Copyrighted material. For private use only.
The Communications Service of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate reports that the Russian Orthodox church has opened a special account designated for the collection of voluntary contributions to aid Orthodox Christians and all civilian inhabitants of Yugoslavia who have suffered during the NATO missile and bombing strikes. (tr. by PDS)
[received from Communications Service, 30 March 1999]
(posted 30 March 1999)
News about the capture on the territory of Ingushetiia of two pastors of the Russian Orthodox church, archpriests Petr Makarov and Petr Sukhonosov, has evoked profound dismay and anxiety. Special pain is caused by the fact that in capturing Fr Petr Sukhonosov the criminals broke into the sacred altar and committed extreme blasphemy and sacrilege.
This barbarian act, which unfortunately is not the first on the territory of the Caucasus, could cause extreme destabilization of inter-religious and inter-ethnic relations. Up to the present hostility and hatred have prevented agreement between Muslim and Christian clergy. However now, through no fault of our own, the fulfilment by our church of its pastoral and peacemaking mission in the Northern Caucasus has been radically complicated.
I appeal to the ruling archbishops, metropolitans Gedeon of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz and Alexander of Bakinsk and the Caspian, to the clergy and the flock of the two dioceses, and especially the relatives and neighbors of the captured priests. Be strong, trust in God's help, and know that the prayers and support of the whole church will remain with the suffering pastors and with you all.
I call the governmental leadership and the law enforcement agencies of the Russian federation, Chechnia, and Ingushetiia to do everything possible for protecting the lives and health of the captive pastors and for their rapid and unconditional liberation. I appeal to the consciences of those who committed this crime. Do not take mortal sin upon your souls. Understand that your actions threaten the fragile peace in the Caucasus, whose disruption would affect each and all. May the Lord heal the sufferings of the captives and give them freedom and calm the hearts of those who are living in the land of the North Caucasus which has suffered so much. (tr. by PDS)
(signed) Alexis, Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus
29 March 1999
[received from the Communications Service, Department of External Church Relations, Moscow patriarchate, 29 March 1999]
INGUSHI KIDNAPPERS CAPTURE RUSSIAN PRIEST
MOSCOW, Mar. 29, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) A Russian priest was kidnapped Sunday as he was holding a religious service in his parish village of Nesterovskaya in the Russian Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, the ITAR-TASS agency quoted Chechen forces as saying.
Chechen and Ingushetian security forces were liaising in an attempt to find the priest, the agency said.
The Russian Caucasus, whose republics include the breakaway Chechnya and Ingushetia, is rife with lawlessness, Islamic extremism and ethnic conflict. (© 1999 Agence France Presse)
(posted 29 March 1999)
THE CHURCH EXPRESSES ITS CONCERN FOR HOSTAGES
On March 30, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, sent telegrams and letters in which he expressed his concern for the destiny of the Orthodox clergymen, archpriests Petr Makarov and Petr Sukhonosov, taken hostages on the territory of Ingushetia. Telegrams and letters were sent to the King of Saudi Arabia Fahd, President of the Azerbajan Republic Geidar Aliev, President of the Turkish Republic Suleyman Demirel, US Secretary General Kofi Annan, General Secretary of the European Union Daniel Tarschys, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Gerard Stoudmann, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Ye.M.Primakiov, President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov, President of the Ingush Republic R.S.Aushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the FSB director V.V.Putin, minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation I.S.Ivanov, minister of the interior of the RF S.V.Stepashin, director of the Federal Frontier Guards K.V.Totsky, minister of national policy of the RF R.G.Abdulatipov, and minister of regional policy of the RF V.A,Kirpichnikov.
The documents say in particular: 'The capture of peaceful civilians, including clergymen, has become a bad custom in the Northern Caucasus. I must say that this and other evil deeds testify to the incapability of the authorities to maintain law and order in the region. The deliberate ousting of the Russians from the Caucasus is taking place with the connivance of the state. That will inevitably take its toll on interethnical and interreligious relations. Our Church can no longer keep silence about the events, for its believers, and now even the ministers of the church, are subjected to severe persecution. I ask you to undertake every possible measure for immediate release of the two clergymen and for making such situations impossible in future. If the situation does not change, nobody will be able to keep the Russian population in the Caucasus from reprisals, and the region will inevitable be cut off from the civilised world'.
Today Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, sent letters requesting assistance in the release of the Orthodox clergymen to the religious leaders of Muslims of Russia and Azerbaijan and to the leadership of the World Council of Churches, Conference of the European Churches and the World Conference on Religion and Peace.
[received from Communication Service of Department of External Church Relations, 30 March 1999]
(posted 30 March 1999)
The Russian Orthodox church prefers to ignore the AIDS problem
by Marina Latysheva
Segodnia, 1 March 1999
Five infected youths, abandoned by their parents and living in a hospital on Sokol hill, are awaiting baptism by the church. They will be baptized by Fr Alexander Borisov, the rector of the church of saints Kosma and Damian. He is one of the few Orthodox priests who do not reject the victims of AIDS. Which cannot be said of the Russian Orthodox church as a whole.
Already at the beginning of the 1990s Orthodox sermons began appearing on television. "We had hoped that at least one of the sermons would be devoted to the AIDS problem," said the head of the department for combatting sexually transmitted diseases STD) and AIDS of the ministry of health of RF, Mikhail Narkevich, "but then the patriarchate refused us." Such a refusal also met the personnel of the society for the defense of the rights of persons with STD, "We and You," who appealed to Moscow churches for conducting a solemn panakhida (requiem) in memory of those who had died from AIDS. The priests explained to them that AIDS is a sinful disease. Only Father Alexander immediately consented and since then has celebrated such requiems every year. The ministry of health provides the church the list of the deceased.
When at the end of last year in the State Duma there was a parliamentary hearing on the problem of AIDS in Russia, not one clergyman who was invited to participate in the discussion even responded.
The attitude of Orthodoxy to AIDS is simple. "To avoid being infected, one must life a proper form of life and not sin outside of marriage, as the Bible teaches," the Moscow patriarchate declared to us. "This is our means of prevention."
Meanwhile, representatives of other Christian confessions have dealt quite actively with the problems of AIDS. Pope John Paul II has visited AIDS centers and clinics throughout the world. In the majority of countries on the memorial days for victims of AIDS the church has become the very center of all commemorative activities. In South Africa such events are conducted in the main church of the country, the cathedral of St. George in Capetown. In New Zealand 6,000 persons, led by the archbishop of the country, conducted a demonstration after the memorial service. The culminatin of the "ecclesiastical prophilaxis" for AIDS came last year when Pope John Paul II publicly called believers to use condoms to avoid infection.
For the sake of justice, it should be noted that this very Catholic church did not turn its face toward the AIDS problem right away--it took at least fifteen years. Catholic priests, like Orthodox, also at first put out the word about the sinless life. But in one splendid moment it suddenly was discovered that AIDS victims among Catholics numbers about 20 million and those who had died amounted to around 7 million. Then this forced even the most influential ministers of the Catholic church to deal with preventive measures.
Perhaps, after a few years, when the number of our victims approximates those in Europe and America, our church also will change its position. But perhaps not. The Moscow patriarchate refused to give us an answer on this. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 March 1999)
The Orthodox church is an "evil sect," hating free thought, shot through with a commercial spirit and hatred of freedom. . . . This is the view of Orthodoxy from the outside. And I have had to endure it for thirty years and cannot say anything in rebuttal Besides, precisely because I am inside Orthodoxy, I can even add much to these accusations. When Caesar's friends talked with him about his wife, he pointed to his shoe and said: "Isn't it pretty? But it pinches me." Caesar's shoe was not an ordinary one but a fancy, emperor's shoe. Orthodoxy has revolted many on the outside, but if a person is on the inside, ouch, it pinches! Here one stretches it, there one uses a shoehorn.
Caesar did not change his imperial shoe for another, even though he paid for it with his life. However he did not dispose of his wife, declaring that she must be above suspicion. And however well I know the shortcomings of Orthodoxy, I know my own shortcomings even better. Nevertheless it would be stupid to ask someone not to notice the shortcomings of the church and "to look at yourself." Worse, that would be the way of the communist party. Meanwhile that's the way my fellow believers often act in defending our faith. With my heart I understand that "you cannot blame the mirror for your crooked mug." But reason suggests that Orthodoxy should be not only a mirror, which focuses the shortcomings of the Orthodox. The majority of human communities, from the army to a consultative troika of peasants, are created simply to be able to squelch the vices of individuals. Why doesn't this work out in the church?
Perhaps it is precisely because it is the Orthodox church? Is it better among Catholics, Adventists, or Jehovists? Alas, no. I consider that I have the right to criticize only my own people (poor guys!), and thus I will not go into details. But check it out: militant atheists, who denounced all religions together, were persuaded that some religious were more noble than others. If someone doesn't like the hierarchy among the Orthodox, let him know that the Catholics have their own hierarchy and the Jehovists have their own kind of clericalism, as do protestants and Adventists. This is not a matter of religion. Baptists, for example, even in the USA are divided into two groups. One is frightfully liberal (it tolerates even homosexual clergy), and the other is just as frightfully conservative (it considers that even someone who is merely homosexually oriented cannot join the church). The Orthodox in Russia decide this matter in a purely Russian way: they pretend the problem does not exist. Which of the three variants is best? I do not know, but I do not consider it necessary to reeducate my Orthodox brethren or even to join the Baptists. As regards "blind hatred for brothers in the faith," I am not revealing any secrets when I can report that protestants fiercely hate Jehovah's Witnesses, for whom the feeling is mutual, and together they all hate Catholics and Adventists, and that also is returned.
The justice of Orthodoxy's critics is enormous. A human cannot be a mediator between God and other people. This is really so, but it simply means that protestantism also is wrong, for the Bible is first of all a text written by means of a human being. Before us, first of all, are human words, by whose mediation the Word of God is formulated. If a person considers that it is enough to read God's Word "in the original," then why does this person go to the Baptist house of prayer or to the Jehovists' congregation? So that by means of prayer in this congregation and discussion of the Bible with fellow believers a person can understand it better. It turns out that mediation is not absent even in protestantism. If one is to rely only on one's self, then one must pull the blanket up over one's head, block one's ears, and read the lines of holy scripture with a flashlight.
Of course, that does happen. But more often people reject the mediation of "the bearded peasants in cassocks" in order to accept the mediation of the shaven peasants in western business suits. In my opinion that's better than trying to avoid any help. The word "mediation" is after all in this case merely "help." To get along without a "mediator," without a helper, in the study of the Bible is hard, and in spiritual life it is generally impossible. The church is compared with a hospital; there's a single head doctor, of course, in the hospital, but it would be strange to expel physicians and orderlies because of this. Of course, there are orderlies, who act like head doctors. Well, may God be with them, but they must do the feeding at the right time and carry the pots, which is like the ministry of the clergy in the Orthodox church and in all the others. Bribes, picking one's nose, boorishness--all this does not befit medical personnel. But to remain at home when one is sick or to construct a counter-hospital, where physicians are forbidden, is that really a way out?
In other words, it is reasonable to justify the existence of the Orthodox church and to show that it is "not worse than the others," and that is not difficult. The atheist claims "others are no better," and thus. . . . But a person doesn't decide whether or not to be a believer freely. Or, at least, not completely freely. And once it is not merely a matter of our will, then there is no point in measuring fervency nor in accusing others of "demonism" nor in trying to depict the person we are talking with as an enemy of God just because he is behind us in faith. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 March 1999)
Criminal case initiated with regard to antisemitic general
General Makashov will still have to answer for his public virulent antisemitism: yesterday the procurator general of RF, Yury Skuratov, initiated a criminal case against him on the basis of crimes provided for in article 282 of the Criminal Code of RF (incitement of national, racial, or religious hostility). Yesterday the case was turned over for organization of the investigation to the procurator of Moscow, upon whom the near future of the communist antisemite now depends. In the procuracy of Rostov region, which has refused to initiate a case against Makashov for his "clear" statement to Cossacks on 20 February in Novocherkassk, serious personnel changes are possible; the procurator general called the decision of the regional procurator, who saw nothing prejudicial in the antisemitic slogans of Makashov, to be unsubstantiated. The famious communist patriot could be convicted (with the prospect of a minimum term of two years in a prison colony) specifically for his Novocherkassk speech. At the same time, if it turns out that he is guilty and committed the acts specified by the Criminal Code of RF which using his official position (and it could be shown that his trip to Novocherkassk was in the capacity of a duma deputy, which can be proven on the basis of the ticket purchase) they he would be threatened with a definite 3 to 5 years in prison. Although it is more likely that if he is convicted he will receive a personal fine (perhaps deprivation of his deputy's salary for up to eight months or a one time payment of around 65,000 rubles).
However there is a certain surprise not only in the fact of the instigation of the case but also how, by whom, and when it was done. We recall that the Rostov procurator closed the case on Makashov about two weeks ago; there has been more than enough time to determin the correctness of the action by the procurator general. However the decision of Skuratov came only yesterday; it cannot be ruled out that thereby the procurator general is preparing for the regular session of the Council of the Federation on 31 March at which again his pending removal will again be discussed. At first glance, if one views this step by Skuratov from a political point of view, it is not entirely logical: the procurator could resist the pressure from the Kremlin simply on the basis of the support of member of the Federation Council as well as the leftist majority of the duma, the ideological party companions of Makashov. He would hardly want to argue with the latter, especially, as Grigory Yavlinsky has observed, Makashov has said things that Ziuganov thinks. But apparently Skuratov has a plan: he figures that Makashov's companions will let him develop the appearance of a censure against him so that Makashov will stop spoiling the facade of respectibility that the communist party maintains. Nor can it be ruled out that the case, despite the demonstrative actions of the procurator general, will pop like a soap bubble, when it runs into the reluctance of the duma to deprive Makashov of his deputy's immunity, which simply makes it physicially impossible to call him to account. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 March 1999)
EXTREMISM WINS RECRUITS AMID RUSSIAN CRISIS
By Gareth Jones
MOSCOW, March 29 (Reuters) - Dima used to be a skinhead but regards that as just a passing phase. Now 17, he has grown back his crop of fair Slavic hair and styles himself a ``neo-fascist.''
``If you are a skinhead you stand out and the police give you constant hassle,'' said Dima, in his last year at high school. ``Anyway, skinheads don't have a real ideology.''
His friend, a serious 24-year-old ``in business'' also named Dima, explained their new ``ideology.''
``We have to get rid of the Jews, it's the only way to restore Russia's greatness. Just like Hitler did in Germany,'' he said, sipping a soft drink.
``We want a country where all Russians can feel at home, where we can sort out our problems and get jobs,'' he said.
``The Jews have ruined this country,'' he continued, lighting a cigarette. ``But we are also to blame, we let them do it.''
Such views are hardly new in Russia, where Jews have for centuries been a convenient scapegoat for the country's ills.
But their reverence for Adolf Hitler, who despised Slavs as an inferior race and who caused the death of tens of millions of Russians, is more surprising in two self-proclaimed ``patriots.''
The elder Dima is ready with his reply: ``Hitler didn't hate Russia, he hated Bolshevism. If he had hated Russians he would not have formed Russian divisions to fight in his army.
``My grandmother lived in German-occupied Krasnodar (in southern Russia)
during the war. She said the Germans behaved very correctly towards the
local people.''
Last August's financial crash discredited liberal, capitalist ideas and the national media suggested that Russia's infant democracy could suffer the same fate as Weimar Germany and fall into the hands of ultra-nationalists.
President Boris Yeltsin ordered security forces to crack down on fringe groups preaching ideas such as those shared by the two Dimas, although cynics say the Kremlin is trying merely to divert attention from Russia's deep economic problems.
Television has focused on two personalities -- Alexander Barkashov, leader of the ultra-nationalist Russian National Unity (RNE), and anti-Jewish Communist deputy Albert Makashov.
The RNE, whose national membership has been put at anywhere between 20,000 and 100,000, uses Nazi-style salutes and a modified Nazi swastika symbol and calls for a dictatorship based on the dominance of ethnic Russians.
The two Dimas were dismissive of Barkashov, a former electrician who sports a moustache and pony-tail.
``His lot just strut about for the TV cameras,'' said the younger Dima.
They were equally unimpressed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) once alarmed the West with its successes in two parliamentary elections but which is now perceived as part of the political establishment.
``Zhirinovsky is just a clown,'' said the older Dima.
Political analysts said the RNE had certainly gained from media scare tactics, which they said amounted to free publicity.
``We should not give publicity to these people. A political crackdown would also backfire because Russians generally sympathise with the underdog, with the persecuted,'' said Andrei Ryabov of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
``Extreme right-wing groups appeal to disaffected youths in many countries
looking for some meaning to life,'' he said.
Makashov caused a huge row last year when he called for Jews to be rounded up and jailed for what he called their responsibility for Russia's economic ruin. He has made numerous anti-Jewish speeches in public since then.
``The problem is that the Communist Party is infected with anti-Semitism from top to bottom, just as the old Soviet Union was,'' said Mikhail Krasnov of the liberal Indem think-tank.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov cannot afford to slap down Makashov because he knows such views are supported by a large swathe of his electorate, Krasnov said.
For such people the wealth of Jewish businessmen such as Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, two so-called oligarchs, is proof of a Zionist plot to destroy Russia.
Underlining Krasnov's remarks, Russia's Communist-dominated lower house of parliament this month rejected a censure motion against Makashov over his anti-Semitic remarks and accused the media of playing up the dangers of fascism in Russia.
``Political extremism in this form...is an invented problem artificially created to manipulate public opinion, create a distorted idea of Russia in the international community and hamper the efforts of the government to restructure our debts,'' said a resolution overwhelmingly approved by the State Duma.
``The State Duma of the Russian Federation declares that the best way of preventing political extremism is to change the socio-economic course of the country in the interests of the whole population,'' it said.
While broadly supporting Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's government,
the Communists are also pushing for more state help for the poor and domestic
industry.
For the Communists and their allies, Russia has for the past seven years been governed by a band of extremists zealously implementing a totally alien ideology called monetarism.
For liberals, the Communists pose a mortal threat to the rule of law and will try to restore a totalitarian state and command economy if they win next year's presidential election.
But while acknowledging the lack of consensus in modern Russia over the meaning of extremism, Indem's Krasnov denied it was a fabrication of the media or the authorities.
``Extremists are those who peddle simple solutions to our problems. They say 'if only we could get rid of the Jews or the Reds or the democrats, Russia could be great again,''' he said.
``The Bolsheviks did this. They said 'let's destroy the bourgeoisie and then we can build a bright future'. But that led to the camps, executions and lawlessness.''
Political analysts played down the danger of a Weimar scenario unfolding in Russia, at least for now.
``Russia today certainly shares some elements with Weimar Germany like the discrediting of democratic ideas, economic confusion, weak institutions,'' Ryabov said.
``But there is no strong, radical party outside the existing system to compare with the Nazis. The Communists are too integrated in the present system.''
The two Dimas also felt Russia might not be ready just yet for their ideas.
``There is no strong leader in sight right now,'' complained
21:05 03-28-99
The procurator of Moscow has finished the investigation of the criminal case involving Avdei Ter-Oganian, who publicly desecrated icons at one of the exhibits in the capital. Ter-Oganian was sharged under article 282, part 1 of the criminal code of the Russian federation, conduct intended to arouse religious hostility. In December 1998 in the Manezh Hall, where there was an artistic exhibit titled "Art-Manezh," Ter-Oganian presented his plan under the title "Young Atheist." Alongside Orthodox icons of the "Vladimir Mother of God," "Saviour-not-made-by-hand," "Pantokrator," and others he hung a declaration in which he offered to visitors, for a specified fee, to desecrate any of the icons. Besides, in the presence of a large number of visitors, Ter-Oganian destroyed with his own hands several icons, using an axe. At the present time Ter-Oganian and his attorney are acquainting themselves with the materials of the criminal case, after which it will be sent to court. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 March 1999)
According to reports reaching the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Orthodox and other Christian churches in many countries of the world and international Christian organizations have expressed a generally negative assessment of the military action against the Federated Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 March the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox church declared that it is "in a situation of sorrow and trouble which has been brought . . . to the homeland by the bombings by NATO, and it has turned to the governments of all countries of the world with an appeal to take actions for the cessation of the bombing and for discovering a just decision for getting out of the current crisis by means of negotiations." The Serbian church also has appealed to the military and civilian authorities of Sergia and Yugoslavia to do everything possible to establish peace. On the same day Orthodox bishops of Germany expressed their concern that military actions could lead to war in Serbia which will have unpredictable consequences for the population of this region and will cause great harm to the civilian population. The declaration was signed by representatived of the Constantinople, Antioch, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Romanian Orthodox churches.
According to a report from the Vatican, the Roman Catholic church has reacted to news of the bombing with these words: "When resort to force is taken, this signifies the destruction of humane ways." The Vatican noted that the attack inevitably will evoke "feelings of hatred" on the part of the victims. The declaration of 25 March quoted the words of Pope Pius XII, spoken in August 1939: "By means of peace, nothing is lost, but everything is lost by means of military actions." The document says that Pope John Paul II "is profoundly disturbed by the sufferings of the population which is thrown into the sad situation which they did not create." The head of the Roman Catholic church emphasized his solidarity with all persons affected by the conflict: "Albanians and Serba, Muslims and Christians, Orthodox and Catholics."
The head of the Church of England, Archbishop George Carey of Canterbury said in particular on 24 March: "The evil of ethnic cleansing and the sufferings of the displaced persons is just as intolerable now as it was at earlier stages of the Balkan crisis. At the same time, the use of force in the name of the wider international community cannot be accepted lightly and in this sense it always must evoke regret. Besides, force cannot be an end in itself; there must be clear goals and a clear determination of limits. Recalling all of this, the only acceptable way out of the crisis is a just and firm peace which can be achieved as the result of negotiations."
The president of the Union of Evangelical Churches in Germany Manfred Koch made a declaration on 25 March in which he said: "In the old dispute which has led to civil war for the right of self-determination of the Albanian population, people have been subject in a most barbaric manner to persecutions and have been killed, depriving them of their rights. We share the disappointment of those who, along with the Serbian Orthodox church, have been striving for a peaceful resolution of the conflict." Koch considers that "after the failure of peaceful negotiations, military force is considered the only effective, final means for ending crimes against humanity and saving people's lives." At the same time he declares: "Nobody can guarantee that military intervention will lead to a firm resolution of the conflict. . . . We appeal to the responsible politicians of Germany to do everything in their powers to bring to an end military actions as quickly as possible. We share their uncertainity about what steps now are necessary and possible in order to overcome for good violence and injustice. We are concerned about the fate of the civilian population in the region of the war. We sympathize with the victims who have resulted from the conflicts."
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, pastor Konrad Raiser, sent a letter on 25 March in the name of the council to the heads of the Serbian Orthodox church and other churches in Yugoslavia. In the letter he expressed profound concern about the NATO bombing and solidarity with Yugoslav Christians. "The attack," the document states, "speaks of the inability of achieving agreement by means of negotiations and the disruption of human relationships. War can only bring more disruptions and human sufferings, new wounds and enmity to the region, which already has suffered much pain. I earlier declared the position of WCC on the crisis and condemned violence and intimidation in any form, for only a resolution achieved by means of negotiations can bring a firm and just peace."
As early as 23 March the president of the Conference of European Churches, Metropolitan Jeremiah of Halle (Contantinople patriarchate) and the general secretary of CEC, Dr. Kate Clements, declared: "We again call attention to the horrible suffering which will be experienced by the innumerable multitude of people in the region, including homeless and refugees, if a broad conflict is unleashed." The leaders of CEC supported "those leaders of the Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo itself who have called political leaders of Serbia to embark on the path of dialogue, democratization, and observatin of the rights of people of all ethnic communities and any religious affiliation."
The general secretary of the World Lutheran Federation, Dr. Ishmael Noko, made an analogous declaration on 26 March. In the document, along with criticism of the Yugoslav political leadership, there also are the following words: "Suffering of the innocent cannot be tolerated by those who profess peace and justice. The World Lutheran Federation states that a NATO attack is a last expression of a culture which, as before, considers violence the be the conclusive and most effective device in international relations. . . . The strategy in which the last and only hope for guaranteeing peace and justice raises threats and the use of force is a bankrupt strategy. The World Lutheran Federation is dismayed that international problems connected with the events in Kosovo have not been reviewed in the chief world peace-making forum on questions of peace and security, the Organization of the United Nations. . . . The lesson of recent history is clear. Violence is not the solution to violence. Recent armed interventions have almost unanimously been ineffective for maintaining peace and justice, but on the contrary have facilitated the creation of a strong cycle of violence." (tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 March 1999)
Yesterday evening and tonight Yugoslavia was subjected to multiple air strikes on the part of NATO. What has repeatedly been warned against has happened: blood has been spilt, including the blood of many civilians and the cituation in Kosovo and its surroundings has been finally destabilized. More than ten countries have risen against one nation, destroying not only military but also purely civilian targets. Enormous harm has been inflicted upon the structures for peace which had been built and for more than fifty years had preserved Europe and all humanity from a large war.
We are told that the military action is intended to achieve peace. Isn't this hypocrisy? If people are killed "for the sake of peace," and if a whole nation is denied the right to decide its own fate, then are not completely different goals standing behind these calls for peace?
A group of states which had not received any legitimization on the part of the world community has arrogated to itself the right to judge what is good and what is bad, whom to punish and whom to show mercy. Attempts have been made to persuade us that force is the measure of justice and morality. Crude economic and political pressure which the states of the West have practiced in recent years for serving their own interests have been replaced by overt violence.
The whole well-intentioned world must clearly recognize that we are confonted with an attempt to use force to subjugate a nation to a foreign will, to assert double standards, and to subordinate the legal aspirations of humanity to the interests of a small group of people. It must be firmly said: not everything that is good for certain circles in the West is good for the world.
Today I would first of all wish to appeal to the Christians of those countries whose forces are participating in military actions. What is being done is a sin before God and a crime from the point of view of international law. Many crimes have been committed in the name of peace and for the sake of establishing "freedom and civilization." But history teaches us that it is impossible to deprive a sovereign nation of its history, its sacred places, and its right to its own way of life. And if peoples of the West do not understand this, the court of history will inevitabily condemn them for cruelty harms not only the victim but also the aggressor.
I call upon the Serbian people and the Kosovar-Albanians: cease your strife and immediately begin a dialogue. It is completely obvious that the Serbs will never consent to the alienation of their own homeland of the Kosovo territory, which has been their spiritual center from antiquity. It is also obvious that Albanians always will live on this land and if the most hospitable conditions are not created for them, fratricidal strife will flare up again and again. Both sides must recognize the reality that exists in the region and create their own lives based on the legal aspirations of each other.
The military actions of NATO will not bring peace nearer but drive it away. At the least they have engendered a threat of repeated spread of the conflict, for they have placed in doubt the just world order. And today, appealing to God in prayer for those who have suffered and perished, I again express my hope that peace and reason will triumph and the sword which has been brandished against the still free people of Yugoslav will be put away. (tr. by PDS)
signed Alexis II,
25 March 1999
RUSSIAN PATRIARCH PRAYS SINFUL NATO WILL RETHINK
MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Orthodox Christian Church on Thursday joined his country's condemnation of NATO's air strikes on fellow Orthodox Serbia, and said he would pray for a change of heart among Western leaders.
Patriarch Alexiy II also urged Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo to resume dialogue to halt the NATO bombings which have provoked strong criticism from Russian leaders. Predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo is a province of Serbia, which together with Montenegro, makes up Yugoslavia.
``Together with the Serbian nation, we will pray that the Lord makes wiser the leaders of the NATO countries which carried out a vicious and sinful step and make them reconsider,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted the patriarch as saying.
``I call on the Serbian nation and the Kosovo Albanians: end your quarrel and quickly begin a dialogue,'' he said in a later statement.
Tass quoted him as saying he supported the Serbian Orthodox Church in its rejection of NATO's military action, especially as a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis had not been exhausted.
``What is being done is a sin before God and a crime from the point of view of international law,'' the statement added.
The agency quoted him as saying no justification existed for ``countries
which consider themselves Christian but carry out anti-Christian actions,
unleashing conflict and killing peaceful citizens.''
(posted 28 March 1999)
(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) On March 22, 1999, the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal of seven parents -- members and active participants of the Interregional Committee for Salvation From Totalitarian Sects -- in their demand for compensation, claiming moral damage done by the Unification Church of Russia. Each of the seven plaintiffs demanded 2 billion rubles as compensation for the damage allegedly caused to them by the Unification Church, as a result of their children having become members. The suit alleges that the changes to their children's moral values and family traditions, resulting from their religious orientation, violated their parents' right to be close to their children as well as Russian national traditions. It is interesting to note that of the seven plaintiffs, only five are parents of Unification Church members.
Summoned to the original hearing in the Kuzminsky District Court in Moscow in May 1998, the children (Unification Church members) confirmed that they had made their religious choice deliberately and of their own free will. This was followed by the plaintiffs assuring the court that the members were "brainwashed" and "encoded." They demanded that the members undergo psychiatric examination at the notorious Serbsky Center for Forensic Psychiatry (this institute was one of the leading practitioners of punitive psychiatry during the Soviet era) -- this despite the fact that the members had already voluntarily undergone examination in St. Petersburg in order to convince their parents and the court of their normal mental health. The psychiatric board, consisting of six members (including top psychiatrists and expert psychologists), came to the conclusion, signed by the leading psychiatrist of St. Petersburg, that all the members are mentally healthy and that the conflicts with their families had begun long before they joined the Unification Church.
In their efforts to convince the court of the validity of their claims, the plaintiffs used a reference book issued by the Missionary Department of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, "New Religious Organizations of Destructive and Occult Character in Russia," as well as "Informational and Analytical Research" by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the book of N.V. Krivelskaya, "Pseudo-Christian Religious Organizations in Russia." Despite the strong anti-Unification Church sentiment of those materials, they were rejected as evidence by the court. Demands were also made that all foreign missionaries be summoned to the court to give evidence, together with the leader and founder of the Unification Church, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Abusing their parental rights, the plaintiffs sought to limit the rights of their adult children to freely choose their religious beliefs. Several of the plaintiffs added that had their children chosen Orthodoxy, they would not have objected.
Evidence was presented in the City Court, which documented the fact that the Interregional Committee for the Salvation From Totalitarian Sects was being supported financially by the St. Petersburg city budget. It became clear in the course of the trial that political factors were at work in shaping public opinion. In this respect the media stance misrepresented the reality. In the original hearing at Kuzminsky District Court the media attitude was extremely negative and biased against the Unification Church. Even in the more "neutral" press there were articles with titles such as "Religion of Slaves" and "The Ideas of Moon Are Alive and Threatening," etc. These articles reproduced almost verbatim the plaintiffs' suit. A series of television reports from the court in the TV program "Criminal" bunched the Unification Church believers together with criminals. Even after the case was won by the Unification Church represented by attorney Galina Krylova, the media continued to misinform the public, showing the plaintiffs posing before the cameras with a call to "save Russia."
What makes this process unique is the fact that for the first time in Russia, notorious for its court decisions against religious freedom, the court delivered a judgment based on the law, rather than on religious or social biases. Both the Kuzminsky District Court and the Moscow City Court pointed out that the plaintiffs lacked evidence to prove any actions of the Unification Church had caused their children to suffer moral damage. The court was also not convinced of any evidence of psychic violence, brainwashing or encoding of the Unification Church's adult members.
For the first time in legal practice in Russia, a court decision was directly motivated by reference to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and international law guaranteeing freedom of religion and conscience.
courtesy of Konstantin Krylov, Unification Church, Moscow
(posted 28 March 1999)
DECLARATION OF PATRIARCH ALEXIS II OF MOSCOW AND ALL-RUS
News about the decision of NATO to conduct bombing strikes in Yugoslavia has evoked profound anxiety in the fullness of the Russian Orthodox church. The decision to bomb can serve as a dangerous precedent and lead to the most unpredictable wars and political consequences.
It is known that the Balkans, where today local armed conflicts are underway, have a complex historical fate. World War I which was initiated there brought in our century much suffering not only for the population of Europe but also the peoples of other continents who were drawn into armed conflict.
Extreme concern also is provoked by the fact that the implementation of the plan for bombing strikes can lead to great bloodshed and human casualties, including destruction of the civilian population. Besides, the unique monuments of culture and religion of the Serb land may be damaged. For Orthodox Serbs, Kosovo not only is an object on a geographical map, but a sacred place with ancient churches and monasteries.
We support the position of the hierarchy of the fraternal Serbian Orthodox church regarding the impermissibility of military interference by NATO in the Yugoslav conflict.
We are convinced that only patient dialogue and a peaceful resolution of all political differences can achieve a resolution of the tense situation surrounding Kosovo. There is no doubt that the efforts of the world community should be aimed at helping all the opposing sides in the Kosovo conflict to evaluate objectively the tense situation that has arisen and by joint diplomatic efforts to find a path to the resolution of the accumulated problems at the negotiating table.
In the name of the Russian Orthodox church I call the heads of the countries participating in NATO, as well as the leaders of the North Atlantic block not to permit the use of military force against the sovereign republic of Yugoslavia, inasmuch as it could provoke inevitable escalation of military actions in the very heart of Europe.
I also call the Serbs and Albanians who are fighting in the Kosovo conflict to find in themselves the strength to end the bloodshet, lay down their arms, and on the basis of mutual agreements in regard for the civil rights and religious views of each other to begin to build a peaceful and just life.
"Love truth and peace" (Zach 8.19), says the Lord in Holy Scripture. I believe and pray that good sense will prevail in those who will now make the decision. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 24 March 1999)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russian riot police forcefully removed about 25 children from a Christian school Wednesday and took them away in buses, ending a 17-day standoff.
City officials say the school building belongs to the local government. Human rights groups maintain the real issue is freedom for religious minorities in Russia.
The children, along with some 10 parents and teachers, have been living in the non-denominational school since police surrounded it Feb. 22.
The school, Prins Maurits, is run by a Dutch-based religious society called Open Christianity. The group received rights to the building in 1991, principal Inga Ivanova has said.
Officials sued for control of the building in 1995. A court decision is pending.
Seventeen police vehicles pulled up to the school Wednesday. Riot officers carried out the children, put them in two buses and drove them to a police station. The adults also were taken away.
``The children were yelling as they took them out,'' said a bystander, Galina Kavunynko.
The children and some adults were released later. But school officials remained in custody, and police said criminal cases would be opened against them.
The city government says the school is unlicensed, doesn't meet sanitary and fire safety standards, and is run by a group that is registered as a social rather than a religious organization.
School officials and human rights groups say the real conflict is over the right of foreign religious groups to teach their faith in Russia, where official intolerance of minority religions and missionaries has grown in recent years.
Deputy Mayor Valentin Makarov asserted that ``it's ridiculous to think St. Petersburg has anything against some church.''
But Police Chief Viktor Vlasov said: ``You can believe in God, but not turn this into fanaticism.'' The students, he added, ``have lost their childlike acceptance of this world'' because of their education.
A Dutch co-founder of the school, Bert Dorenbos, said from the Netherlands that some adults were hospitalized after being taken from the school. Authorities in St. Petersburg said they could not confirm the report.
Police spokesman Alexander Rostevtsev said police emptied the building before getting an eviction order because of an ``extreme fire hazard.''
``One spark and no child would have left that building alive,'' he said.
CONFLICT OVER REAL ESTATE IN ST. PETERSBURG
by Vadim Alexeev
Christian Inter-church Diaconal Council
10 March 1999
STATEMENT:
CIDC would like to suggest some comments to the situation around the conflict between the Society for Open Christianity (SOC) and the St. Petersburg Department of Internal Affairs (Administration of the city police):
The conflict aroused much emotion from both sides as well as in the Mass media. It is understandable when "armed police is fighting children", as it was written in some newspaper articles. But this emotional approach does not help at all to understand the essence of the conflict.
After making some research CIDC came to the conclusion that the problem has no connection with religion. All the statements about religious persecution of SOC by city authorities and police (as it was mentioned in some articles) are incorrect. The matter here is property. Economic reasons:
The Society for Open Christianity has occupied the Chernoretsky street building (3829 sq. m) since 1991 without any payments of rent, on condition of completing capital repairs of the building by SOC, according to the contract N 20/1 24.06.91.
By the help of Dutch Christians the repairs were completed, the estimated value of which, SOC considers one million and a half Dutch Gulden. However, the city authorities estimated the value of these repairs in the amount of 600 thousand Dutch Gulden.
In 1995 a special commission began to examine the fulfilment of the contract N 20/1. The commission has made the conclusion that no capital repairs were done, but only decoration. It also appeared, that more than half of the building is being used by other organisations and that The Christian school has no pedagogic license. Thus, SOC was considered having failed the fulfilment of its leasing agreement.
On the basis of this commission's conclusion, the city administration brought an action against SOC. The city Arbitration Court on 16.05.95 ruled that the leasing agreement should be annulled. But in the end the execution of the judgement was postponed.
Up to 1999 SOC hasn't made any legal effort to save the situation. 08.12.98 the city administration decided to give the building for the use of a polyclinic belonging to the Department of Internal Affairs (police).
The eviction of SOC from the building was planned to be on 22.01.99, but SOC appealed to the city Arbitration Court, which on 11.02.99 refused this appeal. Nevertheless, according to the Law, SOC was allowed to use the building one month more (to have time for sending a new appeal to the Court) - up to 11.03.99. However, the police started the forced eviction of SOC earlier - on 22.02.99. So from the point of time, the police action was not legal.
Children and teachers of the SOC Christian school and some other SOC - members refused to leave the building which was surrounded by police and OMON officers. The forced eviction was again postponed until 11.03.99.
The building is currently under siege. SOC is going to send another Court-Appeal on 10.03.99 for having some more months to stay in the building.
So the fighting here is most of all about property. The rather well repaired 3-floored building in the centre of the city is very attractive for the police's policlinic. And obviously SOC does not like giving it up after spending so big amounts of money for the repairs. SOC has no legal rights on the building now and tries to use public opinion (especially in the West) in this fighting against the police.
But all the statements about "religious persecution" have no basis in this case.
I hope the above will serve as clearification and not just add to more confusion!
Vadim Alexeev,
CIDC project- and press secretary
courtesy of Victor Sokolov
16-DAY SIEGE ENDS IN RAID
by Anna Badkhen
St. Petersburg Times, 12 March 1999
A 16-day standoff between a St. Petersburg ecumenical school and city
authorities ended in near violence Wednesday, when the approximately 35
adults and children who had locked themselves inside the school were forcibly
removed by police and OMON special officers.
The students and school officials were then taken to the 5th police precinct, located on Push kinskaya Ulitsa. Three adults - a school cook, a guard, and a teacher - were charged with resisting the police and were kept at the precinct all night; everyone else was released before midnight. Children were let go after being matched with their parents.
The standoff, which began with armed law enforcement troops surrounding the Chernoretsky Pereulok building on Feb. 22, culminated with 17 OMON and police buses arriving at the school late Wednesday afternoon. Officers broke into the school, physically dragged out the students and school officials barricaded inside and drove them to the Pushkinskaya precinct.
"They came and grabbed us by the arms and legs while we were praying," said Valentina Mikhailova, who along with her three teenage children was inside the school when the officers stormed the building. Her youngest son, Maxim, said police twisted his arm roughly as he was being dragged out of the school. Other than that, apparently no one was hurt.
"The children were yelling as they took them out," said a bystander, Galina Kavunynko, The Associated Press reported.
Alexander Rostovtsev, the head of the St. Petersburg police press center, argued that the action was justified, saying that police thought the building represented an extreme fire hazard.
"We're doing it for the children's sake," Rostovtsev said. "One spark and no child would have left that building alive."
Rostovtsev told reporters that criminal charges of mismanagement of leased property were filed against the top officials of the school, run by a St. Petersburg-based, Dutch-sponsored, nondenominational religious group called the Society for Open Christianity, or SOC.
Three ambulances and two fire trucks stood by Wednesday as the school building was being cleared. Medics and police said no one was mistreated, and Rostovtsev reacted angrily to the accusation that an officer had twisted the arm of young Maxim Mikhailov.
"What kid said his arm was twisted? Point him out to me!" Rostovtsev yelled at reporters.
On Thursday, it still wasn't clear what the condition of the children was following their harrowing 16-day blockade inside the school, which had its electricity cut off last Wednesday, leaving them no way of preparing hot food or even tea. Irina Bolshakova, who with her two teenage sons had been inside the building since the start of the blockade, said Thursday that her children were feeling "all right, albeit sad."
The siege, the peak of an eight-year, off-and-on dispute between the city government and the school, centered on a legal battle over the Chernoretsky Pereulok property, which is located just off of Nevsky Prospect and had been granted to SOC by the city in 1991.
On Feb. 11, the City Arbitration Court annulled the original lease agreement, saying that the building was to be handed to police officers for use as a polyclinic. SOC officials refused to let the city repossess their school, however, and barricaded themselves inside, as police loitered outside.
But the clock was ticking, and the court's decision was scheduled to be enforced on Friday, March 12.
On Wednesday morning, the city police chief, Viktor Vlasov, promised reporters that the SOC would not be forced to leave the building before the March 12 deadline. That afternoon, school officials said they planned to appeal the court decision Thursday morning. Two hours later, the police buses entered the school courtyard.
"Vlasov wasn't obliged to tell you what the police's plans were [regarding the school]," Rostovtsev said outside the Pushkinskaya precinct.
According to the SOC's lawyer, Sergei Nesterov, the police acted outside the guidelines of the court decision.
"Any actions taken by any authorities regarding the school before March 12 are illegal," Nesterov said Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, school officials finally filed an appeal to court. However, it remained unclear what city actions were to follow. No city authorities commented Thursday on the storming of the school.
The president of the SOC, Konstantin Ivanov, said Thursday he did not know yet whether the society will sue the city police for their actions. He said the SOC applied to the City Property Committee for another building for the school, but received no answer so far.
"The police have made themselves very dirty, and the only way for them to prove their innocence would be to prove that they are dealing with organized crime," he said. He said the police's organized crime division has asked him and his wife, Inga, the school's director, to come in for questioning as suspects.
It is unclear to what degree the dispute rested on the lease agreement for an attractive downtown property. SOC officials have argued that the real issue is the school's ecumenical status - an educational aberration that has raised suspicions among Russian officials. So far, the school has been linked by Russian media and politicians more with cults than educational institutions.
"The city authorities don't want to have a Christian school," said Bert Dorenbos, a Dutch sponsor of the 9-year-old institution, who visited St. Petersburg earlier in the week in an attempt to sort out the issue with local officials.
Four days into the siege, St. Petersburg Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev, speaking for the first time about the incident, warned city officials to "look carefully into all the religious schools and what they teach," because "we already have 'zombified' children.'"
While Dorenbos said he understood the city's concern, he defended the SOC school as being "nothing of the kind." He also said the city government was "going over the edge with the 'zombie' remark."
SOC officials say the school offers a standard curriculum within a Christian religious context. According to Vika Kim, 16, who graduated last year after having enrolled into the school in 1996, the school offered a full-fledged curriculum.
"In 11th grade, we had nine classes of English language [per week], six hours of history and six hours of math, and we had theology," Kim said. "It is more than I had in my previous, nonreligious school."
Kim said the school day began at 9:30 with a regular class, then all the students were summoned to pray and discuss theological topics. The normal classes then resumed at around noon and continued until 6 p.m.
"There were many Protestants and many Russian Orthodox people in my class - but there were also Catholics and nonbelievers, and I don't recall us ever getting into a fight over this," Kim, herself a Protestant, said.
Nonetheless, on Wednesday, Police Chief Vlasov echoed Yakovlev's comments, saying in reference to the school, "There's nothing wrong with believing in God, of course, but it's wrong to turn it into fanaticism."
"This is a police state," SOC's Ivanov said, bitterly, comparing the tactics of the police to that of the Soviet-era KGB.
copyright The St. Petersburg Times 1999
RUSSIAN EVANGELICALS MAY FACE CHARGES AFTER SIEGE
ST PETERSBURG, March 11 (Reuters) - A religious group whose members and their children were forced out of a Russian school building after a two-week stand- off with police may face criminal charges, a police spokesman said on Thursday.
Police herded dozens of schoolchildren and parents out of the building in Russia's second city, St Petersburg, on Wednesday evening in a raid that ended a 15-day siege.
Police spokesman Alexander Rostovtsev said a criminal case had been launched against the group under a statute on ``unlawful entrepreneurial activity.''
The group, an evangelical Christian organisation based in the Netherlands, had run the school since 1991 in a city-owned former army barracks with a rent- free lease.
The city later said it wanted the building back and obtained a court order requiring the society to vacate the premises. School officials said they were entitled to remain and occupied the building along with some of the school's pupils.
Wednesday's raid brought a dramatic end to the impasse. Police interrupted members of the group during a prayer session and carried children out into waiting buses.
``About 100 members of special police units in civilian clothes assaulted us on Wednesday evening,'' Andrei Bolshakov, a member of the group who spent the siege holed up in the building with his children, told Reuters.
``They broke the doors and took everyone in the school to the police station,'' he said, adding that the members were later released.
Bolshakov said the society's members planned to stage a protest meeting on Saturday against their treatment.
courtesy of Ray Progodich
A SIEGE IN ST. PETERSBURG
by Charles Fenyvesi
RFE/RL WATCHLIST
Vol. 1, No. 9, 12 March 1999
Before the 1990s a Russian school staffed by independent-minded teachers could have been closed down by a volley of gunfire. Today's strategy calls for the threat of the use of guns. But when that fails, brute force is still the answer.
On Feb. 22 the crack riot police OMON tried to force its way into St. Petersburg's Open Christianity center which houses a school, a kindergarten, and a teacher-training institute. "They banged on the door and threatened to shoot us with their machine guns," school secretary Rimma Sevastyanova told the "St. Petersburg Times." But a staff of 13 adults and 27 children barricaded themselves and refused to budge until OMON left the neighborhood.
On Feb. 25 a regular police unit appeared on the school grounds and ordered everyone out of the building, Reuters reported. School director Inga Ivanovna and two other staff members blocked the main entrance. Police shoved them aside, and the three women required medical treatment for their cuts and bruises. Then the rest of the staff and the children lay down on the floor, singing and praying until the police left the building three hours later.
According to Keston News Service, the order to storm the building came from General Vlasov, head of the city administration of the Interior Ministry. In a press release, city authorities charged that the school had violated the terms of the building's lease and enlisted the support of international organizations by spreading inaccurate information.
For the past four years city authorities have been trying to reclaim the property which they donated to the Society for Open Christianity in 1991. The three-story structure, originally an army barracks, was then in danger of collapse. According to the American-based news service "Religion Today," supporters of Open Christianity in the Netherlands and the United States donated $1.5 million to restore the property which is now worth $10 million.
In the mid-1990s the neighborhood became a prime location. According to sources cited by "Religion Today," businessmen envision a hotel on the site and city officials would like to sell the property to repay political favors.
"The Russian Mafia has its eyes on the site," said one American who spent some time in St. Petersburg. "And the Orthodox Church would not mind if the school is shut down because it is ecumenical."
A prominent champion of the school was Duma Deputy Vitaly Savitsky, the American recalled. "He was assaulted by a Mafia type and warned to stop asserting the rights of the school only a few weeks before he was killed in a car crash that had all the hallmarks of a KGB-style hit," the source said. "He was a fearless proponent of democracy and religious freedom and talked about as a potential presidential candidate."
Police never explained the circumstances of Savitsky's death, the American added.
According to "Religion Today," quoting Gary Vander Heart, an American missionary who taught at the school, founders Konstantin and Inga Ivanov are "reform-minded Russian Orthodox who reach out to other denominations." About half of the ministry's members are Russian Orthodox, Vander Heart says, and the rest are Catholics, mainline Protestants, and charismatics, and the services include contemporary Christian worship, traditional Protestant hymns, and Orthodox songs. The ministry also holds monthly theological discussions.
"The evangelical ministry is considered a threat to the Russian Orthodox Church," Konstantin Ivanov told "Religion Today."
When speaking with reporters and passersby, the police surrounding the building did not hide their feelings. "Western missionaries use this organization to fight the Orthodox Church," a police officer told the press. "We will smash them."
The local press quoted the city's governor, Vladimir Yakovlev, warning officials to investigate all religious schools because they are turning out "zombified children."
Parents of the 150 children enrolled in the school took turns keeping watch at the metro entrance opposite the building. On the evening of Feb. 27 they held a service on the pavement. Those inside the school joined in the singing.
The children studied and issued daily bulletins with drawings. Folded into planes, the bulletins glided over the heads of the dozen or so police and reached passersby on the other side of the street. "We continue to build barricades," one bulletin said. "We are already specialists in this field of human knowledge."
The standoff ended abruptly on March 10. According to the "Moscow Times," OMON riot police joined city police in forcibly removing about 35 adults and children. A police spokesman told the newspaper that the situation had to be resolved quickly because the building represents a fire hazard.
(posted 12 March 1999)
Vandals attacked a Jewish synagogue in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, splintered its furniture, tore its holy books to pieces and scrawled swastikas on its the walls, a witness said on Monday.
The attack in which no one was hurt came as Russian anti-Semitism has been increasingly in the news. A synagogue in Moscow was bombed last May and a leading Communist in Russia's parliament sparked controversy by making anti-Jewish remarks.
Miriam Zaklos, wife of Rabbi Shnaior Zalman Zaklos, told Reuters by telephone from Novosibirsk that congregants at the synagogue discovered the damage on Monday.
"The synagogue was totally broken up. All the chairs were broken up, the bima (podium) was totally destroyed, in pieces, all the prayer books were torn up," she said.
She said the attackers had sprayed Nazi graffiti on the walls in black paint and ripped copies of the Torah holy scrolls.
Rabbi Berel Lazar of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Moscow described the attack as "a pogrom."
Zaklos said her husband had arrived in Novosibirsk only 10 days ago from Israel to take up the vacant position of rabbi.
"The people here are very friendly. That's why we were so surprised," she said.
Duty officers at the Novosibirsk city and regional police stations said they had no information on a vandalism attack at the synagogue.
(c) 1999 Reuters)
RUSSIAN JEWS TURNING EDGY AS THE COUNTRY'S CHAS CREATES AN UGLY MOOD
by Michael R. Gordon
New York Times, March 9, 1999
MOSCOW -- Like many of Russia's Jews, Anatoly Vugman would like to stay in Russia. But since the financial crisis hit last August, the 20-year-old student has begun to hedge his bets by attending evening Hebrew classes.
Vugman has plenty of company. With the economy distressed and political extremists making anti-Semitic tirades, enrollment in Hebrew classes here has tripled in the last year.
Some students have already decided to move to Israel, while others simply want to know the language of their ancestors. Then there are Jews like Vugman, an earnest young man with wire-rim glasses, who seem to be in a quandary about their future.
The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 opened a fresh chapter for Russia's Jews. Synagogues and yeshivas started up. The top echelons of government and finance were opened to people of Jewish descent.
But Russia's Jews are now facing a collapsing economy as well as the fresh burst of anti-Semitic statements.
For the first time in nearly a decade, emigration from Russia to Israel is starting to climb. Though relatively modest, the number of Jews leaving for Israel in January, 1,774, was 70 percent higher than the 975 who left in January of last year.
While many Jews want to remain in Russia, there is a growing realization that they will have to fight the old battles against anti-Semitism all over again.
The fears are more acute in Russia's provinces. Just Monday, Jews in Novosibirsk reported that the lone synagogue in that Siberian city had been vandalized and swastiskas painted on the walls. But many Jews in Moscow and in liberal St. Petersburg are also on edge.
"Of course, things were worse in Soviet times," said Zinaida, 70, a retired woman who was waiting for a meeting at Moscow's Choral Synagogue and declined to give her last name. "But now anti-Semitism is again threatening us and our children."
Russia has never been an easy place for Jews. Under the czars there were restrictions on where Jews could live, and violent pogroms.
During Soviet times Jews often filled the professional ranks, but they were generally barred from leading universities and from top jobs. Worship was suppressed. Jews were identified as a separate nationality in internal passports.
The collapse of the Soviet Union unleashed a virtual tidal wave of emigration. So many Jews have intermarried and assimilated that estimating how many remain in Russia is an arcane science.
Mark Kupovetsky, a demographer at the Jewish studies program at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, says there is a "core" Jewish population of 332,000. That figure is derived, in part, from the number who described themselves as Jewish in the last Soviet census.
The estimate increases severalfold if it includes those with a Jewish parent or grandparent -- important because Israel accepts immigrants who can show that at least one grandparent is Jewish.
While Jews represent only a small fraction of the country's 147 million people, their status has long been taken as a measure of Russia's struggle to build a more democratic and tolerant society. In recent years, in fact, the situation for Jews has largely been considered to be a Russian success story.
Jews have used their new freedoms to reclaim their heritage. Moscow State University recently began a joint program of Jewish studies with Hebrew University. To the tune of "Hava Nagilah," ads for matzo appeared on Russian television during Passover.
Nationalist politicians have also been free, however, to exploit Russia's deep undercurrent of anti-Semitism, which they have done more frequently since the financial collapse last August.
"Russia has never known democracy, and democracy is a very intricate thing to put so suddenly on the shoulders of millions who are used to the tradition of a strong hand," said Tankred Golenpolsky, the editor of the Jewish Gazetta, a Moscow-based publication.
"In the old days they used to keep horses in the mines and not take them out until they got old," he added. "When they did they would have to cover their eyes or they would go blind. Well, Russia is like a horse that has been taken out without his eyes covered and is running around and shouting whatever it wants."
Jews have certainly been a very visible target.
Much of the government team that has guided Russia's painful transition to a market economy is of Jewish ancestry, as are many of the country's bankers and tycoons, though few are practicing Jews.
Sergei V. Kiriyenko, the former prime minister, who adopted his mother's Ukrainian family name, is part Jewish, as are the former Kremlin aides Boris Y. Nemtsov and Anatoly B. Chubais. Yegor T. Gaidar, the former prime minister who promoted a free market, also has some Jewish ancestors.
But then Jews have also been on different sides of the debate, a fact overlooked by Russian militant nationalists. Grigory A. Yavlinksy, the head of the Yabloko Party, who is part Jewish, has long assailed the Yeltsin government for its halfhearted support of economic reform. One of the most strident nationalists, Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, and Yevgeny M. Primakov, the cautious prime minister, also have Jewish roots.
Neither Zhirinovsky nor Primakov has ever been assailed by anti-Semites, which Jewish leaders say shows that the recent wave of anti-Semitism is part of a broader assault on the Western and pro-capitalist attitudes epitomized by Russia's more liberal Jews.
Many Jews in fact believe that their acceptance in Russian society will ultimately depend on the nation's ability to develop a capitalist democracy with rising living standards and Western-style legal protections.
"The future for Jews in Russia depends on the success of economic reform," said Kupovetsky.
It is the virulent anti-Semitic tirades of extremists like Albert Makashov, a Communist legislator and former general, that have alarmed many Jews.
He recently gave a fiery address in the southern Russian town of Novocherkassk in which he virtually invited Cossacks to ramsack Jewish homes.
"They are so brave and cheeky because we are dormant so far," he said.
Another self-proclaimed anti-Semite is Aleksandr Barkashov, the leader of the neo-Fascist group, Russian National Unity, whose emblem resembles a swastika. He recently told a rally in Yekaterinburg that he was changing the name of his political groups to "Movement Against the Jews."
Viktor Ilyukhkin, chairman of the Parliament's defense committee and a Communist, has charged that Yeltsin and Jewish members of his "inner circle" are committing "genocide" against the Russian people.
Public opinion polls indicate that these extremists do not speak for most Russians. And many Russians Jews say that their situation is not as bad as that of other groups.
"The average Russian is more upset about the presence of Caucasians in Moscow than about Jews," said Rashid Kaplanov, the president of Sefer, a Moscow-based center of Jewish studies, referring to the people from the southern Caucasus mountains region. "Still, one does feel vulnerable."
The main worry for Russia's Jewish leaders is that the barrage of from the extremists will begin to stir up ordinary Russians, particularly in the provinces.
In Novosibirsk, where the report came Monday that the synagogue had been vandalized over the weekend, a new rabbi, Shnaior Zalman Zaklos, had arrived only 10 days before. Miriam Zaklos, his wife, said in an telephone interview Monday that prayer books were torn up, and Torah religious scrolls were ripped. The name of the neo-fascist group, Russian National Unity, was painted on the walls.
Russian National Unity has also distributed virulently anti-Semitic material in Borovichi, a town of 70,000 people 240 miles north of Moscow.
"At least in Moscow there's some regulation," Eduard Alekseyev, the 29-year-old leader of the local Jewish Association, said in a telephone interview. "Here swastikas are legal. Its legal to say, 'Yids Get Out.' "
Jewish fears have been aggravated by the mixed response from mainstream politicians. President Boris N. Yeltsin has denounced anti-Semitism, and Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov of Moscow has banned marches by fascist groups.
But the Communist-led Parliament has refused to censure Makashov. Gennady Zyuganov, the Communist leader, has criticized Makashov for his "intemperance" but in an appeal to national sentiment has also implied at times that Russians of Jewish origin are overrepresented in government and finance.
Or, as Zyuganov put it, "Too many people with strange-sounding family names mingle in the internal affairs of Russia."
Jews themselves are not always certain about how to fight the problem. Vladimir A. Gusinsky, a news media tycoon who is the leader of the Russian Jewish Congress, has taken a head-on approach.
Gusinsky said in an interview that he had asked the World Economic Forum not to invite Zyuganov to its conference in Davos, Switzerland, because of his failure to condemn the anti-Jewish remarks by Makashov.
Zyuganov, in fact, was not invited this year, though organizers of the forum insist his statements regarding Russian Jews were not the reason. Many Jews, however, are uncomfortable with too confrontational a strategy.
"There is a dispute between generations," observed Rabbi Pincus Goldschmidt of the Choral Synogogue. "The older generation, which lived under Stalin and survived, believes in bending. It thinks silence is more effective than confrontation. But the young people are ready to fight."
One prominent Jewish writer, Eduard Topol, stirred up a stormy debate by publishing an open letter in a Russian newspaper urging Jewish financiers to devote their energies -- and their newly made millions -- to the common good.
Topol wrote that such pre-emptive measures would defuse anti-Semitic sentiment, but critics say his letter may encourage the very sentiments he deplores.
Some Jews have strayed so far from their traditions, however, that they are not above making anti-Semitic slights themselves. When Nemtsov, the reform-minded Kremlin aide, sought to combat the influence of Russia's tycoons last year, the financier Boris Berezovsky responded with an anti-Semitic jibe.
Berezovsky, a Jew who once held an Israeli passport but who christened his infant son in the Russian Orthodox faith, said Nemtsov would never be elected president because his mother was Jewish.
Nemtsov, he sneered, has a "purely genetic problem."
At the after-school center on Vadkovsky Pereulok, in central Moscow, the worries are palpable. On Sundays, some 700 Russians attend Hebrew classes here and even on weekdays several classrooms are full.
Alla Levy, the director of the Moscow office of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which assists Jews in emigrating, says that immigration to Israel could reach 20,000 in 1999, compared with fewer than 15,000 in 1998.
That is small compared with the massive wave of emigration that came on the heels of the Soviet Union's demise, but it is still a significant change.
Anti-Semitism is just one factor in decisions to emigrate. Before the financial crisis, many young and middle-aged professionals felt they had a better chance of making good in Russia than they would if they started over again in Israel.
But now many are worried about building a future for their children. And unlike most of Russia's ethnic groups, Jews have a homeland to which they can go.
Viktor Rechistyev, a 38-year-old entrepreneur who is studying Hebrew, declared he had made up his mind to leave.
"Russian history here has always been stormy," Rechistyev said. "We have had enough of this."
Vugman, a student at one of Moscow's most prestigious management academies, disagreed.
"I am a Jew, and I want to know the language of my parents," he said. "But I don't want to live in another country. Anti-Semitism is not the state policy. There is not complete anarchy in the country, and we are not threatened by pogroms. None of that has happened."
That brought a sharp retort from Irma Yelasvili, a 28-year-old Jew who moved to Moscow from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia five years ago, "When the pogroms happen, it will be too late to leave. It will be too late."
As the class resumed, Vugman seemed to be careworn and tense.
"You know my wife is Russian and I am sure her parents would not want her to emigrate to Israel," he added softly. "But maybe in the future we will go to the United States, Canada or Israel, after all."
(posted 9 March 1999)
"JESUS" FILM TO A "FULL HOUSE"
4 March 1999
In the district capital of Yashkino in Kemorovo province evangelism was conducted by the showing of the "Jesus" film. It was organized by the Kemerovo division of the "New Life" mission. The hall of the local House of Culture, holding 260 persons, was almost full. According the missionary Igor Shulg, he absolutely did not expect such a crowd. Among them were many children, youth, and also around twenty percent of middle and older ages. The reason for such a "sell out" perhaps comes from the fact that the local population, according to the missionaries' reports, is experiencing a real spiritual hunger. Beside, the administration of the House of Culture, the editors of the local newspaper, and the radiostation cooperated with the organizers of the showing. They offered themselves to conduct a broad advertising campaign.
To be sure, the projection equipment had to be shut down because of overheating every fifteen minutes. The evangelists filled the interims with Christian songs and testimonies about how they came to believe in God. According to Igor Shulg, he expected that any minute the people would get upset, but everyone sat peacefully and waited for the resumption. Nonetheless, the organizers apologized and promised to return with fixed equipment.
Despite the interruption of the showing, the people gave the evangelists around twenty cards on which they noted that they had come to believe in Christ as their personal Savior and they provided their address for mailings. (Vadim Akentiev)
DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION COMES TO DEFENSE OF BAPTISTS
4 March 1999
In the medical clinic of the district capital Promyshlenny, Kemerovo province, Bible classes have been resumed, which have been conducted by the evangelists from the local church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Oleg Streltsov. An order to that effect came from the district administration after the classes were shut down upon the demand of the director of the hospital. The reason for that was the confessional affiliation of the church where Oleg Streltsov ministers. It was for this reason that the evangelist planned to appeal to the courts and to present the church's charter which states that the congregation has the right to conduct such classes. An attorney suggested not taking the case to court but appealling to the authorities of the district capital.
It is pertinent to say that the administration of the district cooperated with the evangelist and his associated promised the issue an order to all directors of village clubs not to hinder the proclamation of the Gospel. Nevertheless, the Baptists are facing negative attitudes towards themselves in this district as in the past. For example, in one of the villages the chairman of the village soviet order that they not be permitted into the building of the club where they were supposed to conduct a regular Sunday school class. It has to be held outside because many children showed up with a great desire to study.
It remains to add that there are 25 villages in this district. In each of them Oleg Streltsov plans to conduct evangelism and to organize groups for the study of the Bible. The evangelist already has visited half of them. (Vadim Akentiev)
"THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE" JOINT MINISTRY CONDUCTED IN VLADIVOSTOK
4 March 1999
On 28 February in the city of Vladivostok in the "New Life" church there was a not entirely ordinary service. It was not quite ordinary because for the first time three churches of the city participated. The participants in the service were young members of the "Good News," "Popular View," and "New Life" churches, with their programs which included preaching, singing, poetry, and drama. There also were guests attending the service: Christian youth from various church of the entire Primore territory, even from such distant places as the settlement of Vostok and the city of Dalnegorsk. The young hearts were united by a spirit of praising Jesus Christ with songs, and the fervent, simple prayers of thanksgiving for this eternal joy of salvation resounded. As on of the iniatiators of this service, the youth leader of the "Good News" church, Sergei Shmargun, said: "The goal of the joint service was communion and praise of the Almighty God in his son Jesus Christ in unity." The blessed service took place in a single spirit and all participants left with rejoicing and the desire to meet together again and again for such services. (Zhanna Vologodskaia)
EVANGELICAL CHURCH DECLARED "HERETICAL"
4 March 1999
The pastor of the church of the Resurrected Christ of the city of Tver, Sergei Isakov, appealed to all Christians for prayer support. He said that in the last two weeks the local press, the central radio station, and the NTV channel regularly have produced materials that have insulted the parishioners of the church and created hostile attitudes toward it on the part of the population. In these materials the congregation of the Resurrected Christ has been declared heretical, and so supposed it should be resisted.
"We were completely surprised," declares Sergei Isakov, "that the NTV "Segodniachko" program which is popular with the intelligentsia and which we consider to be objective and rational, unexpectedly arrived from Moscow at our Sunday service with cameras and led by the reporter Alena Zharovskaia, supposedly with the goal of reporting how well various churches are doing." However the material turned out quite different. The notice behind the crew stated that this is an "American" church. And "at the time of prayer the notice stated that now the pastor, using special techniques, was putting the people into a trance which could lead to dire consequences." To illustration this they selected a story about a certain girl who had attended a meeting of this church only once and attended a home group three times. After some time she inflicted three knife wounds upon herself. In the TV program this was denoted an "attempt at ritual suicide." Incidentally, she subsequently was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
At the conclusion of his appeal pastor Sergei Isakov asks: "What is this, a witchhunt on the brink of the twenty-first century?" In his words, "it is possible that this is the beginning of a planned attack."
A Radiotserkov correspondent asked for commentary on this situation from a Kemerovo pastor, Igor Goloskubov. He recently had communicated with Sergei Isakov by phone. According to Igor, this church is very unpopular in Tver. Perhaps because the congregation now numbers around 400 members. Among them, incidentally, there are many youth. The congregation frequently preaches the Gospel among various groups and gangs. Igor Goloskubov considers that it is not only the size of the congregation and its activity that angers local authorities and the mass media. There also is the fact that the church recently acquired its own building for conducting services. It is a former abandoned moviehouse which the parishioners were able to acquire by winning, with God's help, a competition for the best social project.
It remains to add that last year the congregation of the Resurrected Christ achieved reregistration and is a part of the Russian Union of Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith. On this basis, the pastor plans soon to appeal to the courts. (Vadim Akentiev)
SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY IN KHABAROVSK: THERE IS A GOD BUT NOT THE BIBLICAL
ONE
4 March 1999
This opinion of individuals participating in a sociological survey conducted among philology students of the Khabarovsk State Pedagogical University. 41% of those questioned acknowledge the existence of God. At the same time, 30% consider themselves believers and 8% Christians. 5% deny the existence of God and 6% do not consider themselves believers. 2% of the students have not considered whether there is a Creator. 3.5% have not determined their belief system. But nobody considered themselves to be atheists.
For less than one percent of those questioned the answers were extremely categorical: there is no God, believing the Bible is to lose touch with reality, I am interested only in Buddhism as a twentieth century teaching, I don't want to have anything to do with Christian confessions, or my own faith is sufficient.
Well, if there is no God, is everything permitted? Fortunately, the majority of our youth are contemplating the meaning of their existence. And in these quests often they come to faith through struggle. (Elena Kovtun)
MOSCOW BAPTISTS EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS IN REREGISTRATION
3 March 1999
Several churches of Evangelical Christian-Baptists (EKhB) of the city of Moscow were refused reregistration. The formal reason for the refusal was stated to be "nonconformity of the constituent documents to the legislation of Russia." What exactly constituted this nonconformity was not stated by the Administration of Justice for the city of Moscow. The Moscow EKhB Association considers that this answer is a standard bureaucratic evasion and that all churches that are a part of the association will receive reregistration. (Alexei Markevich)
(tr by PDS)
Russian text at Radiotserkov
(posted 8 March 1999)
Coprighted material. For private use only.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit this Web page.