RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Religious website identifies lead stories of past year

FORTY MAIN EVENTS OF RELIGIOUS PUBLIC LIFE ON 2017 ACCORDING TO PORTAL-CREDO.RU

Portal-Credo.ru, 30 December 2017

 

1. Prohibition of the activity of all religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian federation and their ruling to be "extremist"—April-July

 

2. Campaign of "Orthodox activists" for banning motion picture "Matilda" and its widespread release—April-November

 

3. Public protests against possible transfer of St. Isaac's cathedral in St. Petersburg to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate [RPTsMP]—January-October

 

4. 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution, opening of the Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church, and election of St. Tikhon as patriarch—February-December

 

5. Letter of UPTsKP [Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate] Patriarch Filaret to the patriarch and Bishops' Council of the RPTsMP requesting forgiveness and restoration of communion—November-December

 

6. 500th anniversary of the Reformation—October-November

 

7. Visit by Russian president to the ecclesiastical center of the Russian Orthodox Old-Believer Church; beginning of change in the political status of Old Belief in Russia, 31 May

 

8. Series of articles in news media containing criticism of the head of the RPTsMP in connection with the administration of the Russian president—May-July

 

9. Declaration by the president of the U.S.A. recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and beginning of new mass protests of Arabs against this—November-December

 

10. Conviction by "the tribunal of DPR" and release of Donetsk religious studies scholar Igor Koslovsky—May-December

 

11. Trial of Ekaterinburg blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky, who "hunted Pokemons" in a church of the RPTsMP—April-May

 

12. Intensifying of the discussion about finding the murder of the family of Emperor Nicholas II to be "ritualist."—November

 

13. Information campaign regarding bringing relics of St. Nicholas to Russia from Bari—May-July

 

14. Stormy reaction of Russian Muslims, led by Ramzan Kadyrov, to oppression of Muslim ethnic group Rohingya in Myanmar—September

 

15.  Vociferous matter of plan by an archpriest to poison Catholicos-Patriarch of all-Georgia ("cyanide case")—February-September

 

16. Arrest of activists of Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg—June

 

17. Demolition of Dormition church on the territory of the Novo-Tikhvin monastery of the RPTsMP in Ekaterinburg, the oldest building in the city and monument of the 18th century with national signification—early April

 

18. Prosecution of the Moscow "Sova" Center for News and Analysis, which studies religious extremism and respect for human rights—February-December

 

19. Publication of new archival documents giving evidence of the organizing by the N.K.V.D. of the U.S.S.R. of the Local Council of the RPTsMP in 1945—December

 

20. Effective refusal by RPTsMP to support initiative by the ROCOR [Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] of the MP for burial of Lenin's body—March-October

 

21. Death of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cardinal Liubomir Guzar—31 May

 

22. Defense of the first "secular" dissertation in theology in the RF by an archpriest of the RPTsMP, completing the integration of theology into the system of secular education and science—June

 

23. Arrest and detention in a SIZO of Hegumen Nikolai and parishioners of the Kaliningrad parish of the ROCOR(V-V)—27-29 May

 

24. Campaign by RPTsMP and Russian authorities against possible adoption in Ukraine of laws revising the legal status of the UPTsMP—May

 

25. Confiscation from ROCOR of the ancient church of St. Vladimir in Yaroslavl—May

 

26. Guilty verdict by Moscow district military court of the imam of a Moscow mosque, Yardyam Makhmud Velitov, who preached a funeral sermon at the burial of a member of the "Hizb ut-Tahrir" movement—28 April

 

27. 6th Diaspora Council of ROCOR(ASI) and start of unification of this new "remnant" of ROCOR with the Russian True-Orthodox Church—January-April

 

28. Forcible eviction of the International Rerikh Center from Lopukhin estate in center of Moscow—28-29 April

 

29. Guilty verdict on teachers of an Orthodox orphanage in Yaroslav province for abuse of children and murder of one of them—11 October

 

30. Refusal by Russian authorities to remove abortion from the list of medical services financed by the state (which RPTsMP sought)—October

 

31. Attempt by an "Orthodox businessman" to transfer the icon "Angel of the Golden Hair" from the Russian Museum to his cottage estate—September-October

 

32. Trial on charges of pedophilia of priest Gleb Grozovsky of the St. Petersburg metropolia of the RPTsMP—June-December

 

33. First international synaxis (conference) of priests of the RPTsMP and of other churches of "world Orthodoxy," who have ceased commemorating their ruling bishops after accusing them of the heresy of ecumenism—4 October

 

34. Guilty verdict of patron of ROCOR and cossack ataman from Moscow suburb of Podolsk, Vladimir Melikhov—13 June

 

35. Order by mayor of Moscow for construction near the cathedral of Christ the Savior of monuments to patriarchs, including Kirill—6 December

 

36. Arrest and conviction in Belarus of cleric of the St. Petersburg metropolia of the RPTsMP for pimping—August-September

 

37. Adoption of plan of primate of True-Orthodox Church (R-S) and change in the administrative structure of this church—14-20 October

 

38. Dismissal of Archbishop Mikhail from administration of the West European diocese of ROCOR of MP—29 September

 

39. Termination of television broadcast of "Tsargrad" channel, financed by Russian "Orthodox oligarch" Malofeev—1 December

 

40. First congress of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church—6-9 June

(tr. by PDS, posted 1 January 2018)


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