in 2012. Bloggers noticed that in the photograph posted on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, the patriarch’s clock was smeared in a graphic editor, while their image was preserved in reflection on the surface of the table.
The scandal surrounding the apartment of Patriarch Kirill flared up in the same year. A public outcry was triggered by the trial for damages to the living space of the hero of our article. The defendant was his neighbor, a heart surgeon, Yuri Shevchenko.
It turned out that Lidia Leonova lives in the apartment of the patriarch, who claimed that the dust from the repairs at Shevchenko contained harmful nanoparticles, causing damage not only to the premises of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also to his personal library, and unique furniture. The lawsuit was filed for almost 20 million rubles. The amount of the claim and the incomprehensible status of Leonova herself caused criticism.
The patriarch himself said that he had nothing to do with this matter, and Leonov was his second cousin. At the same time, he assured that the money will go to cleaning books and charity.
Among believers, the very fact of owning an apartment aroused indignation, which contradicts the vow of non-possession, which every monk gives when tonsured.
The Russian Orthodox Church associated this situation with an organized campaign to discredit the patriarch.
Tobacco Empire
It is believed that Patriarch Kirill built up the basis of his income on business, which he started back in 1993. Then, with the direct participation of the Moscow Patriarchate, the financial and trading group Nika was created. A year later, two humanitarian aid commissions were established under the federal government. They decided what kind of assistance could be exempted from excise taxes and taxes, and it was imported through the church, and then it was realized by commercial structures. In fact, these were cigarettes, which were distributed at market prices through regular retail chains. At the same time, taxes from them were not necessary.
In 1996 alone, about 8 billion cigarettes were imported. It is believed that then significant damage was done to the “tobacco kings”, who were forced to pay excise taxes and duties, losing to “church tobacco”.
The current income of Patriarch Kirill was largely based on the tobacco business. According to experts, when the priest decided to step out of business, there were about $ 50 million worth of cigarettes belonging to the church in customs warehouses. It is believed that during the criminal war, during the redistribution of the tobacco market, assistant to the deputy Vladimir Zhirinovsky by the name of Zen was killed.
Oil business
Despite the fact that officially Patriarch Kirill does not receive his salary, his condition is enormous. The oil business also played a role in this.
It is known that Cyril was not only related to the Nika fund, but also was the founder of the commercial bank Peresvet, the joint-stock company Free People's Television, and the organization International Economic Cooperation.
In 1996, he began to export oil, and at the request of Alexy II, this business was also exempted from customs duties. The immediate representative of the current patriarch was Bishop Victor (Pyankov). He currently resides in America as a private individual. In 1997 alone, the company's annual turnover amounted to two billion dollars.
It is now unknown whether Cyril continues to participate in this business.
Cyril Marine
In 2000, it became known about the attempts of the then Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad to enter the market of marine biological resources. In particular, it was a question of trade in crabs, caviar and seafood. The Region company he created from structures associated with the federal government was granted quotas for catching shrimp and Kamchatka crab. Their total volume was equal to four thousand tons.
It is believed that this significantly increased the state of the hero of our article.
Luxury lover
Cyril’s income began to be actively discussed in 2004, when the Center for the Study of the Shadow Economy, organized by the Russian State University for the Humanities, published a monograph on the shadow economic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. According to experts, at that time, Metropolitan Kirill controlled assets, the size of which was estimated at one and a half billion dollars. Two years later, they were counted by the correspondents of Moscow News. It turned out that their size grew by about two and a half times.
The parable of the patriarch and the services of the Federal Security Service, which he regularly uses, became a real talk of the town. For example, when the patriarch moves around the Russian capital, all the streets along his route overlap. All this repeatedly caused strong discontent of motorists.
At the same time, one of Transaero's planes is usually leased for official visits. At the same time, Cyril has its own fleet, but he uses it exclusively for personal purposes.
In 2016, Cyril's trip to Waterloo Island, which is located off the coast of Antarctica, provoked an active discussion of the public. Russian polar explorers from Bellingshausen station live there, surrounded by endless ice and papuan penguins. The clergyman went to the ends of the earth after meeting with the pope in Cuba.
It is known that for a trip to Latin America, the Il-96 aircraft was used, which operates a special flight unit "Russia". About a hundred people accompanied the patriarch on this trip. This airline is directly subordinate to the Presidential Administration, serving the top officials of the state.
Then it became officially known that the federal government was ready to provide the Russian Orthodox Church with more than just air transport. Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the protection of the patriarch by employees of the Federal Security Service, three of the four residences were provided to Kirill by the state (in the Danilov Monastery, in Chisty Lane in Moscow and in Peredelkino).
Experts say that from an economic point of view, the Russian Orthodox Church is now a giant corporation that unites several tens of thousands of semi-independent and independent agents under the same name. These include monasteries, parishes, and individual priests.
Unlike most other public organizations, each parish of the Russian Orthodox Church is officially registered as a religious non-profit organization, has a separate legal entity. From the income that the church receives from ceremonies and ceremonies, it does not pay taxes, and are not taxed either from donations or from the sale of religious literature.
In the 2000s, economists estimate the total annual income of the Russian Orthodox Church at $ 500 million.
In addition, property assets are actively growing. Since 2009 alone, over 5,000 churches have been restored and built in Russia. These statistics included churches built from scratch and places of worship transferred by the Russian Orthodox Church as religious property.
Finally, the Russian Orthodox Church receives budget funding. Journalists found that for the period from 2012 to 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church and its related structures received from government organizations and from the budget at least 14 billion rubles. Money is allocated for the development and creation of spiritual and educational centers, the preservation of religious facilities, as well as their restoration.
The church economy is currently built on the principle of a rigid vertical, in which there is a strict hierarchy and subordination. At the head of this pyramid is Patriarch Cyril.