Copyrighted material. For private use only.
Recently several mass media, particularly the "Metaphrasis" agency, have published distorted information and superficial and imprecise commentary regarding the position of the Russian Orthodox church with regard to the World Council of Churches and the work of the delegation of our church at the Eighth WCC Assembly (Karare, Zimbabwe, 3-14 December 1998) and also with regard to the conversations of the delegations of the Moscow and Romanian patriarchates (Kishinev, 15 January 1999).
The press service of the Department of External Church Relations has declared that detailed explanations on these topics were given in the press releases "On the Eighth Assembly of World Council of Churches," "Session of Holy Synod Held," and "Delegations of the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches met in Kishinev," in December 1998 and January 1999.
Upon publication of materials pertaining to these subjects, the press service requests that reporters call attention to these releases. The texts of these releases also may be sent to reporters upon request by fax and electronic mail. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 2 February 1999)
If the ancient Roman priests of pagan Mars were to show up in Russia of the twentieth century they would be extremely amazed that many of the local Christians, whom in their time they persecuted, subjected to demeaning punishments, and hounded into the arena with lions for the entertainment of the public all for their preaching "Do not kill" and love for one's neighbor, are not merely an influential force in society and government but have occasionally imitated them. Those who initially opposed morally the state machine with its repressive apparatus and battle-ready troops have themselves become a part of this machine, right up to the appearance of the position of military priests. And now, it seems, they have taken on anew the role of army political commissars in clerical dress.
The church and army, the state's armed forces in general, are two institutions whose mutual relationships require precise definition. It is one thing to bless an army for protection from external aggression or from those who would enslave, while remaining outside the earthly, secular authority and its structure. It is another to become a part of the state machine of repression and to become a component of aggressive imperialist foreign policy.
The authority of the Russian Orthodox church at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentiety centuries had fallen quite low and that was not unrelated to the way its representatives particularly stood out as an element of the state apparatus (in this case the Holy Synod) in military units. All campaigns of the Russian empire of that period (it is not important under which ideological cover) were wars of aggression and conquest. The RPTs made no declarations of ethical positions on this matter (and it could not because it was a part of the state machine). The army not only extended the boundaries of the empire but it also suppressed rural uprisings and strikes and national liberation movements. The position of RPTs was one of practical solidarity with the repressive actions of the state, whose victims included thousands of desperate people who were protesting against oppressions and injustices, including the Old Believers who had joined the church (Edinovertsy).
The bolshevik authorities, by an irony of history, achieved what the Orthodox sovereign did not, although he was urged to: they separated the church from the state and did not prevent the restoration of the patriarchate. Afterward, to be sure, they began to destroy religion along with its adherents in a most cruel and merciless way.
During this terrible, bloody period the authority of RPTs grew not only on the principle that "whoever's faith is being persecuted must be the true faith" but also as a consequence of its nonparticipation in the evil communist regime. After Patriarch Tikhon's death there was no overt opposition to it (only the catacomb Orthodox church put up passive resistance) but even the formal separation of the official church from the repressive state machine was a factor in raising the confidence of the population in it as a public institution.
However there existed a linkage of religious associations, with RPTs in first place, to the state and its repressive machine by means of a wide-reaching network of agents within the core of their structures. Such a linkage was secret. Attempts to remove the curtain from this secret through the work of a special parliamentary commission in 1991-1992 were cut off. The new government with the old nomenklatura and the unchanged ecclesiastical nomenklatura again established a kind of cooperation. At the same time leaders of the opposition, including nationalistic and even Nazi as well as communist factions (who apparently are organizationally related if not ideologically) also exploited the inclinations of many bishops of RPTs.
The Russian Orthodox church under pressure from its bureaucratic personnel who in their time had been nourished by the Lubianka [KGB, tr.] and Old Square [communist party central committee, tr.] was unable to become a moral, strong, constructive element for society, which means preventing the state from relapsing again into a punitive form. Let's take several significant examples.
The end of September and the beginning of October 1993. Constitutional crisis in Russia. The president issued Decree 1400, which sharply intensified the confrontation between structures of authority. The Supreme Soviet did not fail to respond: it drew extremists as its allies. They opened the path to bloodshed.
The patriarchate made a gesture toward reconciliation of the sides and declared that whoever was first to interrupt the negotiating process and initiate an armed attack on the other side would be placed under anathema as the instigator of civil war. So the opposition, taking advantage of the withdrawal of troops from the capital, broke off the negotiations, disrupted the truce, stormed city hall, and attacked the Ostankino television station and Podmoskovie publishing house. The killed and wounded are on its conscience. What did the patriarchate do? It was silent and has not kept its word about anathema.
So the opposition, which had not achieved a decisive success, took up the defense of the current house of the government, hiding behind the living shield of the peaceful population. Heedless of this situation, the executive authority began its bombardment. And what did the patriarchate do? It did not "notice" nor condemn this barbaric action. Apparently it did not want a dispute with either side.
And what about its moral position? It seems that the priority of profit over morality has been convincingly demonstrated.
The same thing happened in the war in Chechnia. The immoral policies of the government, primarily of the executive, the war itself as an awful action, and the murder of an Orthodox priest by Chechen fanatics and bigots were not decisively condemned by the church. The silence is a sign of agreement with the perpetrators of the crimes.
An illustration of the convergence of the interests of the militarists with the most reactionary portion of higher church circles was blatantly demonstrated. And no wonder: the generalite was also interested in moral support on the part of the church. The latter responded in full mutuality.
I do not know about others, but I was shocked by the shots in the television broadcast from the command point of the strategic missiles showing how military and church leaders placed it under the protective care of the Most Holy Mother of God! How can there be such blasphemy: invoking the Mother of God to intercede for weapons capable of destroying all that is living and beautiful, God's world on Earth! Pagans could pray to Mars, Odin, Perun, and the like to give their weapons greater death-dealing force. But that Christians would be engaged in this!
I learned recently that one of the archbishops of RPTs bestowed a high church medal on the designer of the Kalashnikov machine gun. One wonders what for? After all his guns did not repulse the fascists' attack upon the homeland. They showed up in Hungary into which our army troops were sent to put down the uprising against the local stalinist regime, and in Czechoslovakia where our troops also assumed the role of executioner, and in numerous "hot spots" which arose on account of our rulers' guilt. Moreover they distributed a mass of Kalashnikovs and the technology for their manufacture to various dictators, after which our own boys were killed at border posts by these products of this new recipient of the church's award.
Apparently the supreme church echelon considers these facts unworthy of its attention. The main thing is to bless military might and it is not important whether it is good for the people and the country. And this is what is significant. An award was not given to Ilizarov for his invention which permits victims not to become cripples nor to the inventors of vaccines against horrible diseases nor inventors of remarkable prostheses and equipment for saving people from the consequences of accidents and catastrophes--no! It turns out they are not worthy. But the inventor of a weapon of murder is fully worthy.
In the Moscow suburb of Krasnoarmeisk in 1991 the rector of the church of Saint Nicholas in Tsarevo village, N. Glebov, blessed the desecration of a church which happened to be on the territory of the local firing range, declaring that the military industrial complex was more important for him. Believers' complaints had no effect and the holy father remained in his position to teach such Christianity and patriotism, if one may call them that. Now we can wait to find out which of the saints will be designated protectors of poison gasses and other chemical weapons, antipersonnel mines (from which civilians suffer most, including children) and other such "achievements" that are worthy of high awards according to the logic and practice of some of the bishops of RPTs. And God forbid that communists, Nazis, and "patriots" like them come to power; then you will see pictures of how the forced labor barracks and guard towers of the revived GULAG are being consecrated and which of the saints are assigned to be protectors of the ovens of the crematoria. This unseemly state of affairs that I consider disgraceful for the reputation of Orthodoxy has been produced because Christianity as such has gradually been displaced by a quasi-religion which I would call Christianoid Mars-ism. Because judging by numerous facts, I see that many of the ministers of the church of various ranks have made Mars and his accoutrements--weapons, majestic military might, and instruments of violence and suppression--the chief, genuine, but hidden object of their worship. This worship that is disguised in Christianity will lead, quite successfully in my view, to the establishment in Russia of a Nazi-theocratic-militaristic structure. If the supreme hierarchy of RPTs does not take note of this and does not prevent it, then to its great misfortune Russia will not be able to escape disaster. And then it will be more horrible than the rule of bolshevism or the invasion of Hitler's fascism. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 30 January 1999)
Dukhobors quit the transcaucasian republic
On Saturday another 56 members of the religious society of Dukhobors will leave Georgia for good, where their ancestors settled a century and a half ago. On that day a motorcade will cross the Russian-Georgian border at Verkhny Lars and travel toward Briansk province. Up to the Russian border they will be accompanied by the Department of Emergency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, and they will move to their new place of settlement under the protection of the "Leader" center of Russia.
Before Georgia gained its independence, about 6,000 Dukhobors lived on the territory between the lakes Parvana and Khanchala in the Ninotsmindi province (approximately 200 km. from Tbilisi). They had arrived here more than 150 years ago, persecuted by the official Orthodox church. The Dukhobors engaged mainly in farming. Here they operated the cooperative farm "Dukhobor" in which there was a stock farm, with dairy and swine products, as well as a juice unit. The exodus of the Dukhobors from Georgia into Russia and Canada started at the time of the ascendancy to power in Georgia of the adherents of the former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who propounded the principle of "Georgia for the Georgians." And although the government of Georgia changed subsequently, the departure of the Dukhobors continued. In all, in recent years 4,000 Dukhobors have quit the republic. It is true that Georgia has tried to represent the resettlement of Dukhobors as a "natural process." The aide to the Georgian president for international affairs, Alexis Gerasimov, has stated: "The action planned for Saturday demonstrates the possibility of productive cooperation between the two countries." (tr. by PDS)
DUKHOBOR SECT MEMBERS EMIGRATE TO RUSSIA AND CANADA
MOSCOW, Jan. 28, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) More than 4,000 members of the Protestant Dukhobor sect have left Georgia to settle in Russia and Canada in recent years, the Russian daily Segodnya said Wednesday.
A group of 60 people is expected to leave Saturday to settle in the Bryansk region of central Russia, leaving only 2,000 Dukhobors in Georgia, the paper said.
The Dukhobors were prominent in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries, before fleeing to escape Orthodox Church persecutions. Some of them sought refuge in Georgia and Armenia, while others emigrated to Canada, aided by a campaign run by the author Leo Tolstoy.
In the two-year period 1898-1899 alone, over 7,000 Dukhobors moved to Saskatchewan and later spread to the western province of British Columbia.
In doctrine, the Dukhobors are somewhat like the Quakers, completely rejecting priesthood, the sacraments and other outward symbols of Christianity.
According to a UN committee on human rights and ethnic relations, the Dukhobors have now almost entirely disappeared from Georgia.
The current exodus from Georgia began after the former Soviet republic won independence in 1991, because of the deterioration of the economic situation and an increase in what they call anti-Russian sentiment.
(c) 1998 Agence France Presse
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
(posted 30 January 1999)
MOSCOW (AP) -- Advocates for religious freedom urged the U.S. government on Friday not to give the Russian Orthodox Church a hand in distributing $650 million in food aid to Russia.
The activists said it would be a mistake to put the church in charge of aid distribution because of church corruption and what they consider an oppressive stance toward other religious groups.
``Letting the Moscow Patriarchate distribute the humanitarian aid is the same as putting the cow to mind the corn,'' said Gleb Yakunin, a defrocked Russian Orthodox priest who has become a prominent human rights activist.
Church officials called the claim unfounded and promised that aid distribution would be honest and open.
Past food aid deals have been tainted by corruption, so U.S. officials have tried to avoid any hint of scandal in this program.
There are no food shortages in Russia now, but the economic crisis on top of a poor grain harvest has sent prices soaring, making food increasingly out of reach for many impoverished Russians.
During talks in Moscow, U.S. and Russian officials agreed that part of the aid, which is to start arriving next month, would be distributed through the Russian Orthodox Church.
At a news conference, Yakunin and other religious activists warned that church leaders might embezzle the U.S. aid, noting that the church also has commercial activities.
Father Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, dismissed the claims. ``Those unfounded accusations aren't even worth a comment,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``They are made by people who have made attacks against the church their profession.''
Yakunin suggested that the aid instead be distributed by police and border guards, although both also have reputations for corruption in Russia.
Activists have criticized church officials for strongly advocating a controversial religion law in 1997 that established Orthodoxy as Russia's preeminent religion and limited the rights of many other religious groups. The church's aggressive stance could mean that needy people of other faiths would never get the aid, Yakunin and other activists said.
But Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II said Friday that the aid would be primarily delivered to orphanages and hospices, as well as regions in Russia's Far North, regardless of religious affiliation.
He said priests would compile lists of those who need the aid most and send it to regional bishops for coordination.
``We will be getting this aid free and we will distribute it freely, without any commercial interest,'' Archbishop Sergiy, who is in charge of the food aid distribution, told the daily Vremya MN.
Yakunin spent years in a labor camp during the Soviet era for dissident activities and has harshly criticized senior priests for their alleged cooperation with the KGB.
He was defrocked in 1993 and excommunicated in 1997 for ignoring a church ban on political activity. Since then, he has joined the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
(C) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
(posted 30 January 1999)
MOSCOW, Jan. 28, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russian prosecutors on Thursday launched a criminal case against a leading Communist member of parliament who made televised anti-Jewish remarks to crowds of nationalist protesters last October.
The deputy, Gen. Albert Makashov, was shown on television using an offensive term for Jews, blaming them for Russia's woes and saying some should be rounded up and jailed.
Prosecutors are seeking to convict him of inciting ethnic hatred, an offence under Russia's criminal code.
After Makashov's original remarks, the scandal boiled up further when his Communist Party, the biggest in the Duma, the lower house of parliament, helped to block a motion to censure him.
Several other Communists have since made anti-Semitic remarks, blaming Jews for, among other things, "genocide" against the Russian people.
Party leader Gennady Zyuganov issued a statement last month saying Communists had nothing against Jews as such, but that "Zionists" were plotting in secret to dominate the world.
Makashov was unrepentant on Thursday, saying nothing he had said violated Russia's incitement laws but citing three of Russia's greatest 19th century authors in his defense.
"The investigators from the Federal Security Service (FSB) questioned me. I told them that alongside me they should try Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoyevsky, because they used the same perfectly literary word that I used," he said.
Makashov said he had used the Russian word "zhid" to refer to "all the bloodsuckers regardless of their ethnicity." The Oxford Russian dictionary defines the word as a pejorative obscenity meaning "Jew."
As a member of the Duma, Makashov enjoys immunity from prosecution. But prosecutors have the authority to request that the Duma itself vote on lifting that immunity. It has done so to two members since it was founded in 1993.
The Kremlin and other politicians including Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov have called openly for Makashov to be prosecuted.
The New York-based World Jewish Congress (WJC) said on Wednesday it had learned that the United Nations High Commissioner for Civil Rights had asked the Russian government to report on anti-Semitism in the Communist Party.
The WJC had written to Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, to complain about comments made by Communist members of the Duma.
Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright both expressed alarm at the anti-Semitic trend during visits to Moscow this month.
(c) 1998 Reuters
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
(posted 29 January 1998)
SEVASTOPOL. At its recent session the Sevastopol city council made a routine decision that infringes upon the rights of one of the so-called "nontraditional" religions in the city. Specifically infringing upon the rights of believers was the response of city authorities to the application of the St. Clement Catholic society requesting the return to it of the building of the Druzhba movie house where before the war the Catholic church was located. There was nothing surprising about the outcome of the discussions between the Catholics and the council members; one could expect nothing else from a communist majority council. The unanimity of the council in voting was striking: all members agreed not to return the church, except for one who abstained from voting. The members' argument evokes complex feelings: they say there was no repression of believers in the Soviet Union; everything that happened was the crime of the fascists from Germany who invaded the city in 1941; and the Catholic church is the "richest church in the world" and is quite able to build its own new building. Finally, the children should not be deprived of their Friendship movie theater (which, incidentally, is visibly crumbling and always is empty). In the meantime a portion of the building has recently been remodeled . . . for a pay toilet.
The head of the department of religions of the city administration of Sevastopol, Anatoly Sigor, a year and a half ago declared in an interview with a reporter from Ekspress Khronika his support for the application of the Catholic society but he did not attend the session of the city council. Obviously, he could not muster the courage to defend his point of view. Or, perhaps, he recalled his political past and his party comrades.
The lawyer for the St. Clement congregation, Anatoly Kovalov, said that in tsarist Russia the Catholic parish of Sevastopol also suffered difficulties in relations with the local authorities. But when the issue of granting land for construction of a Catholic church in Sevastopol was raised, the decision still was affirmative. At that time the argument "for" the church was: "Services are conducted in a language that the inhabitants cannot understand, and thus they cannot have any effect upon them."
What the communist element of the current city council fears remains a mystery. Perhaps it is a matter of influence upon the citizens. Perhaps some fear those who profess a foreign faith. Or perhaps the deputies simply want a pay toilet. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Ekspress khronika
(posted 18 January 1999)
On 15 January 1999, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS), Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kalingrad, accompanied by the vice chairman of the department, Archpriest Viktor Petliuchenko and secretary of OVTsS for inter-Orthodox relations, Archimandrite Elisei Ganba, went to Kishinev in order to conduct conversations with a delegation of the Romanian patriarchate on problems connected with the situation of Orthodoxy in the republic of Moldova in accordance with the agreement between the primates of the Russian and Romanian Orthodox churches. At the airport his holiness Kirill was met by bishops of the Orthodox church in Moldova led by Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and all-Moldova as well as representatives of the government of the republic of Moldova, led by State Secretary Nikolai Chernomaz and Russian ambassador A.V. Papkin. The chairman was received by Moldovan President Petr Luchinsky, which who he conducted a detailed conversation about the church situation in Moldova. The president showed hospitality to the guests and provided rooms for conducting the conversations after which he hosted a ceremonial dinner in the Palace of the Republic.
As a result of the conversations the delegations of the two churches signed the following communique:
"On 15 January 1999 in the Palace of the Republic in Kishinev there was a meeting of representatives of the Moscow and Romanian patriarchates for correcthing the church situation in Moldova. The Moscow patriarchate was represented by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, who headed the delegation, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and all-Moldova, and Mr. Georgii Armashu. The Romanian patriarchate was represented by the archbishop of Yassi, Metropolitan Daniil of Moldova and Bukovina, who headed the delegation, Metropolitan Nextor of Olteniia, Mr. Vlad Kubriakov, a member of the national church assembly of the Romanian Orthodox church.
Placing great value on the meeting of the two delegations in Kishinev, which permitted for the first time the conduct of conversations between the Moscow and Romanian patriarchates in the presence of and with the participation of Orthodox from Moldova, the sides agress upon the necessity of continuing such consultations, so that in the near future they can agree upon a mutually acceptable model of the resolution of canonical questions connected with the state of Orthodoxy on the territory of the republic of Moldova
In the course of the discussion both sides presented their understanding and perspective upon the conplicated church situation in Moldova and stressed the need for mavoing from confrontation and hostility to reconciliation and cooperation.
The heads of the two delegations at the consultation together will propose to their churches mutually acceptable means for resolution of the problems which remain on the agenda of the two churches with respect to the situation involving Master Peter Peduraru.
The sides have expressed the hope that the meeting they have conducted will serve as a basis for a process of radical improvement in relations between the two churches and will facilitate the unity of the society of the republic of Moldova." (tr. by PDS)
(posted 2 February 1999)
Moscow. Life as a parish priest has been good to Alexei Novikov. A former policeman, he now spends his weekends at a dacha in an affluent Moscow suburb. He has close friends in the business world and keeps his pager on even during prayer services.
Novikov, 45, has had to make some sacrifices. He recently gave up his white Mercedes for a Volga after parishioners complained about his lavish lifestyle.
However, priests are coming under greater pressure from the top of the Russian Orthodox church to mend their materialistic ways. Last week Patriarch Alexy II, its highest authority, said he could no longer remain silent about "the bad influence on some of our priests. This is a sinful display of egotism, self-confidence, vanity and superiority over others due to a wealth which is often earned in an illegal and criminal way".
Indignant at such behaviour when half the population was living below the poverty line, the patriarch scolded parishes with black market contacts seeking to legalise their business through the church.
As it rebuilds itself after 70 years of communist repression, however, the church has not shied away from the less than holy world of Russian business. Dioceses across the country have formed a variety of lucrative business partnerships.
One of the church's largest known earners is MES, the International Economic Partnership, a large oil exporter. Co-founded by the finance department of the Moscow patriarchy, which owns 40% of its shares, it has an annual turnover of $2 billion.
President Boris Yeltsin granted the church tax breaks that enabled it to receive imports of spirits and tobacco marked as "humanitarian aid" which it sold, duty-free, through middlemen. In 1996 the church imported one in every 10 cigarettes sold in Russia, and netted an estimated ? 6m from the sales of alcohol and cigarettes.
Alexy II was forced to put an end to the privileges after the trade became public, but its finances remain a closely guarded secret.
"In terms of its leadership and secrecy, the Russian Orthodox church is the most Soviet of all Russian institutions," said Larry Uzzell, of the Keston Institute in Oxford, which monitors religious freedom in eastern Europe. "The place smells of money but it is useless to ask where it's coming from."
Officially, the Russian Orthodox church denies involvement in most of its business activities by claiming that its financial branches are separate. Last August, Archbishop Iov, the highest representative of the Russian Orthodox church in the city of Chelyabinsk, received death threats from criminals believed to be pressing him for a cut of the church's commercial operations.
"What we have now is a church born out of the KGB," said Gleb Yakunin, a dissident priest and gulag survivor who was defrocked by the church.
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
(posted 18 January 1999)
Following recent suggestions in some media that the Russian Orthodox Church has suspended its membership of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the situation, as confirmed to the WCC by the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Geneva, is as follows:
The Russian Orthodox Church has not suspended or withdrawn its membership of the World Council of Churches.
A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, held 28-29 December in Moscow, heard a report on the WCC Eighth Assembly from the ROC delegates who attended. The report included details of the Assembly decision to set up a special commission to examine Orthodox concerns with and participation in the World Council of Churches.
The Holy Synod agreed that from now until the results of the special commission were known, the Russian Orthodox Church would suspend its active participation in the regular work of the WCC. In practice, this means elected Russian Orthodox Church members of the WCC executive committee and central committee would attend meetings but would not actively participate in general discussion or voting.
The Holy Synod agreed that the church would fully participate in the work of the special commission.
Forwarded by the WCC Europe Desk:
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
(posted 15 January 1999)
TIUMEN 15 January. A church that was confiscated back in 1929 has been returned to Catholics in Tiumen. Originally the authorities used the building for the Red Officers' Club and later as a storehouse. In recent years a House of Scholars and organ music hall have been located in it. On 10 January of this year Bishop Joseph Werth, apostolic administrator of the Novosibirsk apostolic administration, consecrated the building. The consecrated took place on the day of celebration of the baptism of the Lord on the Catholic calendar. (tr. by PDS)
CATHOLIC "CARITAS" ORGANIZATION PROVIDED CHARITY
by Maria Yershova, Radiotserkov
NOVOSIBIRSK 14 January. A humanitarian shipment from Italy consisting of food, shoes, and clothing has been received by children in a Catholic shelter, vagrants in the train station, children of one of the Novosibirsk children's homes, and women who live in the Maternal Refuge Home for indigent mothers. (tr. by PDS)
CHRISTMAS DANCES IN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
by Natalia Ivanova, Radiotserkov
NOVOSIBIRSK, 13 January. An unusual event took place on 10 January in the Catholic cathedral church of Novosibirsk. For the first time in the seven years of its existence the Catholic parish has been able to view dances in its church. Two dances performed by girls of the parish and the St. Nicholas charity shelter were devoted to the celebration of Christ's birth.
The girls first perforemd these dances at the Christmas Service of 24 December 1998 in the Lutheran parish in Akademgorodok and then they performed one of these dances in two protestant churches in Novosibirsk, also at holiday services. After their "Christmas tour" the girls were pleased to be able to perform within their home church for celebrating Epiphany.
While in the Vatican the performance of dancers and singers for the pope may already be customary, for Catholics of the capital of Siberia this is an entirely new affair. Many simply do not know how to react to this. The young parishioners who participate in the dance were afraid during rehearsal that the whole church would rise up against them. This fear was not baseless since during preparations various opinions about what was happening were voiced. But after approval from the rector of the parish, Fr Wojchek Drozdovich, the anxieties of the girls were dispersed and replaced by confidence and a desire to make of splendid offering.
As regards the dances themselves, where were performed in the church after morning and evening masses, they were something between a dance and a pantomime, a kind of work were the language of gesture reveals visually the meaning of the words of the songs. At the end of the dance girls from the shelter built a pathway out of burning candles directly to the small figure of the infant Jesus lying in a manger surrounded by figures of the other people of the Christmas story in the symbolic barn of Bethlehem in front of the left alter of the cathedral. The girls from the parish performed a dance to the "Hosanna" of Iksana Likhonos. The repertoire of the producers includes several works to songs of this composer. It is interesting to note that the event that occurred in the cathedral church was the result of cooperation of two churches, the Lutheran (the producers) and Catholic (the performers). On account of this Fr Melikhar Repka, who heads the Novosibirsk section of the worldwide "Fokolyare" movement, shared his joy with everyone. The movement strives to restore unity among believer of various churches. Not hiding his joy he said that all had been witnesses of a minor miracle which fulfills the desire of which our Lord spoke when he said "That they may all be one." The rector of the parish, extending his hand in thanks to the director and producer, said that he hoped for further cooperation and expects to see further joint activity. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Radiotserkov
(posted 15 January 1999)
A growing Protestant congregation in Russia is feeling the icy blast of persecution. Officials in the city of Magadan are harassing and attempting to disband the Word of Life Church, a congregation associated with the Pentecostal Union in Russia, pastor Nickolay Voskoboynikov said.
City authorities are working hard to close the church, Voskoboynikov wrote in a letter to Bruce Morrison of Christian Fellowship Church in Nova Scotia, Canada. "This persecution is no different from those which were done under the communist regime."
In September, a public prosecutor tried to declare the church illegal under a 1997 law that denies registration to churches that have not been legally established for at least 15 years. A judge threw out the case because the congregation, after operating underground during Soviet rule, had affiliated itself with the government-approved Pentecostal Union. "Not having a legal ground for this they now have started persecutions," Voskoboynikov said.
Police and security agents have raided the church and the homes of its leaders, he said. Tax officials backed by the local prosecutor came into the church in December and confiscated its funds and paperwork. Congregants were stripped of their jewelry and threatened with the loss of their homes and other possessions. He said police made midnight raids on his apartment as well as those of the assistant pastor and bookkeeper, and have taken them in for questioning in the middle of the night.
A media campaign has been waged to sway public opinion against the church, Morrison told Religion Today. Articles in a local newspaper as well as TV and radio reports accuse the church of hypnotizing believers and causing them mental damage. As a result, members have been threatened on the street and some have been told by their employers to leave the church or be fired.
Voskoboynikov and his staff say they expect to face false charges and imprisonment. "They are going to trump something up and then charge them with it, that is the feeling," Morrison said. During interrogations, he said, police slit the Christians' fingernails and slashed the pockets of their coats, signs in Russian society that a person is considered a criminal. The church has appealed to the U.S. government for political protection. The persecution is motivated by a resurgence of Russian nationalism. When Morrison preached in the city last August, the church was accused of being anti-Russian for bringing in a Western-style religion. Nationalist groups such as the National Bolshevik Party and the Russian National Unity organization are criticizing the church because its practices differ vastly from the traditional Russian Orthodox Church.
Word of Life is a "dynamic, progressive" congregation of about 800 members, Morrison said. It meets in a rented hall that holds about 500, and several services are held on Sundays. Services feature dynamic worship and praise, and believers are committed to evangelism and helping the poor. "There is a tremendous quality of people in the church and they have integrity and zeal for God," Morrison said.
The ministry has planted eight churches in the Magadan region, which has many towns with 5,000-15,000 people. It operates a Bible school for about 100 children, and had a food ministry for the poor and homeless before the government shut it down. "They were having a tremendous impact. There were street people with no food who were being kept alive by this church," Morrison said. The government halted the ministry because it brought too much attention to the church, he said.
Magadan, a city of 150,000, is in far eastern Russian, near Siberia. It was once known as the "City of Death" because there were many Soviet concentration camps that housed political and religious prisoners. Millions of people died by execution or being worked and starved to death in the camps, Morrison said. "This is where people from all over Russia were sent to die." A monument to the victims has been erected in the city.
Christian churches in the United States are helping Magadan cope with the harsh winter. Food and fuel shortages threaten to leave the population hungry and cold. Churches and secular organizations in Anchorage, Alaska, are responding to the need. Anchorage, Magadan's sister city, is about four hours away by plane, said Abraham Jeter of the Anchor Church of God. About 70 churches have donated 30,000 pounds of clothes, and soon they will make a food drive, he said. Christian pilots from Alaska Airlines have volunteered to deliver the supplies in a private plane.
- "Current Feature Story" from Religion Today, January 14, 1999
courtesy of Ray Prigodich
(posted 15 January 1999)
MOSCOW. The Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow has become a primary location for conducting Christmas celebrations. By tradition, the Christmas holidays for children are conducted under the patronage of the Moscow patriarchate, the Slaviansky Culture Fund, and the government of Moscow. On 10 January before the opening of Chaikovsky's opera "Maid of Orleans," Alexis II welcomed the guests and gave the audience hearty good wishes of the great and joyful holiday of Christ's birth.
"In Rus this holiday always has been viewed as a holiday of charity, benevolence, and love," the primate of the Russian church said, "and we are continuing this ancient tradition by festively celebrating the birth of the Savior and bringing joy to children by gifts, following the example of the eastern magi who brought to the divine infant in Bethlehem's manger their own gifts, frankincense, Lebanese incense, and myrrh."
The patriarch expressed the wish that on these festive days all would forget their sorrows and griefs and share in common joy over the Savior of the world who has been born. "May you have in your spirit joy and light like this holiday is great and luminous," Patriarch Alexis II said. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost
(posted 15 January 1999)
Children of illegal refugees do not have a right to the shelter
The upcoming year is readying serious problems for refugees from countries of the CIS who are trying to find hospitable conditions of life in the capital. According to a recent declaration from the city authorities, the migration policy in Moscow will be toughened and that means that the "refugee" status that gives certain social guarantees will not be acquired by all who seek it, by a long shot. The attempts of the city fathers to shield Moscow from a wave of "illegals" from other cities is understandable. But will the capital become better off by means of the radical measures in this regard?
It is possible, that as a result of sending "illegal" refugees back home the number of homeless foreigners in the capital will decline. But it is clear that as a whole the number of illegals will grow. Meanwhile the children of the unrecognized refugees will not be accepted in the municipal children's homes nor in the city schools; they are outside the law. And thus the ranks of the city's stray children will be swelled. Public organization try to help such children. The most desperate attempt has been made by the Christian Democratic Union of Russia, which opened the children's shelter "Island of Hope" without the permission of the authorities.
From the very beginning the shelter has faced problems. Now the conflict has reached the decisive stage. Having learned from his acquaintances in the prefecture of the Easter District that in a matter of days the shelter will be closed, the head of KhDSR, Alexander Ogorodnikov, distributed ten foster children of the shelter about friends' apartments. He himself intends to use the courts to insist on the right of Island of Hope to exist.
Back in 1995 the government of Moscow decreed the transfer to the shelter, by lease, of a building in Sokolniki, but this was never done. Since then around 200 children have spent time here. Most often their parents bring them, not wishing for their children to share their "street" fate. The children got a place to spend the night and were relatively well taken care of. They attended a public school for refugees in the office of the "Civil Cooperation" organization. But the city department of education considers such a shelter can only cause unavoidable problems which await the children in future. After all, only children who come from municipal children's homes will be able to settle in the capital. Besides this, officials are concerned about rumors of mistreatment and child abuse being conducted in the unsupervised private shelters. In the eastern district of Sokolniki they have tried to investigate the activities of the shelter to find out from the girls whether the counsellors were importuning them for shady purposes. But the investigation has not reached conclusion.
In the words of "Civil Cooperation" workers, other private shelters do not take in the youthful violators of the registration system, since they are afraid of being closed. But, according to data of the Commission on Law and Security of the Moscow city duma, juvenile crime is growing in connection with the stray children: in the past ten years the number of murders committed by juveniles has grown 5.6 times. Statistics of the department of internal affairs of the capital show that one in four wanderers arrested by police officiers is suffering from various venereal or infectious diseaes. The problem, it seems, is leading to a dead end. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 9 January 1999)
On the evening of 7 January Russian Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov and Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus will visit the "Rossiia" State Central Concert Hall (GKTsZ) where the Russian charity fund "Reconciliation and Concord" will conduct a Christmas program. This was reported by the fund. The Administration of State Information confirmed that this event was listed in the work schedule of the premier. It is expected that representatives of State Duma fractions and deputies' groups also will come to GKTsZ. The charity fund "Reconciliation and Concord" is headed by Patriarch Alexis II. Its council of trustees includes the president of the Russian Academic of Sciences Yury Osipov, the rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy, the first deputy minister of foreign affairs Alexander Avdeev, the supreme mufti of Russia Talgat Tajuddin, the chief rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich, and well known leaders of Russian culture. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 9 January 1999)
PRIMAKOV THANKS CHURCH, PROMISES 1999 WILL BE BETTER
MOSCOW, Jan. 08, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov thanked the Russian Orthodox Church for its role in society at a time of economic crisis and promised to make the new year a better one, Interfax reported Friday.
"Orthodox Christianity is Russia's main religion," Primakov said Thursday evening during a joint Russian Orthodox Christmas appearance with Patriarch Alexy II.
Primakov thanked Alexy for "giving his very best to the country" and promised to do his best in order to reverse the nation's unprecedented economic nosedive, the news agency reported.
For his part, the Patriarch said: "The difficult 20th century is coming to an end. It brought our fatherland much suffering, many deaths and troubles. But the courage and self-confidence of our people have always helped them to overcome ordeals."
Most of Russia celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7 according to the old Julian calendar still respected by the Orthodox Church.
Jan. 7 was instituted as a public holiday in Russia in 1991 after more than 70 years during which the Orthodox Church was repressed along with other religious beliefs.
(c) 1998 Agence France Presse
(posted 10 January 1999)
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