R.P.Ts. REMINDS PRIESTS
THAT IT IS
NECESSARY TO CLEAR PUBLIC APPEALS WITH BISHOP
Interfax-Religiia,
23 September 2019
The head of the synodal
Department for
External Church Relations, Metropolitan Ilarion, reminded
priests who signed an
open letter in defense of defendants in the "Moscow Affair" of
the
necessity of clearing their actions in the public sphere with
their ruling
bishop.
"The official position of
the
church is expressed by official persons: the patriarch has the
right to speak
out on all matters, and the chairman of the Department for
Eternal Church
Relations voices the official position of the church regarding
the spheres of
his competence. I do not think that each one of the almost
40,000 priests can
clear his opinion with the patriarch, but priests are required
to clear their
opinion with the ruling bishop of the diocese to which they
belong," the
metropolitan said on the broadcast of "Church and World" on the
Rossiia-24
television channel.
He acknowledged that it
is impossible in
all cases, and also that a priest has a certain degree of
freedom, and each
clergyman is called to act according to conscience and has the
right to
intercede for one or another person and defend him and to act
publicly. Priests
also may create a group for defense of one or another person,
which happened in
this case.
In addition, the hierarch
thinks that
recent events, when various groups of people came to the defense
of convicted
persons, show that "not everything in our country is
satisfactory in the
legal sphere, especially when we see how under the influence of
public protests
sentences are being reconsidered." "Such incidents give evidence
that
a feeling of responsibility of people for one another is growing
in our
society," Metropolitan Ilarion noted.
On 17 September, several
dozen priests
of the RPTs [Russian Orthodox Church] sent to authorities a
request to
reconsider the judicial verdicts to imprison several
participants in the summer's
unsanctioned demonstrations by the opposition in Moscow. In the
synodal
Department for Relations of Church with Society and News Media,
this appeal was
regarded as an "attempt to participate in protection of rights
which de
facto turned into a political declaration." At the same time,
the church
declared its intention to clarify whether violations of the
rights of detainees
occurred during the summer's demonstrations of protest in
Moscow, and whether
it will be necessary to help them. (tr. by PDS, posted 23
September 2019)
R.P.Ts.
WILL NOT
PUNISH PRIESTS WHO SIGNED LETTER IN DEFENSE OF PROTESTERS IN
MOSCOW—LEGOIDA
Interfax-Religiia,
20
September 2019
The
head of the synodal
Department for Relations of Church with Society and News Media,
Vladimir
Legoida, declared that no threat of punishment of priests who
signed a letter
in support of participants in disorders in Moscow exists.
"I do
not have
any basis to suppose that any punishment whatever will be
imposed on priests
who signed the letter," the representative of the church
emphasized on
Friday on a broadcast of radio Vera.
Legoida
added that
he does not know whether some of these clerics were subjected to
pressure on
the part of bishops.
"Even
though
the assessments expressed in the letter are not shared by all in
the church, as
well as the very possibility for priests to speak out with such
statements, I
do not think that they are threatened with anything," he
explained.
The
head of the
synodal department recalled that the church deals with much
sadness, most of
which is in the private sphere. "This is systematic work, not
connected
with high profile cases. For example, last week I signed a
letter to a court
where I requested help for and early release for one prisoner
who is known for
his help in church educational projects," the representative of
the church
explained.
The
interviewer's
question was connected with the fact that earlier articles had
appeared in news
media that claimed that possible discipline (punishment—IF)
against priests who
signed the letter may be used for propagandistic goals in
complicating the
process of the unification with the Moscow patriarchate of the
archdiocesan
parishes of the Russian tradition in western Europe. (tr. by
PDS, posted 23
September 2019)
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