A prayer breakfast of leaders of protestant denominations of Russia devoted to problems of relations of Russian protestants with departments of government of the country as well as with the Russian Orthodox church was held in Moscow, Blagovest-info reports.
The assembled leaders expressed concern over cases of pressure exerted upon Russian protestants on the part of departments of the government and the RPTs. At the same time they noted the desire of protestant believers "to have more constructive relations with the state and RPTs."
Prayer breakfast participants made the decision to create a commission for drafting an "Appeal to the President of the Russian federation, Vladimir Putin, regarding infringements of the constitutional rights of believers of protestant denominations in the country." It is proposed that this document will be drawn up by leading protestant attorneys, sociologists, and politicians.
It is not ruled out that the appeal will be signed by the presidents of protestant religious associations of Russia. The opinion also was expressed that holding the prayer breakfast signifies yet another step toward the creation of an All-Russian protestant alliance.
More than thirty high-ranking ministers of the Evangelical Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist and Adventist religious associations took part in the meeting, which was organized by the Council of Christian Evangelical Churches in Russia, the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the "Spiritual Regeneration" association, and the "New Life" mission. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 October 2001)
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Thursday the chairman of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia and the European Countries of CIS (TsDUM), the supreme mufti of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin, spoke against Russia's participation in the antiterrorist operation of USA and its allies. In an interview with ITAR-TASS the mufti, who was participating in the work of the Congress of Compatriots, noted "playing with fire can lead to greater war. There are in Russia a sufficient number of our own extremists, fanatics, and wahabbis, with whom we must struggle decisively and restore law and order."
The mufti expressed alarm that military activities have broken out near the southern borders of Russia. He called the involvement of Uzbekistan in the international operation of USA and their allies dangerous, comparing the present course of events with the Yugoslav scenario "when troops entering the country are trying to remain there."
Talgat Tajuddin criticized the selection of countries and cities that participants in the military operation plan to strike. "Today they declare the necessity of bombing Baghdad, and tomorrow will they find three terrorists in Ivanovo or Khanty-Mansiisk and choose these cities for their missions?" he suggested. The mufti thinks that bombing is a complete violation of international law. "We condemn the horrible acts of terrorism in New York and Washington and we recognize the right of punishing the guilty, but only within the limits of the standards of international law and morality. We do not have the right to oppose people for their religious and national identity," Talgat Tajuddin stressed. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 October 2001)
RELIGIOUS LEADERS CONCERNED
by Vladimir Beliakov
Trud, 10 October 2001
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus thinks that the beginning of military bombardment of Afghanistan can lead to the expansion of military conflict. "This could evoke responses from one side or another," the patriarch noted. "And innocent people may suffer from them." Alexis II stressed that "it is necessary to punish those who committed the terrorist acts." He expressed hope that right reason will triumph and the conflict will be overcome.
The supreme mufti of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin, thinks that special forces should fight with international terrorism. He said that today in Afghanistan not only are the bases of the terrorists being destroyed but innocent civilians are suffering there. "We cannot fail to see that the flames of this war are ready to spread at any moment and expand and destroy the whole civilized world," the supreme mufti stressed. "I pray the Supreme Creator that he will strengthen the resolve and reason of governmental leaders of all countries who are responsible for the fate of the nations," he said. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 October 2001)
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In September 2001 His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus sent letters to primates of fraternal local Orthodox churches in which he warmly thanked them for the participation of delegations from these churches in celebrations in Kiev devoted to the 950th anniversary of the founding of the Kiev caves lavra. In the letters he noted that the presence of representatives of local churches "not only adorned the Kievan celebration and gave it a genuinely all-Orthodox character but also was a clear testimony to the fraternal unity of the holy church of God in standing for the truth of the sacred tradition and for a universal confirmation of canonical church order."
The primate of the Russian Orthodox church expressed special thanks to His Blessedness Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all-Greece, who visited Kiev on the eve of the celebration of the 950th anniversary of the Kiev Dormition caves lavra, bringing the head of the holy apostle Andrew the First-called for veneration. Addressing the primate of the Greek Orthodox church, His Holiness Patriarch Alexis noted with pleasure that his "firm and impartial position, . . . based on diligent study of the holy canons in assessing the church situation in Ukraine, strengthened many souls in the good work of spiritual defense of the purity of the faith and the triumph of righteousness, despite the cunning efforts of the 'prince of this world,' who sows the weeds of divisions in the church's field."
In the letter addressed to His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, His Holiness Patriarch Alexis thanked him for his response to the invitation to participate in the celebrations by a representative of the Constantinople patriarchate. In addition, in the spirit of fraternal candor he shared his objections regarding several episodes that took place in the course of the Constantinople delegation's stay in Kiev. In particular, the letter expressed dismay over the unexpected, hasty departure from the Kiev caves lavra on the day of the celebration of the jubilee of the head of the delegation, general secretary of the Holy Synod of the Constantinoople patriarchate, Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, who left the cloister before the end of the festive divine liturgy and at the very moment that Ukrainian President L.D. Kuchma arrived.
Besides this, the head of the Russian Orthodox church called attention to the absence from the text of a letter distributed under the name of Patriarch Bartholomew, "Letter in connection with the 950th anniversary of the founding of the Kiev caves lavra," of any mention of the legal and canonical head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, His Blessedness Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all-Ukraine, but the opening words of the letter, "Beloved brothers and children in the Lord" make it seem to be not fraternal greetings from the primate of a friendly church but more like an general sermon addressed to a flock other than the one over which God has made him pastor, which is directly forbidden by the holy canons.
Patriarch Alexis also sees a defect in the letter in its containing a call to the unification of all believers, apart from clear recognition of the existence of a canonical church that is in complete unity with ecumenical Orthodoxy, as confirmed by the celebration held in Kiev, on one hand, while on the other hand there are schismatics who have arrogantly separated themselves from ecclesiastical unity. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 October 2001)
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On Saturday in Moscow in the patriarchal residence on Chisty Lane was held a session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox church under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Run. The synod called the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) to liquidate the schism and be united.
The Holy Synod awarded the patriarch the order of the Holy Prelate Macarius, first degree, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of his episcopal ordination. It decided to add to the assembly of new Russian martyrs of the twentieth century names from lists presented by the Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Syktyvkarsk, and Yaroslavl dioceses. It elevated the Tyla ecclesiastical school to rank of seminary and blessed opening for new cloisters, two for men, in Vladivostok and Stavropol dioceses, and two for women, in Blagoveshchensk and Tula dioceses, and it settled several personnel questions.
The chief act of the Holy Synod was the sending of a fraternal epistle to members of the bishops' council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. This council is scheduled for 23 October 2001 and at it a new head of the foreign church will be elected to replace ninety-two-year-old Metropolitan Vitaly, who will retire.
The letter to ROCOR says that "now all the historic causes that conditioned our separation from you have disappeared. The church now performs its saving ministry in the fatherland freely." The social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox church that was adopted last year "introduced needed clarification in the mutual relations of the church with the state." The synod proposed now to take the practical steps and to create a commission on matters of the unity of the Russian church, inasmuch as "it is now time for us all to understand that our division bears witness only to inertia and human sinfulness."
At the time that this issue was going to press, the authorized representative for Russian affairs of the ROCOR synod, Bishop Mikhail of Toronto, was serving the liturgy and was unavailable for comment. Deacon Nikolai Savchenko, secretary of the St. Petersburg deanery of ROCOR, commented on the RPTs' synod's call for unification as follows: "The only thing that prevents our unification are the diseases that the Moscow patriarchate caught during the soviet period: ecumenism and sergianism (ROCOR thinks that the caretaker of the patriarchate, Metropolitan Sergius, supported the actions of the atheist soviet regime--KD). It is necessary to repent before the Russian people and they people should see that healing is taking place."
The ruling bishop of the Ishimsko-Siberian ROCOR diocese, Bishop Evtikhy, said that the fact of a friendly appeal gives him joy, but "the central phrase of the letter had a demoralizing effect" upon him personally, which spoke of the absence of historical reasons for the division of the two churches. "Probably a majority of members of our council will have a different assessment of history and the contemporary situation in the Russian church and in society," Bishop Evtikhy declared to Kommersant-Daily. "For this reason it is premature to say that now there must be an immediate unification of the churches." (tr. by PDS, posted 8 October 2001)
FRATERNAL LETTER OF THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA ALEXIS II AND OF THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
To the Members of the Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
All-honorable Arch-pastors and Pastors, participants in the Council, "Grace be unto you and the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. I:2)
On the threshold of the Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the Sacred Synod, the Episcopacy, the Clergy and the entire Pleroma of the Russian Orthodox Church offers up prayers with special zeal to our Lord and Saviour for the destruction of the lamentable separation of the children of the Mother-Church, in diaspora, from their brethren of the same Faith with them in Russia.
The tragic twentieth century has passed, during which Russia and her Holy Church endured a time of heavy trial. The great sin of apostasy seduced the hearts of the people. During that spiritual darkening, they destroyed temples, defiled holy things, and grossly flouted the freedom given by God: the tunic of the Church was rent by both internal and external enemies. The Russian Church ascended her own Golgotha, and the Gospel prophecy of the Saviour was fulfilled, when in the temptation of struggling against God "brother (delivered up) brother to death, and the father the child: and the children (rose up) against their parents, and cause(d) them to be put to death." (Matthew X:21) Nevertheless Orthodox Russia, trusting in God's promises, and going up onto the Cross, believed in her Resurrection. For, according to what the Apostle said, "Neither death, nor life, nor angels nor Principalities nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans VIII:38-39) Through the blood of hundreds of thousands of martyrs and confessors the countenance of the Russian land was cleansed, and our country was able to suffer through to being cured of her tragic illness. Through the holy prayers of God's Saints newly revealed, the yoke of militant atheism finally collapsed.
Today, entering a new millennium, we may witness with joy that "the gates of Hell" (Matthew XVI: 18) did not prevail against the Church in Russia. Dear brethren in Christ, the events that have transpired during these last years in the life of our Holy Church, in the life of Russian society and government, clearly show that all those historical circumstances that formed the basis of our separation from you have been annulled. The Church in the homeland now freely accomplishes Her saving service. In spite of the terrible years of persecution, She preserved unharmed Christ's word and is once again able to proclaim the truth of Holy Orthodoxy with full voice. The Jubilee Hierarchical Council that took place in August of last year became a clear manifestation of the Church's renascence. The "Bases for a Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church" that was accepted at it afford indispensable clarity to the mutual relations of Church and government. Under conditions of freedom the long-lasting desire of our Church and of the entire much-suffering Orthodox people was fulfilled: there was accomplished the glorification among the choir of the Saints of the New Russian Martyrs and Confessors, among their number the Royal Passion-bearers. With God's blessing the office of canonization with the participation of representatives of every one of the Local Orthodox Churches in the reborn Temple of Christ the Saviour became truly an All-Orthodox celebration.
Nevertheless, our joy can only be complete when it receives healing of the wound of pernicious schism in the body of the Russian Church. What fills up our heart with sorrow is that we, dear brethren, as Orthodox confessing one Faith, may not commune from one Cup and we continue to languish in the captivity of a separation which has been historically eliminated. Many perceptive souls, especially from among the number of those Russians living beyond the borders of the Homeland, are being drawn by this circumstance to strive to surmount it. Even in the bosom of the Church Abroad Herself the movement towards destruction of the wall of separation is ever gaining strength; Joy was afforded to many members of the Church in Russia through the decision of last year's Hierarchical Council of the Russian Church Abroad to create a commission on the questions of the unity of the Russian Church. We confirm our readiness to create a commission like it on our side, so that, in brotherly dialogue, the quandaries that still stand in the way of unity can be solved.
The Holy New Martyrs endured innumerable sufferings for the Russian Church, wanting to see Her one and free. In the new millennium whose beginning was marked by disturbing events, the responsibility for the future Russian Church has been laid upon us together with you by the Lord. Brethren, the time has come to lay aside all quarrels about human justice, which should give place to God's justice. Offering mutual repentance, we are called to go to meet each other in order to overcome suspicion and enmity. It is time for all us to understand that our division is a witness now only to human frailty and sinfulness. Let us follow the advice of Saint Tikhon, All-Russian Patriarch, who eighty years ago wrote in one and the same epistle: "It is, in fact, in oneness, agreed-upon action and brotherly love, that there is power." Let us hearken as well to the instructions of St. Gregory the Theologian: "To give way in this or that minor matter in order to achieve what is most important: that is concord." And may we be fortified in our coming near by the High Priestly prayer of our Lord and Saviour: "As Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, so that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me." (John XVII: 21)
Patriarch of Moscow Alexis, Members of the Sacred Synod
23 September/6 October 2001
The Glorification of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow
(Translation prepared by His Grace Bishop Tikhon of San Francisco and the West, posted 8 October 2001)
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On 1 October 2001, Metropolitan Feodosy of Poltava and Kremenchug died. The metropolitan was one of the few bishops of the soviet period who dared to resist the atheist authorities.
Biographical information about the life of Metropolitan Feodosy (secular name, Mitrofan Nikonovich Dikun) is sparse. He was born 23 November 1926 in the village of Chernitsa of Rovno province. In 1943 he became a novice at the Pochaev Holy Dormition lavra. He began studying at the Moscow Ecclesiastical Seminary and Academy in 1947 and was ordained bishop of Poltava and Kremenchug on 7 October 1967.
Master Feodosy first called public and international attention to himself on 25 October 1977. On that day he sent to [General Secretary Leonid I.] Brezhnev a 200-page letter in which he described the "troubles of the church." The letter was handed over "by hostile voices" and translated into many languages. It was the policy of the soviet state with regard to the church that drove the bishop to decide on such a desperate action in the very depths of the years of Brezhnev "stagnation."
In contrast with the "stalinist atheist five-year-plan," during the time of the Khrushchev administration the new persecution of the church was not accompanied by widespread arrests and executions. Under the careful attention of the West the soviet state learned to operate more cautiously and hypocritically. There was no need for show trials and rivers of blood; it was sufficient simply to close church and thus strike the shepherds so that the sheep would be scattered.
This is how Master Feodosy himself described this time: "Before perestroika, a horrible plague passed through USSR whose name was 'militant state atheism. . . .' The plague reached even to Poltava. It said to me, 'Why do you have so many churches? In Russia there are fewer. But Ukrainians and Russians are brothers and that means everything should be done in a fraternal manner, equally. In Astrakhan there are 15 churches; so let there be the same number in Poltava. In Vologda there are 17; in Kharkov there will be 17; In Orenburg, 12, so in Kirovograd there will be no more.' I said to my challengers: 'I will not let you close churches. I have 52 churches and I am prepared to die for them 52 times.'"
It seems that this courageous step was not without cost to the bishop. "I was threatened, tormented, and blackmailed, but my work was not in vain. Whereas before my letter to L.I. Brezhnev thousands and thousands of churches in Ukraine and Russia had been closed, after my letter not a single one was closed." The dissident bishop was immediately transferred far to the north, to the Vologda see. If there had been a diocese in Magadan, he would have gone to Magadan. However in Vologda Bishop Feodosy was denied physicians; severe inflamation of his lungs needed a different climate and the bishop was transferred to the see at Astrakhan. Despite it all, less than a year later the disgraced bishop was elevated to rank of archbishop.
In Astrakhan the agent of the Council on Religious Affairs was initially concerned whether the bishop intended to write a letter about him too. The bishop answered: "If you do the same thing that the Poltava agent did, I will also write about you." The new bishop in Astrakhan was so beloved that when the frescoes in the cathedral were refreshed, the image of Christ bore an amazing resemblance to the diocesan bishop.
The inflexible will and fidelity to the church that Bishop Feodosy displayed during the soviet period turned out to be needed in 1990 when in western Ukraine Uniates virtually destroyed three Orthodox dioceses. In the course of two years Archbishop Feodosy defended Orthodoxy in Khmelnitsky and Ivano-Frankovsk until finally in 1992 he returned to the Poltava see. In 1996 the archbishop was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.
But even in the new period, when persecution of the church had ceased, Metropolitan Feodosy did not seek for easy paths. Soon after the fall of the Soviet Union the bishop sent to Patriarch Alexis II a suggestion to create on the basis of the Moscow patriarchate three patriarchates, a Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian, thereby provoking a flame of criticism of himself from the right-wing religious press. His initiative even earned him the epithet "wolf in sheep's clothing." Later the bishop himself said of his initiative: "I am now keeping quiet about the three patriarchates. I wrote about this on 27 September 1993. . . . A great deal has changed in the world. All things must be done in their own time. Years will pass and, I think, my current critics will understand against whom and what they have spoken out."
Disliked by the soviet regime and the postsoviet reactionaries in the church, Metropolitan Feodosy was beloved by his own flock. He was not a dissident. As a man of the church, he was faithful not to ideas but to Christ. Guided by his faith and conscience and confirmed in them, he followed after truth in the most surprising and paradoxical life situations and he did not twist his soul when he defended the church from communists or proposed radical church reform in new historic circumstances. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 October 2001)
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Maria Devi Christos, otherwise known as Marina Mamonova-Tsvigun-Krivonogova-Kovalchuk, "a living goddess" in white clothing, regularly predicted the end of the world and spent four years in a prison colony and then was released. She managed to swap her old "apostle" husband for a young "apostle." It is said that she sped around Kiev with him in a Toyota. She lives well, does not expect the end of the world any more, and continues to preach.
Marina has called herself at one time Eve, at another the Mother of the World, at another the Mother of God herself, and at the same time the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And she married not simply the citizen Kovalchuk but "Lord John Peter II." Marriage, and perhaps the jail term, softened the morals of the "goddess." Now she permits her followers to eat meat and she recognizes family unions as sacred and does not call openly any longer for severing everything that binds a person to the world. Like before, she has around her "apostles," "hegumens," and "archdeacons." Supposedly they live by begging and growing their own gardens. They don't let Maria Devi Christos work in the garden; that is not the deity's business. But where is she herself? "Like God, she is everywhere!"
Actually, in many cities of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia, especially in the Urals and along the Volga, as well as Moscow, "white brothers" have become notably more active in the past year. The organization has lost numbers but it has maintained its close hierarchy, rigid discipline, and austere secrecy. Leaflets are again showing up on columns: the White Brotherhood needs new souls.
Those who have been able to break with the sect recall it with pain. What actually happened in its headquarters, the Kievan building behind the three-meter fence with barbed wire on top? Evidently nobody knows the whole truth. After the outrages of the "brothers" in 1993, people came to the Kiev GUVD from all over CIS to seek their sons and daughters in the photographs made by the police: those arrested refused to give their names and they were prepared for sudden death for the faith and their "goddess." After the Last Judgment did not happen on the day designated by Maria Devi Christos, and in the course of those ten months that her trial and those of other leaders of the "White Brotherhood" lasted, many awoke from the nightmare.
After the arrest of leaders of the sect an enormous number of expert analyses were conducted for determining the psychological state of children and adults of the "brotherhood." Violations of the psyches were observed in all of those studied.
Those who were indicted were also studied, the Krivonogov couple and Kovalchuk. It was determined that these "gods" who had managed to provoke hysteria in thousands of people without exaggeration did not possess any special extrasensory or hypnotic abilities.
People like people
Everybody who dealt with Marina and Yury Krivonogov after their arrest were united in their conclusion: "People like people." At the investigation and trial the couple conducted themselves in a quite human manner. They brought each other down and argued over jackets and apartments and homes and they did not confess where the enormous amounts of money which the sect clearly had disposed of had gone. And in a quite feminine way Marina rejected her old husband (Yury is 25 years older than she) during the investigation and fell in love with the young Kovalchuk. "There is no John (which is what Krivonogov was called in the sect)," she told her disciples. "He is a false teacher. Did I really demand that you perish in my name? I never did such a thing. I do not know where this idea came from at all. The devil put this over on you."
The story of the acquaintance with "this Judas" also came out in court. Before the "White Brotherhood" Krivonogov had made his living with "extrasensory performances," and one time a note came out of the audience from a woman who wrote that she had seen God. Incidentally that was at a time when she was clinically dead while she was having her tenth abortion. The beautiful Marina had a difficult komsomol youth. Arrest put an end to conjugal relations, after the seizure of Holy Wisdom cathedral by the "brothers." At that time canisters with gasoline had been prepared and several dozen persons were supposed to be burned alive in the Orthodox church. But not Marina and Yury; their escape path was carefully laid out.
Return of the "goddess"
Nothing that came out in court turned a portion of her disciples away from Maria Devi Christos. As before, they were ready to die for her sake. They waited for her throughout the four years the "living goddess" spent in prison, diligently making four mesh bags each a day and painting the walls of the red corner. She did no preaching there. But, after release, she did not forget her flock, in contrast to Yury Krivonogov. Within the sect he was imprecated with words of renunciation: "I am ashamed of those ravings I wrote. I want to spend the rest of my days in peace." In the words of her worshipper, Hegumena Gertrude from Dnepropetrovsk, "tribulations only strengthened Maria Devi Christos; she returned from the camp even more convinced that she was an incarnation of the idea of God." It must be said that Marina and her associates publicly renounced the proclamation of the end of the world and they pledged not to include children in worship services.
However, the "Teaching" remained and according to it salvation will be attained only by those who "easily separate themselves from neighbors and family and who cannot be lured away; but if their mind is seduced they will be restrained by the power of Maria Devi Christos." Maria Devi Christos does not repeat these words in the presence of outsiders. She could get a new sentence for them and it does not take a prophet to realize that. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 October 2001)
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The most prominent hierarch of the Russian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, turned to economics scholars for advice. Yesterday the metropolitan attended a session of the bureau of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he explained at length and in detail why the church needs money and complained about the complete rejection by Russian authorities and intelligentsia of the enterprise initiatives of RPTs. "I have come to you because there is nowhere else to go. If people of science do not hear our voice, then nobody else can be expected to," the metropolitan declared before his address.
Of course, the metropolitan did not begin revealing to the academicians all items of the expense part of the RPTs budget. Speaking of the financial needs of the church, he tried to stress that they are directly connected with the needs of Russian citizens. "The church is expected to fight for the moral health of society," the master said. "It is said that we should be engaged in this. That is correct. But let's translate this into the area of contemporary life. Should the church be occupied with homeless children? Yes. But in order to be able to provide them everything they need, we need facilities and money for clothing and food. Can we help cure drug addicts? Yes, we have very good experience in cooperation with physicians. But to make this experience widely available we also need premises and resources for support." Besides this, the Russian Orthodox church wants to play a major part in communicating with people by means of television, and a lot of money is needed for that. The metropolitan also said that the education of children in Orthodox gymnasia and lyciums is going very well, although he thinks that in certain cases it could be much better.
Metropolitan Kirill spoke with evident passion regarding the possibilities for earning money independently, especially when he mentioned the reaction of society to the customs privileges which once were granted to structures close to the Orthodox church that imported into the country duty-free cigarettes and vodka. As an opposite example the metropolitan mentioned the Catholics of Poland and Italy, where church business on the side is understood. The RPTs hierarch also cited the experience of the fraternal Greek church. In Athens there are hotels and rental properties belonging to monks that support the monastery. "Look at the federal budget," the metropolitan complained. "Where is there a line 'for the moral protection of people'? Not one of the church's social programs has state support. It turns out that it is impossible for us to get money from the budget; it is forbidden to have privileges for trade; it is forbidden to engage in business; it is forbidden to receive returns on investment; it is forbidden to own property. And the very posing of the question of church income is considered improper."
Master Kirill expressed the hope that the scholars would understand quite well the problems of church workers since they themselves are badly paid. And the academic economists, who were mostly of the same age group that involuntarily thinks about eternity, did not disappoint the spiritual father. In their responses the academicians spoke of how actually the business of their younger colleagues who do not possess academic credentials (in particular, of course, Anatoly Chubais) is immoral. They proposed their recipes for the financial health of the church in unison. For example, Academician Nikolay Petrakov, evidently taking into account the rich experience of RPTs in fighting over property with other Orthodox churches abroad, advised the clergy to offer their services to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The process of the return of former Russian property abroad is underway," Mr. Petrakov said. "Give help in this and, it seems to me, then you will be able to count on a cut." (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2001)
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This weekend the English religious organization "Salvation Army" will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its activity in Russia. The head of the "Army," "General" John Gowans, has come to Moscow especially for the event.
However unfortunate confusion beclouds the celebrational atmosphere. As is known, in the middle of September the Tagansky intermunicipal court of the capital concluded that the Moscow division of the organization was subject to liquidation. The leaders of the "Army" acknowledge that their position in Russia is not as strong as in, for example, France, where the organization is supported by the state. Thus the prohibition of the Moscow division is an extremely substantial blow.
The squabble leading to this result arose back in 1999 when representatives of the city's mayoral office refused to extend the registration of the Salvationists. Since then there have been several court decisions and now the case is up for review by the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The situation is rather absurd since they are trying to close down an organization whose official activity is feeding the homeless gratis. However, "General" Gowans himself admits that the "Salvation Army" is still little known to the public. Information about it is clearly insufficient and the military name causes the spread of rumors that produce misunderstanding on the part of people.
"Our organization is not perfect and we are trying to improve it," the general summarizes.
The future of the Moscow division of the "Army" remains murky, although its leaders are preparing for the activities of celebration. They have already sent out invitations to representatives of various religious confessions. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2001)
SALVATION ARMY COMMAND DESCENDS ON MOSCOW
by Ivan Sukhov
Vremia novostei, 5 October 2001
The supreme command of the Salvation Army, a British religious charity, has come to Moscow. The Moscow division of the organization was closed in September by decision of the Tagansky intermunicipal court. The liquidation was preceded by a long and sensational conflict between the Army and Moscow bureaucrats. The capital's Department of Justice refused to reregister the organization since it considered that there was a contradiction between its goals stated in its charter and actual activity. The bureaucrats were most bothered, they themselves explained, by the "militaristic character" of the Salvation Army, whose members actually wear uniforms, have ranks and titles, and are subject to a strict hierarchy. However, as is known, that's all there is to this militarism; in the main the soldiers of this philanthropic army help the poor and feed the destitute.
Thus General John Gowans, who heads the army, came to Moscow a few days ago and expressed yesterday his confusion over the court's decision: "This upsets and amazes me. After all, we are not a sect nor a militaristic organization. We are peace loving Christians who want to serve the Lord and help the needy." Today small contingents of the army are based in 108 countries, where, according to General Gowans, they are valued and loved. Leaders of the Salvation Army hope to melt the "block of ice between the Moscow authorities and foreign charitable organizations," although the attorneys of this organization have been told to prepare a regular legal appeal.
In any case, for now the Army for does not intend to abandon the Russian capital. John Gowans stresses that he came here not to go to court but to celebrate the tenth anniversary of charitable activity in our country. But for the time being everything is proceeding according to military rules. The command of the Salvation Army has preferred the secure territory of the British embassy for addressing the press and Moscow authorities. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October)
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On Thursday the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS) of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, said at a meeting with economics scholars of the bureau of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences that the return of church real estate should not harm the well-being of society. The metropolitan noted that several of these properties are being well cultivated by former collective and state farms and "it is impossible that the return would cause harm to people and be associated with some kind of economic upheavals. The church would never come to that."
Metropolitan Kirill said that today the church is not raising the question of the return of all the lands that it owned before the revolution of 1917. "The issue is the return of land that the church now could effectively use economically and agriculturally," he explained. Metropolitan Kirill emphasized that this involves a small amount of land which monasteries will be able to cultivate.
The OVTsS chairman recalled that the Russian government recently adopted a resolution regarding the transfer of ownership of houses of worship to religious organizations. Metropolitan Kirill explained that currently all churches that have been returned to RPTs are being used by it but are not owned by it. It is his opinion that the conditions for transfer of churches contained in the government resolution are not favorable to RPTs. "In order for a church to be returned, we have to get the consent of its present landlord, without which no privatization is possible," Metropolitan Kirill said. He explained that in case a landlord says "no," the return of the church building to the church is impossible. Metropolitan Kirill added that at present many unreturned churches are occupied by restaurants, museums, and other institutions, and their owners are not always will to conduct a dialogue with the church. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2001)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
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