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Speaking again during a concert by the group "Alisa," Deacon Andrei
Kuraev used an expression that the director of the Muslim rights
defense center Ismagil Khazrat Shangareev considered as anti-Islamic.
In his statement the member of the Council of Muftis of Russia Ismagil
Shangareev wrote that "Kuraev and Alisa affirm the unity of Russians
and Orthodox believers only, ignoring other nationalities and adherents
of other faiths."
Deacon Andrei Kuraev expressed amazement at such a conclusion and
produced verbatim his statement at the concert. It seems clear which
words Shangarev had in mind: "We can openly acknowledge in the
center of the city that 'the heaven of the Slavs boils in our veins.'
But in that Russia from which you will emerge a half century from now
will they be able to sing such songs openly? Or will from the minaret
of the naval mosque of Kronshtadt entirely different melodies be borne?
It depends upon you whether a generation from now here in Russia will
be the 'United Moscow Emirates.' You understand that the person who
today gets drunk regularly or destroys himself with drugs is killing
not only himself but Russia, too. The one who declines to have children
while reciting the idiotic proverb 'why reproduce poverty' is
reproducing slaves. If in Russian families, in your families, there
will be only one baby each, then your grandchildren will become a
minority in the country which once was ours."
In his comments Andrei Kuraev said: "Ismagil Khazat Shangareev took
offense that we would not welcome the transformation of the Naval
cathedral into a naval mosque and of Russia into the Moscow emirates.
It's strange to take offense: does he really have such plans?"
It is possible to suggest that Ismagil Shangareev does not have such
plans, but it seemed to him incorrect that Deacon Kuraev considers
Russia a country of ethnic Russians or Orthodox believers and not of
all citizens, including Muslims. But Deacon Kuraev himself did not
suggest such an interpretation. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 July 2004)
Last weekend in Kronshtadt there was a concert by the rock group
"Alisa." Deacon Andrei Kuraev addressed the audience with an appeal.
His words evoked an ambivalent reaction. In particular, the director of
the Muslim rights defense center Ismagil Khazrat Shangareev said that
"Concerts of the 'Alisa' group, whose evangelistic activity has been
sponsored in recent years by Kuraev, unfortunately cannot have a
positive effect on the unity of our society. Kuraev and Alisa maintain
the unity of Russian and Orthodox believers only, ignoring other
nationalities and adherents of other faiths. In that event there can be
no talk of support for such events on the part of other confessions,"
the statement said.
In an exclusive interview with ABN Andrei Kuraev responded in
this way:
"These events do not require support on the part of Muslim religious
centers and nobody has asked them for support.
"There can be unity among people who have their own particular common
interests. There can be unity among fans of "Spartacus" that cannot be
shared by fans of "Locomotive." There can be work directed to the
unification and mutual aid of writers that is not offered to people
whose life and work are not connected with the writers' occupation.
There can be charitable and educational events aimed only to people who
profess Judaism and not involving people of other nationalities or even
secular Jews. Just so it is also possible for there to be conversation
between Orthodox people and Russian people. We have called our children
to create Russian families. But we have not made the slightest call to
destroy the families, life, fortunes, and sacred objects of people of
other national and cultural traditions or to interfere with them. We
were having our own family conversation about our family problems.
Before the unification of all of humanity we would like to see the
unity of our family and our nation.
"Ismagil Khazat Shangareev took offense that we would not welcome the
transformation of the Naval cathedral into a naval mosque and of Russia
into the Moscow emirates. It's strange to take offense: does he really
have such plans?"
"I do not sponsor the activity of Alisa. I am not a censor nor an
editor nor an advisor nor spiritual counsellor for Constantin Kinchev
or anybody on the staff of this rock group. There has never been a case
when I would dare to suggest to Kinchev to change some word of his
lyrics or would suggest a topic for his songs. In Kinchev's works there
are other topics besides Orthodoxy. And in my work there are other
topics besides a dialogue with the rock culture. There simply is a
point of mutual understanding and sometimes there occurs a possibility
to address the same audience.
"Kinchev did not know the text or point of my speech at Kronshtadt
before I made my speech.
"The full text of my sermon said this: For several generations
people in Russia have been divided into those who say 'this country,'
and those who say 'our country.' For a full hundred years residents of
Russia have been distinguished by how they relate to the word
'Russian.' For some this word has the right to be used only in such
expression as "Russian bandits" and "Russian drunks." But for us the
word Russian is more appropriate in such concepts as Russian faith,
Russian character, Russian science, Russian navy.
"Today we appeal to those who say 'our country.' We appeal to those who
are not afraid when they hear the word 'Russian.' We appeal to those
who have decided to spend their life here in Russia.
"We appeal to you, who will be the pensioners of 2050. I am now forty
years old. That means, by 2050 even the maggots in my grave will have
starved. But you, young people, I hope will be alive. You will then
write a graduation theme on the subject 'How I spent my life.'
"Our generation has many obligations to yours. But still now, in 2004,
we can permit ourselves to act, we can openly, in the center of the
city, acknowledge that 'the heaven of the Slavs boils in our veins.'
"But in that Russia from which you will emerge a half century from now
will they be able to sing such songs openly? Or will from the minaret
of the naval mosque of Kronshtadt entirely different melodies be borne?
It depends upon you whether a generation from now here in Russia will
be the 'United Moscow Emirates.'
"You understand that the person who today gets drunk regularly or
destroys himself with drugs is killing not only himself but Russia,
too. The one who declines to have children while reciting the idiotic
proverb 'why reproduce poverty' is reproducing slaves. If in Russian
families, in your families, there will be only one baby each, then your
grandchildren will become a minority in the country which once was ours.
What can one do so that the naval cathedral does not become a naval
mosque? Make more Russian children! Of Kronshtadt they say that it is
the shield of Russia on the western border. But the borders of the
twenty-first century are not strips of land. In the era of global
television there is no rear. The border today is everywhere. This is
why Kinchev sings that 'all are on their borders.' This is true. Your
chief possession is your soul; only the person himself can defend it.
The chief border is in your head and heart. If you wish to be come
free, protect your mind from television. If you wish to help Russia,
declare a boycott on vodka. If you wish to save your soul, become an
Orthodox believer.
"And for a start, young people, save Russia--save yourselves! Survive
to 2050. Remain alive. Live in Russia!" (tr. by PDS, posted 22
July 2004)
MIRACULOUS P.R.-- ROMAN VACATION OF KAZAN
MOTHER OF GOD COMING TO AN END
by Yulia Glezarova
NG-Religii, 21 July 2004
The press service of the Vatican has reported that the Kazan icon of
the Mother of God, which has been kept for many years in the personal
apartments of Pope John Paul II, will be solemnly delivered to
representatives of the Moscow patriarchate on 28 August 2004. According
to the head of the Roman Catholic church himself, this is his gift to
the people of Russia. A delegation will transport the icon to the
motherland, which most likely will be headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper,
the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
One can only regret that Vatican diplomacy lost many chances to return
the icon to the Russian Orthodox church and to its people. Now, after
the triumphal return of the Tikhvin image of the Mother of God, the
broad gesture of the Vatican seems late and unimpressive.
The miraculous Kazan icon of the Mother of God was always especially
revered in Rus. Its history is interwoven with many tragic pages in
Russian history. It was discovered in the ruins of Kazan, which Ivan
the Terrible captured, and it was stolen and most likely destroyed on
the eve of the revolution of 1905, and then it showed up suddenly in a
mysterious way in the personal apartments of John Paul II and then
became the object of political speculation. However, there is nothing
strange about this. The Kazan image of the Mother of God always played
a remarkable role in Russian history and politics. It was common to
turn to it at a time of foreign invasion with prayer for victory for
the "Orthodox host." The first time the miraculous icon displayed its
power was in 1612 in the struggle with Poles who, taking advantage of
the Time of Troubles, tried not only to seize Moscow but also to
install Catholicism. In a word, the Kazan icon is not simply an icon
but a great symbol of Russian history and the Russian state.
However the icon that will be brought to Russia in August is definitely
not the one that the young girl Matrena Onuchina dug from the ashes in
Kazan. That one, the real one, most likely was lost in 1904 when
thieves, lured by the decorative covering that was bestrewn with
precious stones, stole it from the Kazan monastery of the Most Holy
Theotokos and after tearing off the covering burned the icon since,
unlike the covering, it was impossible to sell it.
For almost a half century the miraculous image was thought to be lost
forever. But in 1950 the British archaeologist F.A. Mitchell-Hedges
acquired the Kazan icon of the Mother of God from South American
millionaire Solly Joel. How it came to the millionaire is unclear.
Solly Joel himself maintained that he acquired it from a Kazan merchant
Shevliagin, who acquired the image after the heist in 1904. After
Mitchell's death the icon was inherited by his daughter, Anna
Mitchell-Hedges. Ten years later Archbishop John Shakhovsky (a bishop
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) managed to persuade the
icon's owner to exhibit it in Orthodox churches in USA. On 8 December
1963 a prayer service was held before the icon in one of the Boston
Orthodox churches.
In 1954 the icon was exhibited at the World's Fair in New York. At the
beginning of 1970 the director of the Center for Catholics of the
Eastern Rite in Honor of the Fatima Appearance of the Virgin Mary, the
priest Carlos Pacient, bought the icon from Mitchell-Hedges and on 21
July 1970, on the feast day of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God, it
was transferred to the cathedral church of the city of Fatima in
Portugal, where in 1917 the Virgin Mary appeared to three children.
Supposedly at the time of the appearance of the Mother of God she
revealed three secrets, the first two about the date of the end of
World War I and the future establishment of the atheist regime in
Russia. The third secret was a prediction about the assassination of a
Roman pope. The last secret, that was discovered quite recently, upset
the world community a great deal, which thought that it pertained at a
minimum to the precise date of the end of the world or some kind of
global matters, which everybody awaited with trepidation.
It was after the attempt by the Turk Ali Agca upon the life of John
Paul II that the Kazan icon was transferred to Rome and, according to
the pontiff, helped him recover from his wounds.
A number of western experts, the pope himself, and even Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi consider that the icon kept in the Vatican
is the very one that was stolen in 1904.
However a commission of experts from the Ministry of Culture of the
Russian federation visited the Vatican in 2003 and established that the
icon is a copy from the end of the eighteenth century. The
vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the
Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, declared then in an
interview with ITAR-TASS that "the conclusions of the commission
produced disappointing results."
Despite this, John Paul II has not renounced his intention to deliver
the image to Russia. At the time of the visit to the Vatican by
Vladimir Putin, in November 2003, representatives of the Roman Catholic
church assured the Russian president that the icon would certainly be
returned to the motherland. In connection with this a question arose:
why did the pontiff not take advantage of the situation and present the
icon to Putin? The president was merely shown the miraculous image and
told that the pope would like to bring it to Russia in person.
A bit earlier yet another president of lower rank made an attempt to
persuade the Vatican to return the icon to Kazan. Tatarstan President
Mintimer Shaimiev let it be known that for the sake of the return of
the Kazan icon of the Mother of God to its native land he was prepared
to build a Catholic church in the capital of Tatarstan.
Now the political intrigue over the icon has dragged on almost four
years. Russian and non-Russian politicians, experts, church hierarchs,
and PR-technicians have transformed this story into an unending,
confusing serial that the common man has a hard time figuring out. But,
it seems, the case is drawing to a close. Recently RPTs acknowledged
that the Kazan icon of the Mother of God held in the Vatican is very
valuable, even though it is a copy from the original. Patriarch Alexis
II declared that "it is a sacred object before which our ancestors
prayed from the end of the eighteenth century."
On 15 July the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei
Lavrov, during his working visit to Italy met with the Vatican State
Secretary Cardinal Angelo Sodano. At this meeting they talked about the
procedure for delivery of the icon. On 28 August, on the day of the
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Roman vacation of the Kazan
Mother of God finally will come to an end. By hook or by crook, the
Vatican has gotten what it wants; RPTs will accept the gift of the
image which in the words of representatives of the Holy See is
miraculous. As they say, better late than never. But in and of itself
this purely formal event, of course, does not accord with the
aspirations of the Vatican, where for many years they have not ceased
hoping that the return of the icon will be the occasion for a visit by
the Roman primate to Russia. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 July 2004)
ALTERNATIVE SERVICE FOR SECTARIANS? OR, WHOM DOES GOD NOT WILL TO JOIN
THE ARMY?
by Andrei Ignatenko
Ufimskii meridian (Ufa), 14 July 2004
In the fall of this year the first alternative servicemen of Bashkiria
will be sent to the service. But in accordance with the provisions of
the law on alternative civilian service, they should not be taught to
fight. God now "has saved" them from military service.
Or are you a rare reindeer herdsman?
Last year the deputies of the State Duma more or less explained to the
nation who has the right to alternative civilian service. They
distinguished two categories. One, it turned out, includes
representatives of an indigenous, small nation, who "maintain a
traditional form of life, engage in traditional manufactures" and the
like. We immediately point out that such representatives should be
sought in the Extreme North or in the Far East.
But an ordinary youth from Bashkiria also has the right to alternative
civilian service in the event that military service violates the
convictions or religious confession of the conscript. To be sure, he
will have to prove his convictions to the draft commission.
The military commission has already noted that whereas before the
adoption of the law on alternative service very many were dreaming
about alternative service instead of the draft, now the number of those
wishing for it has remarkably decreased because the duma deputies
restricted too specifically just who has the right to alternative
civilian service.
"Witness" Lim
At the republic's military commission I was told that in Uchali there
is one young man who has acquired the right to serve alternatively,
although this was through the court. This was the first precedent of
its kind in the republic.
Vladimir Lim, a twenty-six-year-old resident of the village of Mindiak
submitted to the Uchali district court a complaint against the unlawful
action of the draft commission. On 22 March he wrote his statement for
exemption from the regular term of military service and he based this
on his religious convictions. He asked for alternative civilian
service. But the reaction of the draft commission was not at all what
the applicant expected.
"In the statement I pointed out that I am a believing person, a member
of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses," Vladimir Lim
writes. "And that serving in the army violated my conscience, informed
by the Bible. Nevertheless, members of the draft commission ignored my
statement and made the decision to conscript me for the regular term of
military service."
Then Vladimir Lim accused the draft commission of violating his
constitutional rights. And he even displayed evident intelligence,
pointing out to the district court that there already was an analogous
precedent in 2002 in the judicial practice of Uchali, when the decision
was made in favor of the conscript.
Was the law written for sectarians?
Similar cases also have occurred in other draft commissions.
Jehovah's Witnesses have come to a commission and stated that they
respect the constitution but they do not recognize any state symbols,
honors, and regalia, and they also do not acknowledge the supreme
commander in chief. They even do not participate in elections because
they have already chosen their ruler, Jesus Christ. And they cannot
take the oath and that it is better to be in jail than to be under
arms. So here Vladimir Lim of Uchali has declared that his refusal to
serve the regular military service is based not only on the
constitution of Russia but also on two chapters of the Bible where it
is said that "the people of God will not learn to fight," and
"obedience of God is higher than submission to individuals or
governments."
Incidentally, without fail there also come to the draft commission in
support of their "brother" two Jehovists who also confirm the religious
confession of the future "alternativnik."
An interesting situation has developed. The law on alternative civilian
service has been written especially in the interests of sectarians. It
is well known that God does not prohibit Orthodox Christians or
law-abiding Muslims from performing military service. That is, the law
makers, in principle, should have known who would exploit their
creation.
And the member of a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Vladimir Lim,
in the end got the right to serve alternatively. The draft commission
presented to the court an excerpt from their minutes where it says that
the decision on drafting Lim was rescinded. And military service was
replaced by alternative service. After this Lim renounced his claims
and Judge Khismatullina closed the case on his request.
Military commissioner of Bashkiria Timofei Azarov, responding to our
editorial inquiry, reported that Lim will be sent to serve
"alternatively" only in the fall, and, besides this, he is not the only
one in Bashkiria who has received the right to alternative service. As
I was told at the draft station, two persons certified for alternative
service already have been sent there, but there will be more. And
people are still saying that it is sectarians who get these "crusts."
We are not Moscow
And so, for now only suspicious religious organizations manage to
defend their constitutional right. And while Jehovah's Witnesses in
Bashkiria obviously do not have any problems, in Moscow the case is
quite different.
One wonders how Moscow Jehovists will be able to defend their right to
alternative service if the decision of the Golovin district court for
liquidating the Moscow organization of Jehovists remains in effect
after 16 June. The prosecutor accused the Jehovah's Witnesses
congregation of inciting religious strife, insisting on the destruction
of the family, infringement of the individualism, rights and freedom of
citizens, endangerment of the life and health of citizens, and
enticement of minors into the organization without the knowledge of the
parents. And the court believed the prosecutor.
So here is something interesting: doesn't it turn out that the federal
law on alternative civilian service encourages young people to join
sectarian organizations that have already been banned in places? (tr.
by PDS, posted 20 July 2004)
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