DECLARATION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE OF FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE

Ekspress khronika, 16 August 1996

Article 82 of the constitution of the Russian federation, which establishes the procedure for inauguration of the president of Russia, strictly defined the contingent of official participants in the oath-taking ceremony: members of the Council of the Federation, deputies of the State Duma and judges of the Constitutional Court. According to article 14 of the constitution, "The Russian Federation is a secular state. . . .Religious associations are separated from the state and equal before the law."

The official participation of Patriarch Alexis II, head of the Moscow patriarchate, in the solemn ceremony of the inauguration of the president of Russia was a crude violation of these constitutional articles. The inclusion of one religious leader among the official participants of the ceremony was not only anticonstitutional but an insult for citizens who profess other religions and Orthodox who do not recognize the Moscow patriarchate that Stalin created in 1943 and the nonbelievers who constitute half the population of Russia. The norms of international law which are recognized by our country and constitute a part of its legal system, prescribe the guarantee of genuine equality among believers and nonbelievers.

The "traditional religious confessions," in the name of whom Patriarch Alexis spoke at the inauguration, had not delegated their official proxy to him, so it is unclear on what basis the chief primate of the Moscow patriarch spoke in the name of traditional pagan shamans, Hindus, Jews, and others.

The patriarch could be present at the inauguration of the president only in the capacity of a guest on equal standing with other civil and religious leaders, as was the case in 1991 when he delivered general greetings which had been signed by representatives of many religions of Russia.

We call the attention of society, the media, and civil servants to the dangerous symptom of this violation of the bases of the constitutional structure of the Russian Federation, the clericalization of state power, and the exaceration of interreligious conflict.

President of the Committee for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience

Priest Glen Yakunin