Father Fonchenkov is an Orthodox priest who joined the Christian Committee in 1979. A historian by education, he is a lecturer at Moscow Theological Academy in Zagorsk. GAINOV, Father Nikolai Moskovskaya oblast Father Gainov, an Orthodox priest, joined the Christian Committee following the arrest of Father Yakunin on November 1, 1979. He was serving as parish priest in the village of Troitskoe-Kainardzhi, Moscow diocese, when he co-authored an appeal for the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in April of 1971. Father Gainov and his co-signers, Felix Karelin, Lev Regelson and Viktor Kapitanchuk, fellow member of the Christian Committee, questioned the theological pronouncements of the then Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and other church leaders. As a result, the recently elected Patriarch Pimen ordered Father Gainov removed from his parish on June 17, 1971, claiming that Father Gainov's appointment to the church had only been temporary. Despite the assignment of a new priest to the parish, the outraged parishoners sent two petitions pleading for Father Gainov's return to the Patriarch. Nevertheless, Father Gainov was not reinstated and experienced difficulties in supporting his family. Now a priest in Tsarieno, Moscow oblast, Father Gainov remained out of the public spotlight until the recent announcement that he had joined the Christian Committee. |