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A new bishop of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous church (RPATs) was ordained in Suzdal on 17 July by decision of the bishops' council of this church. He was Archimandrite Sevastian Zhatkov, rector of the RPATs parishes in Cheliabinsk and Cheliabinsk province, "Vertograd" reports.
In the evening on the eve of the commemoration day of St. Evfimy the Wonder Worker of Suzdal, whose relics are located in the Emperor Constantine cathedral church of Suzdal, after the all-night vigil the ordination of Archimandrite Sevastian as bishop of Cheliabinsk, a vicar of the Suzdal diocese, was conducted. On the next day Archimandrite Sevastian signed the bishop's oath and after the divine liturgy his installation was conducted by Metropolitan Valentin of Suzdal and Vladimir, the first hierarch of RPATs, Archbishop Feodor of Borisovsk and Sanin, Archbishop Serafim of Sukhumy and Abkhazia, Bishop Irinarkh of Tula and Briansk, and Bishop Amvrosy.
Presenting the newly installed bishop his archpastor's staff, Metropolitan Valentin warned Bishop Sevastian of those difficulties that he will have to endure in order to testify to true Orthodoxy in the contemporary, apostate world, and he wished for him to bear the cross of archpastoral ministry steadfastly, trusting not in himself and his own strength but only in the help and mercy of Almightly God.
Bishop Sevastian was born in 1941, graduated from the St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy, and then became a cleric in the Cheliabinsk diocese of RPTsMP, where he was vigorously engaged in opening new churches, assembling parishes, and putting church life in order. However after some time he was unjustly slandered, suffered repression from the diocesan authorities, and spent six months in prison awaiting trial. In 2000 he was raised to rank of hegumen through repentance in RPATs and after a year he was elevated to archimandrite by Metropolitan Valentin. At the present time Bishop Sevantian has three parishes, in Cheliabinsk, Zlatoust, and Sarpyzy (Cheliabinsk province). Persons of the intelligentsia predominate in his flock. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 July 2003)
(A patriarchal version of the story)
YET ANOTHER "BISHOP" APPEARS AMONG SUZDAL SCHISMATICS
Sedmitsa.ru, 23 July 2003
A new "bishop" of the so-called "Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church" (RPATs) was ordained in Suzdal on 17 July by decision of the "bishops' council" of RPATs, "Vertograd" reports. He was "Archimandrite" Sevastian Zhatkov, rector of parishes of RPATs in Cheliabinsk and Cheliabinsk province. The "ordination " of "Archimandrite" Sevastian as "bishop of Cheliabinsk, a vicar of the Suzdal diocese" was conducted in the Emperor Constantine cathedral church of RPATs in Suzdal. It was performed by "the first hierarch of RPATs, Metropolitan of Suzdal and Vladimir" Valentin and other schismatic "hierarchs."
"His Eminence" Sevastian was born in 1941, graduated from St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy, and then became a cleric in the Cheliabinsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox church. Here he was accused of crimes of a sexual nature and spent six months in confinement awaiting trial. He was banned from ministry by Metropolitan Iov of Cheliabinsk and Zlatoust, after which he went into schism. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 23 July 2003)
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Consultations with the goal of preparing a unified version of the draft law "On social cooperation between the state and traditional religious organizations" will be conducted next week in the State Duma of RF among the deputies who are authors of the draft. At the last session of the State Duma two candidates put forward initiatives of the draft law "On social cooperation between the state and traditional religious organizations": Sergei Glaziev, a member of the communist party fraction, and Alexander Chuev, an independent deputy who heads the All-Russian Great State party. The law drafts being promoted contain two basic differences: Alexander Chuev proposes to include Catholics and protestants in the "list" of traditional religious organizations and also to create a governmental body that oversees the activity of religious organizations, while Sergei Glaziev does not agree with these suggestions. According to Chuev, "this is not an affair of one week, but in the upcoming consultations we should cast aside our ambitions and come to a common opinion on this question in order to have the possibility of passing this law at the fall session of the State Duma."
According to an aide of Deputy Sergei Glaziev, Valery Zhukovin, the law draft advanced by Glaziev enjoys the support of the Inter-Fraction Deputies Association, that consists in the main of deputies who confess Orthodoxy. "We think that the upcoming consultations should help us resolved the basic problems existing at this stage and to work out a law draft that will correspond to the needs of the current time," Valery Zhukovin stated. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 July 2003)
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It is possible that at the end of the summer excavations will finally begin at the site of the church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Preobrazhensky [Transfiguration] Square. The church was dynamited in 1964. Archaeological investigation will be the first stage of the reconstruction of the ancient church about whose destruction legends have been recounted in Moscow until the present. The Center of Archaeological Investigations of the Chief Administration of the Preservation of Monuments of Moscow stated "the plan for the organization of archaeological preservation work in connection with the reconstruction of the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Preobrazhensky Square" has been drawn up by specialists of the "Preobrazhenskoe" Center of Traditional Russian Culture. The plan provides for conducting an excavation on the site of the church with the goal of finding the foundations of the destroyed church and determining the degree of their preservation for subsequent reconstruction of the church complex. The plan establishes a regimen of the preservation of the cultural stratum on the territory of the church and forbids all forms of earth or economic work on this parcel without the consent of the archaeological services. Upon the discovery "of architectural and archaeological elements" their preservation and subsequent placement in a museum are planned. The financing of the archaeological work is the responsibility of the client, the Orthodox parish of the still unreconstructed Transfiguration church.
Fragments
of the foundations of the structures of the complex of the Transfiguration
church came to light as early as the winter of 2003 during the laying of
gas lines on the territory of the church plot. This only confirmed the
conviction of proponents of reconstructing the church that the foundations
were underground undamaged and they had not been destroyed during the construction
of the metro line from "Sokolniki" to "Preobrazhensky Square" in 1964-1965.
At the "Preobrazhensky" Center of Traditional Russian Culture it is hoped
that excavation can begin (provided the good will of the city authorities
who have to issue an order for doing the work) by the end of August, after
the church feast of the Transfiguration, which according to tradition is
observed in the district. Every year on 19 August a solemn ceremony at
the memorial cross on the site of the church is conducted on Preobrazhensky
Square. The director of the center, architect Igor Rusakomsky, told Izvestiia
that he places great hopes on the support of the government of the capital
in the matter of beginning archaeological work which could be the first
step to the reconstruction of the once significant Moscow church.
The church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, which was built in the eighteenth century, once was a regimental church of the Preobrazhensky regiment of the Russian guard. In the middle of the twentieth century it served as the cathedral church of Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich, who was called the Golden Tongue [Chrysostom] of the twentieth century. The church was dynamited in July 1964 despite mass protest of believers. According to the official version, the reason for tearing down the church was laying the line of the metro; according to the unofficial version there was a secret order from the higher authorities to destroy the church and parish connected with the name of Metropolitan Nikolai, who dared to resist the atheist onslaught of the state upon the church and to object to N.S. Khrushchev "himself."
Parishioners of the 1960s who have survived to our day have made up a new parish community that was registered several years ago. The parishoners of the nonexistent church are working to get its reconstruction.
In 2000 Patriarch Alexis II supported a petition for the reconstruction of the church in a letter to Mayer Yury Luzhkov. The chief architect of Moscow, Alexander Kuzmin, also asked the mayor in 2003 to support this idea. In the draft of the General Plan of Moscow to 2020 the church of the Transfiguration figures as a valuable city construction object which is supposed to be reconstructed. The Moscow metro also does not object. The Chief Administration of the Preservation of Monument of Moscow issued a "planned restoration task" for the reconstruction of the church.
To be sure, the idea of reconstruction of the church has not found the support of local authorities. According to our information, at the present time in the prefecture of the eastern district of Moscow discussion is under way of an initiative of one of the Preobrazhensky government workers: to revise the supposedly out-dated order of Mayor Yury Luzhkov No. 585 of 24 December 1992 about the creation of a "Historic Preobrazhensky" historical architectural preserve, which gave special status to the zone of the former Petrine "Preobrazhenskoe," and provided for a special account and for preservation of cultural valuables on this territory. In the context of this work, the "Preobrazhensky" Center of Tranditional Russian Culture also has worked out during the past decade plans for preservation of the Preobrazhensky zone and reconstruction of this destroyed church. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 July 2003)
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According to the latest survey of the Center of the Study of Public Opinion of Latvia, the greater part of believing residents of the country consider themselves Orthodox. Of 1,031 persons questioned, 25.1% are Orthodox, 24.7% Lutheran, 21.2% Catholic, 2.7% Old Believers, 2.15% Baptists, 0.3% Adventists, and 0.1% Jews. In addition, 9.3% consider themselves believers but do not belong to a specific confession. The number of nonbelievers was 11.9%. The smallest religions were pagans (2 persons) and Buddhists (1 person). In the last two years the number of Orthodox grew more than 6%. The number of Baptists almost tripled. The number of Old Believers remained unchanged.
Orthodox residents in Riga constituted 41.2% of the whole population, Lutherans, 16.85%, Catholics, 15.7%, and atheists, 9.7%. Lutherans have an absolute majority in the Vidzeme, Kurseme. and Zemgale districts, and Catholics and Old Believers predominate in Latgal region.
According to the latest data of the Department for Religious Affairs, in Latvia there are 350,000 Orthodox, 247,931 Catholics, 37,000 [sic, 370,000?] Lutherans, 3,849 Seventh-Day Adventists, 6,503 Baptists, 4,911 members of the congregations of the Holy Trinity, 2,281 Old Believers, 126 Krishnaites, 105 Jehovah's Witnesses, 995 adherents of the New Apostolic church, 601 Methodists, 603 pagans, 182 Muslims, 182 adherents of the Reform church, 35 Buddhists, and several adherents of other religious groups. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 July 2003)
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The discovery of the undecomposed relics of the Holy Martyr Ioann Pommers, the only Latvian Orthodox saint, who was canonized in 2001, occurred on 17 July. This event was a real sensation for the Latvian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate (LPTsMP) according to the press secretary of LPTsMP, Iksana Dementieva.
Janis (Ioann) Pommers was born in 1876 in Praulien volost into the family of a Latvian Orthodox peasant. He graduated from the Riga church school and Riga Ecclesiastical Seminary, as well as the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy, where he received the academic degree of kandidat of theology. He became one of the most educated people of his time, the youngest bishop and first archbishop who was Latvian in the history of the Russian Orthodox church.
From 1921 to 1934 Ioann headed the Latvian Orthodox church. In the night of 12 October 1934 he was brutally martyred in the archbishop's quarters in Mezhapark. He was tied to a door that had been removed from its hinges and subjected to torture, his feet were burned with flame and he was shot with a revolver.
After examination by an authoritative commission and completion of technical
preparations LPTsMP plans to transfer the relics of St. Ioann to the cathedral
of the Nativity of Christ. Residents of Latvia will be informed about this
event in a timely manner. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 July 2003)
Ioann Pommers received Orthodoxy as an inheritance, from his grandfather, who in the middle of the last century, like many Latvian peasants, adopted the "Russian" faith hoping for the protection of the Russian tsar.
In 1911 the thirty-five-year-old Pommers became the youngest archbishop of the empire and the years of revolution raised him to the position of church hierarch of Penza. At that time he almost perished. Chekists shot him twice, first right at the time of the Paschal liturgy and later in his monk's cell, after which the wounded Pommers was thrown into the basement of the Tver Cheka. He managed to escape execution; his persecutor, the commissar Vlasov, was sent to the wall for "folding." In the middle of 1921 Ioann was selected archbishop of Latvia. At that time the republic was an independent state, although the Orthodox church then seemed to the authorities a symbol of the cursed past, the Russian empire, and was not officially recognized. At that time the Latvian Orthodox church was deprived of about thirty of its churches.
For the sake of church regeneration Ioann Pommers became a political activist. He was elected a member of parliament for two successive terms. He was inconvenient to many people. The authorities were unable to forgive his ties with the Moscow patriarchate, the opposition accused him of adherence to the monarchy, and the "new masters" of Russia, the communists, feared that Pommers would be chosen all-Russian patriarch to replace the late Tikhon.
In 1934 Fr Ioann was killed. Firefighters arriving at the archbishop's dacha in the outskirts of Riga, in response to the summons of neighbors, found the body of the master of the house tied to a work bench. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 July 2003)
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It seems that the more than two-months absence of the patriarch in public connected with his prolonged sickness is over. Last weekend Alexis II headed the holiday divine liturgy in the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra in the Moscow suburb of Sergiev Posad devoted to the commemoration day of St. Sergius of Radonezh. On the occasion of the celebration the entire center of Sergiev Posad was surrounded by police and transportation was routed around the city.
According to the official version of the Moscow patriarchate, back in April the head of the Russian Orthodox church had the flu which then became pneumonia. Later it was often announced that he was not able to be at one or another solemn divine liturgy in connection with a cold or elevated temperature. However such a long period of patriarchal rehabilitation could hardly be connected only with pneumonia. We recall that in the fall of last year Alexis II was hospitalized at the central clinic hospital where the diagnosis was a heart condition. Recently several news media, citing highly placed hierarchs of RPTs, have reported even that the patriarch had heart surgery. Nevertheless information about surgery remains unconfirmed and unreliable, and the patriarch himself, judging by everything, has returned to his primatial duties. At the time of the ceremonies in Sergiev Posad Alexis II looked healthy and let it be known that he had finally recovered. He thanks everybody who prayed for his health during his illness and he expressed joy on the occasion of his recovery.
However to speak about the full recovery of the head of RPTs is premature. The final evidence of his return to the public and political scene should be the Sarov celebration scheduled for the period from 30 July to 2 August, where the patriarch is supposed to appear before the public and representatives over several days. The Moscow patriarchate has been preparing a long time for this event and considers it the main church event of the years, during which the full unity of church and state is supposed to be demonstrated.
The organizing committee for arranging the celebrations on the part of RPTs is headed by Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, and on the part of the state, by presidential envoy in the Volga federal district, Sergei Kirienko. The center for the celebratory events devoted to the 100th anniversary of the day of the canonization of St. Serafim of Sarov, one of the most respected saints in Russia, is the opened "nuclear" city of Sarov in Nizhny Novgorod province.
According to the plans of organizers, Sarov is supposed to be visited also by President Putin during the celebrations. It is understood that in the event of the patriarch's absence the presidential visit would probably not happen. Thus the church is trying to do everything possible so that the president will arrive in any event and apparently for this reason Alexis II has already made it understood beforehand that he should not be excluded from the number of active politicians, in the list of which he, according to sociological surveys, occupies a stable spot in the top ten.
The proximity of Nizhny Novgorod and Sarov to Moscow speaks in favor of the participation of the head of RPPTs in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Serafim of Sarov's canonization. According to NG's information, the patriarch cannot endure even short airplane flights after his illness. Apparently this explains his absence from the recent consecration of the memorial Church-on-the-Blood in the name of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land, built in Ekaterinburg on the site of the shooting of the royal family. At the same time, he has the strength to make short trips by automobile or train.
During the time of the Sarov celebrations the next regular session of the Holy Synod, the supreme governing body of RPTs, is scheduled. This is yet another substantial reason for the patriarch's arrival in Sarov, since the synod can assemble in his absence only for the most extreme cases (for example, in the event of serious illness of the head of the church). We recall that the last session of the synod, conducted in the presence of the sick patriarch, made a number of extremely important rearrangements in the ranks of the top hierarchs of RPTs. From the side, this appeared to strengthen the position of one of the strongest church leaders, the head of the Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Kirill. Thus Alexis II's arrival in Sarov at the end of July should show whether the patriarch is in the condition to rule the church as before and remains an independent political figure. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 July 2003)
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Today the Russian Orthodox church marks the feast of the Kazan Mother of God icon, one of the most popularly beloved miracle working images. For this date the Russian news media devoted today a number of articles in which they touched on the problems connected with the possibility of Roman Pope John Paul II's visit to Russia. The "Interfax" agency produced a long commentary describing the history of the icon and the contemporary events surrounding it.
According to tradition, it was on this date that the icon in 1612 helped liberate Moscow from the Polish intervention. The miracle working image was then located with the Kazan emergency corps led by Minin and Pozharsky. After the victory in that war the icon became in Russia an object of special veneration, the agency notes.
Before 1710 it was located in Moscow in the Kazan cathedral on Red Square, which Prince Dmitry Pozharsky built in honor of victory over the Poles. Later Peter I ordered the transfer of the icon to St. Petersburg. At the height of the revolutionary events of the twentieth century this image reached the Vatican, where it has been preserved to this day.
In the spring of this year several news media reported , citing sources in the Vatican, that the pope might make a short stop in Kazan in August on his way to Mongolia. At the same time, according to information from these sources, he planned to bring with him and deliver to Russia the Kazan Mother of God icon. Later rumors about the possibility of the arrival of the head of the Roman Catholic church in Russia were repeated by the head of the press service of the Vatican, Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
In response RPTs issued a special declaration expressing amazement at attempts to tie the visit of the pope with the icon's return. "Prospects of a meeting of Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus with the Roman pope wholly depend on the readiness of the Vatican to take steps toward a real healing of the problems standing between the two church," the "Interfax" agency quotes this statement today. In this regard, it was made clear that they were talking about the problem of Catholic proselytism among people belonging to Orthodoxy by baptism and cultural tradition and about the problem of the straitened position of believers of the canonical Orthodox church in western Ukraine.
In addition, recently a special commission of the Ministry of Culture of RF conducted an expert analysis of the Kazan icon held in the Vatican and came to the conclusion that this image is not authentic. Thus, they managed to establish that it represented not the original, that appeared in 1579, but a copy of the same noted icon made in the middle of the eighteenth century, not in Moscow or Petersburg but in one of the provincial icon studios. The Moscow patriarchate recalled that "earlier such icons frequently were returned to our country from abroad and that usually this happened with the participation of customs and other law enforcement agencies of various countries, as well as art patrons who bought the stolen icons."
In its statement RPTs noted also that "the return of the icon, one of many having liturgical use and illegally exported from the country in the years of the hard times, cannot be considered a reason for the arrival in Russia of John Paul II."
In today's issue "Gazeta" calls attention of the readers to the fact that "the history of the icon in the twentieth century was tragic and in front of us between the Holy See and Moscow" there has developed "a war of relics," after Pope John Paul II announced his wish to return this copy of the Kazan icon to Russia. "Gazeta" stresses that the visit of the pope to Mongolia is drawing near and is "most likely the last possibility for the aging pontiff to visit Russia, the occasion for which is the return of the Kazan icon."
Several times the pope has expressed the wish to make a short stop in Kazan on his way to Mongolia. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has even taken part in this dicussion.
On his way to the destination of the upcoming 102nd foreign visit of John Paul II and his return to Rome from Ulan Bator he will fly over Russia for the first time. The crew of his airplane will have to request an air corridor over Russian territory, since it is possible to reach Mongolia only from Russia or China, "Gazeta" notes. According to the schedule adopted in the Vatican, the pope will fly to his destination on an Alitalia airplane and return on an airplane provided by the host country. According to "Gazeta's" information, the president of Mongolia flies in a Boeing. The Mongolian MIAT aviation company has Boeing 737s, Airbus 310s, and AN-24s. All these liners other than the AN-24 can make the trip without refueling. In that event, if the pope still makes a decision to visit Tatarstan (President Shaimiev stressed that the status of Tatarstan permits it to invite and receive guests of such a level), John Paul II's associates will have to agree with the Mongolian authorites to provide a plane that needs refueling, which could be done in Kazan, "Gazeta" suggests.
The publication's source in the Vatican expressed the opinion that if such a possibility remains, then it "it would be impromptu," and the final decision would be made at the last moment, and they would agree with both the president or Russia and the patriarch, and "be implemented by a third party, representatives of the Islamic minority" of Russia in Kazan. But even in such an event, if the pope does not set foot on Russia soil he, in the expression of the "Gazeta" interlocutor, "will consecrate Russia to the heart of Jesus." (tr. by PDS, posted 21 July 2003)
"YOU DON'T SEND A ICON BY POST"
by Nedezhda Kevorkova
Gazeta, 21 July 2003
The Roman pope has only one chance remaining for delivering to Russia the miracle working icon of the Kazan Mother of God.
Today the Russian Orthodox church celebrates the Kazan icon on the day of the discovery of the miracle working icon in the sixteenth century. Its history in the twentieth century was tragic and before our faces a real "war of relics" has developed between the Holy See and Moscow, after Pope John Paul II declared his wish personally to return his copy of the Kazan icon to Russia. The pope's visit to Mongolia is drawing near and what is likely the last possibility for the aging pontiff to visit Russia is occasioned by the return of the Kazan icon.
History of the Vatican copy
In the 1930s to 1950s this icon was in a private collection. In emigrant circles rumors have not quieted down that this is the wonder working icon that was stolen in 1904 from Kazan. Archbishop Ioann of the foreign church managed to get the icon displayed in a church in Boston in 1963. In 1964 it was displayed at the World's Fair in New York. In 1970 the director of the Fatima center in Portugal bought it and on 21 July it was transferred to the Catholic church in Fatima that is associated with Russia in a special way: from May to October 1917 it was here that the Mother of God appeared to three children and gave them three revelations about Russia.
After the assassination attempt on the pope he prayed several times in front of this icon in Fatima, and then the icon was transferred to his personal quarters. Four times from 1995 to 1998 the pope invited small delegations from Russia, whose participants were Academic Sergei Averintsev, poetess Olga Sedakova, musician Yury Shevchuk, and other cultural figures for joint prayers before the Kazan icon. Many clerics of RPTs also have seen this icon. Neither the Vatican nor the patriarchate have ever insisted that this icon is "the very" Kazan icon, and there is no doubt that the icon has been respected. Until recently it was not clear that this is a copy, although as the result of an expert analysis in 2003 it was dated to the eighteenth century.
Intrigue of delivery of the pope's icon
There has never in history been a meeting of the heads of the two largest churches, the Roman pope and the patriarch of Moscow. For the first time in the thousand years of the schism the head of the Roman church addressed RPTs in 1988 in connection with the millennium of the baptism of Rus. In 1995 John Paul II for the first time expressed repentance for the rupture of the unity in the church, in his own name and in the name of the church.
The story of the transfer of the icon from the hands of the pope to the patriarch arose in 1997 when their meeting was being planned. However it never occurred because of the destruction of Orthodox parishes by Greek Catholics in western Ukraine.
Subsequently relations only got worse, and the formation of Catholic dioceses in Russia and Kazakhstan led the situation into a dead end.
In 2003 news media in Poland, Russia, and Italy returned to the topic of the transfer of the Vatican copy. The president of Tatarstan and mayor of Kazan issued a statement that the pope, in the course of his scheduled August visit to Mongolia, could make a short stop in Kazan and deliver the icon to the secular authorities of Tatarstan. Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Kasianov, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, a number of Russian ministers, and Russia's ambassador to the Vatican spoke out on this topic during the spring, with the qualification that the visit and transfer would be possible only with the consent of RPTs. Even the joint expert analysis of the Vatican and Russia that established that the papal relic is not one of the three most venerated Kazan icons did not put an end to this story.
Back in June President Putin again returned to the topic of the relations between RPTs and the Vatican during a visit to Great Britain, and Mintimer Shaimiev stressed that the status of Tatarstan permits it to invite and receive guests of such a level. A political advisor of the Tatarstan president, Rafail Khakimov, told Gazeta that "the visit is possible if this visit is necessary to Putin, and the patriarch will be able to explain to the synod and belivers that Tatarstan may independently make the decision as a Muslim-Orthodox territory, and after all the icon is the Kazan icon."
The pontiff himself has expressed several times the desire to make a short stop in Kazan. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also has participated in the discussion of this question with Russian authorities. In the Vatican itself they refused to speculate for Gazeta about the likelihood of a change in the 102nd itinerary of the pope. The head of Russian Catholics, Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, explained the holy father's motives for Gazeta thus: "The pope wants to deliver the sacred item; but how to deliver it? You don't send it by post. The pope wants to visit Russia, but he cannot simply make such an airplane landing. There have been invitations at all levels, but what did they have in view?"
Patriarch against the gift
In contrast to the secular politicians, the patriarchate occupies an unchanging negative position with regard to the pontiff's visit and the transfer of the icon as an occasion for this visit. Back a year ago Patriarch Alexis stressed in an interview with Gazeta that he is "ready to meet with with the Roman pope, but this must be a visit that really will resolve the indicated years-old problems," that is, the resolution of the church conflict in Ukraine and an end to proselytism in Russia. The establishment of Catholic dioceses and the position of Catholic metropolitan in Russia are viewed by RPTs as infringement by the Vatican on the spiritual space of Russia.
The invitation to the pope to visit Russia has resounded from the lips of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. However they all have made the qualification that such a visit is possible only in the event of the patriarch's agreement. Gazeta's source in the Moscow patriarchate indicated that "the call to 'beware of Greeks bearing gifts' remains relevant, and therefore the pope, who considers himself the conqueror of communism, cannot meet with our patriarch, who knew the persecution of the soviet period and now has seen Catholic persecution in Ukraine."
At the same time both hierarchs have agreed to a protocol for exchange of Easter and Christmas messages, delegations, and greetings and both spoke out against the war in Iraq. At MP Gazeta was assured that an official inquiry about a visit has never been made and there have been no church negotiations on this topic since 1997.
Papal itinerary in the sky of Russia
During his 102nd visit the pope will fly for the first time over Russia. The crew of his airplane will have to request an air corridor that goes over Russian territory since it is possible to reach Mongolia only from Russia or China. According to the rules of the Holy See, the pope flies to his destination on an Al Italia plane, and returns on a plane provided by the host country. According to Gazeta's information, the president of Mongolia flies in a Boeing. The Mongolian aviation company has Boeing 737s, Airbus 310s, and AN 24s. All liners except AN 24 can accomplish the itinerary without refueling. In the event that the pope still makes the decision to visit Tatarstan, his service will have to persuade the Mongolian authorities to provide an airplane that needs refueling, which can be done in Kazan. Gazeta's source in the Vatican suggests that if such a possibility remains, then it "will be impromptu," and the final decision will be made at the last moment and it will be agreed with both the president of Russia and the patriarch, and "will be implemented by a third party, representatives of the Islamic minority" of Russia in Kazan, but even in the event that the pope does not set foot on land, he "will consecrate Russia to the heart of Jesus." (tr. by PDS, posted 21 July 2003)
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