Impostors, who illegally built a chapel and charged people for holding funeral services claiming they were Orthodox priests, were detained in Russia's northern city of St. Petersburg, police said Tuesday.
"Several years ago a church was illegally built on the territory of the Yelizavetinskaya Hospital. The church was not registered and cannot be found on any map of the city," police said.
The police statement also said a plaque on the chapel's wall read that it belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate and had its blessing, however this proved to be false.
The holy impersonators placed posters around the city announcing the church had relics of different saints. However, police found that the religious relics were housed in other churches, including abroad, and had never been in that chapel.
The group of "priests" was led by a former priest, calling himself Father Lourier, who was stripped of his rank of hegumen in 2003 for blasphemy, and had been accused of creating an Internet suicide club and driving a few people to commit suicide. However, the criminal case against him was dropped due to lack of evidence, police said.
Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Vigilyansky said it was hard to prevent phony priests from holding services.
"Many make money in the name of the Church, and it is just fraudulent activities," he said.
ST. PETERSBURG, March 16 (RIA Novosti)
