RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Orthodox Russians object to mosque construction

VORONEZH PROVINCIAL COURT FINDS AUTHORITIES' REQUEST FOR DEMOLITION OF PRIVATE HOME BUILT BY LOCAL MUSLIM LEADER ILLEGAL
Portal-credo.ru, 31 August 2010

The Novousmanskii regional court of Voronezh province refused to satisfy the lawsuit of the administration of the Novousmanskii administrative district against the leader of a local Muslim religious organization, Marat Gaziev. The authorities sought a ruling that a house being built by him is an "illegal structure" and that it be demolished, a Portal-credo.ru correspondent reports.

Contrariwise, the court satisfied Gazaev's request to recognize his right to ownership of the partially constructed house that he made in a countersuit.

The authorities based their request, inter alia, on an appeal to the opinion of residents of the Otradnoe settlement, where the construction is being done, showing their extremely cautious attitude toward Muslim fellow citizens. The appeal that concerned residents of Otradnoe sent to provincial duma deputy Alexander Ponomarev, the head of the Committee on Security and Human Rights of the regional legislative assembly, contained in particular the claim that the house being built would not be used as a residence but as a mosque, which they would not want to have in their neighborhood.

People calling themselves "Orthodox Christians" attended the court hearing as observers.

The decision of the Novousmanskii court was not appealed by the plaintiff in the legally established manner and it took effect at the beginning of August. The court's decision also contains a point rescinding the previously issued temporary measures according to which the construction was halted during the period of judicial hearings. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Orthodox identity of Kremlin reinforced

PATRIARCH KIRILL CONSECRATES GATE ICON ON KREMLIN SPASSKII TOWER
Interfax-Religiia, 30 August 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and about 1,000 believers attended last Saturday a solemn consecration of an icon on the Spasskii [Savior] tower of the Kremlin that was conducted by Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill.

Exactly at 15.00, accompanied by chimes, the president and patriarch emerged from the first building of the Kremlin and proceeded through the gates of the Spasskii tower. After a worship service Patriarch Kirill ascended the pedestal decorated with white flowers which raised him immediately to the icon. He sprinkled the gate image with holy water and blessed the believers.

The ceremonial unveiling of the gate icon was timed to coincide with the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. In the morning of that day the primate performed the liturgy in the Dormition cathedral of the Kremlin.

The initiative for the restoration of the Kremlin's gate icons was begun in 2007 by the Foundation of Andrew the First-called. This initiative received the president's support and patriarch's blessing.

Structural niches resembling icon cases can be seen on the external sides of the Spasskii, Nikolskii, Kutafii, Troitskii, and Konstantino-Eleninskii towers and also on the interior sides of the Spasskii, Troitskii,  and Borovitskii towers.

Most often the names of the Kremlin's towers are connected with the icons that were located on them. The Spasskii tower received its name from the icon of the Savior that was located on it.

For preliminary work on the question of the possibility of restoring the icons, an initiative group was created in the Foundation of Andrew the First-called, which was headed by the chairman of the council of trustees of the foundation, Vladimir Yakunin. The group also included the director of the security service Evgenii Murov, Kremlin Commandant Sergei Khlebnikov, chief of staff of the Russian president Vladimir Kozhin, director of Rosokhrankultura Alexander Kibovskii, general director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums Elena Gagarina, and other famous people.

Bishop of Geneva and West Europe Mikhail (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) presented to the initiative group a photograph of the icon of St. Nicholas on the Nikolskii tower. The picture was taken after the shelling of the Kremlin towers in October 1917 and given to Admiral Kolchak by Patriarch Tikhon.

For a long time it was considered that all icons on the Kremlin towers were completely lost although there was no documentary support that the icons were lost. Members of the initiative group suggested that the icons on the Spasskii and Nikolskii towers were not lost but were preserved in the icon cases under a layer of plaster.

In February 2010, after conducting the necessary negotiations, the initiative group decided to investigate in the icon cases of both towers and it was discovered that iconographic images really had been preserved under a layer of plaster.

Restoration of the icon on Spasskii tower took a little less than two months and work on the Nikolskii tower continued several months more.

According to existing historical materials, an icon was located on Spasskii tower on which were represented the Savior and saints Sergius and Varlaam falling at his feet. The icon was painted in memory of the deliverance of Moscow from the siege of the forces of Khan Makhmet-Gerei in 1521.

The icon of St. Nikolas of Mozhaisk on the Nikolskii tower dates from the end of the 15th to beginning of 16th centuries. At the time of the shelling in October 1917 the gate image was riddled with bullets and shrapnel but the face itself was not damaged, which believers took to be a miracle.  (tr. by PDS, posted 30 August 2010)


MEDVEDEV: CONSECRATION OF ICON ON SPASSKII TOWER UNITES RUSSIA AND GIVES IT ADDITIONAL PROTECTION
Interfax-Religiia, 30 August 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is sure that with the restoration of the icons on the Kremlin towers, Russia and its people will become more secure.

"Today's events have a special meaning, specifically in the unity of the church with the nation. I am sure that from the moment of the restoration of the icons, our country will receive additional security," the head of state said, speaking Saturday on Red Square after the consecration of the icon of the Savior of Smolensk on the Spasskii tower of the Kremlin.

D. Medvedev thanked everyone who helped in preserving and restoring this icon.

"We should recall those who facilitated and helped this in the period of atheism, risking not merely their jobs but their lives, who preserved this miracle for generations of those who are here today on Red Square and those who will come to the Kremlin and be inspired by the image that protects the Kremlin, Moscow, and all of us," the president said.

Later the same day, receiving Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill in the Kremlin, the president greeted him "on the great holiday (the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God--IR) and thanked him for consecrating the gate icon.

"This special spiritual situation is really a miracle. And for me it was a great joy to take part in this event, since this really is an event that unites our country," D. Medvedev said.

On his part, Patriarch Kirill called for viewing this event "from a broader perspective." "The face of the Savior has appeared on Spasskii tower. This is, of course, a symbol. Today it was raining; rain always is a manifestation of the grace of God. We prayed fervently that it would rain, and lo and behold now it is flowing. And may it rain more in order to drench our parched land," the primate of the church said. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Religious leaders view new law regulating police

REPRESENTATIVES OF "TRADITIONAL" RELIGIONS SUPPORT DRAFT OF LAW "ON POLICE," BUT PROPOSE SEVERAL CHANGES
Portal-credo.ru, 26 August 2010

Representatives of the Moscow patriarchate, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, protestants, and Buddhists of Russia hope that the adoption of the law "On police" will facilitate the establishment of a law-based state in the country, and on the whole they support the draft law and suggest several terminological changes, RIA Novosti reported on 25 August.

"Prohibiting a police officer from publicly expressing an attitude toward some association or organization, including a religious association, may conflict with a person's religious freedom. If a person is a believer, his faith cannot be only personal. If he is in a church and is worshiping, he is somehow expressing his attitude toward the religious society to which he belongs," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society of RPTsMP, said on 25 August at a press conference in Moscow at which representatives of "traditional" religions of Russia discussed the new draft law.

In Chaplin's opinion, it is necessary to change point 14 of article 30 which says that police officers are forbidden to use their official authority in the interests of political parties and public, religious associations.

"It seems to me that it would be sufficient here to say that a police officer may not use his official position in order to compel a citizen to adopt one or another attitude toward religion or in order to act in the interests of one or another religious organization," the representative of RPTsMP thinks.

In his opinion, the draft law misuses the term "confession" several times. "Confession exists only within the context of Christianity. When we speak about a religious organization and religious association, we should speak of interreligious and interconfessional peace and harmony," the priest stated.

A representative of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), Bishop Sergei Riakhovskii, agreed with the representative of RPTsMP that the term "confession" should be used more precisely. In the bishop's opinion, more attention should be given to the internal moral core of the representatives of law enforcement agencies.

The general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, Fr Igor Kovalevskii, thinks that the police today are identified with the apparatus of repression and do not appear as defenders of the rights and freedoms of citizens. He hopes that the law on the police will become an important milestone in the establishment of a law-based state.

The priest mentioned that the word "militsia" comes from the Greek word milos, which means "warrior," whereas the word "police" is translated from the Greek as "state." In ancient culture, he added, military service was called "militsia."

The director of the Department for Relations with the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement Institutions, and Ministry for States of Emergency of the Federation of Jewish Organizations of Russia, Rabbi Aaron Gurevich, suggested that the main point of the draft law is a struggle for the image of the power structure.

On the whole, representatives of religious organizations think the draft law is timely. "The level of confidence of the people in the police is extremely low. . . . It is good that the authorities have understood this concern of the people and it is good that the authorities have responded to the voice of the people who are now expressing concern," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin thinks. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Arson of Baptist church

BAPTIST HOUSE OF WORSHIP BURNS IN KURGAN OBLAST
Press service of RSEKhB, 19 August 2010

In the night of 13-14 August a house of worship of the church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (EKhB) was set on fire in the village of Kirofo, Mishkinskoe region of Kurgan province. A private log house belonging to believers was being used as a house of worship.

All of the structures in the yard were burned and a substantial part of the house and church property: library, musical instruments, household appliances, and furniture. The blaze began in outbuildings where there was no electrical wiring and flammable materials and then the flame moved to the house itself. According to eyewitnesses, the fire brigade that arrived refused to register the fire, citing the absence of victims and also the fact that the premises were not used as a permanent residence. The firefighters gave an oral statement that they determined the cause of the fire to be arson.

The group of believers of the village of Kirovo has been actively engaged in spreading the good news and in social service. With the support of the "Kovcheg" ("Ark") EKhB church of Shadrinsk, charitable actions for the residents of the village have been conducted in the form of distribution of food packages for poor families with many children. Every year a camp for children has been conducted in the Kirovo house of worship. This year there were 40 children in the camp mainly from families in poverty. The Kirovo house of worship was acquired with the contributions of believers. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Evangelicals turn anti-extremism on Orthodox

HEADS OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN ROSTOV PROVINCE ASK MVD TO PUT AN END TO ORTHODOX EXTREMIST ACTIVITY
Portal-credo.ru, 23 August 2010

On 20 August the Council of Heads of Protestant Religious Associations of Rostov province sent a request to the Department for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the Russian federation to intervene in the "clearly unlawful activity" of an employee of the Taganrog deanery of the Rostov and Novocherkassk diocese of the Russian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate, V.P. Storchak, to conduct an investigation, and upon the results of content analysis and expert studies of his publications to make appropriate responses, a Portal-credo.ru corresondent reports.

The text of the appeal reports that Sorchak "over the course of more than five years has published with impunity materials in the mass media and Internet pejoratively characterizing non-Orthodox religious communities (that are officially registered with offices of the Ministry of Justice of RF and are legally functioning religious organizations of Christians of the protestant persuasion on the territory of RF).  In describing the character of the activity of protestant religious organizations of Christians of Evangelical Faith and Seventh-day Adventist Christians, V.P. Storchak uses information that is not only obviously not in accord with reality but is also frankly offensive, while using negatively colored vocabulary. Storchak's publications are of a vicious, defamatory nature, creating in the reader of news media a persistently negative, hostile attitude toward a certain religious community."

The heads of protestant churches of Rostov province note that "in his work, V.P. Storchak compares the teachings of several separate religious organizations while in openly crude and sometimes mocking form preaching the superiority of the beliefs of one religious organizations with respect to another, which offends the religious feelings of thousands of believers in Rostov province."

In addition, members of the council asked the head of the Department for Combating Extremiism of MVD of the Russian federation, Yury Kokov to turn his attention to the activity of the Irenaeus of Lyons Information and Consultation Center (a center of religious studies named for the holly martyr Irenaeus of Lyons), headed by A.L. Dvorkin. In the believers' opinion, "the staffs of this center and its affiliates, wishing to evaluate the activity of foreign churches and religious organizations, have gone over the line of the permissible. In their publications and statement to the news media they grossly and falsely present often fabricated information that demeans the dignity of citizens of Russia and causes disruption within civil society."

Members of the Council of Heads of Protestant Religious Associations of Rostov province also sent a similar letters to the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, which statement the problem connected with the activity of V.P. Storchak on the territory of Rostov province. "We pray God'ss blessing for this man and we sent you a request to exert your influence upon this situation, since such activity is not able to bring blessings to either the Russian Orthodox church or the Russian state," the appeal says.

"A survey conducted in several evangelical church showed that nearly 100% of their members wish to be reconciled with Orthodoxy and are prepared even to participate in joint projects. We believe that such a development of our interrelationships will be pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ and accords with his basic commandment," the protestants noted.

The president of the council, Vladimir Khvalov, informed Vladimir Storchak of his intention to send letters to the Department for Combating Extremism and the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate. "I tried to speak with him as with a brother," the pastor stated, "appealing to his Christian worldview, to say nothing of elementary ethics and respect for people of other confessions, but this turned out to be useless. The man is prepared to cynically bad mouth evangelical believers further. In connection with this we have decided to take extensive measures."

Both appeals were signed by representatives of six religious organizations:  the director of the Department of Public Relations and Religious Liberty of the centralized religious organization of the Association of the Church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians in Rostov province and the republic of Kalmykia, A.V. Stepanov, the bishop of the North Caucasus Association of the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, P.G. Kolesnichenko, the president of the Association of Christian Churches and organizations for spiritual enlightenment, V.A. Khvalov, the senior rabbi of the local religious organization of the "Shomer Yisrael Messianic Synagogue" of Christians of Evangelical Faith, R.A. Gerliants, and the senior pastor of the "Word of Life" churches of Rostov province and Krasnodar territory, A.L. Volik. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 August 2010)


Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from which it came.