A Siberian priest has claimed victory in his six-year battle against a neighboring brothel, saying his prayers shut down the salacious establishment.
The Relax Hall Mason, which billed itself as the first strip club and massage parlor in the city of Barnaul 3,500 kilometers east of Moscow, has not been operational since 2018.
However, that did not deter priest Alexander Mikushin from crediting his divine efforts when the establishment’s sign was taken down earlier this summer near the chapel where he serves.
“Together with students and parishioners of the chapel, we’ve prayed for six years that officials would close this nastiness,” Mikushin wrote on Facebook, referring to the parlor as “real-life Sodom” that provided “rough express services.”
“I once sprinkled Holy water on the building but the demons couldn’t be exorcised that easily,” he wrote. “I’m writing this without a single note of sarcasm or irony.”
Besides prayers, the priest said a burst sewer pipe in 2017 and a special-agent raid in spring 2018 he had witnessed presaged the establishment's closure.
“I witnessed this amazing show with pleasure. It was indeed very cool.”
