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The church finds itself again in the midst of political battles in Ukraine. At a time when the opposition was conducting an antipresidential demonstration, Patriarch Alexis II stated that he intends to visit Ukraine before the end of the year. The visit by the primate of RPTs could occur as soon as November. The Moscow patriarchate actually has made no comment on this decision even though it is quite unexpected.
We recall that the last time Alexis II was in Kiev was at the beginning of the nineties. Over the course of more than ten years the patriarch has restrained himself from pastoral visits to Ukraine, even though there is a substantial portion of the parishes of the Moscow patriarchate there. The leadership of RPTs has explained this by reference to the disorders in interchurch relations in Ukraine, having in mind the aggressive policy of "autonomous" church groupings and the Ukrainian Greek Catholics with respect to the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate.
Why, then, has the patriarch now decided to visit Ukraine? There could hardly have been any substantial improvement in interchurch relations in this republic. To be sure, representatives of RPTs have managed to achieve some progress in negotiations with the Constantinople patriarchate, to which the "autonomous" church groupings have often appealed requesting recognition of their canonicity. In sum the representatives of RPTs have managed to persuade Constantinople of the necessity of the schismatics’ repentance and their return to the jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchate. Nevertheless, on the whole, the religious situation in Ukraine remains unchanged.
We note that Alexis II stated his intent to visit Ukraine after meeting with the speaker of the Supreme Soviet, Vladimir Litvin, who was representing the pro-presidential forces of the Ukrainian parliament. At first sight it could seem that the patriarch decided thereby to support Leonid Kuchma at this time that is difficult for him.
The religious policy of the Ukrainian president still evokes a mass of criticism on the part of the leadership of RPTs, but nevertheless it is much more acceptable to the Moscow patriarchate than the radical ideas of the nationalistic opposition parties.
However now it is evident to everybody that the Kuchma regime is doomed and the next president of Ukraine will most likely be a representative of the opposition. It is doubtful that the patriarch decided to support openly the obviously victorious political force. It is much more likely the Alexis II decided to visit Ukraine in order to establish contacts with representatives of the opposition.
And the present is the most propitious moment for this. NGR has often noted that UPTsMP have a very strong position in the republic. And, it seems, every far-sighted political leader would want to be its ally in the course of the struggle for the presidential chair. For example, the Ukrainian communists declared openly that they were allies of the Moscow patriarchate back during the campaign for elections to the Supreme Soviet.
One of the chief ideas of the majority of the opposition parties is the creation of a united local Ukrainian Orthodox church. Earlier it had been suggested that the Constantinople patriarchate take the "autonomous" church groupings under its jurisdiction, and then grant them autocephalous status. However, after Constantinople recognized the necessity of the schismatics’ repentance and return to the bosom of UPTsMP, it became clear that the idea of the creation of a united local Orthodox church in Ukraine could not be achieved without the participation of the Moscow patriarchate.
The primate of RPTs and the leaders of the Ukrainian opposition have something to talk about. It cannot be ruled out that the Moscow patriarchate will promise to grant autoccephalous status to the Ukrainian Orthodox church. On their part, leaders of the opposition will have to yield to the leaders of the "autonomous" church groupings in their decision to return to the jurisdiction of UPTsMP.
The current Ukrainian leadership also is not losing time. The government has worked out a "plan for immediate measures for overcoming the negative consequences of the totalitarian policies of the former USSR with regard to religion and the restoration of the rights of the church and religious organizations of Ukraine that have been violated." The plan foresees a resolution of the problem of the return of the worship facilities and other church property that were illegally confiscated during the soviet period and the creation of a mechanism for preventing interconfessional conflicts.
Thus, official Kiev is trying to please everybody right away, but it is not easy to do this. In the past decade many complex problems have arisen with respect to the relations among leading confessions in Ukraine, which include those that deal with property. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 October 2002)
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Yesterday evening Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus received a delegation headed by the vice speaker of the Georgian parliament, Vahtang Rcheulishvili, which presented him a million signatures collected by the "Russia is my neighbor" campaign. Georgian socialists began this action exactly one year ago under the slogan of restoring friendly relations with Russia. Participants in the action request of the leaders of both countries the conduct of a new foreign policy course aimed at a strategic partnership of the two countries.
"The very fact that a million signatures were collected speaks for itself," Alexis II told a K-D reporter. "This is the voice of the people, and as everybody knows, the voice of the people is the voice of God."
"Do the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches intend to increase their activity aimed at calming the politicians?"
"Without a doubt. Between our churches, the Russian and Georgian, there are the warmest of relations. We cannot watch in indifference when the two Orthodox nations that always have lived in friendship and brotherhood suddenly have become hostile. Today I will call Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and tell him in detail about my meeting with the Georgian delegation and about the movement which numbers today a million people in Georgia. And there will be even more in the future. I am sure that the current cooling in relations between Russia and Georgia is a historic misunderstanding, a temporary phenomenon, which we soon will overcome with God's help. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2002)
PUTIN HAS HIS OWN CANDIDATE FOR PRE-EMPTION
by Stephen Sestanovich,
New York Times, 6 October 2002 (excerpts)
While working to slow down the Bush administration's campaign against Saddam Hussein, Russia has for weeks waged a campaign of accusation and intimidation against neighboring Georgia, where some Chechen fighters have taken refuge. It's not the first such outburst by Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, against his Georgian counterpart, Eduard A. Shevardnadze. But Russia's pitch-perfect parody of American antiterrorism policy has commanded Washington's attention and could even derail Russian-American cooperation.
On the eve of President Bush's Sept. 12 speech to the United Nations on Iraq, Mr. Putin wrote Secretary General Kofi Annan charging that Georgia's passivity toward Chechen fighters on its territory violated Security Council resolutions. Russia might therefore have to act unilaterally. The chief of Russia's general staff insisted that Mr. Shevardnadze was "in no way" different from Mullah Omar of the Taliban.
The Russian defense minister announced that no United Nations vote was needed to attack Georgia. One Russian newspaper published military plans to occupy all of Georgia--and thereby "dictate the terms" of its future existence as a state. The headline: "Pre-emption Moscow-Style" . . . .
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, while saying he wouldn't lecture the Russians, has publicly warned them off any thought of using "brute force" against Georgia.
Administration officials acknowledge that a Russian attack on Georgia would be a fiasco for their friendly relations with Mr. Putin. "Regime change" in Georgia would reverberate across the entire former Soviet Union. . . .
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A discussion by specialists at a session of the Commission on Questions of Religious Associations in the territorial administration was devoted to the alarming situation associated with the enormous number of foreign religious missionaries. The bulk of the missionaries come from USA and the republic of Korea. However recently it has been decided to export religious truths even from Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, China, and Mexico--in all, from 25 countries of the world.
Why is the situation so alarming since society long ago embarked on the path of religious tolerance? Among the reasons for concern in this area religious scholars, representatives of the government, and attorneys cited the violation of Russian legislation by foreign missionaries, enticing children into religious organizations without parental consent, vigorous buying up of real estate, especially in isolated villages and districts of the territory, and aggressive conduct of propaganda.
And just how great is the influence on the minds and feelings of people really is told by the figures: in just one year the number of members of the Presbyterian church, for example, tripled and the number of Jehovah's Witnesses members went from 200 to 3000. Concern also is evoked by the substantial growth of those attracted to the ideas of the Mormons, the more so in that the foreign missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are concentrating on the highly educated and socially privileged youth.
"The main danger of all these religious groups coming from abroad is that they all are unpatriotic. Really, can Americans, Koreans, and others teach people to love our fatherland, native soil, Russia, and to be concerned for it in the way the Orthodox church teaches, which from time immemorial has united our nation?" Bishop Veniamin of Primorie and Vladivostok said at the commission session. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2002)
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"The state is making its demands on religious organizations more harsh," the chief of the Department of Justice for Omsk province, Mr. Fediaev, recently told Omsk clergymen. It was at a seminar on "Normative legal regulation of the activity of religious associations: New legislation," at which all clergy of the city and, for some reason, "a representative of law enforcement agencies" in civilian clothing were assembled. Mr. Fediaev called for acceptance of the persistent interest on the part of the state and advised making more frequent contacts with the authorities. The person in civilian clothing maintained that the state has the right to regulate everything.
"I met with the 'organs' [political police] for the last time eight years ago and, really, I thought that it was the last. But now these meetings are happening more and more frequently," the priest Sergei Golovanov told us by telephone. He is the rector of the Greek Catholic church in Omsk province. "I do not understand how a policeman or FSB agent can regulate me, a graduate of four institutions of higher education. The representative of FSB now is interested in everything, even Holy Communion: how many people are in the parish, who are they, are there any state employees or workers of the provincial administration, why, for example, did priests come to our poor Russia from Slovakia? . . . But for me the question also can arise: why, for example, does an agent of state security call our country 'poor'?"
At the seminar someone of the priests asked whether the new policy signifies a return to pre-perestroika times. "You are recalling the inquisition," the representative of the "organs" complained. "Everything will be in accordance with the new laws."
Fr Sergei foresees that the new form of accountability before the state will not leave time for ministry and that the money needed for reregistration, which the "New legislation" comes down to, will be too much for such a small parish as his. "You should accept this," the new boss says from the platform. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2002)
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Anyone who pushes open the heavy doors of the Church of the Last Supper, Rostov-on-Don's only Roman Catholic church, will be disappointed. This simple redbrick building, its cross rising above the trees in a suburban park, looks impressive from the outside. But inside, it is empty.
There are no pews for Sunday Mass, its walls are unadorned and there is an empty space where the organ should be. The parish priest who should be holding services here has been expelled without explanation.
Though it is a vast church designed to house 3,000 worshippers, the only visitors are a small army of workmen, painting the walls and sawing wood for pews. When it is consecrated next February, it will become the city's first Catholic church in nearly 50 years.
But as a campaign led by the Russian Orthodox Church against the small Catholic community intensifies, many are wondering whether anyone but builders will ever be allowed inside its doors. "Our priests are being expelled so often that the Catholic community believes that it is being persecuted," said Father Igor Kovalevsky, the general secretary of the National Bishops' Conference, a senior body in Russia's Catholic Church. "We do not want to believe that there is a special campaign against us. We would like to have good relations with the Government and not turn into some kind of ghetto."
The head of the Catholic Church in Russia, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, said in a letter to human rights groups: "We are seeing once again a replay of the drama of the Catholic Church in Russia, which having endured cruel persecution in the 20th century and being almost everywhere destroyed, is undergoing new trials after a decade of difficult development."
The campaign by the Orthodox Church, supported by the Foreign Ministry and Russian nationalists, has resulted in five Catholic clergy being expelled from, or denied entry to, the country this year. Catholics report constant harassment by government bureaucrats and Orthodox clergy and the building of churches has been fraught with problems.
Like other faiths, Catholicism was banned for 70 years by the Communists. Today it is enjoying a renaissance in Russia to the irritation of the Orthodox Church, whose declining power and memories of its own persecution by the Soviet state have made it aggressive towards other faiths.
Orthodox priests believe that the Catholics are attempting to seize their historical and spiritual heartland. Last February tensions rose when the Vatican upgraded its four apostolic administrative divisions in Russia to the status of dioceses. Aleksandr Abramov, an official at the Moscow Patriarchate's external affairs department, said he was alarmed by Catholics "poaching from Orthodox territory".
Father Edvard Matskevich, the parish priest at the Church of the Last Supper, was prevented from re-entering Russia after a trip to his native Poland on September 11. He was stopped at the Russian border and sent home.
At the church, other clergy are locked in continual arguments with the city council over payments for land, utilities and other technicalities.
Father Antonio Muzhinsky, a Polish priest who worked under Father Matskevich, said he had been banned from giving interviews by senior bishops.
He is happy to show visitors around the church, but seems to have little hope that the Russian Orthodox and Catholic churches will ever understand each other. "It will take many, many years," he muttered as he walked round the building, which has been under construction for nine years.
Earlier this month five Orthodox priests flew a helicopter over the city, uttering anti-Catholic prayers. Later Catholic priests were terrified when local people fired shots at church windows.
Russia has only 500,000 Catholics. But priests' anger at the expansion of Catholicism and other religions is largely motivated by their own failure to gain political power.
The Orthodox Church was given special treatment by President Yeltsin when it emerged from the underground in the early 1990s. Patriarch Alexy II, its head, created 12,000 new parishes and rebuilt hundreds of churches. But the church also gained a shady reputation after it cut deals with the Government to import cigarettes tax free and acquire 40 per cent of a profitable oil export firm. In return, the Patriarch publicly backed Mr Yeltsin's condemnation of the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia and the two wars in Chechnya.
President Putin, however, has subtly distanced himself from the church and seems eager to lessen its political clout. He has not publicly condemned or taken action against the expulsion of Catholic priests, perhaps hoping that the conflict will be resolved without state involvement.
But the tax breaks have gone and despite a Bill that could legalise the return of land owned by the Church before 1917, Alexy II recently denied that the Church would reclaim its former property.
The Russian media has hinted that Mr Putin, unlike the Patriarch, is ready to welcome the Pope to Russia. Not only does Mr Putin not need the church in order to win votes, he is also aware that association with an organisation that is nationalistic and intolerant of other faiths will not win him friends in the West. The Kremlin also knows that the Orthodox Church has only a modest influence on Russian society. It has not capitalised on the ideological vacuum left by the fall of Communism: only 5 per cent of Russians count themselves as serious Orthodox believers according to the Keston Institute.
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They did not like location
Yesterday the Naberezhnye Chelnyi dean of the Kazan diocese appealed for help to international rights defense organizations. Orthodox believers think that no one else can defend them from a group of veterans who recently destroyed the walls of the church of St. Tatiana that was under construction. The veterans were protesting the construction of religious objects next to the Victory city part and they promise to destroy any religious structures in this region.
Victory over the chapel
The Victory Park that was constructed in the center of Naberzhnye Chelny in the mid-1980s has never been used effectively by citizens. This is not surprising. The park consists of several asphalt strips, bordered on the one side by the Mir highway and on the other by a chain of sixteen-storied dormitories and businesses. In the mid-1990s leaders of the Orthodox community appealed to the then-serving mayor of the city, Rafgat Altynbaev, requesting the allocation of a spot for construction of a church (at the time all local churches and mosques were located in the outskirts of this city of multimillion population). To be sure, at first it was proposed to build the Orthodox church near a principal mosque, but the Muslims objected. In 1994 Mr. Altynbaev signed the permit for the construction of the church of St. Tatiana near the city’s Victory Park.
At the start this did not evoke any response from the citizens, but in 1999 the chapel that was under construction caught fire. According to the firemen, the cause was a short circuit, but believers did not doubt that it was arson.
Victory over a wall
Last summer, when the foundation of the church was begun, activists of the Tatar community center organized a hunger strike in protest on the construction site. They declared that "constructing an Orthodox church beside the park will make the park itself Orthodox, and there will be no place for Muslims there." They fasted almost a week until the city authorities promised to investigate the situation. The construction actually was held up for a time. In December 2001 a city council commission stated that "the parcel of land on which the church of St. Tatiana will be built does not infringe upon the interests or existing borders of the Theatre Square and Victory Park."
After this the banner of struggle against the church was raised by the veterans of the neighboring residential micro-district. Old folk, irrespective of their ethnic identity, joined together in an organizing group that stated its intention to obtain a prohibition on the construction of a "religious establishment" in the park that bears a name that is sacred for all patriots. "We did not fight for God but for the Fatherland, and religion had nothing to do with this victory," the veterans stated. According to their information, the original overall plan foresaw the construction on this place of a culture center and the veterans did not wish to countenance any other plan.
As soon as the excavation of the foundation began the representatives of the veterans’ council raised their protests, but again they did not meet with understanding among either the Christian community or the city authorities. Then they moved from words to deeds. On the morning of 1 October, during the celebration of the Day of Elders, about thirty activists of veterans’ organizations showed up at the church construction site (according to other information there were only half that number, but people of middle age and youth supported the veterans). Within about ninety minutes the activists tore down a portion of the walls that had been erected, about one meter high and seven meters long. The police who were summoned by eyewitnesses found old men with whom they were well acquainted because they often showed up at the internal affairs department complaining about the construction and threatening the structures.
The next day the chairwoman of the district council of veterans, Nionella Fazlieva, showed up at the department of internal affairs along with her supporters and she reported that their organizing group will in the future defend their interests and not permit the construction of any religious institutions near the park. The veterans are even prepared to destroy any religious objects in this district. However their interests are not confined to destructive goals. They have learned about t he preparation of a new general plan for the city. And now, according to Mrs. Fazslieva, the veterans’ council intends to get a public discussion of the general plan so as to construct in the park not a house of worship but a cultural center. At the same time the deputy chairman of the city council of veterans, Serafim Afonin, stated that the city council is treating the actions of the activists extremely negatively.
The rector of the active church of Kosma and Demian, Fr Oleg, also was at the police station. According to eyewitness accounts, he called the veterans barbarians, spat, and left, but before that he estimated the damage to the church at 40,000 rubles. According to information from the building department, the damage to the church was somewhat less, 30,000. Yesterday the builders stated that they intended to recover this money from those who destroyed the walls. The city prosecutor is investigating the possibility of a criminal case against them. Yesterday the dean of the Naberezhnye Chelny diocese issued a letter stating his concern about a pogrom and requesting help from the International Society for Human Rights and the Britain-based Keston College (which follows the observance of believers’ rights in the countries of the former USSR). According to the secretary of the dean, Vitaly Sidorenko, the Orthodox do not expect real help from city authorities or law enforcement agencies. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2002)
MUSLIM CLERICS CONDEMN DAMAGE TO CHAPEL
by Vladimir Shevchuk
RIA Novosti, 6 October 2002
"The Muslim Religious Board of Tatarstan denounces the people, who destroyed the chapel of the St. Tatyana Cathedral, which is being erected in Naberezhnye Chelny," representative of the Board Valiulla Khazrat was quoted as saying to the RIA Novosti correspondent on Sunday.
The Muslim clergy is indignant over the act of vandalism of radicals from the national movement, Valiulla Khazrat said. "Those who destroy the sacred places with their own hands, cannot be true Muslims. Anyone, exercising his selfish interests through religion, must be denounced," he believes.
The members of the Naberezhnye Chelny branch of the Tatar public centre
destroyed a wall of the Orthodox chapel on October 1, inflicting serious
material damage. The Naberezhnye Chelny Prosecutor General's Office initiated
legal proceedings on the destruction of the chapel.
(posted 7 October 2002)
TATARS TEAR DOWN AN ORTHODOX WALL
by Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Moscow Times, 7 October 2002
Tatar police have opened an investigation after a group of Tatar veterans and Muslim nationalists destroyed a wall on the construction site of an Orthodox chapel in Naberezhniye Chelny, a Tatar city known for its ethnic tensions.
Thirty veterans destroyed the one-meter-high, 7-meter-long wall in 1 1/2 hours last week to protest the construction of any houses of worship in the vicinity of the nearby Victory Park, said Nionella Fazliyeva, the head of the Union of Veterans.
However, Naberezhniye Chelny police chief Daufit Khamadishin said he was convinced that radical nationalist organization Tatar Public Center and its local leader, Rafis Kashapov, were behind the incident Tuesday. "He [Kashapov] always acts this way, recruiting old women, using them as a cover and then saying he has nothing to do with it," Khamadishin said late last week, Interfax reported. He said a group of mostly young men tore down the wall.
The Naberezhniye Chelny prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the destruction of property, he said.
The Naberezhniye Chelny administration allocated the land for the construction of St. Tatyana's Church in 1994, but the project has met with vigorous opposition from Tatar nationalists. Two wooden chapels on the site have been burned down.
A local Russian Orthodox official, Vitaly Sidorenko, said he has lost faith in the authorities and appealed to international human rights groups for help late last week, Interfax reported.
Alexander Zhuravsky, an expert in ethnic and church relations in the Volga Federal District, said he did not expect the struggle over the chapel to be resolved any time soon. "Tatars, Russians and Kryashens [Christian Tatars] are very active in Naberezhniye Chelny, and the local authorities seem to be satisfied with the balance," he said.
FEAR GOD
by Lilia Mukhadeiarova
Novaia gazeta, 7 October 2002
In Naberezhnye Chelny Tatar nationalists destroyed the chapel of St. Tatiana which is under construction. This was not the first case of vandalism associated with this church. With pathological persistence the chapel already has been set afire and desecrated by members of the Tatar Social Center, which is known for their extreme intolerance of "aliens." Now the Tatar Social Center is explaining its actions by reference to the proximity of the future church to Victory Park since this offends the feelings of veterans, Muslims and atheists.
The Committee of Veterans of War and Labor declared that it did not participate in the pogrom and does not intend to participate in such actions. The Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Tatarstan condemned the vandals in an appeal: "Those who by their own hands destroy religious buildings cannot be true Muslims." The board of Tatarstan is concerned that elderly people, who should be an example for the younger generation to imitate, participated in this incident. The rector of the church, Archpriest Oleg Bogdanov, reported that nevertheless there will be an Orthodox complex in Naberezhnye Chelny. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2002)
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His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus received a letter from His Holiness and Blessedness Catholicos Patriarch Ilia II of all-Georgia, sent 20 August 2002, in which was expressed an assessment of the unilateral decision of the Vatican to form a Catholic church province within Russia.
The primate of the Georgian patriarchate wrote in particular: "The vigorous religious activity of the Vatican on the territory of Orthodox churches evokes our common concern. Unfortunately, the Vatican, on one hand, has expressed the wish for fraternal and good relations with Orthodox churches while, on the other hand, it is founding Catholics parishes, churches, educational institutions, and other charitable institutions on the canonical territories of Orthodox churches, which provokes confrontations among believers, Orthodox and Catholics. I fully agree with you that this contradicts the traditions of the united, undivided church and violates the directions of the apostle Paul: 'I have tried not to preach the gospel in places where the name of Christ already is known so as not to build on another's foundation' (Rm 15.20). (tr. by PDS, posted 2 October 2002)
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Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus reminded Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon of the necessity to make compensation for the damage suffered by the House of Pilgrims in Bethlehem and the Orthodox monastery in Hebron. He stated this in the course of a meeting with the head of the Israeli government that was held on Tuesday in the synodal residence of the St. Daniel's monastery in Moscow.
The House of Pilgrims, which belongs to the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, was seized and effectively plundered by Israeli troops in April of this year during the seige of the church of the Nativity of Christ.
The patriarch assured Sharon that the Russian Orthodox church mourns for the victims of terrorist acts in Israel, declaring: "We pray for the establishment of peace in the Holy Land and that pilgrims may once again visit the holy places." (tr. by PDS, posted 2 October 2002)
ALEXIS II HAS NOT FORGIVEN ARIEL SHARON
by Alexander Reutov
Kommersant-Daily, 2 October 2002
Yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon completed his visit to Russia. Before his departure he conducted conversations with the head of the Russian foreign ministry, Igor Ivanov, as well as his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasianov. However, because the Israeli delegation did not include representatives of the economic block of the government the conversation with Mr. Kasianov could hardly be fruitful.
Far more important was the meeting of Ariel Sharon with Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus. The point was that in September 2001, during his previous visit to Moscow, the Israeli premier simply slept through the scheduled conversation with the head of the Russian Orthodox church. At the time they tried to explain the confusion by referring to urgent telephone conversations with Israel that supposedly Mr. Sharon had to conduct. Yesterday he tried to atone for the offense. However, judging by everything, Alexis II has not forgiven, just has he has not forgiven the damage that the Israeli army did to objects of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Israel during operations against the Palestinians. And he presented Ariel Sharon with the bill--approximately 95,000 dollars. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 October 2002)
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