Relic-Scammers in St Petersburg

Want to blame the Traditional Orthodox Church these folks were part of? …. don’t. —NFTU

(Interfax) The St. Petersburg diocese calls to put an end to the activity of a schismatic group headed by Vadim Lurye, which disseminates false advertising messages encouraging believers to visit the Holy Relics of St. Nicholas and Great Martyr St. Panteleimon and order church services in the Mount Athos monasteries.

As reported before, such advertising can be seen everywhere in the central streets of St. Petersburg. The Church of St. Elizabeth was mentioned as a place where the relics were allegedly brought for public worship. Lurye is the dean of this church.

“We are receiving a lot of complaints from people and have already forwarded several requests to the relevant authorities asking to restrict the advertising of the false relics,” said Monday the head of the missionary department of the diocese Fr. Georgy Ioffe.

Earlier, the St. Petersburg diocese (MP- NFTU) made a special public statement claiming that “the Relics of St. Nicholas stay permanently in Italy (Bari) and have never been taken outside of the city,” and “the actions of this “church” (the Church of St. Elizabeth at the mortuary of St. Elizabeth Hospital – IF) misleads many orthodox believers and discredits the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church.”