A priest has been barred from a cathedral and banished to a village after his wife entered a beauty pageant and won the title ‘Miss Sexuality’. , 32, complains she has faced “online bullying” after taking part.
Her husband, priest Sergiy Zotov, has been barred from officiating in Magnitogorsk Orthodox Cathedral in Russia. He has instead been banished to a village church 43 miles away.
The 31-year-old has been told he will stay there until his wife, a beauty therapist with her own salon, “repents”.
Father Feodor Saprykin, chairman of the church court, told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: “It is a great sin when the wife of a priest exposes herself like this.
“Father Sergiy Zotov will not go back to his previous place of service until his wife repents.
“What kind of priest is he, if he can’t manage his own family?“How can he run the local church community?”
Zoltov said his wife of 15 years had faced “threats, abuse and other angry messages” after entering the beauty pageant.
The mum-of-two hit back at her critics.
She said: “I never wear too open clothes or a low neckline. I do not wear skirts that are too short.“I put on shorts but only when on holidays. “Of course, some people may get confused with my girlish style which is bright and unusual.”