For the love of God? Russian convent probed for child abuse

Nuns are under the spotlight in Vladimir region as government bodies unite to investigate tales of beatings and torture at a convent school.

Former pupils at the school tell of being made to bow repeatedly and of blows resulting in lasting physical injuries from sadistic staff.

“They beat us often, sometimes three times a day, 40 lashes each time,” Ksenia Golovchenko, a former pupil at the Svyato-Bogolyubovsky convent boarding school told Russia Today. “Once it was even 103 lashes for one girl. We cried every day. Our eyes were never dry, and always puffy. We would always have headaches from crying so much. And we had no one to complain to.”

School under examination

Vladimir region governor Nikolai Vinogradov has formed a working group to investigate the claims. The department of education, the human rights commission, and the regional children’s ombudsman Lyubov Katz have all sent representatives to join the team.

A separate investigation into the monastery is also underway, under the supervision of presidential commissioner for children’s rights Pavel Astakhanov. He has sent his representative, Veronica Tikhonyuk, to the monastery, Tartar Inform reported.

But religious life calls for sacrifice, warned Astrakhanov, “Life in a convent is, in fact, very tough,” Astakhov told RT. “Religious obedience sometimes demands physically taxing actions that can easily be confused with abuse, but that does not mean that abuse is really there, because a person only accepts such a life voluntarily and in case of a child, with the parents’ approval.”

Orthodox discipline

“One girl was hit with a garden tool and now has a spinal injury, which she will have to live with for the rest of her life,” said head of the Suzdal district of the Vladimir diocese Vladimir Rysev, who is taking care of the teenagers now. “They would make kids eat a cup of salt or stand on a stool all night reading psalms, and they were not allowed to sleep. Or [they would have to] kneel down on a tray with nails. One girl was forced to put her hand in a hot oven.”

Children were also deprived of food and sleep as punishments, or locked in cells for two weeks at a time.

The convent admits strict punishments but denies beating the children, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. It was investigated a year ago when former pupil Valentina Perova said she had been locked in a cell for two weeks for disobedience. No-one was convicted as investigators could not confirm her statement.