Russian Orthodox Priest forcefully baptises 2-year-old girl, Video goes viral

In what could be considered another religious fanaticism, a Russian Orthodox priest violently baptising a 2-year-old girl has gone viral. The horrifying ordeal is believed to have taken place in Yessentuki, South West Russia. In the video, people are shown the disturbing video where the priest can be seen forcefully dunking the head of a two-year-old girl underwater in the name of baptism.

The video, which was supposedly believed to have taken at the St George’s Convent was first posted on Facebook after which it took off in a media frenzy. The priest has now been subjected to unsurmountable criticism by social media users who have objected to the priest’s excessive use of force. The priest was called sick and a maniac, who 'serving the court of devil', not God.

Watch the horrifying video here: 

The video shows the orthodox priest now identified as Illia Semlitove firmly holding the back of the head and neck of a baby girl before forcefully pushing her head into the water, three times in quick succession, as is the baptism ritual saying, "Satan sits inside her."

The 2 -year-old girl can be seen traumatized and gasping for breath in between the three head dips. By the end of the third dunk, the girl when pulled out of can be seen screaming.

Following the horrifying ordeal, a worried parishioner named Liliya Raznikova told Daily Mail that Semlitove, the priest in the video, believes that children, except newborns, should be broken during baptism to cast the devil out of them. She said, “I remember how I was scared when he began to speak this nonsense."

There are now even claims that the priest had twice struck the girl’s head on the font during the extreme baptism. The Church, however, has denied all the claims.

The Russian Orthodox church is planning to take action against the priest over the video which has gone viral in Russia this week - even though the baptism was two years ago.

Archpriest Mikhail Samokhin, of the Pyatigorsk and Circassian diocese, said, “The priest acted too harshly."

“He has been suspended from officiating at services and he will he will be judged by the church court,” He added.