Ivan Okhlobystin

Ivan Ivanovich Okhlobystin (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Охлобы́стин; born  22 July 1966) is a Russian Orthodox priest, actor, director and screenwriter.

Okhlobystin became popular in the late 1990s but, following a religious conversion, withdrew to a monastery and became a Russian Orthodox priest. Patriarch Kirill removed Okhlobystin from the priesthood on February 2010, banned him wearing priestly vestments and priestly cross. In early 2010, he resumed his entertainment career. Later that year he was named the creative director of Euroset, Russia's largest handset retailer.

Okhlobystin plays the head of the therapy department in the medical sitcom Interny. On 5 September 2011 he announced that he would run for President of Russia in 2012 through the "Sky Coalition", but later gave up the idea, citing the opinion of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Appearing in RTVi's (Echo Moskvy's) Without Fools broadcast on 2 December 2012, Okhlobystin declared himself to be a "national-patriot" and claimed to "know" that "in the year when the head of State and the head of Church in Russia will both die", he will become the next President of the new Russian Empire. Saying "the Russian people will vote for me, and the Russian Church will anoint me," he stated that he would immediately put up a new Iron Wall around Russia and start a campaign of "cleansing" in order to "rebuild the Russian nation."

Okhlobystin is known for his homophobic views. In December 2013, he said that he wanted to "burn homosexuals alive," describing them as a "constant threat to his children," and that he could not watch this "Sodom and Gomorrah" any longer.

In July 2014, a "creative evening" with Okhlobystin in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was cancelled "due to anti-Ukrainian statements by Okhlobystin." In November 2014, Okhlobystin visited Donetsk and declared his support for Novorussia. He said he was banned entry to Ukraine but considered Donetsk to be part of Novorussia. He is also banned from entering Latvia and Estonia and all movies and TV series which feature him are banned in Ukraine.

He is married since 1995 to actress Oksana Okhlobystina (née Arbuzova), six children.

As actor

• Leg (1992) Guardsmith
• Three Stories (1997)
• Mama Don't Cry (1998)
• 8 ½ $ (1999)
• Demobbed (2000)
• Down House (2001)
• Tsar (2009)
• Moscow, I Love You! (2010)
• Interny (2010–2012) series
• Rango (2011) (Rattlesnake Jake, voice, Russian language dub)
• Generation P (2011) (Malyuta)
• The Snow Queen (2012) (The troll Orm, voice)
• The Snow Queen 2: The Snow King (2015) (The troll Orm, voice)

As director

• Moscow, I love you! (2010)

As screenwriter

• Demobbed (2000)
• Down House (2001)
• Paragraph 78 (2007)
• The House of the Sun (2010)
• Moscow, I Love You! (2010)