The State Committee for work with religious structures filed suit in Narimanovsk court on the matter of terminating the activity of the "Khram liubvi" [Temple of love"] Baptist sect. This was reported to TURAN by the chairman of the state committee, Rafik Aliev. In his words, the start of the review of the suit is scheduled for the first days of January of next year.
As Rafik Aliev noted, the activity of this group contains a number of matters that violated the country's existing law "On freedom of religious profession." Besides this, "Khram liubvi" has engaged in slander directed against Islam. For these reasons, Rafik Aliev will insist on closing this group. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 December 2001)
Russia
Religion News Current News Items
It seems that a new interreligious sensation has been developing. The head of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Tatarstan and cochairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Gusman Iskhakov, sent an invitation to Pope John Paul II to visit the capital, which is preparing to celebrate its thousand-year jubilee. It turns out that the mufti's letter was sent to John Paul II back in November of last year but was not published until now. In it Gusman Iskhakov expressed profound gratitude to the pope for his "priceless contribution to the work of peace and humanizing of human relations." The mufti is confident that the pope's visit "would be fruitful not only for Catholic Tatars but also for residents of all republics as well as Tatars of the whole world," Interfax reports.
We recall that the idea of the pope's visit to Russia has evoked sharp protests from the Russian Orthodox church. John Paul II is not likely to agree to come to Kazan without the agreement of Patriarch Alexis II. However the very appearance of such an invitation may lead to serious conflict between the leadership of RPTs and the Council of Muftis of Russia.
Meanwhile Gusman Iskhakov's initiative has brought sharp criticism from the head of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia, Mufti Talgat Tajuddin. In an Interfax interview he called the invitation to the pope to visit Kazan "provocational."
Talgat Tajuddin recalled that in Russia "for many centuries now there has existed a unified spiritual space of the traditional confessions: Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism; thus in inviting such religious leaders as the pope we should definitely take into account the points of dispute in relations among confessions and recall the good relations among Orthodox and Muslim citizens of our country."
According to Tajuddin, the mufti of Tatarstan "was incorrect to invite John Paul II, knowing the complicated relations of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and the contradictions which have lasted for a long time now in western Ukraine, where Greek Catholics have confiscated Orthodox church buildings."
Talgat Tajuddin is convinced that the invitation sent by Gusman Iskhakov to the pope "will cause harm to both Russia and to Islam itself." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2001)
DAGESTAN MUSLIMS DIFFER IN ASSESSING TATARSTAN MUFTI'S INVITATION FROM
MUFTI TO POPE
Mir religii, 27
December 2001
The letter from Tatarstan Mufti Gusman Iskhakov inviting the Roman pope to the celebration of the millennium of Kazan, which will be held in August 2005, did not evoke alarm among Muslims of Dagestan. However, although according to the assistant mufti of Dagestan, Akhmad-Hadji Tagaev, the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Dagestan (DUMD) is cooperating with the board of Tatarstan, Dagastani Muslims still cannot express approval of Iskhakov's step.
"Such invitations should be agreed upon by the Muslim community of the country, since this is a question with far reaching implications," Tagaev stated in an interview with Mir religii. The Muslim leaders of Dagestan are especially bothered by the fact that "this invitation to the pope could evoke displeasure from the Russian Orthodox church, the Christian majority of Russia." "One must pay attention to the opinion of RPTs," Tagaev noted.
As regards the image of the Council of Muftis of Russia (CMR), of which Iskhakov is cochairman, Dagestani Muslims do not deal with this matter since "the ecclesiastical board of Dagestan is not a part of any council of muftis; we are members of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the Northern Caucasus, which is not a member of CMR. We have stated this both last year and this year."
At the same time, the leadership of Muslims of Dagtestan thinks that "an invitation four years in advance of the celebration is not a serious matter," and the Tatarstan leader of Muslims has time to change his mind. "Indeed, it is not known whether perhaps after four years relations of the Orthodox church with the Catholics will change," Tagaev notes. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2001)
RAVEL GAINUTDIN THINKS INVITATION TO POPE TO VISIT KAZAN INOPPORTUNE
Mir religii, 27
December 2001
The Council of Muftis of Russia thinks that the arrival of the pope of Rome in Moscow or any other city of the country would be possible only after the resolution of issues of conflict in relations between the Russian Orthodox church (RPTs) and the Vatican, declared Ravil Gainutdin in an interview with Interfax in response to a report that the Tatar Mufti Gusman Iskhakov sent to the pontiff an invitation for the celebration of the millennium of Kazan.
The Council of Muftis will support the position of RPTs regarding the pope's visit so as "not to evoke interconfessional hostility in our Christian brothers." "Only a solution of the problems between the Moscow patriarchate and Catholic church will permit the pontiff to come to Russia without any complications," the mufti added.
In Gainutdin's words, this pertains to Tatarstan as well, which "is a part of our country." In the mufti's opinion, Muslims of Tatarstan "will take account" of the opinion of the local RPTs diocese. Having recalled "centuries-long good neighborly relations" of Muslims and Orthodox of Russia, Gainutdin declared readiness to develop them in future "on the basis of mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation."
Returning to the invitation to the Roman pope that the Tatarstan mufti sent, Gainutdin suggested that it was a sign of respect for the pontiff on his part, since the mayor of Kazan had already delivered in person such an invitation in his presence. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2001)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Communications Service of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate reports that in keeping with the request of the Russian Orthodox church, the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Russian federation and the Savings Bank of Russia have issued official explanations to their offices throughout the country, suspending the requirements of showing a taxpayer's identification number (INN) on payment documents associated with citizens' paying taxes and other payments, including communal ones.
According to a letter from the deputy minister of taxes and duties for the Russian federation, F.K. Sadygov, written 24 December 2001, "in case of an individual taxpayer's not possessing an INN, information regarding INN is not filled in" in the payment documents form PD (tax) and PD4/6 (tax) which are submitted for payment of taxes (duties), charges, and fines in the budgetary system of the Russian federation through offices of subdivisions of the Savings Bank of Russia. The letter also says that "payment documents where the 'INN of taxpayer' line is not filled in will be accepted without hesitation by the offices of subdivisions of the Savings Bank of Russia." This procedure is also confirmed by a letter of the Savings Bank of Russia dated 24 December 2001 that was sent to directors of territorial banks of the Savings Banks of Russia and to administrators of its divisions in the city of Moscow. Complete texts of the documents were posted on the Internet page of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties .
These documents, to which any Orthodox citizen of Russia who does not have an INN may appeal, remove for the time being the need of showing this number while making tax and other payments. Talks are continuing with offices of the Russian government directed to a final resolution, through amending existing legislation, of the problem connected with the aversion of some believers to accept an INN.
With the blessing of the church hierarchy, the Communications Service of OVTsSMP has seriously urged dioceses, monasteries, parishes and other church institutions and particularly Orthodox mass media to bring this information to the attention of believers of the Russian Orthodox church who live in the Russian federation, in summary and in full form. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2001)
PATRIARCH ALEXIS CONDEMNS "INN WARRIORS"
Religiia
v Rossii, 14 December 2001
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus sharply condemned actions of some believers being conducted in the capital and a number of regions against individual taxpayers' numbers (INN). After a study of this question the church acknowledged as baseless the concerns of believers who see in INN the "seal of the antichrist," the patriarch declared on 14 December.
The patriarch considers that "refusal of INN for religious reasons is a problem which has been created in a vacuum." "One gets the impression that these people are persisting not merely because of ignorance but perhaps they have been bought by somebody in order to create confusion in the minds of others," he noted. The primate warned that such attitudes could also appear in connection with the upcoming census of the population, in which some see the threat of totalitarian control over the individual, ITAR-TASS reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 December 2001)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Vatican would want to get the consent of the Russian Orthodox church for a visit by the pope of Rome to Russia. On Wednesday the head of Russian Catholics, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, explained at a press conference in Moscow that this is necessary "proceeding from the principles of fraternal relations among churches, because Russia is in the main an Orthodox country."
According to the archbishop, officially there are only two conditions required for the pontiff's visit: an invitation from the head of state and an invitation from Catholics who live in the country. Speaking about the possible arrival of the pope, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz acknowledged that he remains an "unreconstructed optimist" and he hopes that the pontiff's visit to Russia "will be held nonetheless, the more so since the pope not long ago announced the great progress that had been made in relations between the churches recently."
The archbishop also reported that at the present in Russia there are 220 registered parishes, although 40 percent of them still do not have their own church buildings. Six parishes are active in Moscow where every Sunday 27 masses are conducted in the absence of churches by using other premises such as an Italian school, the German and American embassies, and even apartments. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December 2001)
additional material from Mir religii, 20 December 2001
. . . Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said, "In this sense, although the Catholic church in Russia is a church of a minority, it has a developed network of parishes and Russian Catholics, of course, would like to see the head of their church in Moscow." The archbishop recalled incidentally that the pope already had been in countries where Catholics are substantially fewer than in Russia. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said that today there are around 600,000 of them in Russia. . . . According to Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Catholic services are conducted in Russia in ten languages, 75% of which are in Russian, with Polish in second place. Recently Korean parishes have appeared in both capitals, along with one Vietnamese parish that still does not have its own priest. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December 2001)
ARCHBISHOP KONDRUSIEWICZ REJECTS ACCUSATIONS OF CATHOLIC PROSELYTISM
Mir religii, 20
December 2001
"Catholic theology does not accept the terminology of canonical territory," declared the head of Russian Catholics, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, during a meeting with editors of Literaturnaia gazeta, "Blagovest-info" reports. This is the way the hierarch answer the reporters' question with regard to accusations against Catholics of proselytism made by the Russian Orthodox church. "If a person comes to me and expresses a desire to become a Catholic, I do not ask for a passport or about nationality; I try to clarify the motives of the request," the archbishop emphasized. "If I consider them to be respectable, then in conscience I cannot refuse someone's wish to enter the bosom of the Catholic church."
The bishop added that preparation for baptism or for conversion of an already baptized person to the church lasts no less than one year in Russia, which gives an opportunity to consider the seriousness of the choice.
Regarding relations of the church and state, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz criticized the currently effective law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations," since it does not guarantee true equality of religions. "In Russia there is an Interreligious Council, but there are no representatives of Catholics there," the archbishop noted. "We often see the president with the patriarch, but in ten years in Russia I still have not ever been in the presence of the past or current president, although a critical need for such a meeting has arisen often."
The head of Russian Catholics expressed concern about attempts of some public forces to grant to the Russian Orthodox church the status of a "statehood forming" institution.
Responding to a question about destructive religious movements, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz expressed doubt that legislative forms of struggle with them are effective. "It is necessary to find out why people go to them and not to traditional parishes," the hierarch said. "In order to draw people out of a destructive movement it is necessary to act with conviction." (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December 2001)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
In Kaliningrad vandals desecrated the grave of the world famous Jewish preacher and ethicist Rabbi Israel Salantera (Lipkin), ITA-TASS reports. They destroyed the headstone and on the memorial plaque honoring victims of nazism a swastika was drawn and obscene words were left.
Israel Salanter was a native of Lithuania and a Russian subject; in the nineteenth century he founded the "Musar" movement, whose ideas left an impact on the nature of Jewish religious education in Russia. Salanter proposed devoting primary attention to texts on ethical conduct, order, love, and justice in the study of sacred scriptures.
Rabbi Salanter died in 1883 in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad) and was buried in te Jewish cemetery where victims of the nazis during the Holocaust also were buried. The completely run-down cemetery was restored and the grave of Salanter was discovered; in August of this year, with the participation of representatives of religious Jews of the whole world, the headstone and memorial plaque were erected.
Members of national cultural societies of Kaliningrad province called leaders of the region and law enforcement agencies to conduct a careful investigation of the incident of sacrilege to the grave of the academic ethicist who is respected throughout the world and to bring the guilty to justice. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December 2001)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
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