Why the children of an odious priest chose the Armed Forces of Ukraine and what led them to betrayal – juvenile justice or education – in the Life.ru material.
In June 2024, military investigators completed the investigation of the criminal case against the three sons of a Lipetsk priest Igor Ashcheulov: Alexey, Joanna And Timofey. The brothers were detained on the border with Ukraine and were charged with attempted high treason, attempting to illegally cross the border and attempting to participate in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, they were going to fight against Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The case has already been sent to court. Only under the article of treason they face up to 20 years in prison. What happened? How could our country deserve such treatment from the priest’s family?
Obstinate priest
Priest Ashcheulov stopped communicating with the outside world back in 2008. It was then that Metropolitan Nikon of Lipetsk and Zadonsk apparently tried for the last time to bring the priest to his senses and return the priest to the bosom of the Church. But the priest is the door to the authorities didn't openbut did not accept the food brought by fellow villagers.
In the diocese he was known as a man with an intemperate tongue and a refusal to submit. For example, he flatly refused baptize people without catechesis and catechism (study of the basics of doctrine, lasts a year). This was introduced into use by the Russian Orthodox Church later. He was rude to parishioners, which is why they had to transfer him from parish to parish, but the priest did not stay anywhere. Ultimately, in 2008, the diocese was forced to retire him. Priest Ascheulov was given the opportunity to move to another diocese, but he refused it.
The reasons for this are obvious: in the village of Ozerki, Terbunsky district near Lipetsk, Ashcheulov has one and a half hectares of land from which he feeds.

Radical on the Internet
The priest truly became famous for his intransigence towards everything worldly. He refused to receive a Russian passport. So he lives with a Soviet passport and certificate. I still have not received a TIN and stated that I will not receive a universal electronic card. But at the same time he repeatedly said that he was not going to go into seclusion or wall himself up in caves with his family, as sectarians do.
Moreover, journalists who visited Ascheulov’s house saw that the priest had an extensive library and used a computer and the Internet. But the whole family prays not in the temple, but in a barn converted into a chapel.

Guardianship goes on storm
In 2014, the guardianship authorities, according to the priest himself, “have taken his house was stormed with Bolshevik fervor.” He claimed that they cut off the castle, broke the windows, and bloodied the nose of his eldest daughter Efrosinya, who tried to film everything on a video camera – one of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs allegedly hit in the face and threw her face into the snow. At that time, Ascheulov himself was being “twisted” by the local police officer. It was before Christmas, and someone said “Holy Ones!” tore off the wall a calendar in which the children marked the days remaining until the holiday. Nine children aged from 3 to 17 years were placed in an infectious diseases hospital; their parents were allegedly not allowed to see them.
The public came to the priest's aid. In vain did the guardianship try to prove that the father was a drinking despot. It turned out that the children lived in poverty, but in love. That Igor Ashcheulov was sober. We found violations in the work of guardianshipwho had no right to take children.
The Ashcheulov children were returned and given housing so that the family would have somewhere to stay while repairs were being made to their dilapidated house. The court, which was supposed to deprive the parents of their rights, refused to do so. It seems like everything ended well?

Betrayal
Apparently not. As they say, the matter is over, but the residue remains. And over ten years he grew into hatred not only for officials, but also for the country and his fellow villagers. The three eldest sons – John, Alexey and Timofey – decided to take revenge on everyone and join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Who is to blame for this?
Neighbor of the Ashcheulovs Lydia Grebenina believes, that many are to blame: the Ascheulov family in the region was not loved precisely for their religiosity, for the fact that they are not like everyone else, for the fact that the children are hard-working, that the daughters wear floor-length dresses, and the sons do not smoke spice or drink. Perhaps this rejection gave rise to a reciprocal feeling. A destructive feeling that led to a fall. For what could be worse for an Orthodox Christian than to go to fight on the side of the Nazis, heretical schismatics, whose priests are pedophiles? Nothing. An act comparable to the betrayal of Judas. This happens when resentment and hatred of individual officials result in hatred of the country and its people, and rejection of the church authorities leads to the rejection of Orthodoxy.