Iakov (Vorontsov)

Yakov Vorontsov (; born 20 February 1986), born Vladimir Yuryevich Vorontsov , is a Kazakh priest who was formerly a member of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan. He was suspended and subsequently defrocked following his criticisms of the church's support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Early life and ordination Vorontsov was born and raised in Almaty, in what was then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. As a child, he attended Sunday school at St. Nicholas Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church. Vorontsov's disillusionment with the work of local priests in Almaty initially led to him deciding not to train as a priest at a seminary; however, he later changed his mind, and upon joining the priesthood, took the name Yakov . Following Vorontsov's ordination, he served for seven years as a priest in Merki, Jambyl Region, and wrote several books about the history of the Orthodox church in Kazakhstan.

Activism

As a Russian Orthodox priest (2022–2024) In February 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, Vorontsov was among 300 Orthodox clergy who signed an open letter calling for peace in Ukraine. In addition, he called for Kazakhstan to withdraw from Russian-led regional organisations such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union. As a result of this, in March 2022 the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan suspended Vorontsov from conducting religious services, stating his "political demands" violated both Kazakhstan's laws on religious organisations, as well as his oath of priesthood.

By April 2023, Vorontsov had become more well known in Kazakhstan after he began publicly reading the gospel in the Kazakh language in Aktobe. A native Russian speaker, Vorontsov began learning Kazakh following the Russian invasion, describing it as "the future of Kazakhstan". By June, he had been banned from the priesthood of the Moscow Patriarchate within the Russian Orthodox Church; the decision was variously attributed to his criticisms of the Russian government, as well as his increasingly independent religious activity.

In August 2023, Vorontsov published posts on social media criticising the Russian Orthodox Church's support of the Russian government and the Russo-Ukrainian war. In December, he proposed the establishment of a Kazakh Orthodox church independent from the Russian Orthodox Church. While the Ministry of Culture and Information's Committee for Religious Affairs ruled that there was nothing legally preventing Vorontsov from establishing his own church, on 27 December he was arrested and charged with "inciting discord".

Defrocking and subsequent activism (2024–present) On 15 July 2024, Vorontsov was officially defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church. Following this, he began worshipping at a Ukrainian Catholic church in Almaty.

In July 2025, Vorontsov called for the establishment of a representative office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, in Kazakhstan. On 23 February, he was interrogated by officers on charges of drug possession and maintaining a premises for drug use; Vorontsov's ongoing pre-trial detention was authorised by a judge on 25 February. Vorontsov's lawyer stated that the charges against him were false and that the drugs had been planted in his home by Kazakh authorities. The human rights organisation Human Rights Watch described both Vorontsov's charges and the decision to detain him at a medical facility "dubious", noting that he had "no history" of substance use or mental illness.

Vorontsov's trial is scheduled to begin on 11 September 2026.