The centralized religious organization Unification Church was registered by RF Ministry of Justice under the name "Association of Christian Churches of Unification," according to a "Blagovest-info" report.
The decision for registration was made upon the recommendation of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Justice, "after having studied the doctrine and practice of the Unification Church and established their correspondence to the legislation of the Russian federation."
Unification Church was founded in 1954 in Korea by the famous religious activist Sun Myong Moon. It was registered in Russia in 1992 by the Ministry of Justice as an all-Russian organization under the name "Association of the Holy Spirit for Unification of World Christianity."
Reregistration of this religious organization became possible after a decision of the Kusminsk courty of Moscow took effect in March 1999, which rejected the suit by seven members of the Interreligious Committee for Rescue from Totalitarian Sects.
The "warriors against the sects" demanded two billion rubles each as compensation for their adult children's having become members of the church. They claimed that under the influence of Moon's teaching their adult children changed their views on ethical and family systems. As a result of this the rights of the parents to their previous spiritual closeness with their children had been violated. According to the parents, their rights to the "national tradition" of maintenance within the family had been violated.
The court ruled that the aggrieved parents had not presented proof of illegal activity on the part of the church that caused them moral harm. The court did not find proofs of psychological force, "hypnosis" or "brainwashing" of the adult believers in the church. They had been recruited for participation in the activity as actors in the process with full rights and the court heard their testimony and recognized their right to freedom of religious confession. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 December 2000)
On a recent flight to London, an eminent New York surgeon admitted that he and his wife lived on less that $20,000 a year.
To be sure, Dr. Herbert C. Rader's work generates many times that amount, perhaps even a seven-digit figure. It's just that all that money automatically goes to the Salvation Army, which in return pays him and his wife a meager stipend. It also houses them and lets them have the use of a car.
You see, Rader is a colonel in the Salvation Army and his wife is a major. Officers like the Raders are a species incomprehensible to many inhabitants of this materialistic world and especially to post-communist judges like the ones in Moscow's city court.
Confused by this internationally revered Protestant denomination's military structure, the justices ruled to put it out of business in the Russian capital. Never mind that its officers and "soldiers" could not tell one end of a gun from another.
Never mind that there is arguably nothing Moscow needs more urgently than an organization of selfless people caring for the down-and-out. The judges felt "that we are a militarized organization bent on the violent overthrow of the Russian government," said Col. Kenneth Baillie, the denomination's local commander in Moscow.
There are some 17,000 religious organizations in Russia, 8,000 of which are under the threat of "liquidation" if they fail to register by the end of the year. This registration is required of any group that had not been active in the country for the last 15 years.
"Bureaucratic delays and harassment by local officials have kept many groups from registering," the news service, ReligionToday, reported over Christmas.
According to Vladimir Ryakhovsky, a Russian religious freedom lawyer, Pentecostals face the biggest challenges. "These are big churches and very active. They will have several thousand parishioners, young people, professionals.
"Such congregations stand out in small towns and may draw unwelcome attention of a local orthodox priest, who may pressure the police to get involved."
The Roman Catholic Church also faces official chicanery. Two of its dioceses could not register because their bishops are not Russian citizens or have permanent residency. "Why don't these bishops marry Russian women? Then they could become citizens," officials cynically suggested to a priest.
While this occurred chiefly in the provinces, it is the metropolitan setting of the Salvation Army's travails that seems most alarming. The Moscow city court's ruling reveals a mind-set alien to anything resembling Western-style judiciaries.
It should not be too difficult for Moscow judges to ascertain what the Salvation Army is all about. It is a church operating in 107 countries. There is nothing sinister about its theology, which is basically evangelical.
Worldwide, this church has almost 2 million members, which they call soldiers. They are led by 25,000 "officers" (ordained clergy). In the United States, the Salvation Army numbers 475,000 congregants and 5,000 officers dressed in blue, British-style uniforms.
It's hard to find fault with them. The "soldiers" stand in the freezing cold before Christmas collecting money for the poorest of the poor. They operate 9,000 centers of all types in the United States. They run soup kitchens, hostels, night shelters, hospitals and schools, boys and girls clubs, summer camps, AIDS clinics and treatment facilities for women abused by their husbands or boyfriends.
They care for the down-and-out, the elderly, the homeless, criminals, junkies and drunkards. Salvation Army rescue teams are often first at the scene of major calamities.
And they have churches with regular Sunday services where to officers like Rader in New York or Baillie in Moscow officiate.
For all this they do not even receive salaries, but humble "allowances," Lt. Col. Tom Jones, communications director of the organization's U.S. command in Alexandria, Va., told United Press International.
"There is a reason for our strict military style," Jones said. "We can get moved at a moment's notice from place to place, wherever we are needed." And what about their families? "Well, that's why our officers always marry fellow officers. When we get our marching orders, we get them together."
The Salvation Army is of course by no means the only Christian organization whose members voluntarily submit to tight discipline. Many monastic orders -- Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or otherwise -- demand a vow of obedience from their members.
Even the military terminology is not altogether alien to other denominations. The Salvation Army has a general headquartered in London. The Jesuits, too, have one; he resides in Rome.
The first Salvation Army general was William Booth, a former pawnbroker of Jewish descent. When he founded the force in 1865, he gave its officers and soldiers two entirely Biblical tasks: evangelization and social work as commanded by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount.
It is faith that drives men and women like Rader and his wife, who could afford all the world's luxuries if they were not in the Salvation Army. It is the same faith that made Baillie and other officers go to Russia to tend to people like an 85-year-old Muscovite who told local newspapers, "This is the only thing that saves us lonely people. Here we get anything we need, love and human contact."
Of course, Salvationists believe they have to answer to a higher court than the one that suspects them of subversive intentions. But that latter court has temporal power, and its officials have made sure that the Salvation Army did not receive the paperwork necessary for an appeal before Dec. 31.
Will Baillie and the men and women he commands be forced out of Moscow, away from their desperate wards? That depends on a former KGB colonel who now claims to be an orthodox Christian. He has the power to extend the deadline; he can save Russian officials from looking foolish in the eyes of a world full of admirers for the Salvation Army's work. His name is President Vladimir Putin. (Copyright U.P.I., posted 28 December 2000)
The department of the Ministry of Justice for Riazan province made the decision to refuse registration to a local religious organization of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists (EKhB) church of "Hope," according to the news agency Blagovest-info.
The basis for the refusal was the claim, in the opinion of the workers of Justice, that the charter of the church incorrectly identifies the city of Riazan and Riazan province as the territory for the activity of the local religious organization while the person elected as pastor of the church was someone who was not listed among the citizens who had organized the particular religious organization.
The director of the Administration and Legal Department of the Russian EKhB union, Pavel Belkov, considers that the adoption of the decision testifies to the legal illiteracy of the workers of local agencies of justice. In the conclusion regarding refusal of state registration they cite the law "on freedom of conscience and religious associations," which supposedly restricts the territory of the activity of a local religious organization to urban or rural settlements.
Actually, in the opinion of Pavel Belkov, the issue is that the original group of ten founders is supposed to comprise person who permanently reside in a single locality either in one urban or rural settlement. The civil code of RF does not establish any territorial restrictions for the activity of legal entities. The requirement that the pastor is supposed to be one of the original ten is entirely absent from the law.
Such blunders in the work of local agencies of justice, Pavel Belkov thinks, were characteristic for the original period of the operation of the new law on freedom of conscience. "That the employees of the Department of the Ministry of Justice for Riazan province have learned nothing during these years is extremely sad, if, of course, in this case they were not acting deliberately," the attorney added.
He also stated that all centralized organizations of EKhB that are subject to reregistration in the RF Ministry of Justice completed it long ago. This was facilitated by the constructive approach to the matter on the part of the leaders and employees of the corresponding department of justice. In the provinces there still are EKhB congregations that have not undergone reregistration.
In addition, the leadership of the Russian EKhB union, according to the head of the legal department, are not inclined to dramatize the situation: "Liquidation means primarily the denial to a congregation of the status of legal entity. Nobody can liquidate a church as such. History has taught Baptists a great deal, and we always find a way to exist." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2000)
Details of yesterday's incident in Moscow's Great Choral synagogue have still not been clarified. Last night Russian news agencies, citing sources in the Federation of Jewish Congregations of Russia (FEOR), were reporting that FEPR executive director Abraham Berkovich was beaten in the synagogue. He allegedly had been seized by three unidentified persons, beaten, and then thrown into the ritual bath.
Today the situation appears in a somewhat different light. First, as reported by radio station Echo of Moscow, the incident in the synagogue happened around noon, while Berkovich asked for medical aid only at seven in the evening.
Second, a representative of the security guard of the synagogue maintains that he heard only a conversation in raised voices inside the building and the "First Aid" that was summoned to the place of the incident found no signs of a beating, only a scratch on the arm.
Pavel Feldblum, vice president of the Jewish congregation of Moscow, supports the statement of the guard: "There was a wet man, but no traces of beating or any injuries were observed on this man. I say again, I would not make a tragedy out of this situation."
At the same time, the press secretary of the chief rabbi of FEOR, Borukh Gorin, reported in a live broadcast on radio station Echo of Moscow that Abraham Berkovich was "in a grave psychological condition and his physical state is also not good." The press secretary insisted that a beating did occur and that the beating was a professional job: "the blows caused damage to internal organs and he has internal bleeding and numerous scratches."
The police still have not clarified the situation. The victim himself has not made a statement to law enforcement agencies and the investigator of the district department of police was forced to visit Berkovich at the American Medical Center, where he had been placed as a USA citizen. It is most likely that because of the furor aroused in the mass media an investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has already taken a statement from the victim. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2000)
CONGRESS OF JEWISH RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS ISSUES DECLARATION IN CONNECTION
WITH INCIDENT IN MOSCOW SYNAGOGUE
NTV,
25 December 2000
The leadership of the Congress of Jewish Religious Congregations and Associations of Russia (KEROOR) today issued a declaration in connection with the beating of the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of CIS, Abraham Berkovich, in the building of the Moscow choral synagogue. The document states in particular that "the administration of the Moscow choral synagogue has apologized to Mr. Berkovich and it is making all efforts for preventing such excesses in the future."
The declaration notes that "this incident happened against the background of greatly intensifying conflict among various elements in Judaism." "Unfortunately, traditional frictions which have historically existed among representatives of the Chabad Lubavich movement and representatives of the orthodox movement have become ever more the object of public discussion," the document says.
"In conditions of the overheating conflict any provocational actions are even more impermissible such as have been committed recently by Chabad Lubavich within the walls of the Moscow choral synagogue. Attempts of individual representatives of Chabad to incite schism within the Moscow Jewish religious community cannot but touch the religious feelings of believers, which in the final analysis could bring on an emotional explosion possibly and become the cause of the recent incident," the leadership of the congress thinks.
"The leadership of the Congress of Jewish Religious Congregations and Associations of Russia appeals to the leadership of the Federation of Jewish Congregations of Russia to devote efforts to prevent such provocations," the declaration emphasizes. It is signed by chief rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich and chief rabbi of Moscow Pinkhas Goldschmidt.
It had earlier been reported that on Saturday the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Congregations of Russia, Abraham Berkovich, was seized in the synagogue by three unidentified persons who then beat him and threw him in the ritual bath. Meanwhile a representative of the security guard of the synagogue stated that in the synagogue "someone was speaking in a raised voice, although there was no beating whatsoever." In his words, "'First Aid' was summoned to the place of the incident, although no signs of beating were observed." At the same time a representative of the security guard stressed that the guards are prohibited from entering the interior of the premises so that there is no chance of their participating in the incident. The police still have not clarified the situation. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2000)
Former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated Hanukkah in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of the country's ultra-Orthodox Lubavich Jewish community late Thursday.
Speaking in front of nearly 300 guests, Putin stressed that in Russian history "all the confessions did not have the chance to express freely" their faith, adding however that now "Russia is changing into a state where many things have become possible."
The Russian leader lit a candle to mark the festival of light.
Putin and Netanyahu, who arrived earlier Thursday in Moscow, were joined in the community's celebrations by Israeli ambassador Nathan Meron and Rabbi Berl Lazar, the main rival of Russia's Chief Rabbi Adolf Shayevich.
Opening the eight-day religious holiday, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov promised that his administration would "do its best to make people from every ethnic group feel at home."
Netanyahu said: "If you a want a powerful evidence of the change that's happening in Russia, come here to see what's happening tonight. Some of my friends were put in jail because they celebrated the Hanukkah 30 years ago."
He went on: "Today the president of Russia is coming here to a new Jewish center and lighted the first candle. This is big change, positive change, powerful change."
Netanyahu was due to leave Moscow Friday after the celebrations, an Israeli embassy spokesman said.
Until earlier this week, Netanyahu was touted as being a shoo-in for his former job, with voter intention polls putting him way ahead in elections to be held for the Israeli prime ministership in February.
However, his bid to return to office less than two years after being beaten by the current premier, Ehud Barak, was spoiled when the Israeli parliament refused to disband, opening the way for new legislative elections.
Netanyahu had vowed not to pursue the prime minister's job if there were not also a new parliament.
Lazar was elected Russia's chief rabbi last June by his own organisation, the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities.
But his position is contested by the Russian Jewish Congress, headed by Media-Most tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, whose media group has been a constant critic of Putin.
There has been a marked rapprochement between the Kremlin and Lazar since Putin came to power. In September, Putin attended the inauguration of a new Moscow synagogue along with Lazar.
Gusinsky is currently under detention in Spain pending a ruling on an extradition order by Russia to face allegations of embezzling 250 million dollars. (Copyright Agence France Presse, posted 26 December 2000)
PUTIN VISITS JEWISH CENTRE IN MOSCOW FOR HANUKKAH CELEBRATION
ITAR-TASS, 23 December 2000
President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday that nothing can stop Russia from developing along democratic lines.
He was speaking at the Jewish Community Centre, where he attended celebrations on the occasion of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, Feast of Dedication.
Putin pointed out that in the history of Russia "far from all the faiths could openly state their position". He added that now "Russia is developing as a state, where many things have become possible."
Putin thanked "all those, who have created this centre" and wished "happiness and success not only to the Jews of Russia but to all the people of Russia".
Addressing the participants in the joyous festival with over 300 guests celebrating Hanukkah at 30 tables, the Russian leader suggested that "all the holidays observed in Russia be celebrated in the same lively and warm atmosphere." (from BBC, posted 26 December 2000)
Priests from the Russian Orthodox Church criticised Patiarch Alexis II's opposition to a visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II on Monday.
"It is unacceptable, in a democratic and secular state, that one religious confession can create obstacles to a visit by the head of another," said Orthodox priest Kiriak Temertsidy at a press conference here.
One of the church's most outspoken dissidents, Gleb Yakunin, called on President Vladimir Putin to "invite John Paul II despite the patriarch's refusal."
Putin met the pope at the Vatican on June 5, but he did not invite the 80-year-old pontiff to Russia, unlike his predecessors Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev.
"John Paul II is a remarkable pope, a humanist, who has already sifted through the orthodox sands in Romania and Georgia despite disagreements with the Georgian ecclesiastical authorities," Yakunin said.
"It would be shameful for our country if he went to Ukraine in June without visiting Russia, he added.
The two main obstacles preventing a papal visit to Moscow are Catholic proselytism -- persuading Orthodox people to change faith in Russia -- and the persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, according to Alexis II.
"If many orthodox people are going over to the Catholic Church, it's not the pope's fault but the fault of our church, which is undergoing a profound crisis and refuses to undertake reform," Temertsidy said.
More than 600,000 Roman Catholics are thought to live in Russia.
Despite the criticism, Alexis II sent his best wishes to the pope for Christmas and the new year on Monday.
"Full of the spirit of these blessed days, of this great Christmas holiday, of our saviour Jesus Christ, I wish you on the beginning of the third millenium all of God's grace and Christ's eternal love," the partiarch said in a letter to the pontiff. (Copyright Agence France Presse, posted 26 December 2000)
On 19 December, on the day of the commemoration of the holy prelate Nicholas the Miracleworker, the Kaliningrad diocese celebrated a divine liturgy devoted to the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of the first Orthodox parish in Kaliningrad territory. The divine liturgy in St. Nicholas church in the diocesan convent was performed by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and concelebrated by Bishop Panteleimon of the Baltics, a vicar of the Smolensk diocese, and more than thirty representatives of the clergy.
At the conclusion of the divine liturgy there was a procession of the cross which included a great stream of believers.
In his sermon addressed to the clergy, monastics, and laity Metropolitan Kirill said: "Over the course of forty years from the time of the formation of Kaliningrad province, believers did not have the possibility of attending church and many of them were forced to travel to neighboring republics in order to get a church funeral or baptism. Believers often appealed to local governing agencies requesting the registration of an Orthodox congregation, but only in 1985 was such permission received. The building allotted to the Orthodox parish, the former [Lutheran] church of St. Judith, was in decrepit state. With God's help and the prayers of the holy prelate Nicholas and the self-sacrificial donations and labors of believers the church was restored in an extremely short time, six months in all. Then the church became the cathedral of Kaliningrad and later the chief church of the St. Nicholas convent.
Kaliningrad is a city where many people are employed in work connected with the sea. St. Nicholas is the patron of sailors and it is no accident that the first church in Kaliningrad land was consecrated in honor of this very saint for believers turn to his intercession and help not only when they are sailing but also when they are in storms at sea."
The address in response in the name of the clergy and believers of Kaliningrad diocese was given by Bishop Panteleimon of the Baltics, who greeted the ruling bishop on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of the diocese and presented Master Kirill an icon of the Lord Almighty, painted by Kaliningrad icon painters especially for the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the first parish on Kaliningrad territory.
At present in Kaliningrad province there are 43 parishes and one cloister, and a magnificent cathedral church of Christ the Savior is being built in the center of the city. The clergy work together with the Baltic fleet and land forces and they conduct pastoral work in prisons. Sunday schools for adults and children are operating vigorously, and in secondary schools the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" course is being taught. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 December 2000)
Executive Director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Commonwealth of Independent States Alan Berkovich was attacked and beaten at the Choral Synagogue on Moscow's Spasoglenishchevsky Pereulok on Saturday.
Berkovich was approached by three unidentified assailants, who seized and dragged him into the room housing the synagogue's 'mikvah', or ritual purification bath, Jewish Federation sources have told Interfax. They beat Berkovich and threw him into the mikvah.
The victim was transported to a Moscow area hospital after the attack, the sources said.
Spokesman for the Russian chief rabbi Borukh Gorin has confirmed that Berkovich had been beaten up in the synagogue.
A representative of the synagogue's security service has told Interfax, however, that "someone spoke in a raised tone of voice in the synagogue, but there was no fight." "An ambulance was summoned, but doctors did not register any traces of beating," this source said.
The security source also pointed out that security guards are forbidden to enter the building proper, and therefore could have had no knowledge of whatever occurred inside.
Moscow's synagogues have been providing for their own security in the wake of a series of terrorist acts. (Copyright Interfax News Agency, posted 24 December 2000)
JEWISH COMMUNITY LEADER ATTACKED IN RUSSIA
Agence France Presse, 23 December 2000
The director of the Jewish Federation of Independent States, was attacked Saturday in a Moscow synagogue by unidentified assailants, Moscow Echo radio reported.
Avraam Berkovitch, a US citizen, was reported to be recovering from his ordeal in a central Moscow hospital.
The RIA Novosti news agency said police were unable to confirm the attack.
The Jewish Federation of Independent States covers the former Soviet Union minus the Baltic states. (Copyright Agence France Presse, posted 24 December 2000)
Russian Minister of Justice Yury Chaika and Minister of Taxes and Duties Alexander Pochinok signed an agreemend calling for the coordination of the work of the two ministries in oversight of activity of public and religious organizations to determine that it corresponds to their charter purposes and the tax legislation of Russia.
According to information of the Center for Public Communications of the Russian Ministry of Justice, the agreement provides for exchange of information between the two ministries. Justice will provide information about public associations and religious organizations that are engaged in business and about violations "dealing with the amassing of their property and receipt and disbursement of financial means."
On its part, the Ministry of Taxes and Duties will notify Justice about public associations and religious organizations that are not abiding by tax legislation and are engaged in activity that contradicts their charter goals or legislation of RF.
Both ministries also agreed in cases of necessity to help each other
with specialists in the course of inspecting public associations and religious
organization at both the federal and regional level. The results of inspection
will be brought to the attention of the leadership of interested state
agencies as well as used "for preparing suggestions for improving corresponding
elements of legislation." As Yury Chaika noted, the agreement they signed
will permit the Ministry of Justice "to fulfill more effectively its responsibilities
in the area of oversight of the activity of public associations and organizations
and to eliminate in the future their use as a cover for dishonest business
operators and political extremists." (tr. by PDS, posted 24 December 2000)
by Natalia Babakhina
Segodnia, 22 December 2000
Segodnia reporter Natalia Babakhina met with the apostolic administrator for Catholics of the European part of Russia, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusievicz.
--Your holiness, Russian Catholics are preparing for the last Christmas of this millennium. Will they all attend the holiday service in a Catholic church?
--Not all. Of the 220 Catholic parishes that are registered in Russia, 40 percent do not have church buildings. And by far not all Catholics can get to cities where churches exist; the diaspora is scattered across the huge territory of Russia.
--Ten years ago, when the status of the Catholic church in Russia was restored, there were 600,000 Catholics in Russia.
--That's how many there are now, too.
--Pastoral activity has not facilitated an increase in this number?
--It has, but there is another process at work. You know, almost all Germans have left? But it is a pleasant thing that 70% of those being baptized are children, not adults, as was the case at the beginning of the 90s.
--How has the law on freedom of conscience affected the activity of priests?
--The 1997 law is contradictory. There have been great battles but we have managed to do something. There isn't, for example, a so-called panrussian organization.
--What does that mean?
--An organization is called Russia-wide if its parishes are located in more than half of the constituent elements of the federation. For many this is horrible. We have achieved the definition of a "centralized Russia-wide organization," which has three registered local organizations in various constituent elements. In the preamble of the law it says: "four religions--Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and others." Instead of "confessions" it says "religions." It is a shame that in our country a law was adopted with such an egregious error at the very beginning.
--Who could aid in the improvement of the law?
--The Russian Orthodox church. Our church is very small and it would be difficult for us to initiate any changes.
--How is the dialogue with RPTs going?
--Since 1994 there has been an Interchristian Consultative Committee, uniting around 30 registered Christian confessions. The cochairmen are Metropolitan Kirill, Pastor Peter Konovalchik, and I. Dialogue has been conducted at the level of the Vatican and Moscow patriarchate. High representatives of the Vatican have often been in Moscow, who have tried to meet with the patriarch. But there also are problems. They accuse us of proselytism on the canonical territories of RPTs.
--What constitutes the canonical territories?
--This is not clear to me. Let's take Poland. That's a Catholic country, but there are Orthodox dioceses there, and there is a metropolitan of Warsaw and all-Poland. The Moscow patriarchate claims: one city--one bishop. But in Vilnius and Riga all bishops coexist normally. Proselytism is the conversion of people from one confession to another, by bribery, promises, etc. This is unacceptable for me.
--Do they accuse you of proselytism openly?
--Constantly. The doctrine of RPTs is, if you are born a Russian, you belong to us, whether baptised or unbaptised. But if some Russian for some reason wants to become a Catholic, I will not ask about nationality. I will ask, why do you want to be a Catholic? Take a year to prepare, and if you do not change you mind, you will receive baptism. And this is called proselytism!
--Would a visit by the pope to Russia be able to change the situation?
--Indeed, but the hierarchy of RPTs says: we are ready to receive the pope, but first proselytism must cease.
--Are there other example of ecumenical actions?
--Orthodox people often participate in our conferences. In the Petersburg seminary there are two Orthodox professors. There are many Orthodox teachers in our college in Moscow.
--What kind of problems must you resolve?
--A regular bishop should be engaged with pastoral problems only. But you have to be a work supervisor: churches are one of the chief problems. Second is a shortage of priests. Last year in Petersburg the first three priests in eighteen years were ordained, and this year there were another five. Now 80 persons are studying in the seminary in a course that takes six years.
--Do you watch Russian TV stations?
--Of course. News, mostly. Sometimes football, basketball, hockey.
--Do you root for somebody?
--Yes, for "Spartacus"! When I lived in Lithuania I rooted for "Zhalgiris," and when I was in Belarus, for Minsk "Dynamo."
--What do you wish for readers in preparation for Christmas?
--I would like to greet all Catholics and all Christians who celebrate Christmas with us, and also our Orthodox brethren who are getting ready for their own celebration. I wish that the Lord who was born in the Bethlehem manger will grant his grace to all, believers and unbelievers. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 December 2000)
The Vakhitovsk district court of Kazan has ordered the Ministry of Justice of Tatarstan to reregister the society of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Nizhnekamsk, according to the news agency "Blagovest-info."
As reported by Jehovah's Witnesses attorney Arly Chemirov, the Nizhnekamsk congregation, which is a member of a centralized organization, was denied reregistration on the basis that the documents its submitted indicated a residence as the juridical address of the religious organization.
The court found the refusal to be without basis since the law does not forbid the use of a residential address as a juridical address. In the words of Arly Chemirov, the congregations have been forced to use residential addresses as juridical addresses because the owners of nonresidential premises, under pressure from the Federal Security Service, have refused to rent to Jehovah's Witnesses and to provide them a juridical address.
In Tatarstan there are three congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, and Zaimsk. As Arly Chemirov noted, none of them as of now has undergone reregistration. In the fall of 2000 the Supreme Court of RF ordered the Ministry of Justice of Tatarstan to reregister the Kazan congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, although the ministry still has not fulfilled this decision. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 December 2000)
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