They support the Russian regime indirectly and we do not want to participate in that, says Lisa-Gun Bernerstedt, head of civil preparedness at the Church of Sweden, to P4 Stockholm .
The Church of Sweden has issued an advisory against inviting the nuns after the radio reported last week that people from the St. Elisabeth Monastery had been in Tibble Church in Täby to sell handicrafts.
The warning states, among other things, that the monastery's income is being used to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that they have close contact with the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
The Church of Sweden does not know how many Swedish parishes have collaborated with the monastery, but Lisa-Gun Bernerstedt guesses at 10–20.
Michael Öjermo, vicar of Täby parish who has received the women annually since 2017, tells SvD that they are now breaking contact with the monastery.
Täby parish has no intelligence service, so to speak. It's not that easy to know everything. But we're trying now, says Öjermo.
P4 Stockholm has been in contact with St Elisabeth, who deny that they support the Russian invasion and say that the money they collect goes to, among other things, meals for the needy and elderly care.
