Sofrino (church utensils)

"Since 1972, the Sofrino Art and Production Enterprise (KhPP) has been producing icons, church furniture, tombs, bowls, wax and paraffin candles, providing these items for 2016, according to several RBC sources in the patriarchy, up to half of the Russian churches. In a conversation with RBC, the priests admitted that in the dioceses they are strongly advised to order Sofrino products for churches.

The Sofrino trading house is located at the very beginning of the "golden mile" of Moscow, on Prechistenka - before the holidays and laymen buy icons and gifts there.

Sofrino works in the village of the same name in the Moscow region.

Activity indicators

In 2017, the company's income amounted to 2.325 billion rubles.

In 2007, according to official figures, Sofrino's annual income exceeded 60 billion.

2019: Loss amounted to 99 million rubles

According to the SPARK-Interfax system, in 2019 the loss of the Sofrino enterprise amounted to 99 million rubles, which was a record indicator of monetary losses in five years. Revenue in the same year reached 1.97 billion rubles. The last time the company was profitable in 2015 (+ 32.2 million rubles)

History

2021: Plan to exclude from surveillance legal entities of the Russian Orthodox Church working with precious metals

Five companies of the Russian Orthodox Church will be exempted from compliance with the "anti-washing" legislation. This is stated in the recall of Rosfinmonitoring in March 2021 to the government bill submitted to the State Duma.

The document proposes to exclude from the observation legal entities that work in the market of precious metals  and whose only participant is a religious organization. Now there are almost 2 thousand such companies in Russia, of which 776 are engaged in the production of religious products and only five use precious metals and stones.

"Thus, the exemption from anti-washing standards proposed by the bill concerns exclusively the category of  five legal entities,"  Rosfinmonitoring states in its conclusion. These are  Riza LLC , HPP Sofrino ROC LLC , Sofia Embankment LLC, Kostroma Diocesan Workshop of Katsey  and the Yaroslavl-Kostroma Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church.

2020: Patriarch Kirill urged churches to support the unprofitable candle business of the Russian Orthodox Church and not buy "left" candles

On December 24, 2020, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill at the annual meeting of the Moscow diocese called on the clergy to abandon the acquisition of "left candles" and purchase for parishes only products produced by the Russian Orthodox Church "Sofrino."

Not all the nomenclature of candles that are sold in parishes is covered by the production of Sofrino... If you want to sell special candles through parishes, this is possible if Sofrino does not produce such. But if it produces, your duty is to purchase Sofrino candles, "he said (quoted by TASS).

Patriarch Kirill urged the clergy to support the unprofitable candle business of the Russian Orthodox Church and not to acquire "left" candles

The patriarch recalled that the candle factory near Moscow is one of the important sources of replenishment of the budget of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate. The church enterprise is the main producer of church objects, including icons, crosses, vestments of priests, liturgical utensils, jewelry and, of course, candles. Their temples are purchased centrally and sold to parishioners at retail with a mark-up. The simplest candles are available in temples for free or for a symbolic donation, but this is completely covered by revenues from more expensive candles.

According to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the problems of the enterprise are understandable, work is underway to improve the quality of products. Patriarch Kirill found out why churches often refuse to purchase, and suggested complaining to the general director of the factory, Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Mercury.

He also noted that he was ready to personally participate in solving problems arising with goods.^[1]

2018: Patriarch dismisses Yevgeny Parkhaev from the post of general director

On July 28, 2018, Patriarch Kirill by his decree dismissed Yevgeny Parkhaev, for 40 years the permanent director of the Sofrino HPP. Formally, the reason for the dismissal is not called, semi-formally they say that the commission of the patriarchate recognized his work as unsatisfactory. And quite informally they note that Parkhaev was too carried away by personal affairs, crumbling Orthodox production. At the same time, he held several posts at once, actually being the main owner of the Russian Orthodox Church, and failed to work in all sections, for which he paid. In any case, the turnover of Sofrino fell, and disproportionately to the fall in income of parishes.

Parkhaev himself told reporters that he agreed with the decision of the patriarch:

"I am 77 years old, I have been serving the church for 55 years, for 40 years I was a director. I'm tired. "

Immediately after the signing of the Decree, the representative of the Patriarchate asked Rosgvardia near Moscow to take Sofrino under protection - "until the appointment of a new director." He explained this by the desire to maintain material and technical values ​ ​ and fixed assets. That is, the directors were not just removed from office - they immediately began to defend themselves from him. It doesn't look like voluntary care.

"Parkhaev did not want to leave, he resisted in every way any attempt to limit his powers," said a Lenta.ru source in church circles. - In a good way, it had to be carried out on a well-deserved rest back in 2014, if not earlier. But he played a significant role in the election of Cyril and enjoyed his support. Although, in fact, he worked in the old fashioned way. On the one hand, this is good - because the canons were strictly observed. On the other hand, such work is not for the current economic conditions. And Parkhaev also increasingly sought to get into the political activities of the church. "

2016: Product Price Sheet

1972: USSR Prime Minister Kosygin allocates land for the construction of a plant in Sofrino

The land for the construction of the main church plant at the request of Patriarch Pimen was allocated in 1972 by the chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin.