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Patriarch's visit to Ukraine leads to controversy

PATRIARCH KIRILL TRAVELS TO UKRAINE ON EXCLUSIVELY PASTORAL VISIT
Interfax, 26 June 2009

Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill will not agitate for any one of the candidates for the post of president of the country in the course of his visit to Ukraine, declared Archbishop of Belotserkov and Boguslava Mitrofan.

"I want to tell you that the patriarch is coming here not in order to conduct agitation for any elections. The patriarch is traveling on an exclusively pastoral visit," the bishop said at a press conference in Kiev.

He reported that in the course of the visit of the primate of the Russian church, his meeting with the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, will be held, although he did not indicate the precise date and time of its occurrence.

"At the present we do know that the patriarch intends to meet only with the president of the country during the course of his visit," the archbishop declared.

Earlier Ukrainian nationalists declared that they consider Patriarch Kirill's visit to be political and they are planning a number of events before his arrival.

"He is coming here as a politician on the eve of our political ordeals in order to incline all believers to the side of one or another aspirant to the presidential office. That is unambiguous," declared Pavel Movchan, a people's deputy of Ukraine and president of the all-Ukrainian society "Prosvita," at a press conference in Kiev.  (tr. by PDS, posted 26 June 2009)


PATRIRCH FILARET TELLS REPORTERS HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD FUTURE VISIT OF PATRIARCH KIRILL TO UKRAINE
Portal-credo.ru, 10 June 2009

The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kievan patriarchate (UPTsKP) on 7 June consecrated a cross in the square opposite gymnasium No. 4 in Lutsk. On this site will be built a church of the Kholm Icon of the Mother of God. The next day the patriarch led a solemn liturgy in the Holy Trinity cathedral. Cocelebrants included Metropolitan of Rovno and Ostrozk Evsevii, Archbishop of Lutsk and Volynia Mikhail, and bishops of Chernigov and Nezhin Illarion and of Kirovograd and Golovanivsk Mark. Participants in the service included city president Bogdan Shiba, representatives of the provincial administration and provincial soviet, and believers, RISU reports.

According to the press service of the Volhynia diocese of UPTsKP, in his sermon the primate of the Kievan patriarchate described the activities of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the past and present. All residents of the province had the opportunity to view the patriarchal liturgy in the chief church of Volhynia because Volhynian state television carried a direct broadcast from the Holy Trinity cathedral.

During the visit to Lutsk the Patriarch met with representatives of the Volhynian news media. Responding to a question about the attitude of the Kievan patriarchate to the arrival of Moscow Patriarch Kirill in Ukraine, the head of UPTsKP noted that this visit could be welcomed only in the event that it would facilitate the creation of a united local Ukrainian Orthodox church.

"If the primate of RPTs traveled to our country only to visit his flock, then this would not provoke commotion. But he is coming here stating that he is not a foreigner in Ukraine. That is, it turns out that for him our country is not an independent state. For Patriarch Kirill Kiev is the southern capital of 'Russian Orthodoxy' and not of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Thus we consider this to be an encroachment upon our local church," Patriarch Filaret said.  (tr. by PDS, posted 26 June 2009)


IN COURSE OF TEN-DAY VISIT TO UKRAINE PATRIARCH KIRILL WILL VISIT KIEV, AND PROVINCES
Portal-credo.ru, 26 July 2009

Details of the schedule of the visit to Ukraine of the new Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill were announced on 26 June at a press conference in the Kiev office of the "UNIAH" news agency, a correspondent for Portal-credo.ru reports. Reporters' questions were answered by the chancellor of UPTsMP Archbishop of Belotserkov and Boguslava Mitrofan, who is heading the commission for preparing the patriarch's visit, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relation of UPTsMP Arkhimandrite Kirill, and the press secretary of the Head of UPTsMP [Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate] and director of the press service of the patriarchal visit, Archpriest Georgy Kovalenko.

Archbishop Mitrofan recalled that Patriarch Kirill's visit is the first official trip abroad of the new primate of RPTsMP; it will last from 27 July to 5 August. Besides Kiev, Kirill will visit Crimea and dioceses in western and eastern Ukraine. The patriarch will perform a festive divine liturgy in the Kievan caves lavra, the Sviatogorovka lavra (Donets diocese) and Pochaev lavra (Ternopol diocese) as well as at the place of the baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir in Kherson (Sevastopol).

After his arrival in Kiev on 27 July at 10.00, Patriarch Kirill will lead a prayer service at the monument to the Holy Equal-with-the-apostles Prince Vladimir on Vladimir hill, where exactly a year ago a liturgy was concelebrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Kirill's predecessor, Alexis II. On the same day, at 17.00, will begin a patriarchal all-night vigil in the Kiev caves lavra, and on the memorial day of St. Vladimir, 28 July, Patriarch Kirill will perform a liturgy on the lavra's square.

On the festival of the Sviatogorovka Icon of the Mother of God, 30 July, the primate of RPTsMP will lead a celebration in Sviatogorovka lavra and on the day of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the transfer to Ukraine of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God, 5 August, he will be in the Pochaev lavra. On the memorial day of the Holy Prophet Elijah, 2 August, Patriarch Kirill will perform a liturgy in Kherson.

The schedule for the visit of the head of RPTsMP to Kiev includes also a visit to two convents, the Florovsky and Pokrovsky, and the site of the construction of the new cathedral church of UPTsMP. Kirill will hold a meeting with students of ecclesiastical schools of Kiev and the Ukrainian intelligentsia.

At the time of his visit in Donets diocese the patriarch will stop at the newly constructed Transformation of the Savior cathedral of Donetsk and in the St. Vasily monastery in the village of Nikolsk of Donets province.

In Simferopol Patriarch Kirill will visit the Holy Trinity convent, where the relics of Archbishop Luka Voino-Yasenetsky are venerated, as well as the site of the construction of the Alexander of the Neva cathedral church.

In the course of his visit to western Ukraine the primate of RPTsMP, besides the Pochaev lavra, will go to the Holy Trinity Koretsky convent, the St. Nikolas of Gorodok convent, and churches in Rovno, Lutsk, and Vladimir-Volhynia.

Cooperation with the press on the eve of and during the time of the visit will be provided by a specially created press service and press center, which will begin on 10 July the accreditation of reporters who wish to cover the visit. The press service of UPTsMP created an official Internet site for the visit, patriarh.in.ua. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 July 2009)


UKRAINIAN RIGHT-WINGERS PLAN PROTEST AGAINST PATRIARCH KIRILL'S VISIT TO KIEV
Portal-credo.ru, 24 June 2009

Representatives of right-wing forces of Ukraine are planning to conduct an action of protest against the upcoming archpastoral visit by Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill at the end of July. This was reported on 24 June by the head of UNA-UNSO [Ukrainian National AssemblyÑUkrainian National Self-Defense] Yury Shukhevich, according to a report from NEWSru.com, citing ITAR-TASS.

The first hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarch, Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Vladimir invited the primate of RPTsMP to make an archpastoral visit to Ukraine at a time of his convenience.

Patriarch Kirill will arrive in Kiev on 27 July on the eve of the memorial day of Saint Equal-with-the-apostles Prince Vladimir and later will conduct a divine liturgy in Donbas at the Holy Dormition Sviatogorovka lavra; he will conduct a service in Crimea in Kherson on 2 August at the site of the baptism of Prince Vladimir and he will perform a liturgy on 5 August in the Holy Dormition Pochaev lavra in Ternopol province.


UKRAINIAN ACTIVISTS:  "KIRILL IS PRIMARILY A POLITICIAN"
Portal-credo.ru, 26 July 2009

Representatives of a number of Ukrainian public organizations have expressed discontent with "the format and ideology" of the visit to Ukraine by Patriarch of Moscow and all-Russ Kirill, which is planned for 27 July to 5 August. This was reported by the president of the All-Ukrainian Prosvita Society, people's deputy of Ukraine Pavel Movchan, the leader of the "Pora" Public Action Evgeny Zolotarev, the president of the Orthodox Brotherhood of Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called Alexander Gudima, and the head of the executive committee of UNA-UNSO Ruslan Zaichenko at a press conference in the Kiev office of the UNIAN news agency on 25 July, a correspondent of Portal-credo.ru reports.

People's Deputy Pavel Movchan called attention to the fact that Kirill is primarily a politician by the nature of his activity and the character of his statements, and at the same time he is rather aggressive and charismatic but not a spiritual pastor. In Pavel Movchan's opinion, the patriarch of RPTsMP is coming to Ukraine "as a politician on the eve of our political ordeals in order to incline laity to the side of one or another aspirant to the post of president." According to information of the leader of Prosvita, Kirill's plans include the resolution of a number of "personnel questions" of the UPTsMP with the goal of more thoroughly reinforcing this church within the orbit of the Moscow patriarchate.

Kirill's visit presents a threat to the national security of Ukraine, Evgeny Zolotarev, the leader of Pora, suggests; Pora is primarily a youth organization that played an important role at the time of the Orange revolution of 2004. In his opinion today the Ukrainian church has an exceptional chance to become a mighty united local church, but "unfortunately, it cannot take advantage of it," since "it is constantly being infected by its daughter-church [the Moscow patriarchate] with the virus of 'canonicity' and everything that drags us into the past." The Pora organzation will greet Kirill on Ukrainian territory "with respect," without forgetting at the same time that the patriarch has positioned himself as a Russian imperialist politician.

Returning to the "personnel question," Alexander Gudima called the Ukrainian authorities to pay attention to the fact that within the episcopacy of the Moscow patriarchate in Ukraine operate no small number of "manipulators, bribe-takers, and politicians."

The most nationalistically minded participant in the press conference, representing the Ukrainian National AssemblyÑUkrainian National Self-Defense, Ruslan Zaichenko, recalled that Kirill is a Mordvinian by ethnic descent, and therefore he can hardly call Kiev "my mother." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 June 2009)



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News media attack on Jehovah's Witnesses

JEHOVAH ON BLOOD: WHAT PEOPLE SACRIFICE CHILDREN'S LIVES FOR
by Tatiana Toropova
Argumenty i fakty, 24 June 2009

In the spring of this year at St. Petersburg Maternity Hospital No. 1, an infant died; his mother, who is a member of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, refused a blood transfusion at the time of birth.

This was not the first instance when children paid with their lives because of the religious convictions of parents.

"When an adult person requires an operation and consequently a blood transfusion and he refuses it, we, in turn, refuse to treat him," says Igor Yakovenko, doctor of medical sciences and acting director of the Polenov Russian Neurosurgical Institute in St. Petersburg. "The situation is more complex with children. In the practice of our institute there have been several instances when Jehovist parents refused blood transfusions for their children. In one case a child needed a scheduled operation. The mother declared that she would not permit a blood transfusion. In addition, an attorney of the Jehovah's Witnesses conducted rather harsh conversations with physicians. We refused to treat this child.  But when a child from Saratov province came to us with a tumor on the brain and needed an emergency operation and the father was categorically against transfusion, citing that he was a Jehovist, we turned to the court. It is good that it was located next door and we began preparing the papers in the morning and by evening the court's decision about the necessity of the blood transfusion was received. But what does one do? After all, physicians in such a case are between two fires: according to the foundations of legislation of the Russian federation on health maintenance physicians are supposed to have the agreement of a patient or his representatives for action. On the other hand, there is an article in the Criminal Code regarding failure to render aid. Now we have worked out a procedure, we know how to act, only through a court, which, praise God, has issued a decision in favor of the saving of the life of the child.

In the Administrative Center of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, which is located outside St. Petersburg, at first they did not want to talk about this topic with a correspondent from Argumenty i fakty. "To transfuse or not to transfuse blood is a personal matter of each individual," declared Ya. Sivulsky, one of the directors of the center.  "That infant had no chance of being rescued; that is the opinion of the physicians. When Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusion, that does not mean that they are not thinking about their health. They seek alternative means of treatment." "The father of the child from Saratov was not a Jehovah's Witness," added a representative of the press service of the center, G. Martynov. "Despite the fact that in accordance with the court's decision, they transfused blood for the child, unfortunately he died several days later."

It is strange that at the time the father of the child indicated in his statement of refusal of the operation that his belonging to the organization was the main motive, which is stated in all of the documents. It is possible that he had not yet received baptism, but was being prepared for it, and rejection of blood transfusion for his son could have been a kind of ticket of admission for the Jehovah's Witnesses. As regards the death in the maternity hospital, indeed, according to the physicians, the infant actually had little chance of survival even after a blood transfusion. But the transfusion should not have been done after birth but at an earlier stage in the pregnancy, which the future mother knew and refused it on religious convictions. At that time the chance of saving the child was actually realistic.

What kind of religion is this that people are prepared because of its teachings to give up life and parents sacrifice the dearest of things, their own children?  "Jehovah's Witnesses are so deceived that they don't reason this out," Aleksei Shvechikov, a professor and director of the Inter-university Center of Religious Studies, thinks. "Jehovah's Witnesses number about 15 million in the world, and in Russia it is on the order of 200,000. At the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s of the last century, for example, in St. Petersburg a small group of Jehovah's Witnesses was registered. By 2000 they numbered 15,000 already. The Witnesses conduct very active missionary work but, as the facts show, it is based on deceit which is concealed behind a mask of concern, attention, and apparent democracy. The Jehovah's Witnesses have their own translation of the Bible. In it they have made their own emphases, beneficial to them, that is, they actually have created a fraud. They stress throughout that the existing world is satanic and it should be destroyed. They call themselves a Christian confession, but they do not recognize the Holy Trinity.

Christ is not God but only a man. What kind of Christianity is this? In addition, Christ spoke about the immortality of the soul, but they talk about the immortality of the body. For Jehovah's Witnesses their organization has become more important than the state and the family. A harsh discipline has been established. They have a rules committee which controls the conduct of members of the organization. There is a terrible punishment when they cease conversing with a member of the congregation because of some misbehavior. Agreeing to a blood transfusion is an unambiguous reason for excommunication from the congregation. For some this leads to nervous breakdown and for some even to suicide. A new member is indoctrinated over the course of six months and transformed into an active obedient parishioner. He begins to believe that only in this place is there salvation from the hostile surrounding world. After six months he can be considered lost to society. In addition, by their policy the Jehovah's Witnesses isolate members of the congregation from other people and they are told not to communicate with "infidels," or to watch television and read newspapers. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a destructive organization. In addition, in 37 countries of the world they are prohibited as a totalitarian sect. The main source of income of Jehovah's Witnesses is voluntary contributions. But if a member of the organization contributes nothing he is summoned to a conversation. When a congress begins supplementary funds are collected from each person, and congresses occur rather often. So that, besides everything else, this is not a bad business for the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses."

The activity of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is not officially prohibited. Although, for example, the prosecutor of the Northern district of Moscow several years back came to the conclusion in the course of an investigation of the activity of the congregation that it incites religious strife, destroys the family, and urges seriously ill people to refuse medical aid on religious bases, and the prosecutor liquidated it as a legal entity. This evoked a stormy protest on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses members, who spoke about violation of the human right to freedom of religious confession. Actually, a person has the right to this freedom, but if he has been drawn into a religion by deceit and his psyche is being controlled to such a degree that even the life of his child has become of less value than the religion, what kind of freedom can we be talking about? (tr. by PDS, posted 24 June 2009)

Russian original posted on "InterfaxÑreligiia" site, 24 June 2009

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Controversial Orthodox spokesman

ANDREI KURAEV:  "IN CHRIST'S HANDS WE SEE A SWORD"
by Nikolai Karaev
"Den za dnem" (Estonia), weekly

Deacon Kuraev is a contradictory figure: some consider him a worthy missionary of the Orthodox church while others are convinced that the deacon only causes harm to Orthodoxy.

At the end of May Father Andrei came to Tallin literally ten years after his previous visit. The Small Hall of the Center of Russian Culture was packed; a good third of those who came to hear Kuraev were forced to stand for three hours as there were not enough chairs for everyone. The deacon spoke about the Nicene Creed, or more precisely about its first words ("I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty. . ."), expanding on each of them in detail.

It is hard to dispute those who say that Kuraev is a major figure in the Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate. The best words to characterize the deacon are "a zealot for Orthodoxy," meaning an "avid defender," although he often switches from defense to offense. It seems that under his cassock Fr Andrei conceals a sword with which he is ready to wound the adversaries of the church. At one time the deacon speaks about love for neighbor and quotes Chesterton and Lewis and then he asserts that there is not a word in the Gospel about toleration for homosexuals and he complains that there is no Orthodox terrorism in Russia. When the co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov, suggested that the cross be removed from the seal of the Russian federation, the deacon suggested conducting a purge of the ranks of the Islamic clergy under the slogan "what the hell do we need Nafigulla for?" [tr. note, the Russian slogan is a pun on Nafigulla's name, and the slogan suggests an obscenity]. At the same time Fr Andrei maintains an electronic diary and delivers sermons at rock concerts by "Alisa" and "DDT," and he calls admirers of J.R.R. Tolkein to understand the Christian meaning of "Lord of the Rings."

--A question to you as an evangelist:  Is "Jesus Christ Superstar" a Christian message? And the film "Island"? Or a concert by the "Alisa" group?

--I do not think that the writers of "Jesus Christ Superstar" intended to promote a Christian message. But in USSR, for many, including me, the rock opera became an occasion; I won't say that it was to convert to Christianity, more properly to turn aside, to take off the blinders. Concerts by Kinchev and the film "Island" are intentionally Christian projects. For Kinchev Christian themes from the start were among his subjects, but over the years they have become the essence of his work and life.

--Yuri Shevchuk said in an interview that the group "Alisa" is evil and patriotic to a fault. Can the message of a religion of love survive where there is rage?

--A Christian isn't required to be a eunuch. You don't always have to be sweet. Anger, rage, hatredÑthese are God's gifts to humanity and it is important that they be exercised just like the gift of love. The question is the object of the anger and the form in which the anger is expressed, while observing the rule of Ecclesiastes "there is a time for war and a time for peace."

--In one interview you said:  "It is bad that there is no Orthodox terrorism in Russia."  Such words are not very compatible with the love of the New Testament, right?

--For me this is a serious question. What is the life expectancy for Russian people today? The absence of any attempts at self-organization and self-defense is horrifying. One of the forms of self-organization is protestÑwhen people gang up against something and this flows out, not into rhetoric on the Internet but into some kinds of actions, including those of a violent character. From the point of view of Christianity such action is reprehensible, but from a historic point of view it might be evidence that the nation has a desire to become the creator of its own history. I wish they would stop praising toleration and let us discuss, for example, the problem of the coexistence of Christians and Muslims in contemporary society.

--And are they compatible?

--Yes, if Christianity and Islam are sufficiently secular. For Christianity, this is no problem; we have Christ's words "Give to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's." In Islam religion is not separated from the state and there are always Muslim theologians who will say that this principle that is generally accepted for Europe actually contradicts the Quran. Their tactic is clear: when they are in the minority, they talk about secularity and about equality, but just as soon as Muslims become more than half, they demand total control.

--Today the Orthodox church often is principally associated with the Mercedes which the clergy drives. Is that good? Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

--Priests in MercedesÑthat's a myth. There are no priests in Mercedes, but there are bishops.  These are ceremonial vehicles and honestly they are necessary. I was told about one bishop to whom a rich sponsor came and the bishop asked the sponsor to buy him an expensive car. This bishop is a very righteous monk. He explained his request this way:  if I go to the provincial administration in an ordinary car, my reception will be likewise, but if I go in an expensive car, they will look at me as a person who knows how to conduct affairs. So for him, it doesn't matter what he rides in. When we see a priest in an expensive car we must examine whether he bought it will church money or not. It happens that a priest works somewhere and he gets a good salary and he doesn't take a kopeck from the church. Let's say, my salary from the church is a symbolic amount, about 100 dollars, while I live on the royalties from books and articles.

--But surely there also are other priests?

--There are people whose conscience is professionally atrophied. A normal priest has high professional self-respect and he is persuaded that serving the liturgy is the greatest affair on earth. It is service not to a party or a corporation but to God and you see that it is necessary for people and that they are transformed. There does arise the temptation to take this self-respect personally and to identify all of one's life with such a high regard. So it turns out that if you treat me at a restaurant you are serving Christ. If you give me a Mercedes you are presenting it to the church. If I take out of the church treasury money to build a dacha, well in the dacha I will pray for my parishioners. A person does not notice himself how the magnetic poles can switch places and he begins to serve, not God, but himself. There are rather many of such priests. It is comforting to know that since New Testament times their proportion has been stableÑevery twelfth one is a Judas.

--When this bishop that you know requested to buy him a Mercedes, he wanted to send a certain signal to the authorities. But at the same time this sends a different signal to the parishioners, a non-Christian one.

--Indeed, and the priest can neutralize this only when his eyes and waistline send an opposite signal. And in this case, it was that way.

--Doesn't it seem to you that people of the church give out very few signals that would be associated with the Sermon on the Mount or with one of the main precepts of Christianity, "love your neighbor as yourself"? When you talk about love, that is one signal; but when you shoot the bird at Nafigulla Ashirov, that's different and contradictory to the first.

--I think that's a problem of an informational storm.  Evangelical signals operate on a single frequency and they are one and the same, so people often lose sight of them. The Gospel is a very short book. The Sermon on the Mount is shorter yet. Note, yesterday at the lecture there was not a single question about the Gospel; people were asking about such peripheral things. It must be said also that there is something God holds us responsible for: how the sacred simplicity of the Gospel is projected onto the complex fabric of contemporary life.  Of course, I try to correlate what I say and do with the Gospel. But the Gospel is more complex than Tolstoyanism. In Christ's hands we see a sword and the apostles carried swords and Christ sent the Pharisees farther than I sent Nafigulla.

--But why did you say what you did about Nafigulla? It is clear that what you said found a response in people's hearts.

--More than that; I had an overwhelming experience. About two years ago in Perm at one conference a group of people in Muslim clothing surrounded me and it turned out that these were high-up muftis from various regions of Russia, and they said to me, "We are with you and not with Nafigulla Ashirov."

--Modern adults more often are not attending church and in the subculture they are becoming Tolkienists and followers of fantasies. What must be done to draw them to Orthodoxy?

--Orthodoxy as such is not likely to attract them, but people of Orthodoxy might. Obviously, for example, Tolkienists need to demonstrate the most profound Christian motivations of the writer of "Lord of the Rings."  It is my task to make Tolkienists yet more Tolkienists. I tell them: "Young man, treat the professor seriously."  (tr. by PDS, posted 22 June 2009)

Russian original posted on the Interfax-religiia site, 22 June 2009

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Orthodox leader seeks more influence on public education

PATRIARCH KIRILL REMINDS FURSENKO OF AGREEMENTS ON QUESTION OF TEACHING FOUNDATIONS OF ORTHODOXY IN NEW SCHOOL STANDARDS
Interfax, 18 June 2009

Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill sent a letter to Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko with a reminder about the necessity of observing agreements between the state and the Russian church relative to conditions for teaching "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" in the new school standards which are supposed to take effect in the elementary schools by the next academic year.

"In the course of the last decade the church and state authorities have cooperated fruitfully in the area of spiritual and moral education and training," the letter says, the text of which was delivered on Thursday to "Interfax-religiia."

At the same time, according to the conclusion of specialists and experts of the synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechesis, the draft of the new standards of school educations that was published on the ministry's web site did not contain a "spiritual and moral culture" educational category, including the academic subject of Orthodox culture "as had been provided for in a number of previous agreements," the letter notes.

The patriarch's letter mentions his working meeting with Fursenko on 19 March as the latest meeting at which these agreements were confirmed; the head of the presidential administration of the Russian federation, Sergei Naryshkin, and his first deputy, Vladislav Surkov also participated in this meeting.

Further in the letter Patriarch Kirill sends to the minister an "urgent request," first, "to include the academic subjects of the study of foundations of Orthodox culture and of other traditional religious cultures and of secular morality and ethics in the required portion of the academic plan of standards for general education of the second generation, or to provide some other mechanism for their study within the hours allocated for permissible academic load." Second, the primate requests Fursenko to include official representatives of the Russian Orthodox church in the working group for development of federal state educational standards and in all bodies connected with their adoption and implementation.

A decision regarding maintenance and development of conditions for teaching the foundations of Orthodoxy and other academic subjects pertaining to religion and ethics in the process of developing and introducing the new standards for general education had been reached at a joint conference of the ministry and the church in December 2007 in Kaluga. Such subjects already are being studied by around a million pupils in various regions of Russia at the present time.

On 1 June 2009 the ministry published on its web site the drafts of the new school standards. After their discussion and possible reworking by the Council on Federal State Educational Standards, which was created within the ministry, one of the drafts should be confirmed by the ministry and introduced into the schools as of the new academic year.  (tr. by PDS, posted 18 June 2009)

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Russian court backs Jehovah's Witness' rights

ST. PETERSBURG COURT FORBIDS BLOOD TRANSFUSION FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Gazeta.ru, 16 June 2009

The Kuibyshev regional court of St. Petersburg issued a decision on Monday in a law suit by physicians of the Polenov Russian Institute of Microsurgery. The physicians requested permission to perform a blood transfusion for a patient who presented with a swelling on the brain. The woman is a member of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" religious organization and categorically refused this procedure at the time of preparation for the operation. The court took the side of the patient and forbade the surgeons to act contrary to her wishes.

"We were forced to go to court since we faced a dilemma: criminal prosecution for failing to render medical aid or for violation of the federal law on maintaining health, according to which a patient may refuse treatment," Igor Yakovenko, chief physician of the Polenov Institute, told "Gazeta.ru." In the end the court denied our suit and we were not able to give a blood transfusion. The operation was conducted today. I warned the patient: you will die if this happens. She said: 'So I consent.' Fortunately, the operation succeeded, there was not much bleeding, and a transfusion was not needed."

The physicians now are concerned that with the next patient from the Jehovah's Witnesses it will also be necessary to go to court. "It is necessary to remove this gap in the legislation. It turns out that a treating physician can be held legally responsible no matter what he does," the chief physician of the institute declared.  (tr. by PDS, posted 17 June 2009)


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Justice ministry explains expert analysis council

DOCUMENT:  RESPONSE OF MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TO APPEAL REGARDING MEMBERSHIP AND POWERS OF COUNCIL

From: Ministry of Justice of Russian Federation
Zhitnaia ul., Bldg. 14
Moscow 119991

To: R.N. Lunkin
Scientific research private institution Institute of Religion and Law
3rd Kadashevsky per., Bldg 5
Moscow 115035

Esteemed Roman Nikolaevich

Your appeal addressed to Minister of Justice A.V. Konovalov regarding the formation of the Expert Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis within the Ministry of Justice (hereafter, Council) has been reviewed by the Department for Affairs of Noncommercial Organizations of the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

We inform you that the Council was created by order of the Russian Ministry of Justice of 3 March 2008, No. 61 in accordance with article 48 of the federal law of 23 July 2008, No. 160-FZ, "On introducing changes in various legislative acts of the Russian federation in connection with improving the implementation of the powers of the government of the Russian federation," and with point 8 of article 11 of the federal law of 26 September 1997, No. 125-FZ "On freedom of conscience and religious associations."

The composition of the Council corresponds to the regulation concerning the Expert Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis established by order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia of 18 February 2009, No. 53, and it is sufficiently representative. Its members include authoritative academic workers of different scientific and educational institutions from various regions of Russia who specialize in the area of religious studies and law, including persons with academic degrees and state service ranks who are professionally competent in matters of relations between the state and religious associations and implementation of the law.

In accordance with the regulation regarding the Council, its members have not only rights but also obligations, one of which is the conduct of comprehensive, thoroughly objective and complex analysis of documents presented for expert analysis. In conducting expert analyses all members of the Council are absolutely equal in rights. A decision of the Council, expressed in an expert analysis conclusion, is reached by open voting of a majority of votes of members of the Council who are present at the session. Any member of the Council who disagrees with the expert analysis conclusion has the right to submit a separate opinion in writing, which is subject to publication on the official site of the Russian Ministry of Justice along with the expert analysis conclusion.

The conclusion about "granting to the expert council unprecedented powers of a state agency for monitoring religious organizations" does not correspond to the provisions of normative acts regulating its authority. The Council does not make decisions that are binding on a religious organization. The parameters of the powers of the Expert Council are confined to the conduct of expert analyses, specifically to determining the religious character of an organization and certifying and evaluating the reliability of information relative to the bases of its doctrines. The decisions of the Russian Ministry of Justice that are made in light of the conclusions of the religious expert analysis are of the nature of recommendations only and may be appealed in court.

Zh. A. Dzhakupov,
Acting Director of Department for Affairs of Noncommercial Organizations

(tr. by PDS, posted 12 June 2009)

Russian original posted on site of Slavic Legal Center, 5 June 2009

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Ukraine seeks its own patriarch

GRECO-ROMAN STRUGGLE OF VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
by Aleksei Shmyrev
NG-religiia, 3 June 2009

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko continues to meet with world religious leaders. On 20 May he met with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew in Istanbul and on 1 June he had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to Rome. As in the past, Yushchenko's main idea is the creation of a united local Ukrainian Orthodox church. The third president of Ukraine wants to go down in history as the unifier of Orthodoxy. However in the past year the visit by Patriarch Bartholomew to Kiev did not produce any results in this matter. It seems, he himself has somewhat cooled to the ecclesiastical initiative of Yushchenko. In any case, this time they discussed only the possible opening of an annex of the patriarchate of Constantinople in Kiev. At present Patriarch Bartholomew's interests in Ukraine are limited to this.

However, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs let it be known that it does not approve of the idea of creating a representation of the Constantinople patriarchate in Kiev. "Such initiatives on the part of Ukraine do not have legal bases," the newspaper "Aksham" wrote regarding the outcome of the meeting of Yushchenko and Patriarch Bartholomew, citing Turkish diplomatic circles. "Without the permission of Turkey, such a proposal cannot be undertaken by the patriarchate." In the cited article there also was reference to the conditions of the Lausanne treaty of 1923 according to which the Constantinople patriarch is the head of the Greek Orthodox community of the city of Istanbul and northing more. He does not have the right to call himself the Ecumenical Patriarch and to conduct diplomatic activity without permission of the Turkish government.

And so the ecclesiastical politics of the Ukrainian president have clashed with the stern position of Turkey on the question of the status of the patriarch of Constantinople. When he did not get what he wanted in Istanbul, Yushchenko undertook a visit to Rome where he met with Benedict XVI. To speak with the pope of Rome about Orthodox unity (and Yushchenko promised to touch upon this topic) was at least strange. In addition, the present pontificate, in contrast with its predecessor, is not planning to make visits to countries of the former Soviet Union, preferring to maintain good relations with the Russian Orthodox church. The divisions among Orthodox in Ukraine do not bother the Vatican very much, in contrast to the extremely sharp contradictions between the Ukrainian Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics (Uniates) who are under the jurisdiction of the Roman pope.

The Uniate problem, it seems, is the most unmanageable problem in the business of creating a united Ukrainian Orthodox church. After all, Greek Catholics also call themselves Orthodox. At the same time they are as much the expression of Ukrainian identity as the representatives of the other national churches. Briefly stated, without the participation or at least the agreement of Greek Catholics, the unity of the Ukrainian Orthodox church would not be complete. But is such consent possible after four centuries of division (the Brest Union was proclaimed in 1596)? The leader of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, Cardinal Liubomir Guzar, prefers to answer this question with another question. "There may be unity," he stated in his last interview with the magazine "Ukrainskii Tizhden," "But will we exist when it is attained? Unity is also a gift from God. But it seems to me that everybody reckons to get it on his own personal conditions. Nobody wants to change; on the contrary, everybody says 'let the whole world change, but not I!'"

At the same time the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church has been unable in a year to gain from the Vatican recognition of the title of patriarch which he has already been using, de facto, for a long time. And while Moscow persistently does not recognize the patriarchal title for the former Orthodox exarch of Ukraine, Filaret Denisenko, Rome also persistently does not wish to give such a title to Cardinal Guzar. And what does Yushchenko do in this situation? Judging by everything, he is already convinced of the fruitlessness of attempting to legalize the Kievan patriarchate headed by Filaret; he will not be recognized by either Moscow or Constantinople. And bishops have abandoned him, leading away whole dioceses.

There remains another variant: to try to legalize the Greek Catholic Ukrainian patriarchate headed by Cardinal Guzar. So by hook or by crook Kiev could have its own legal patriarch!  (tr. by PDS, posted 3 June 2009)

Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 3 June 2009

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Russian TV airs dispute over justice council

SCHOLAR:  ACTIVITY OF "SECTOLOGISTS" IN JUSTICE MINISTRY COUNCIL WILL LEAD MANY RUSSIAN CITIZENS TO SEMI-UNDERGROUND
Slavic Legal Center, 2 June 2009

In an interview with the "Vesti" television channel a representative of the scientific community, the head of the Center for Study of Religions of the Russian State Humanities University, Professor Nikolai Shaburov, stated that the activity of sectologists in the council within the Russian Ministry of Justice will lead to the result that many Russian citizens will wind up in the semi-underground, the press service of the Slavic Legal Center reports.

Within the framework of the "Dialogue" program of "Vesti" television station regarding religious studies expert analysis, Professor Shaburov noted that personnel changes in the Council for Conducting State Religious Expert Analysis within the Ministry of Justice of RF, including the fact that it is headed by the sect fighter Dvorkin, were received negatively by the academic community. According to Shaburov, the expert council should not include representatives of selected religious associations since this will lead, for example, to a struggle with protestants and with Pentecostals, of whom there are rather many in Russia. In such an event, fully loyal Russian citizens who are patriotically minded will wind up in the semi-underground, Professor Shaburov emphasized. Doubt regarding the objectivity of the council and its membership was also expressed by the vice-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Kharis Saubianov.

Sectologist Alexander Dvorkin, who was a guest on the TV "Vesti" "Dialogue" program regarding religious studies expert analysis, was forced to justify the membership of the council and to explain how he will analyze the activity of religious associations.  Announcer Ivan Semenov put to Dvorkin the following question:  "Is the council within the Ministry of Justice of RF a defense against cults or a legalized inquisition? There are many Orthodox persons on the council and will you now declare all teaching that RPTs does not like to be sects?"

As Dvorkin noted, there is only one Orthodox priest on the council; that is Lev Semenov, who is a religious studies scholar, while for all the rest Orthodoxy is a private matter. In the previous composition of the council within the Ministry of Justice there was an attorney of the church of Moon, but this council is less partisan:  "its members do not have financial or moral obligations to religious organization by which they are bound one way or another."

To the question about the lack of religious studies specialists on the council within the Ministry of Justice Dvorkin stated:  "What is this religious studies? What has this referred to? In the soviet period it was only scientific atheism; the beasts of atheism worked in the institute of atheism and there are no such people on the council although the old school is represented by MGU Professor Yablokov. Those who resent that they have not been included in this council say that the members are not religious studies specialists."

According to Dvorkin, the council within the Ministry of Justice will decide whether an organization is religious or is just a means to make money. Expert analyses will be conducted only at the request of the Ministry of Justice, and every member of the council will be able to express his own opinion. In addition, it will be possible to dispute the suggestive conclusions of the council.

Previously, during a press conference at the conclusion of an antisectarian conference in St. Petersburg on 16 May, sectologist Alexander Dvorkin stated that for him as the chairman of the council within the Ministry of Justice of RF it is not important whether a religious organizations is registered or notÑit still can be a "sect," just like possession of a passport by a citizen of the Russian federation does not preclude that he may be a criminal. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 June 2009)


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Heads of church and government together

PUTIN AND PATRIARCH LAY CORNERSTONE OF CHURCH IN MOSCOW SUBURBS
Interfax, 1 June 2009

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill carried out the laying of the first stone in a church building complex in Odintsovo district outside of Moscow.

Local residents also were present at the ceremony.

Vladimir Putin arrived at the construction site driving his own "Volga" automobile.

After the event the premier and patriarch traveled together in this same care to the former's suburban Moscow residence in Novo-Ogarevo.  (tr. by PDS, posted 1 June 2009)


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