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Sect-fighter retaliates

DVORKIN:  PENTECOSTAL LEADER OPERATES IN SPIRIT OF "ORANGE REVOLUTION"
Interfax, 14 April 2009

The famous scholar of sects Alexander Dvorkin, who took over recently as head of the expert council of the Ministry of Justice of RF, accused the head of Russian Pentecostals, Public Chamber member Sergei Riakhovsky, of interference in politics in response to the latter's call for the head of the Ministry of Justice, Alexander Konovalov, to submit his resignation.

"Behind Mr. Riakhovsky's call can be discerned his quest for power and this painfully recalls the events of the 'Orange Revolution' when such neo-Pentecostals from Ukraine gathered in Kiev's streets," A. Dvorkin stated to an "Interfax-religiia" correspondent on Tuesday.

This is how he commented on an interview of Riakhovsky with the protestant TV channel TBN, in which he acknowledged that he expects from the expert council for religious expert analysis "very obscene actions" and called its creation "an attack on freedom of conscience and religious human rights."

"This is such spiritual corruption that has now happened and there is an absence of shame and, I would say, a kind of ideological greed which is evident today.  It seems to me that in this situation the head of the Ministry of Justice, a decent man, should submit his resignation after this," S. Riakhovsky declared.

Meanwhile Dvorkin emphasized that his election as head of the council "occurred in a democratic manner, that is, the council itself elected its chairman." He declared also that the council "will carry out its activity in a maximally open manner. Everything that the council deals with will be made public and its decisions will have a collegial character."

"In addition, every member of the council, if he does not agree with one or another decision, can express his special opinion, which will be published along with the decision of the council," A. Dvorkin declared.

He suggested that "the definite panic" in connection with the creation of the council "may be seen as fear of the subversion of somebody's corporate interests."

In conclusion the chairman of the expert council advised Riakhovsky and those who agree with him "to just calm down" and he called the leader of the Pentecostals to recall that "as soon as he positions himself in the capacity of a religious leader then it is quite inappropriate for him to interfere in politics, to say nothing of acting in the spirit of the 'Orange Revolution.'" (tr. by PDS, posted 14 April 2009

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Sect-fighter heads Justice Ministry commission

AUTHORIZING THE DONKEY TO GUARD THE VEGETABLE PATCH
Alexander Dvorkin heads the Justice DepartmentÕs new commission on religion
by William Yoder
Department for External Church Relations, Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, 13 April 2009

On 3 April, Alexander Dvorkin, the Russian priest most famous for the defamation of religious groups not belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox faith, was elected Chairman of the Justice DepartmentÕs ÒCommission for the Implementation of State Expertise on Religious ScienceÓ. This committee had been officially founded a month earlier on 3 March. Dvorkin, a US citizen and according to some reports a 1983 graduate of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood/New York, is a self-avowed specialist on the cults. He is known for the broken glass and other acts of vandalism committed against religious buildings following in the wake of his public appearances across Russia. The result of his election was a vociferous and immediate outcry from academic experts on religion and others acknowledging the multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of Russian society. Citing Russian literature, the religion expert Michael Sitnikov compared DvorkinÕs election to Òauthorizing the donkey to guard the vegetable patchÓ.

This commission has replaced an earlier government one of academic experts created in June 1998 to advise it on issues of religion. This committee, which prided itself in its doctrinal neutrality, had played a role in blocking the registration of business interests attempting to enter the market under the guise of a religious organization. Yet only this new committee operating under auspices of the Justice Department will have extensive powers to introduce and enforce legislation on religious organizations. The sociologist Sergey Filatov concluded: ÒThe state now gets to answer for all the hate and slander spouting forth from Dvorkin.Ó

RussiaÔs Minister of Justice since May 2008 is the lawyer Alexander Konovalov (born 1968), described by some as an Orthodox monk. He is in any case a devoted follower of the 1955-born Dvorkin and was obviously responsible for bringing his former teacher into the Department of Justice. One Commission Vice-Chairman is Roman Silantev, known for his rude insults directed at RussiaÕs 20 million Muslims. Another Commission member is the journalist Yevgeny Mukhatarov, who Ð along with Dvorkin Ð has frequently attacked Pentecostals and Charismatics. One particularly prominent member is the official chief ideologist of the ruling ÒUnited RussiaÓ party: Ivan Demidov. Demidov, also a well-known TV showman, is a supporter of the anti-democratic ideology of ÒNeo-EurasianismÓ. Only one member of the original academic committee remains. Roman Lunkin, a Research Fellow for the Russian Academy of Sciences, describes the Ministry of Justice as Òon the warpathÓ. The Justice Minister has replaced the original commission of academic experts with an ÒOrthodox fighting brigadeÓ of non-experts.

The Response of the Non-Orthodox

In an interview with the dissident Orthodox ÒPortal-CredoÓ news service, Yuri Sipko, President of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (RUECB), reacted with despair. He decried the inability of the Russian state to defend its own legislation and asked: ÒTo whom are we to turn if even our Constitutional Court is not concerned about defending the Constitution?Ó He cited humour as perhaps the most appropriate response to current developments. According to him, the government has been involved in a concerted, long-term effort to greatly restrict the freedom of religion in Russia.

His deputy, Rev. Vitaly Vlasenko, the RUECBÕs Director for External Church Relations, was more optimistic. He Ð as Michael Sitnikov had also noted Ð believes that not all government ministries need to follow the strange leading of its Ministry of Justice. ÒMaybe this has only been a big mistake,Ó Vlasenko added. ÒWe are not alone in our opposition and we hope the new commission will be expanded to include the voices of Protestants and other faith communities representing the full breadth of Russian religious life.Ó The Baptist also is concerned about spiritual ramifications. ÒI fear for the witness of the Russian Orthodox Church. A Christian inquisition would be much more damaging to our testimony than the atheistic one of old could ever have been.Ó

Perhaps the most convincing Protestant argument was stated by Sergey Ryakhovsky, Bishop of the ÒAssociated Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical-Pentecostal FaithÓ. As a member of Dmitry MedvedevÕs ÒPresidential Council for Cooperation with Religious OrganisationsÓ, he is known to defend Protestant causes by appealing to patriotism. He accuses Dvorkin, who spent the 20 years prior to 1990 in the US, of importing discord and destabilisation to Russia. ÒFreedom of conscience and human rights are matters of national interest affecting the security of the Russian Federation. When destabilisation occurs, the state is thereby also destabilised, for it affects millions of citizens.Ó Essentially, both Ryakhovsky and Dvorkin accuse each other of being American.

Ravil Gaynetdin (Kazan), the Grand Mufti of Russia, reported that the new commission will, due to its lack of an academic expert on Islam or any claim to objectivity, be without any use or authority for the Muslims of Russia. He added: ÒIn view of its scandalous aura, I will not bother to comment further on this organ of government.Ó

If Russian courts cannot be expected to act impartially, StrasbourgÕs European Court of Human Rights can reckon with an even greater backlog of cases stemming from further east. MoscowÕs ÒSlavic Centre for Law and JusticeÓ has already begun to recreate the commission of experts on religion disenfranchised by the Department of Justice. The Centre has close institutional ties with the Strasbourg-based ÒEuropean Centre for Law and JusticeÓ. Both are affiliates of the Washington/D.C.-based ÒAmerican Center for Law and JusticeÓ. Roman Lunkin reports that the Justice Department is setting its sights initially on MoscowÕs ÒRussian Bible SocietyÓ, which it accuses of being a non-religious organization. Though largely Protestant in orientation, the Society avidly distributes the officially-canonized Orthodox version of the Holy Scriptures.

Why do many of the younger players in Russian politics go to such lengths to antagonize the non-Orthodox? The political scientist Anastasia Mitrofanova points out that many of them grew up in secular households with ties to the communist party and were brought up to think dogmatically in terms of black-and-white. Not converted to Christianity and baptised until their adult years, fresh converts such as these tend to be Òmore papist than the PopeÓ.  (posted 13 April 2009)

LEADER OF RUSSIAN PENTECOSTALS THINKS HEAD OF JUSTICE MINISTRY SHOULD RESIGN
Portal-credo.ru, 14 April 2009

The head of Russian Pentecostals, member of the Public Chamber of RF Sergei Riakhovsky, thinks that Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov should submit his resignation since Riakhovsky does not agree with the composition of the expert council in the ministry, Interfax-Religion reports.

As has been reported, at the beginning of April a special council was formed within the Ministry of Justice whose tasks include expert analysis of religious literature. The council is headed by the well-known student of sects Alexander Dvorkin, which evoked a negative reaction on the part of a number of rights advocates and religious leaders. In the Orthodox church, however, the criticism of the council was labeled "unjustified."

Those who are dissatisfied with the composition of the expert council include S. Riakhovsky. In an interview with the protestant TV channel TBN he acknowledged that he expects from this organ "very obscene actions," and he called its creation "an attack on freedom of conscience and religious human rights," which, in Riakhovsky's opinion, will "be like what happened in both the soviet period and the tsarist times."

"This is such spiritual corruption that has now happened and there is an absence of shame and, I would say, a kind of ideological greed which is evident today.  It seems to me that in this situation the head of the Ministry of Justice, a decent man, should submit his resignation after this," S. Riakhovsky continued.

He also stated his intention to create, along with his colleagues on the Public Chamber, an alternative expert council.  (tr. by PDS, posted 14 April 2009)


INSTITUTE OF FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE SENDS STATEMENT TO PRESIDENT THAT EXPERT COUNCIL SHOULD BE DISBANDED
Religiia v svetskom obshchestve, 14 April 2009

On 12 April the Institute of Freedom of Conscience sent to Russian President D. Medvedev a statement. In this document the cochairmen of the Council of the Institute of Freedom of Conscience, S. Burianov and S. Mozgovoy express the attitude of the institute on the expert council within the Ministry of Justice and on antiextremist legislation.

We publish the text of the document in full:

Recently, in connection with the illegal expansion of the authorization of the Expert Council on Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation, the extension of the list of "extremist" materials, and the formation of power subdivisions for countering "extremism," the question of the the conformity of these enumerated phenomena to the principles of law and the constitution of Russia has become very acute. 

The Institute of Freedom of Conscience thinks that

--the institution of religious expert analyses (and similar organs on affairs of religion), "antiextremist" legislation, lists of "extremist " literature, and specialized "antiextremist" power structures all violate the constitutional principles of freedom of conscience (article 28) and the secularity of the state (article 14) and they pose a threat to human rights, the stability of society, and the security of the state;

--the principles of freedom of conscience and secularity of the state are incompatible with the xenophobic labels and stereotypes "religious extremism," "Islamic terrorism," "sect," "wahhabism," and the like;

--the concept "extremism," despite legislative reinforcement, is incorrect and extremely dubious from an academic point of view;

--juridical technology does not permit the use in normative legal acts of concepts that have a multiple and subjective interpretation, since this promotes abuse in the sphere of law enforcement and corruption;

--there are no legal criteria of "religion" and it is impossible to create them;

--the conditions of religious studies, to say nothing of theology, are today such that their use in the sphere of freedom of conscience and relations between the state and religious associations will inevitably lead to illegal interference on the part of the state in the religious sphere, to corruption, and even to a contemporary version of the inquisition and witch hunts;

--the suggestions of the formation of "juridical religious studies" or "religious studies jurisprudence" are insubstantial from a legal point of view.

The Institute of Freedom of Conscience declares that

--the Expert Council for Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation should be disbanded and the institution of religious expert analysis abolished;

--"antiextremist" legislation and lists of literature should be rescinded and corresponding subdivisions within power structures should be dissolved;

--state and municipal officials and the news media should be held responsible for the use in their activity of illegal concepts of "sect," "wahhabism," "religious extremism," "Islamic terrorism," and the like which especially incite strife and intolerance for reasons of religion and convictions;

--governmental bureaucrats, religious studies specialists, theologians, attorneys, journalists, and the like who are pursuing corrupt personal and corporate gain should leave the freedom of worldview choice alone and its realization should be accomplished in common with other public, noncommercial associations on constitutional, legal foundations.

12 April 2009

Cochairmen of the Council of the Institute of Freedom of Conscience
S.A. Burianov, S.A. Mozgovoy

We recall that A. Dvorkin was named the head of the Expert council.  The Russian Association of Analysts of Religion has called for religious studies academics to quit the council.  (tr. by PDS, posted 14 April 2009)



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Baptist leader pessimistic about religious freedom in Russia

YURY SIPKO:  OUR GOVERNMENT SUBJECT TO URGE TO DESTROY THIS FREEDOM
by Vladimir Oivin
Portal-credo.ru, 7 April 2009

Portal-Credo.ru:  Yury Kirillovich, undoubtedly you know about the creation of a new membership of the Expert Council for State Religious Academic Analysis within the Ministry of Justice of Russia and the selection as its chairman of the infamous Alexander Dvorkin, an active persecutor of any Christian confessions other than the RPTsMP, and primarily of protestants. The council will operate on the basis of an order of the Russian Ministry of Justice of 18 February 2009, in contradiction of not only the law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations," but also the constitution of the Russian federation. There is another curious fact. The governmental order on the basis of which the previous membership of the council operated was rescinded by order of one of the ministries, in this case, justice.  Can you comment on these events?

Yury Sipko:  There are too many complicated questions here at the same time. The answers require commenting on the long process of the state's struggle that it is conducting with its citizens in all directions, including in the area of religious freedoms.  I see that everything is being subordinated to a single goal, that is the very freedom to reach that level when everything is controlled by and subordinate to a single ideology, and then essentially freedom itself will be prohibited. Thus these manipulations have been carried out with this expert council, with the expansion of its authority and its membership. This only emphasizes the impotence of our government which, instead of following the constitutional principles of freedom, including freedom of conscience, is subject all the time to the powerful urge to cut off these freedoms.

--Can you comment on the naming to the post of chairman of this expert council of DvorkinÑwhich is offensive to practically all non-Orthodox confessionsÑwho is notorious as an explicit opponent of everything that is not Orthodoxy? Even if it is within the bounds of Christianity.

--Well, how does one comment on that! Such things are not even amenable to comment. This is a clear illustration of that very impotence that I spoke of earlier, because actually this is a sell out on the governmental level to such a guy as Dvorkin, an American citizen, with absolute hatred as you rightly said for everyone who does not believe as he doesÑand now he is the chairman of this expert council.  You can comment on such things only by throwing up your hands and opening your mouth in amazement. Although if you are going to be consistent and honest then you must say that  for the government this line precisely follows its own logic and selected course. Just take the law on missionary activity proposed by the Ministry of Justice and the amendments to the law on freedom of conscience that have already been adopted whose logical outcome is that governmental life will be subjected, we can say, to the leadership of RPTsMP. At least we can see adherence to a selected course in all directions. Why not just put the country and the religious sphere under the dictatorial control of RPTsMP?

--How do you think that your church and other protestant churches will react and what kind of organizational steps can you take to resist this course of affairs? Can you appeal to the government or to the president or to someone else? You cannot just fold your hands and sit and wait for them to eliminate you one after the other.

--I don't have any illusions about the success of such appeals. In fact, I am cynical about all such attempts. Long ago the government very cleverly co-opted almost all protestant groups, appointing some of them even to the Public Chamber. It has finally put them in their place where they have practically lost the capacity to speak out loud. So when you speak about possible protest actions or appeals to someone, this will not produce any resultsÑeverything has already been arranged. And those people who make protestsÑhave you heard about them? They get arrested even before they are able to get off the porch of their house.

--But could the Russian Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, which you head, make an official protest?

--The Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists is not a political organization.

--But this is not a political action; and you can make a protest not on political bases but as a purely religious one.

--We are ready to laugh it off, but making a protest? Tell me please whom to protest to? To whom can we direct a protest?

--In the first place, you could turn to the Constitutional Court with a protest against the violations of the constitution contained in the order regarding this council. In particular, it says that the function of this council includes oversight of the activity of religious organizations. No public organization, which in the final analysis this council is, has such authority and even any governmental structure cannot have it.

--You are correct, but I can say that it doesn't make any difference to make any criticism of the president himself or the prime minister. The result is a foregone conclusion.

--You are correct that it is a foregone conclusion; but at the same time you cannot be silent because then your silence will be seen as approval of these actions.

--Yes, either approval by silence or we take the route to which we are called. The point is that in accordance with our spiritual training the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists follows the commands of its teacher and Lord Jesus Christ, who knew the value of earthly authority and, standing before Pilate, simply said that if our heavenly Father had not given you this authority . . .  therefore for us, Baptists, true to our Teacher, he is the one to whom we can turn with our sighs and complaints.

--I don't agree with you here. It is a purely religious position when we actually should turn to ChristÑthat's one thing. But this does not remove from us the civic responsibility to stand up for rights outside of the church.

--I agree with your logic and I do not reject such steps. The only thing is that I can predict the outcome of these steps. We can appeal, but the actions of the government itself, and now the selection of this expert council as directly parallel, cannot be shut off. I am not against our appeals, but I am talking about the impotence of this government, which contradicts itself and makes appeals to it a joke. It would be better to appeal to Zhvanetsky or Zadornov and not to the Constitutional Court, which doesn't work for the defense of the constitution. When we see the dealls and when we see the rejection of common senseÑto whom can we appeal?

--I think that sooner or later it will be necessary to appeal to the Strasbourg European Court for Human Rights. Are you prepared to take such a step?

--I don't rule it out. But this is something that public rights institutions should deal with in accordance with their purpose, and we Baptists will support such appeals. You can be sure of that. But all in proper order.  (tr. by PDS, posted 10 April 2009)


ALEXANDER DVORKIN HEADS EXPERT COUNCIL FOR CONDUCTING STATE RELIGIOUS EXPERT ANALYSIS OF MINISTRY OF JUSTICE OF RUSSIA
Portal-credo.ru, 3 April 2009

The first session of members of the Expert Council for Conducting Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice was held in Moscow on 3 April, a correspondent for Portal-credo.ru reports.

The expert council was formed within the framework created by last year's changes in federal legislation which returned authority for registration of religious organizations to structures of the Ministry of Justice of RF. The membership of the expert council includes both representatives of confessions and representatives of various organizations (public and academic) that are engaged in analysis of various manifestations of religiosity.

Election of the chairman of the expert council occurred at the first session. By unanimous decision, the well known anticultist Alexander Dvorkin was elected, and his vice-chairs are Roman Silantiev and Valiulla Yakupov.  (tr. by PDS, posted 10 April 2009)

ACADEMIC AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES STATE THAT NEW COMPOSITION OF COUNCIL OF MINISTRY OF JUSTIC DISCREDITS SCHOLARLY RELIGIOUS EXPERT ANALYSIS

Slavic Legal Center, 10 April 2009

Representatives of the academic and religious communities have declared that the new membership of the Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice of RF discredits the very idea of scholarly religious expert analysis. A press conference held 10 April on the initiative of the Institute of Religion and Law entitled "Does Russia need an Inquisition court?" was devoted to an assessment of the new composition of the Council of the Ministry of Justice of RF and to problems of conducting scholarly religious expert analysis as a whole.

At the time of the press conference, questions were raised about the new authorizations of the Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice and their nonconformity to the law on freedom of conscience of 1997, about the peculiarities of the creation of the present membership of the council of the Ministry of Justice, and about how the positions of many members of the council will affect the activity of religious associations of Russia. It was noted that the only scholar of religion in the new membership of the council is a professor of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, I.N. Yablokov. All the others either have education in history or do not have an academic degree at all. The presence of students of sects in this council undermines the authority of scholarly religious expert analysis on the whole and could disrupt inter-religious harmony in the country, since both Muslims and protestants and representatives of other religious movements are disturbed by the fact that the council includes persons openly engaged in fighting "sects."

Among participants in the press conference were Anatoly Pchelintsev, professor of the Russian State Humanities University and chief editor of the "Religion and Law" journal; Remir Lopatkin, a religious scholar and professor of the department of state-confession relations; Sergei Filatov, senior scientific associate of the Institute of Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Religious Life of Russia" project; Ekaterina Elbakian, professor of the Academy of Labor and Social Relations; Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the "Sova" information and analysis center; Mikhail Sitnikov, member of the Council of International Association of Religious Freedom; and Roman Lunkin, director of the Institute of Religion and Law and senior academic associate of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

During discussion, speakers included Bishop Sergei Riakhovsky, member of the Public Chamber of RF; Anatoly Krasikov, professor and head of the Center for the Study of Problems of Religion and Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Anatoly Rudenko, executive director of the Russian Bible Society; and others. The press conference was attended by Catholics, Old Believers (Alexander Antonov, chief editor of the Old Believer "Tserkov" magazine), protestants, and representatives of various religious and secular news media and televisionÑ"Gazeta," "RIA-Novosti," "Blagovest-info," "Portal-credo.ru," Radio "Liberty" and others.  (tr. by PDS, posted 10 April 2009)


MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AUTHOR OF EXTREMIST ANTISECTARIAN PAMPHLETS
Slavic Legal Center, 10 April 2009

One of the members of the Council for Conducting State Religious Expert Analysis of the Ministry of Justice of RF, Alexander Kuzmin, is the author of antisectarian pamphlets that have been declared by a court to be extremist material. This was stated by the chief editor of the "Religion and Law" journal, Professor Anatoly Pchelintsev, at the time of a press conference entitled "Does Russia need an Inquisition court?" held on 10 April on the initiative of the Institute of Religion and Law.

On 26 March of this year the decision of the Central Court of the city of Khabarovsk on a suit brought by the prosecutor of Khabarovsk territory took effect, according to which the pamphlet "Beware, Sect! International Society of Krishna Consciousness," published by the regional department of "Young Guard of United Russia,"  was ruled to be extremist material.

The pamphlet itself had previously been posted on the "Young Guard" site. Back in July 2008 this movement conducted an action "Beware,  Sect" at a festival of Indian culture in the city of Khabarovsk. At the time activists of Young Guard organized a distribution of pamphlets among passers by. In them the International Society of Krishna Consciousness is called "an aggressive sect, dangerous to the health and well being of citizens." In addition, followers of the Society of Krishna Consciousness are accused of various kinds of crime.

The pamphlet is based on an informational account which is included in the pamphlet, whose author, as indicated in the extremist material, is the director of the Saratov regional department of the Center for Scholarly Religious Investigation, Alexander Valerievich Kuzmin. He also is a member of the council of the Ministry of Justice of RF. Meanwhile, at the present time he can be accused of incitement of inter-religious strife as the author of materials ruled by a court to be extremist.

According to Anatoly Pchelintsev, it is known that another member of the council of the Ministry of Justice of RF, Yaroslav journalist Evgeny Mukhtarov, has been held administratively accountable for illegal activity. Neither Mukhtarov, nor Kuzmin, nor the chairman of the council of the Ministry of Justice, Alexander Dvorkin, have  a recognized academic degree, but they still are members of the council, which is supposed to be formed of scholars and certainly not of people with extremist inclinations. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 April 2009)




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Evangelicals accused of "sectarianism"

PROSECUTOR THREATENS ADVENTISTS FOR CHILDREN'S ABSENCE FROM SATURDAY CLASSES
Slavic Legal Center, 7 April 2009

The Commission for Affairs of Minors in Elista has accused Seventh-day Adventists of "sectarianism" for refusal to send their children to school on Saturdays and the prosecutor's office has threatened the parents with "extreme measures,"
according to the press service of the Slavic Legal Center.

We recall that cases for administrative violations of law were opened in March 2009 by an assistant prosecutor of the city of Elista, junior counselor of justice N.A. Velikorodna, with respect to parents of school children who attend the St. Sergius of Radonezh Russian National Gymnasium, Vasilia Musaeva, Maria Marchenko, and Vitaly Tikhomirov, who is also the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church of Elista. The basis for opening the cases, according to the prosecutor's statement, is that the parents do not assure the children's attendance at school classes in the gymnasium on Saturdays, since according to Adventist teaching and practice, worship services are held on Saturday.

After the opening of the cases on administrative violation of law, they were sent for review by the Commission on Affairs of Minors of the city government of Elista. According to Vasilia Musaeva, when she expressed to the assistant prosecutor O.A. Ivanova her intention to exercise her right not to send her children to school on Saturdays, she threatened that "extreme measures will be taken for this" on the part of the prosecutor's office.

On 14 March a session of the Commission on Affairs of Minors of the city government of Elista was held. As Maria Marchenko notes, "in the commission our church was called a sect and they talked in a rather hostile tone." According to the pastor of the Elista Seventh-day Adventist church, at the time of the commission session, reports were heard from the director of the St. Sergius of Radonezh Russian National Gymnasium and from class directors. At the same time the director of the gymnasium deliberately characterized the children as failing and weak in classes, but the teachers gave a completely opposite report. As Tikhomirov noted, such a state of affairs confused the chairman of the commission. To Pastor Tikhimirov's question about whether the children's absence from school for religious reasons was a respectable reason, members of the commission answered that it is not. The pastor stressed:  "One of the members of the commission called our church a sect, and when I corrected her she responded contemptuously, 'all the same it's a sect.'"

The commission decided to send their own representatives to the children's homes to ascertain that the children really wanted themselves to attend church on Saturdays. As the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church of Rostov-on-Don, Alexander Stepanov, said in an interview with the press service of the Slavic Legal Center:  "The parents are experiencing conflict since the prosecutor has sent inspectors for conversations with the children, who, after the conversations with the children and the testimony they have heard have coarsely accused the parents of supposedly frightening their own children." (tr. by PDS, posted 9 April 2009)

PROSECUTOR APPEARED ON SIXTH DAY
by Kseniia Akhmetzhanova
Kommersant (Volgograd), 3 April 2009

The prosecutor of Elista opened an administrative case with respect to Adventists whose children skipped classes in a gymnasium on Saturdays. The parents of these pupils stated that the prosecutor is violating the right of their children to freedom of religious confession and that this case has been "ordered up" in the interests of the Orthodox church. The director of the gymnasium states that the  conflict is "purely contrived." However, observers noted that there is a clear ideological subtext in this story.

The prosecutor of Elista (Kalmyk republic) opened the administrative case with respect to local parishioners of the Seventh-day Adventist church Vasilia Musaeva, Maria Marchenko, and Vitaly Tikhomirov. As the prosecutor's office explained to Kommersant, the Adventists have forbidden their children, pupils of the St. Sergius of Radonezh Russian National Gymnasium, to attend classes on Saturday since on this day all Adventists are obliged to attend meetings in the parish of their church. The prosecutor decided that the parents thereby had violated article 5.35 of the administrative code of the Russian federation: "Nonfulfillment by parents of their responsibility for education and protection of the rights of minors." Now the parents are threatened with fines of up to 500 rubles.

According to the Adventists themselves, they have tried to reach an agreement with the director of the gymnasium regarding "alternative study," whereby the children would be able to not attend school on Saturdays and subsequently submit work in individual form. However the director of the Elista gymnasium, Arslan Erendzhenov and Assistant Principal Tatiana Volokhova refused to accept these requests and release the school children from classes, the Adventists maintain. In addition, the assistant principal allegedly insulted Vaslia Musaeva, the mother of a sixth-grade pupil, calling her a sectarian who "zombeyizes" her child. A mother of two pupils, Maria Marchenko, has also had such a conversation with the administration of the educational institution. The assistant principal threatened not to certify the Adventist children and to expel them from the gymnasium and to deprive their parents of their parental rights.

According to Seventh-day Adventist church pastor Vitaly Tikhimirov, the parents submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Education, the presidential administration of Kalmykia, and the president of the Russian federation.  "After all of our appeals, the prosecutor's office began an investigation, but in the end, for some reason, opened a case against us," Mr. Tikhimirov noted for Kommersant. "I think that in this way the prosecutor has violated the rights of our children to freedom of religious confession and all of this in general appears to be in the service of the interests of the Orthodox church."

Communication with representatives of the Elista diocese could not be made yesterday. According to the director of the national gymnasium, the dispute with the Adventist parents has a completely "contrived" character. "I am disturbed by the attempts of these people to move this question into the religious sphere," gymnasium director Arslan Erendzhenov told Kommersant. "We have a secular educational institution and nobody opposes the religious confession of these children. It is simply that according to the rules of the gymnasium there is a six-day school week, and they regularly do not attend the gymnasium on Saturday. The children should study, but because of their parents they are missing out on part of their education."

Rights advocates are convinced that the rights of the Adventists have been violated in any case. The director of the Institute of Religion and Law, Roman Lunkin, is sure that the requests of the parents fall within the law on freedom of conscience and religious confession. "Saturday is the Adventists' day when they, as a whole, attend the worship of God," Mr. Lunkin noted for Kommersant. "Religious conviction does not contradict the educational process. The children are still studying and thus it is strange and even funny that the administration of the school has escalated the conflict themselves. Most likely there is an ideological subtext present in this case." Attorneys of the Slavic Legal Center told Kommersant that they intend to dispute the statement of the prosecutor.  (tr. by PDS, posted 9 April 2009)

Russian original posted on Slavic Legal Center site, 7 April 2009

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Patriarch Kirill takes charge

PATRIARCH KIRILL BEGINS FUNDAMENTAL PERSONNEL REFORM OF CHURCH
by Mikhail Pozdniaev
Novye izvestiia, 2 April 2009

Serious changes are coming to the Moscow patriarchate which, as was said in documents of Tuesday's session of the Holy Synod, are dictated "by the necessity of developing, improving, and systematizing the dialogue of the church with society." First, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment, the chief competitor of His Holiness Kirill in the 27 January election, has been demoted. Another surprise is the elevation to key positions of people from the next generation, active members of the "Kirill party," and not just from among bishops. Special subdivisions have even been created under them. Finally, the patriarch reformed his own pet project, the Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS) that he headed for 20 years.

Long before the election of the sixteenth patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus voices were heard saying that "things will not be boring for us with Kirill." Now in a couple of months the predictions have begun to come true. His Holiness has, as they say, hit the ground running.

First of all, it was necessary for him to deal with his own big territory, OVTsS and the Smolensk-Kaliningrad diocese. Despite earlier statements that were made, the patriarch dealt with the diocese on the "divide and conquer" principle.  He appointed to the Smolensk see the thirty-nine-year-old Bishop of Bronnitsa Feofilakt, and for now has kept for himself the Kaliningrad see (Bishop of the Baltics Serafim is to help him on the spot).

It was more complicated to resolve the problem of OVTsS. The patriarch did not see a change that was adequate for him; there was no counterweight among the prospective persons. Formally OPVTsS has not been broken up. The Holy Synod voted on 31 March for the election of Bishop of Vienna and Austria Ilarion as its chairman; he is now the bishop of Volokolamsk. He yielded his post in Vienna to the former vice-chair of OVTsS Bishop of Egoriev Mark, who supervised foreign parishes.

If the appointment of the forty-five-year-old Mark can be explained by the wish of the patriarch "to reward his own person," then the transfer of forty-two-year-old Ilarion to Moscow is gratitude for his active support in favor of Metropolitan Kirill on the eve of the election. You see the bishop of Vienna told the news media that the metropolitan was no kind of ecumenist and he did not have anything to do with the tobacco schemes. Another department has been created under the second vice-chairman of OVTsS, forty-year-old Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin. He has been entrusted with relations between RPTs and the legislature, political parties, and other levels of civil society in Russia, the countries of CIS, and the Baltics. Both the late and the new patriarch for a decade and half have trusted Fr Vsevolod with the role of chief speaker of RPTs, and the fact that he will acquire a bishop's chair does not cause surprise. What is surprising is that a layman should be elevated to such a heightÑVladimir Legoida, the chief editor of "Orthodox magazine for doubters" and the "Foma" Internet portal. Both the magazine and the portal are popular with youth, and entrusting a synodal department to Mr. Legoida is a risky step, but a hopeful one.

And now about the unpleasant news, at least for one man. The synod "satisfied the request of Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment to resign from the post of chancellor of the patriarchate, expressing to him thanks for the labors he performed." Kliment ceases to be a permanent member of the Holy Synod and has been appointed chairman of the Publishing Council of the Moscow patriarchate. At the same time Archpriest Vladimir Siloviev retains his position as director of the publishing house of RPTs. So that it is not very clear what Metropolitan Kliment will be doing. But it is more obvious to the patriarch. There already is an anecdote going around:  "What did you have in mind when you said that in a crisis it is necessary to find the positive aspects?"  "Well you understand that before the crisis I was only a metropolitan."  (tr. by PDS, posted 6 April 2009)

Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 2 April 2009

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