The wooden house of Father Dmitry Stashenko burned to the ground, but the priest, his wife and four children, including a seven-month-old infant, escaped unharmed through a window, a local center overseeing religious sects said earlier Wednesday.
Local police chief Andrei Borisov said police were not conducting a probe into the blaze, as experts could not confirm it was arson.
"We have not been filed an arson report," Borisov said, also dismissing media reports that the fire could have been an attack by a satanic sect as "pure speculation."
The incident occurred last week, but Father Dmitry did not report it to the police at the time.
However, district prosecutors have requested the findings of the firefighting service for a closer study of the materials.
The priest said Wednesday he believed the house had been set ablaze, as he had seen unidentified tracks behind the house and across the garden.
Attacks on priests have become more frequent in Russia recently.
Father Andrei Nikolayev died together with his three young children in a Central Russian village in early December after unidentified attackers doused the house with gasoline and set fire to it.
Father Oleg Stupichkin was killed on Orthodox Christmas night. His body was found in the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in the Alapayevsk district in the Urals after a fire in the early hours of January 7. Two unemployed local residents have been charged with murder and the theft of 23 icons from the church.
An Orthodox Church official from the regional center of Novosibirsk is expected to arrive at the scene Wednesday to look into the incident and hand aid over to Father Dmitry, who is currently living in a church house in a nearby town, according to Oleg Zayev from the center on religious sects.
Father Dmitry and his family are being treated for flu they caught when fleeing the burning house. The priest also suffered frostbite to his legs, as he was barefoot in the snow.
