A retired Anglican priest who was found guilty of “engaging in antisemitic activity” by a Church of England investigative panel in December 2022 has been defrocked until 2030.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, 69, shared "virulently antisemitic" material online, BBC News reported. A church tribunal found his conduct to be "unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders.”
Sizer’s actions were described by the Archbishop of Canterbury as "encouragement to conspiracy theories and tropes.”
He had defended himself in front of the tribunal, denying the claim that he was antisemitic and insisting that he had not intended to cause offense and that he had been misquoted. He also apologized "unreservedly for the hurt and offence caused" in December after the tribunal’s initial ruling,
But the acting Bishop of Winchester described the punishment given to Sizer on Monday as equating "the seriousness of the misconduct.”
Sizer was the vicar of the Christ Church, Virginia Water in Surrey for 20 years. He retired in 2017.
His suspension from the Church of England will continue until December 2030. It includes a ban on any priestly duties, including communion and officiating marriages, according to the report.
The Bishop's Disciplinary Tribunal for the Diocese of Winchester handed down a historic decision in December, ruling that Sizer had "provoked and offended the Jewish community" as well as "engaged in antisemitic activity.”
The complaint was made to the Church of England by the Board of Deputies in 2018.
During the hearing, Sizer denied the 11 allegations relating to his actions in 2005 through to 2018, including posting a link on Facebook in January 2015 to an article accusing Israel of being behind 9/11.
The hearing found that in four of the instances, Sizer’s behavior was “unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders, in that he provoked and offended the Jewish community.”