METROPOLITAN KIRILL LIKENS SITUATION OF BUILDING CHURCH
IN EKATERINBURG
TO SHOOTING OF TSAR'S FAMILY
Interfax-Religiia,
27 May 2019
Metropolitan of Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye Kirill
called the
situation that has developed in Ekaterinburg around building the
church of St.
Catherine a challenge, the press service of the local diocese
reports.
"Today the church faces a challenge. This challenge
resounded out
of Ekaterinburg. Like 100 years ago the shots resounded and the
blood of the
holy tsarist passion bearers flowed," the words of the
metropolitan are
quoted in the report.
He stated this opinion at the conclusion of the liturgy
in the St.
Nicholas Verkhoturye men's monastery last Saturday.
The metropolitan emphasized that those people who today
"are
acting against the construction of churches and who scoff at
Orthodox values
are our brothers, our children, who are lost because of lack of
faith."
Since 13 May, mass protests have been going on in
Ekaterinburg against
the construction of a cathedral of St. Catherine on October
Square in the
center of the city, where at the present time a park is located.
They began after
a fence was built in the park surrounding the site of the
proposed
construction.
After a week of protests and arrests, and also a
statement by President
Vladimir Putin assessing what was happening, the governor of
Sverdlovsk oblast,
Evgeny Kuivashev, sent to the residents of Ekaterinburg a
request to discuss
alternative locations for building the church.
A survey conducted by VTsIOM showed that 74% of those
questioned
consider the park an unfortunate place for building a church.
On 27 May the administration of Ekaterinburg reported
that in one week
it received 8,200 suggestions from residents of the city about
possible
locations for building the church of St. Catherine. On the basis
of the
collection of proposals, a preferential vote for the location
for the new
church will be held.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Kirill stated yesterday in Strasbourg that the Russian Orthodox Church is building an average of three churches a day. "This is not because we have a lot of money and we do not know where to spend it. Our people, who went through years of atheism, understand in both mind and heart that without God nothing is done," the patriarch said, addressing believers during the great consecration of the church of All Saints. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 May 2019)
PUTIN AND PATRIARCH DISCUSSED SITUATION OF PLANS TO
BUILD CHURCH IN
EKATERINBURG—PESKOV
Interfax-Religiia,
27 May 2019
The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry
Peskov, reported
that in the course of a meeting of Vladimir Putin with Patriarch
of Moscow and
all-Rus Kirill, the situation connected with plans to build a
church in
Ekaterinburg was touched upon.
"Indeed. They touched upon this situation," Peskov said
on
Monday, answering a corresponding question of journalists.
He recalled that the Russian president and patriarch,
during a meeting,
"exchanged opinions extremely frankly on the most critical and
most varied
matters of the day's agenda."
Responding to a clarifying question, whether Putin's and Patriarch Kirill's positions on the matter of the construction of a church in Ekaterinburg agree, Peskov said: "Unfortunately I cannot tell you any more. This is their personal exchange of opinions." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 May 2019)
PATRIARCH KIRILL: OPPONENTS OF BUILDING CHURCHES ASSIST
DARK FORCES
by Olga Lipich
Opponents of construction of churches assist dark
forces, declared
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill on Monday at the end of a
three-day
visit in Strasbourg, where he consecrated a Russian church and
declared that
the Russian church is building an average of three churches a
day.
"A church building does not bother anybody. If we are
confronted
with an irrational aggressive reaction to building a church,
then here is a
dark affair. If rational factors do not exist and there is an
irrational
opposition and anger, then who can have anger about the fact
that an altar in a
church dedicated to our Lord and Savior was erected? An opponent
of the Savior.
Unfortunately, there are people who, consciously and
unconsciously, assist this
opponent, including the struggle against church buildings," the
patriarch
said.
He said: "This phenomenon is exotic and very rare."
Patriarch Kirill confirmed that the RPTs "constructs on average three church buildings a day." But building churches, he said, is not "executing the intentions of somebody in power;" churches are built "not to order," but "in response to the desire of people."
"In practically all circumstances, with the exception of individual exotic political cases, the people heartily support building churches. And wherever people need to have a church, including within walking distance, these churches will be built," the RPTs primate concluded.
And the construction of a Russian church in Strasbourg, Patriarch Kirill emphasized, is a "response to numerous requests by Orthodox people, Russians, Ukrainians, living in Strasbourg and coming to the city." The many people, who came for the consecration of the church last Sunday, are "evidence of the fact that people need a church." The patriarch thanked the authorities of Strasbourg, its Catholic archbishop, and the public of the city for support of the idea of building this church in Russian style at all stages. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 May 2019)
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