Keston News Service
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS BLOCK SHIPMENT OF CHILDREN'S BIBLES by Lawrence A. Uzzell, Keston News Service
Russian customs officials have seized a shipment of children's Bibles sent from Finland for Pentecostal Christian congregations in the Moscow suburbs. In what appears to be one of the most brazen violations yet of the 1993 constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and freedom of the press, the officials ruled that the Pentecostals may take possession of the simplified editions of the New Testament only after specialists from the Russian Orthodox Church have reviewed the text to verify that it does not contradict Orthodox doctrines.
NIKOLAI MAKUYED, deputy to the head of Russia's Pentecostal Union, showed Keston News Service a copy of a letter signed by the deputy chief of customs for the Zelenograd area just outside Moscow, informing the Pentecostals that the shipment of children's Gospels would not be released until representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate had subjected the text to expert review and confirmed that it was consistent with the Orthodox canons. The Pentecostal group--a nationwide association numbering about 500 congregations--has sent a letter of protest to the Customs Committee's national office in Moscow, Makuyev said, but as of 17 May had yet to receive a reply.
The customs officials are forcing the Pentecostals to pay about $50 a day (34 pounds sterling) in storage costs, Makuyed said.
In the past the Pentecostals have received such shipments without any difficulties, Makuyed told Keston. 'Two or three years ago we had good relations with the customs officers,' he said. 'The situation is now completely different because of pressure from the Orthodox Church.'
Makuyed gave Keston a copy of the newly controversial text, entitled 'Introduction to the Christian Bible: New Testament', edited by the Northwestern Bible Commission based in St Petersburg, and printed in Finland. According to the preface, the text was extensively revised on the basis of advice from both Orthodox and western sources. The Northwestern Bible Commission is itself a joint Orthodox and western initiative--the honorary chairman of which is PATRIARCH ALEKSI II of Moscow.