Archbishop Theodosius of Tomis avoided one of the three fines received in January on the grounds that, although he should have been in quarantine, he held a service at the archbishop’s cathedral in Constanta and then took part in two events. The fine was overturned by the court on Tuesday.

IPS Teodosie contested the fines he received in court, and the Constanta court decided on Tuesday to partially accept the complaint he filed against the Constanta County Police Inspectorate.

“Partially cancel the protocol of the PF series No. 0089507 dated 01.24.2022 with reference to the violation provided for and authorized by Article 65, item i) and Art. 66, point b) of Law No. 55/2020, for which a penalty of 1,000 lei was imposed for violation. The rest of the protocol is considered legal and thorough. With the right to appeal within 30 days from the moment of notification. The request for appeal is submitted to the court of Constanța,” the protocol states the court, News.ro reports.

Article 65 refers to “holding by the organizers of rallies, demonstrations, processions, concerts or other types of gatherings in open places or gatherings of a cultural, scientific, artistic, religious, sports or entertainment nature, in closed premises. spaces, with non-compliance with the measures established in accordance with Article 5 paragraph (3) letter a”.

“IPS Teodosie, fined by police in Constanta for failing to comply with a brutal home isolation measure, wins case with Romanian police and overturns 1,000 lei fine, but also finds work on January 24 on Constanta’s Casino embankment was done legally. We started the process in January and within 8 months we managed to prove that ÎPS Teodosie was unfairly fined and forcibly isolated,” said lawyer Adrian Koukoulis, who represented him at IPS Theodosia’s trial.

What was Archbishop Tomis fined for

On January 24, the Constanta police fined Archbishop Tomis three times for a total of 3,000 lei.

IPS Teodosie has been quarantined by the Health Department since January 21 on the grounds that he had been in contact with a person who has been confirmed to have COVID-19. Three days later, Archbishop Tomis served in the archbishopric cathedral of “Holy Apostles Peter and Paul” in Constanta. The police fined him 1,000 lei.

Despite the received fine, Archbishop Tomis went to a cultural event dedicated to the Day of the Reunification of the Principalities, on the Casino embankment, where he was again fined by the police, also for 1000 lei.

Then IPS Teodosie went to the diocesan center of Tomis for the conference “Romania, the old hearth of Europe”, which was held in the Magna Hall by Acad. Prof. Konstantin Barbu. He was fined for the third time.

What the archdiocese said

The Archdiocese of Tomis responded with a statement published on Facebook saying that the fines imposed on IPS Teodosie “are illegal” and will be appealed: “It is absurd to be fined without being guilty.”

Throughout the pandemic, the Archbishop of Tomis IPS Theodosius challenged the restrictions imposed by the authorities.

He also challenged the restrictions on organizing the pilgrimage in court, with Diane Shoshoake defending him.

For example, on the Epiphany in 2021, IPS Theodosia convened 10,000 people. According to the gendarmes, 2,500-3,000 people took part in the ceremony. People attended the service without observing social distancing rules, many standing side by side. As the procession left for the port of Tomis, IPS Teodosie told people to maintain physical distance “so as not to upset the authorities”.

Also, on Christmas Day 2020, Archbishop Tomis held a service in the Archbishop’s Cathedral with several people in attendance, although Constanta was in quarantine, services inside churches were prohibited, except for those attended by a clergyman only.

In November 2020, IPS Teodosia challenged in court the decision of the KChP, which banned the pilgrimage, so that the pilgrimage to St. Andrew could be organized. Archbishop Tomis, who lost the case, was represented by lawyer Diane Shoshoake, a sitting senator.

IPS Theodosius then wrote to the Prime Minister that he would not allow the right to honor St. Andrew to be trampled on: “What will you do? Will you beat us, fine us, arrest us and execute us?” Teodosiy also reminded of the revolution of 1989: “Do not underestimate the desire of people to shout in the streets.”

In addition, IPS Teodosie claimed that he is not getting the COVID-19 vaccination because he is allergic, and that he would have no reason to in any case because he is not sick.

• “It is not mandatory, especially since it is a vaccine that is done in a hurry. So every day there are surprises, because people have to be prepared, there are people with certain diseases that succumb to the vaccine, some die, others are paralyzed, and we must be careful.
• We are not doctors to recommend a vaccine. It would be beyond our knowledge and authority,” IPS Teodosie said in April 2021.

In October, he spoke out against the vaccination against COVID in a show on Radio Dobrudja, claiming that the vaccine “is not accepted by anyone and there are so many negative consequences”.

IPS Teodosie called on people to “seek justice en masse” regarding the restriction of some rights of the unvaccinated and made an “appeal to lawyers to mobilize and defend them”.

The program on Radio Dobrudja, the topic of which was “Restrictions for vaccination”, was hosted by the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Tomis, priest Eugene Tenesescu.

“More and more people are afraid of what they will do because they keep hearing on the news that unvaccinated people will be banned from going left, right to the hospital, to the grocery store, to the mall, to school, to school. (…) We don’t have any decision in this sense yet,” said priest Tenesescu, opening the show.

IPS Theodosius began his plea by calling on lawyers to protect the people he urged to turn to justice en masse:

• “That’s right, I believe and should call on lawyers to mobilize.
• This is a very intense bashing of people who do not take the vaccine, and they have the right not to take it, it is not necessary. Especially since no one expected it. And there are a lot of negative consequences.
• So these people, our believers, should turn to justice en masse. There have been so many rulings that have shown that this ban on the unvaccinated has no constitutional basis. (…)
• I have clearly read that the European Union has announced that the vaccine will be discontinued. Why is this the most intense pro-vaccination advocacy and commitment to vaccination before it stops?”.