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The executive secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Russian federation, Igor Kowalewsky, acknowledged that representatives of the Vatican have made mistakes in Russia, which could be considered proselytism (conversion of Orthodox believers to Catholicism). "Several cases have evoked misunderstanding and could be interpreted as proselytism, although this is not an intentional practice," Kowalewsky declared on Thursday in Moscow at a briefing upon the conclusion of the first session of a joint working group for reviewing problems in relations between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
Kowalewsky explained: "The Catholic church proceeds from the premise that Russia is not a mission field. This is not New Guinea nor an African country in which it is necessary to preach Christianity. This is a country with a thousand-year Christian culture."
According to Kowalewsky, "on the Vatican's part, there is no proselytism as some kind of directive or as a goal to catholicize Russia." The representative of the Vatican considers that, on the whole, "the present time is one of frost in relations between our churches, but it is still not winter."
Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox church does not share the optimism on this account. "It will be possible to talk about a break in relations at the time we cease receiving from the provinces concrete signals about cases of activity strategically aims at converting to a different faith and culture people with Orthodox roots, and when people feet that the Catholic church is not an enemy, nor competitor, nor aggressor, but a friend, comrade, and brother," the vice-chairman of the Department of External Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, stated at the briefing.
In this regard he cited a whole series of concrete examples of proselytism by Catholic missionaries on Russian territory. Thus, in the Moscow suburb of Lobnia, a Catholic parish that maintains the "Rodnichok" children's home gives corresponding religious education to children from various regions of Russia. A similar situation developed also in one of the children's homes of Novosibirsk. In the Moscow microdistrict of Liublino there is now being organized a new Catholic parish whose rector, as Fr Vsevolod put it, does not conceal his missionary endeavors.
In addition, Catholics conduct catechetical discussions among residents of Novosibirsk, taking advantage of the city television station, and on the premises of the No. 23 secondary school of Murmansk, in Angarsk of Irkutsk province, and in a number of other cities.
The representative of the Moscow patriarchate considers such a practice unacceptable. "When a church tries to discuss a division of spheres of missionary responsibility, it is important to understand that we are not talking about relations between competitive businesses but about the ethics of inter-church relations, which arose way back in antiquity," Fr Vsevolod stressed. At the same time he called the Catholic side to follow the command of the apostle Paul, who said that "it is not necessary to preach in a place where the name of Christ has already been proclaimed."
The representative of the Russian church expressed the hope that these principles will win out and on their basis a way can be found out of the complex inter-church situation both in Russia and in the countries of CIS.
As a positive example of cooperation of the Orthodox and Catholic churches in Russia Fr Vsevolod cited the experience of Yaroslavl province, where a Catholic center is conducting work with drug addicts and whose leaders plan to invite Orthodox priests to provide pastoral support for their clients.
The joint working group of the two churches was created as a result of the February visit to Moscow by the head of the papal coucil on promotion of Christian unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2004)
MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE CONCERNED ABOUT STATUS OF CANONICAL ORTHODOX CHURCH
IN UKRAINE
Interfax,
6 May 2004
An official representative of the Moscow patriarchate expressed concern about the status of the canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine. "The situation in Ukraine pains us much," the vice-chairman of the Department of External Relations of the Russian church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, stated on Thursday, answering reporters' questions at a briefing in Moscow. In particular, he mentioned that for many years now the question about the construction of an Orthodox cathedral in Lvov has not been resolved, where at the beginning of the 1990s Greek Catholics destroyed the whole Orthodox diocese. "We are also upset by the clear intention of Greek Catholic Bishop Liubomir Guzar to move his cathedral to Kiev so as to give it a kind of nationwide status," Fr Vsevolod added.
He expressed special surprise that the Catholic church in Ukraine is conducting joint projects with schismatics, namely the Kievan patriarchate, whose leader was excommunicated from the church and who is not recognized by a single one of the local Orthodox churches.
The representative of the Moscow patriarchate also expressed his anxiety that, according to some reports, Catholic priests are being moved from Transcarpathia to other parts of Ukraine and thus "Catholicism is being sown artificially in places where it has never been."
According to Fr Vsevolod, the Russian Orthodox church will put these
questions before the Catholic side. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2004)
CATHOLICS OF KIEV DEMAND RETURN OF ST. NICHOLAS CATHOLIC CHURCH
Mir religii, 6
May 2004
Around 100 representatives of the Catholic community of Kiev sent a request to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to fulfill his decision about the return of the capital's St. Nicholas Catholic church to believers.
As a correspondent of the Interfax news agency reports, today a divine service was conducted near the building of the administration of the president, during which believers read prayers and sang psalms. In their hands they held icons with images of Sts. Nicholas and Alexandra as well as placards saying "God, we ask you for Ukraine," "The church is God's house; return it to believers," and "St. Nicholas, keep the leaders and builders from sin."
As noted in a letter of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine, sent to the Catholics, the church building of St. Nicholas, in which the National House of Organ and Chamber Music is situated, is recorded in the State Register of National Cultural Heritage as a monument of architecture. The building is the communal property of the territorial society of Kiev and is under the operating direction of the Chief Administration of Culture, Arts, and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of the Kievan city governmental administration.
The letter notes that, beginning in 1992, the leadership of the House of Organ and Chamber Music, meeting believers part way, signed an agreement with the Catholic community for joint use of the church, which would provide an opportunity to satisfy the needs of believers.
At the Ministry of Culture it was also noted that according to an order of the Cabinet of Ministers of 14 February 2002, cultural items that are determined to be monuments of architecture can be turned over to religious organizations only after a decision for providing new premises for cultural institutions that are located in them.
Kievan Catholics have already conducted divine services around the building
of the Kievan city governmental administration in December 2003 and outside
the building of the government in February 2004. (tr. by PDS, posted
6 May 2004)
ROMAN CATHOLICS, ORTHODOX MEET IN RUSSIA IN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE LONG-STANDING
DISPUTE
by Judith Ingram
Associated Press, 6 May 2004
A group of Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic clerics met for two days this week to try to work out rules of behavior that would help them avoid conflict, representatives said Thursday.
It was the first meeting of a commission agreed to in February during Cardinal Walter Kasper's trip to Moscow - the highest-level visit by a Roman Catholic representative in four years.
The co-chairman on the Orthodox side, the Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, said the group discussed specific cases of alleged proselytism by Catholics, including in several children's homes run as Catholic charities.
There also were some situations in which representatives of the two churches had cooperated, such as in having Catholic charity workers take their charges to Orthodox churches for prayer, he said.
"We are basing our work on the ethical principles of inter-church relations, when the churches try to speak with one another about the division of their areas of secular responsibility," Chaplin said.
Tensions between the churches have deep historical roots but increased markedly since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and communist restrictions on religion faded.
In particular, Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has accused Catholics of poaching converts in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
Pope John Paul II is eager to visit Russia, but Alexy has said no visit by the pope can be made until disputes are resolved.
The Rev. Igor Kowalewski, the co-chairman on the Catholic side, said the talks represented progress because Orthodox representatives were not accusing the Catholics of proselytizing but rather of allowing situations that could be misinterpreted as missionary work.
"This is already a big step forward," he said. Kowalewski stressed that the Catholics have been and will always be a minority in Russia - where they number about 600,000 amid tens of millions of Orthodox believers - and that the Vatican does not consider Russia a "missionary state" ripe for proselytizing. "Our job is the pastoral nourishment of Catholics," he said.
The commission's next meeting is scheduled for September. (Copyright 2004 Associated Press, posted 6 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The head of the Georgian Orthodox church, Catholicos Patriarch of all-Georgia Ilia II expressed his satisfaction with the bloodless end to the political crisis in Adzharia, RIA Novosti reports.
"I greet you on the day of St. George and I recall what awaits Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. I congratulate all Georgian people for the victory in Adzharia and for freedom," the patriarch said on 6 May at a festive liturgy in the Kashvet church of St. George in Tbilisi.
According to the head of the Georgian church, "it is a great fortune that everything has been resolved without bloodshed."
The Orthodox church honors the memory of the great holy martyr St. George the Conqueror on 6 May. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2004)
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF HOLY SYNOD OF GEORGIAN APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH
Georgian Patriarchate,
4 May 2004
Today, 4 May 2004, an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church was convened in the residence of the Georgian patriarchate in connection with the situation that has been created in the Adzharian Autonomous republic. All bishops participated in the session except Metropolitan Kalistrate, Archbishop Elise, and Bishop Iegudiel.
The Holy Synod reviewed details of the causes of this tense situation and noted that normal relations between the government of Georgia and the administration of Adzharia have been disrupted. The Holy Synod viewed the current events negatively.
The attempt to exceed the limits of the Georgian constitution, the violations of human rights, illegal arrests, destruction of bridges and other negative phenomena have produced disturbances and the isolation of the local population from the rest of the country.
The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church has resolved to compose an extraordinary appeal to all of Georgia.
APPEAL OF CATHOLICOS PATRIARCH OF ALL-GEORGIA ILIA II AND THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE GEORGIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
To his excellency Mikhail Saakashvili, president of Georgia
Chairman of parliament Nino Burdzhanadze
Georgian Parliament
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvanii
Cabinet of Ministers
Head of Adzharian Autonomous republic Aslan Abashidze
Leadership of Adzharia
Political parties, nongovernmental organizations, intelligentsia, youth,
Georgian Orthodox church and all Georgia
The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church and all of our nation promotes a single desire--that there be peace, prosperity and unanimity in our country, and thus we are profoundly saddened by those tense circumstances which have developed in Georgia in connection with the situation in Adzharia.
The population views with great hope those political and economic achievements that now are developing in our country. The international authority of Georgia is gradually growing, which is the work of Georgian President M. Saakashvili and the current leadership. The realistic prospect of the restoration of the territorial integrity of the country has arisen. A tendency to remedy social and economic problems has been observed. The positive results that our population has awaited for years are being sensed. In order that these processes become irreversible the country needs peace and harmony.
Adzharia is a sacred and inseparable part of our motherland from where the light of Christ was spread throughout the whole country. Here preached the apostles Andrew the First-called, Simon the Canaanite, and Matthew.
It is significant that throughout recent years, with the support of Aslan Abashidze, many churches and monasteries were built in Adzharia, ecclesiastical high schools and child care facilities have functioned, as have parish schools and homes for the elderly and orphans. The synod of the Georgian Orthodox church considers that the negative phenomena that have developed in Adzharia are the result of misunderstanding and the interference of external forces. These questions that arouse misunderstanding should be resolved in a peaceful manner by negotiations. Bloodshed is impermissible. In the existing tense situation we consider the following to be necessary:
1. Cease mutually disparaging declarations.
2. The Holy Synod appeals to the president that the leaders of the autonomous republic and his associates be guaranteed immunity in order to make the beginning of the process of negotiations realistic.
3. Create a commission which will help to resolve existing problems. The decisions of the commission should be obligatory for all Georgia.
4. The commission should assure the return of Adzharia to the constitutional system which is necessary for peaceful, legal, and constitutional dialogue.
5. Conduct the disarming of the population, including illegal armed formations, both in Adzharia and throughout all of Georgia.
6. Immediately restore transportation links between Adzharia and the rest of Georgia.
7. Cease the violation of human rights and illegal arrests.
8. There should be more tact and caution in reporting events in Adzharia or elsewhere in mass media so that an expansion of the situation not occur. They should clearly remember that we have not only a right but also a responsibility before God and humanity.
9. It should be clear to all that the leadership of the country should control all regions. We appeal to the population of Adzharia saying The Georgian Orthodox church will always stand alongside you. Manifest the peace and reason that are yours so that your wise decision will become the basis of peaceful coexistence and prosperity. We pray for you and for all of Georgia "the Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless the people with his peace." Amen. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2004)
LEADER OF RESTIVE GEORGIAN PROVINCE PUSHED FROM POWER, KEY VICTORY FOR
COUNTRY'S PRESIDENT
by Tamazi Gendzekhadze
Associated Press, 6 May 2004
Two days of popular protests pushed the leader of Georgia's restive Adzharia region from power, and the Georgian president flew into the province before dawn Thursday to celebrate the departure of his longtime foe.
Combative Adzharian leader Aslan Abashidze's decision to leave immediately defused tension in the Black Sea province and was a major victory for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili as he tries to bring the turbulent former Soviet republic under tighter central control.
Saakashvili addressed a jubilant crowd in Adzharia early Thursday, praising demonstrators who had pressed for Abashidze's resignation.
"You are heroic people," Saakashvili told the crowd through a loudspeaker in a window of Abashidze's stately former residence in Batumi. He told supporters they had "demonstrated to the whole world your striving for democracy."
"With the resignation of Abashidze, a new epoch begins not only in the lives of the residents of the autonomous republic, but in Georgia as a whole - an epoch of democracy, of peace, an epoch of real unity," Saakashvili said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Abashidze has ruled here since Georgia's 1991 independence from the Soviet Union and has defied Georgia's central authorities for years. Under Abashidze, customs duties and revenues from Batumi's lucrative port were withheld from Tbilisi's coffers and political dissent was repressed.
He is a longtime critic of Saakashvili, who led massive demonstrations in November that led the country's first president, Eduard Shevardnadze, to step down. Saakashvili went on to win presidential elections by a landslide in January on promises to reunite Georgia, fractured when two regions broke away in wars in the early 1990s.
Home to a major oil transshipment port and with access to the Black Sea, Adzharia was a top priority, and he accused Abashidze of running the province like a feudal lord.
Fears of a humanitarian crisis and possibly bloodshed ballooned Sunday, when Abashidze cut rail links and blew up bridges connecting it with the rest of Georgia, a move he claimed was necessary to prevent Georgian forces from invading.
The cutoff raised wide fears of food shortages and other economic troubles in Adzharia, and Abashidze's support appeared to deteriorate soon after. While thousands of opposition supporters gathered in Batumi, only a few hundred Abashidze backers turned out - a sharp contrast to the throngs that gathered in March, chanting his nickname, "Babu," or "grandfather."
Abashidze reportedly left the regional capital Batumi after several hours of talks late Wednesday with a top Russian official who had flown in to defuse rising tensions.
Crowds chanted Saakashvili's nickname - "Misha!" - and waved the red-and-white Georgian flag during the demonstration early Thursday. What had been an anti-Abashidze protest turned into a celebration with a fireworks display after officials said Abashidze resigned and left with Russian Security Council head Igor Ivanov.
Russia has strategic interests in Georgia, including two Soviet holdover military bases, one of them in Adzharia. The United States also sees Georgia as strategically important because of its location and role as host of a pipeline that is to bring Caspian Sea oil westward.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States "welcomes the peaceful restoration of Tbilisi's authority" in Adzharia and called it a "historic day for all the people of Georgia."
The protests that began Tuesday in Batumi were an unusually large and vivid manifestation of opposition support in the tightly controlled province.
On Sunday, Saakashvili gave Abashidze a 10-day ultimatum to disband Adzharia's paramilitary groups, end repression of opposition political organizations and meet other demands. On Tuesday, he ordered armed groups and police in Adzharia to disobey instructions from Abashidze on enforcing a state of emergency.
The commander of a police division in Batumi, Akhmed Devadze, said Wednesday that 175 police patrolmen had joined the protesters. An influential deputy Adzharian interior minister left the region and met with authorities in Tbilisi, who said he had also switched sides. (copyright The Associated Press, posted 6 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Yesterday attorneys for the "Omsk Ancient Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church of Inglia" filed a brief appeal with the collegium of the provincial court. They protest the decision of that court, issued on 30 April 2004, liquidating the Omsk church of Old Believers as a juridical entity. We recall that the provincial court granted the request of the provincial directorate of the Ministry of Justice of RF, deciding that the Old Believers incite national strife and employ the swastika. In addition, Omsk Inglinists intend to file an appeal with the Supreme Court of RF and the European Court for Human Rights. Vladimir Fadiaev, the chief of the department of the provincial directorate of the Russian Ministry of Justice who represents the plaintiff, stated that a decision in favor of the Inglinists by the Russian Supreme Court "could become a precedent and provoke an undesirable public response in Russia."
The Omsk Inglinist church was founded in 1992. In 1993 the "Temple of the Wisdom of Perun" was created in Omsk, and men's and women's Inglinist ecclesiastical seminaries were opened as well as a parish Sunday school, "Midgard." The activity of the community has been financed by parishioners' contribution and help from sponsors, specifically commercial structures. The number of Omsk Inglinists at the present time is approximately 3,000 persons.
We recall that in 2003 the directorate of the Ministry of Justice for Omsk province submitted to the provincial court a suit for the liquidation of the local religious organizations, the community of the "Temple of the Wisdom of Perun," the Asgard Slavic Community and an Inglinist educational institution, the men's ecclesiastical seminary. Workers of the Ministry of Justice consider that the "Russian Vedas," the canonical literature of the Inglinist church, contain calls for its followers to violate existing Russian legislation and incite ethnic strife. In addition, in the opinion of the provincial directorate of the Ministry of Justice, the solar symbol, the "kolovrat," that the Inglinists use, is very similar to the Nazi swastika. In all of these things the workers of the ministry perceive a violation of the federal law "On combating extremist activity." Inglinists contested the suit and turned for an expert analysis to the Russian Commission on Heraldry. The provincial court summoned as expert witness the Omsk commission that was formed with teachers from Omsk State University under the chairmanship of the dean of the department of theology and world cultures, Dmitry Sinelnikov.
The trial was briefly recessed until the results of the studies were received. The results of the two expert analyses that were received in April formed the basis for resuming the hearing of the case of the Inglinist church in provincial court.
On 30 April 2003 Judge Boris Fominykh of the Omsk provincial court granted the suit of the directorate of justice for liquidating the juridical entities of the religious associations of Old Believers. The expenses for the trial, including the requirement of paying for the expert analysis of six scholars of Omsk university around 10,000 rubles, were imposed on the Old Believers by the court. The attorney for the Inglinists, Lidia Okhrimenko, expressed disagreement with the results of the Omsk expert study and filed a civil suit against its participants. She called the decision issued by the provincial court "a general tendency to dispose of undesirable movements, faiths, and parties not only in Omsk province but also in Russia."
The attorney will defend the honor and dignity of her clients in the Soviet Court of the city of Omsk. Despite the fact that the written decision of the provincial court will be delivered to the defendants on 10 May, attorneys for the Omsk Inglinists have already sent an appeal of the decision for liquidation to the collegium of the provincial court. Inglinists do not consider the trial to have been legal. "We will submit an appeal to the Supreme Court of RF and to the European Court for Human Rights," the rector of the Omsk Inglinist church, Father Alexander Khinevich, told Kommersant.
Plaintiff's attorney Vladimir Fediaev reported that his organization did not want to take the case to court. "The government does not dig into the underground of the Old Believers and other nontraditional religions, but they are obliged to observe the law," Mr. Fediaev said. However "conversations and warnings" did not have any effect on the Inglinists, whose activity the official called "a game of cat and mouse."
"I do not think that this is possible," Vladimir Fediaev answered to the question about a possible decision by the Supreme Court in the Old Believers' favor. In his opinion, such a decision will have negative public response in Russia, since we are dealing here with prevention of extremist activity. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2004)
[translator's note: The sectarians described in this article use the name "Orthodox Old Believers" [pravoslavnie starovery] for themselves, but they should be distinguished from the historic Orthodox Old Believers who trace their origins to the seventeenth-century schism in the Russian Orthodox church. The "Inglinists"--a name I have coined based on the Russian "Inglingi" that the media use to name the sectarians--have created an eclectic confession that includes a substantial amount of ideas and symbols from eastern, primarily Indian, religious sources, as well as symbols from pre-Christian Russian paganism. The sectarians use the word "Inglia" to designate "infinity."]
posted on the Portal-credo.ru site, 6 May 2004.
The Omsk
provincial court ordered the liquidation of three religious public organizations,
the Ancient Russian Church of Orthodox Old Believers of Inglia [Drevnerusskaia
inglisticheskuiu tserkov pravoslavnykh staroverov], the Asgard Slavic Community
[Asgardskaia slavianskaia obshchina], the Slavic Community of the Temple
of the Wisdom of Perun [Slavianskaia obshchina Kapishcha Vedy Peruna] and
men's ecclesiastical seminary.
RIA Novosti was told on 5 May at the press service of the provincial court that during review of the suit from the Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Justice of RF for Omsk province it was established that "in the activity of the indicated organizations there has occurred propaganda and display of symbolism that is similar enough to Nazi symbolism as to cause confusion, propaganda of the supremacy of the white race, and disparagement of national dignity."
The organizations are subject to liquidation on the basis of violations of federal legislation, the press service of the court noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
More than 2,000 Orthodox believers of Odessa, clergy and laity, gathered on 5 May at the church building of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kievan patriarchate (UPTsKP) as a sign of protest against the visit to that city of its primate, Patriarch Filaret Denisenko.
As "NEWSru.com" reports, citing Interfax, participants in the prayer service held placards with the inscriptions "Filaret, hands off Orthodox New Russia," "Denisenko, go away," and others. The demonstrators also demanded issuing an anathema not only to Filaret but also to the whole Kievan patriarchate.
"We are saying a firm 'no' to the very idea of the separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox church from the Moscow patriarchate and a firm "yes" to the union of the parts of Rus that share the same faith and blood--Russia, Ukraine, and Belorussia," Valery Kaurov, leader of the largest Orthodox organization of Ukraine, "United Fatherland" [Edinoe otechestvo], told Interfax.
The day before supporters of the Kievan patriarchate accused "United Fatherland" of intending to drive Filaret away physically.
Meanwhile, in the opinion of the leader of "United Fatherland," the "Kievan patriarchate simply is shifting the problem of extremism from a sick head to a healthy one." "Orthodox citizens are defending their convictions and protecting Orthodoxy by peaceful and legal means, while the followers of the Kievan patriarchate have always supported radical extremist organizations, primarily the 'UNA-UNSO' [Ukrainskaia natsionalnaia assambleia-Ukrainskaia narodnaia samooborona]."
"Filaret's warriors have seized hundreds of church buildings," V. Kaurov noted, "and these seizures were accompanied by massive beatings of Orthodox believers. The Kievan patriarchate was a 'cover' for recruiting Ukrainian fighters for Chechnia."
The Kievan patriarchate was registered in 1992. In 2001 the prosecutor general of Ukraine ruled that this registration was illegal. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church called Tbilisi and Batumi to a peaceful dialogue, Sedmitsa.ru reports, citing ITAR-TASS. "The questions that cause disagreement between the center and the region should be resolved by peaceful means of negotiations; the shedding of blood is impermissible," states a declaration adopted in the evening of 4 May during the session of the Holy Synod in Tbilisi. The declaration notes the necessity of disarming illegal military formations that are operating on the territory of the autonomous republic.
In order to rectify the situation that has developed the Holy Synod of the Georgian church appealed to the president of Georgia requesting that he grant to the head of the Adzharian autonomous republic, Aslan Abashidze, and his supporters a guarantee of immunity which "will make realistic the beginning of the process of negotiations and the achievement of positive results." The Holy Synod also called the population of Adzharia "to demonstrate prudence for maintaining calm and well-being in the autonomous republic within the framework of a united and stable Georgia."
The Holy Synod thinks it necessary to create a commission that "will facilitate the resolution of problematic questions and the return of the autonomous republic to the constitutional space of Georgia, which is the indispensible condition for legal, constructive, and peaceful relations between the central authorities and the leadership of the region."
The declaration also notes that "it is necessary immediately to create conditions for restoring all forms of transportation between the autonomous republic and the rest of the regions of Georgia."
At the session of the synod of the Georgian Orthodox church Adzharia was represented by Bishop of Batumi and Skhaltsk Dimitry. In order to get to Tbilisi he had to ford the Choloka river at the administrative boundary; the bridges over it had been blown up two days previously by order of the leadership of the autonomous republic. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2004
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The republic of Abkhazia is in a state of war with Georgia and thus all of its citizens who are able to bear arms should be ready to rise to the defense of their country, Abkhazian President Vladislav Ardzinba declared. "Regions.ru" relayed the president's words saying that in the developing political circumstances Abhazian authorities will not permit alternative civilian service.
Abkhazia also will not remove the prohibition on the activity of such religious organizations as the Jehovah's Witnesses. The prohibition on their activity was imposed on 10 October 1995. An order signed by Vladislav Ardzinba says that this religious organization conducts illegal activity with the goal of weakening state security and inciting religious strife. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to perform military service and this evokes the displeasure of politicians as well as the rank and file citizens of the republic.
In the opinion of specialists, there now are about 250,000 residents of the territory of Abkhazia, of whom several thousand are members of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
On 21 April the "Top-100" came out as a special edition of the "Korresponent" magazine, in which was published the rating of the 100 most influential persons of Ukraine. List last year, the rating included four religious figures of Ukraine. In the opinion of the ranking's composers, religious questions have become less pertinent than last year, in connection with the intensification of political processes in Ukraine, "Ukrainian Orthodoxy" reports.
The influence of religious leaders on the life of Ukraine, in the opinion of "Korrespondent," looks like this: the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kievan patriarchate, Filaret, occupies eleventh place (last year he was ninth), the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriachate, Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan, has 14th place (last year he was seventh), the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, Cardinal Liubomir has 17th place (last year, 10th), and the chief rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine, Yakov Dov Blaikh has 39th place (last year, 25th). (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The situation in Adzharia will be reviewed at an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church which will be held on 4 May in Tbilisi under the leadership of Catholicos Patriarch of all-Georgia Ilia II, RIA Novosti reports.
Bishop of Batumi and Skhalt Dimitry arrived in Tbilisi to participate in the session.
A number of Georgian television stations showed on air on Tuesday the group accompanying the bishop fording the Choloka river at the administrative border of the autonomous region (where bridges were blown up on 2 May in accordance with Adzharian authorities' decision). In a conversation with reporters Bishop Dimitry stated that "the synod is prepared to conducted vigorous negotiations for controlling the situation in Adzharia." "The Georgian church thinks that the chances for dialogue have still not evaporated," he noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
GEORGIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CALLS TBILISI AND BATUMI TO PEACEFUL DIALOGUE
Mir religii, 4
May 2004
The Georgian Orthodox church called the central authorities of Georgia and the leadership of the Adzharia Autonomous Republic to a peaceful dialogue, Interfax reports. A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox church was held on Tuesday in Tbilisi, for which Archbishop of Batumi and Skhaltsk Dimitry arrived to take part.
Archbishop Dimitry told reporters when he crossed over the bridge blown up on Sunday at the Choloka, the administrative boundary separating Adzharia from the rest of Georgia, on Tuesday, that "all chances for peaceful dialogue still have not evaporated." He said, "the church calls the sides to peace, and the central leadership of the country and authorities of Adzharia should take this call into account." (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
GEORGIA'S REBELS READY FOR WAR
by Tom Parfitt in Moscow
The Guardian (London), 4 May 2004
Civil war in Georgia moved a step closer yesterday when a rebel leader ignored a call from President Mikhail Saakashvili to disband his paramilitary supporters.
Armed groups roamed Adzharia - the fiefdom carved out by Aslan Abashidze on the country's Black Sea coast - in defiance of the ultimatum.
Tension rose at the weekend when Mr Abashidze destroyed bridges linking Adzharia to the rest of the country in response to Georgian army manoeuvres nearby. He said the army planned to invade, an accusation denied by Tbilisi.
Mr Saakashvili retaliated with a demand for the rebel leader to "return to Georgia's constitutional framework, stop violations of law and human rights, and start to disarm" within 10 days or face being ousted.
Tbilisi accused Mr Abashidze of consorting with "state criminals and killers" and threatened to arrest him if he did not give up his weapons.
But there was silence from Batumi, the rebel region's capital, as fighters loyal to Mr Abashidze positioned a moured vehicles on the border with Georgia. Mr Abashidze was said to be in Batumi, but made no public appearance.
One of his gunmen told the news agency AFP: "We have plenty of firepower and if someone comes in here there will be a lot of bloodshed. We do not want a war . . . But we are not going to let anyone in here with weapons."
Batumi is a shipping point for Caspian Sea oil delivered overland and then taken by tanker to western Europe. Oil supplies to the port were close to being paralysed because of severed rail links.
Zurab Zhvaniya, Georgia's prime minister, said: "Aslan Abashidze's paranoia may seriously harm Georgia. The people of the autonomous republic (of Adzharia) may starve if investors lose interest in Georgia."
The Russian television station NTV said the price of meat and cheese had doubled at markets in the region as civilians prepared for an invasion.
Mr Saakashvili took a sideswipe at Moscow yesterday by suggesting that a retired Russian general, Yury Netkachyov, had overseen the blowing up of the bridges. But he said Russian troops in Batumi had so far stayed out of the conflict. (Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers Limited, posted 4 May 2004)
A visit by Pope John Paul II to Moscow will become more likely in circumstances of the renewal of negotiations between Orthodox and Catholics, the "RNS" news agency reports.
The secretary for relations between church and society of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate (OVTsSMP), the priest Mikhail Dudko, noted that the plan of the Vatican regarding creation of a Greek Catholic patriarchate in Ukraine and the establishment of four Catholic dioceses on Russian territory have, until recently, prevented the conduct of meetings between Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus.
During a conversation with reporters that was conducted in Rome Mikhail Dudko stated that if the churches were to renew dialogue, a meeting of the two hierarchs would become "extremely likely." (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
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Representatives of the "Kwan Lim" ["Burning Bush"] United Methodist church reported to "Blagovest-info" the restoration of their rights to ownership of their church building. The session of the court that rendered the decision in the Methodists' favor was held on 27 April, and it will take effect in one month, Svetlana Kim, the church administrator, said.
This decision can be considered the culmination of a dramatic story of the seizure of the building, which was conducted on 9 December of last year by employees of the private security firm "Rodon" who were sent by the "Khant" commercial organization. The organization considered the building at No. 3 Mikhailov Lane to be theirs since they acquired it on the basis of forged documents from some imposters who, in their turn, back in 2002 had fabricated a false copy of a supposedly lost charter of the church and they "sold" the building. This led to a number of appeals from the Methodists to law enforcement agencies and judicial instances, as well as open conflict. For several months neither the "Rodon" security agents nor the members of the church left the building; the church members conducted worship services, meetings, and classes for groups, alternating with one another. In March the security agents abandoned the site on the day after a court convicted one of the agents who, while drunk, had beaten a boy who arrived at the building for a class.
The next milestone in the protestants' struggle for their right was a decision by the Presnya district court on 26 March ruling the charter and other registration documents of the imposters of 2002 to be invalid and the charter documents of the Kwan Rim church of 31 December 1999 to be genuine.
According to Svetlana Kim, the judicial decisions in the Methodists' favor became possible largely because of the support of news media and public opinion. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2004)
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