RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Both sides seeking international support in alleged persecution in Ukraine

REPRESENTATIVE OF CHURCH FEARS REPEAT IN UKRAINE OF SOVIET PERSECUTIONS OF BELIEVERS

Interfax-Religiia, 9 February 2015

 

The representative of the Russian Church in Strasbourg, Hegumen Filipp, called for preventing a repeat of persecutions of Orthodox believers similar to those that occurred during soviet times.

 

As reported, late in January the Kiev council excluded the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the list of religious organizations that receive tax privileges on immoveable property. Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klichko called the deputies' decision unconstitutional and demanded it be rescinded.

 

"It causes alarm that 78 deputies in Kiev voted for this decision. This speaks of the moods existing among representatives of authority who are prepared to declare a religious organization their political enemy and follow a course of discrimination and infringement of rights regarding it," the priest declared in an interview published Monday in the magazine Ogonek.

 

The representative of the church pointed to numerous incidents of destruction and arson of Orthodox churches, seizures of church building by groups of the self-proclaimed Kiev patriarchate, and threats to clergy and believers of UPTs.

 

In his opinion, decisions like the one mentioned of the Kiev council "only toss fuel into the fire of the civil conflict in Ukraine."

 

"The [RPTs—tr.] representation in Strasbourg also has notified the Council of Europe of this incident. I consider that it is necessary to do this yet more intensively; otherwise we will face open persecutions of the canonical church in Ukraine similar to the soviet godless persecutions," the priest suggests. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 February 2015)

 

CHAIRMAN OF OVTsSUPTs REPORTED TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ABOUT VIOLATIONS OF BELIEVERS' RIGHTS

Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 9 February 2015

 

On 9 February the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [OVTsSUPTs], Metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchev Mitrofan, sent to European international and rights advocacy organizations letters in which he reported about incidents of violations of the rights of believers and religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

 

The letters were sent to the general secretary of the Council of Europe, T. Yagland, the commissioner of the Council of Europe for human rights, and the chairman of the European Commission for Combating Racism and Intolerance.

 

In his appeals, Metropolitan Mitrofan reported about incidents of violent seizures of, arsons of, and attacks upon churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and about individual discriminatory decisions of local bodies of government authority with respect to religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

 

To these letters the chairman of OVTsSUPTs added a number of informational documents and copies of articles from news media translated into English confirming the facts presented. Metropolitan Mitrofan asked the addressees to take into account the information provided and to respond to these incidents. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 February 2015)


WASHINGTON CONCERN OVER PERSECUTIONS OF BELIEVERS IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF UKRAINE

Institute of Religious Liberty, 6 February 2015

 

On the eve of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in the building of the Congress of USA a round table was held on the topic of religious persecutions in occupied territories of Ukraine.

 

The event was organized with the support of the Christian mission Eurasia and the organizers of the perpetually operating round table on International Religious Liberty, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.

 

Participants in the session included experts and politicians from Ukraine and USA, specifically Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, deputies of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine and the German Bundestag, and pastors and ministers from evangelical churches of Ukraine, Central Asia, and USA.

 

"The fact of a discussion at a round table on questions of restrictions of religious freedom and the infringement of believers' rights in Crimea and in other territories of the Donbass controlled by militants points to how these questions will be given attention and support on the international level," the chairman of the board of IRL, Alexander Zaets, shared his impressions.

 

During his speech, the director of the Institute of Religious Liberty produced facts of deliberate persecutions of believers on the part of separatists in east Ukraine and he also explained the kinds of problems faced by Ukrainian churches in occupied Crimea.

 

"For the first time, problems of the restriction of religious liberty and violence and murders against religious groups in occupied territories of Ukraine were raised at such a representative level," declared a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine and minister of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Ukraine, Pavel Ungurian.

 

At the same time, a deputy of the Bundestag of the FRG, Pastor Frank Heinrich, recalled a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of 29 January 2015 regarding the necessity of protecting Christians in Europe and the Middle East.

 

"Events in Ukraine have alarmed not only neighboring states and politicians drawn into this conflict but also the global Christian community. In many discussions the conversation is focused not only on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but they speak also about the conflict between Eurasia and Europe, Russia and the West, the Orthodox 'Russian World' and 'secularized protestant-Catholic civilization, Orthodox values and universal human rights, and 'traditional order' and freedom," noted Professor Mikhail Cherenkov, vice-president of the Spiritual Regeneration Association, in his report.

 

Ukrainian pastors Igor Bandura and Petr Dudnik participated in the discussion during the round table. The participants in the event were acquainted in detail with the condition of churches and the circumstances of the religious activity of believers in occupied territories of Ukraine and they discussed possible ways of helping Christians in Crimea and the Donbass.

 

Meeting participants called Christians of the whole world to pray for peace in Ukraine and to support persecuted fellow believers. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 February 2015)

KIDNAPPINGS, TORTURE OF CHRISTIANS ON THE RISE UKRAINE

CBNNews.com, 6 February 2015

 

Religious freedom in Ukraine was a sidebar conversation at the National Prayer Breakfast this year. The White House is weighing whether to give military aid to the war-torn nation.

 

Mission Eurasia, a ministry to the former Soviet Union, hosted a roundtable on how the fighting is stirring religious persecution.

 

Since Russia annexed Crimea and occupied other parts of Ukraine last year, there's been a rise in intolerance toward Christian churches.

 

Pastors and priests have been kidnapped and subjected to harsh interrogations, torture, and even had their churches seized.

 

Two sons of a Pentecostal pastor and two deacons were even taken hostage and shot and killed in a mass grave the next day.

    

Observers say Russia has a religious policy that targets believers who belong to more "pro-Ukrainian" or pro-Western aligned groups.

 

"Correspondingly, those who are not belonging to the so called Russian world, for example Protestants and Catholics, are described as opponents or enemies," Dr. Mykhail Cherenkov, Association for Spiritual Renewal, said.

 

"I believe that your courage and your commitment to religious freedom will ultimately prevail. God still has his hand on the people of Ukraine," Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said.




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