Prominent Russian Orthodox archpriest says backlash to mufti's support for female circumcision is ‘feminist howling’

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a former spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church, says he doesn't quite see eye to eye with Ismail Berdiev, the chairman of the North Caucasus Muslim Coordinating Center, who told reporters today that all women should be circumcised. 

“Ay-ay-ay,” Chaplin wrote on Facebook. “Now we're seeing some real feminist howling because of what mufti Ismail Berdiev has said.” Chaplin went on to explain that he's known Berdiev for 25 years and respects female circumcision, insofar as it's a “time-honored practice recognized by the majority of women living in this tradition,” and he believes that the United Nations' efforts to ban the practice are part of the UN's “feminist” assault on religion. 

Still, though, Chaplin says he disagrees with Berdiev that all women should be circumcised. “We probably don't need to circumcise all women,” Chaplin wrote. “There's no need with Orthodox Christian women, for example; they don't fornicate as it is [without being circumcised]. But the these words by the mufti carry universal significance: ‘God created women to give birth to children and to raise children.’ Without a doubt. Feminism is the lie of the 20th century.”

Chaplin then expressed his support for Berdiev and called on him not to abandon his position because of critics' “shrieking and hysterics.”

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin made headlines earlier this week for endorsing a policy of killing Russia's enemies at home. “In the end, what's so bad about destroying certain parts of [Russia's] internal enemies?” Chaplin said on the radio station Echo of Moscow. He then clarified that he was indeed discussing the “physical destruction” of Russia's enemies at home. “Of course physical elimination,” he said. “There are some people you can and must kill.”

On August 17, doubling down on previous statements in support of female circumcision, Ismail Berdiev told the news agency Interfax, “It's necessary to reduce women's sexuality. If this [circumcision] were applied to all women, it would be a good thing.”