RUSSIA
RELIGION NEWS
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The book "World of the Patriarch. Conversations at the Change of Millennia" is being prepared for publication in Moscow. Its authors, two former journalists for Komsomolskaia pravda, Valery Konovalov, now with Izvestiia, and Mikhail Serdiukov of Sobesednik, spent considerable time in conversations with the head of the Russian Orthodox church getting answers to dozens of questions that concern not only them. Today we publish several excerpts from this book. We hope that you also will be interested to learn what His Holiness thinks.
About the slogan "freedom is higher than everything"
--In the sense that freedom now is understood in the West, I do not like it at all. There are different kinds of freedom. There is freedom to sin and freedom from sin. It is sufficient to recall that one of the slogans of the revolutionary uprising of 1917 in Russia was "I will give freedom!" Because, in not freeing a person from a whole complex of spiritual, moral, ethical, juridical, cultural, historic, and other restrictions and standards it was impossible to destroy the old world "to its foundations" by his hands. Thus unrestricted freedom for some was turned into violence and caprice with regard to others, and in the end it turned out to be a loss for the whole nation, of which the current, living generation of Russians is proof.
About the liberal idea
--The liberal idea in the western understanding presupposes the liberation of the human personality from all "limits" that bind it, with the exception of those cases when the freedom of one individual poses a threat to the freedom of another. In a word, do everything that the law does not forbid. But, you know, such freedom is the individual's rejection of moral responsibility and of the recognition of the power of the higher values of human existence over one's self, without which any supreme standard of right turns out to be devoid of inner strength. The liberal idea is extremely dangerous and deceptive for the individual. It smooths over in his consciousness the very concept of sin and erases the boundary between good and evil, thereby depriving even the morally healthy individual of the necessary power to oppose self-destruction.
Freedom in the Christian understanding is first of all freedom from passion and vice, freedom from sinful intentions and, even more, sinful actions, freedom in the name of spiritual growth and the self-perfection of the individual.
About Orthodoxy in the schools
--We do not in any way insist upon the introduction of the "Law of God" as a special discipline in the curricula of state institutions of learning. Still, seventy years of atheist education has not been in vain and thus such a sudden innovation would not be accepted by society with the proper understanding. However the time came long ago when one must recognize with full responsibility that schools that have lost touch with traditions, schools in which the succession of the generations is not observed and moral foundations are not transmitted merely facilitate the further destruction of society, and not its construction. The explosive device of corruption that is being laid in the schools can turn out to be more destructive for the nation than any terrorist acts.
It is clear that such a situation in the schools as well as throughout our society has not come about on its own. It has been brought about by decades of militant atheism and the contempt for traditional values that has intensified in recent years. but if we hope to have a worthy future it is necessary to return to that by which the nation lived for a thousand years.
This is why I propose that in matters of the basics of world view, educational activity should be naturally and justly guided by the desires of the majority of pupils and their parents. Considering that a substantial majority of the nation in many regions of our country consider themselves adherents of or express a respectful attitude toward Orthodoxy, I think it is natural that in the public schools and institutions of higher education, at least in many of them, there should be the possibility of teaching subjects within the humanities on the bases of an Orthodox, and not an atheistic world view. Also in accordance with the desires of pupils and their parents it would be natural in state schools to permit teaching on an alternative basis within the standard curriculum such subjects as "Foundations of Orthodox Culture," "Orthodox Ethics," and other such topics.
One need not fear that among pupils in state schools there are children of Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. After all, the achievements of Orthodox culture are an integral part of the world's spiritual treasure, to say nothing of our own way of thinking and life that have united the nation for centuries. In many schools voluntary Orthodox education and training are already being conducted. Such practice should be expanded. But it by no means will infringe upon the rights of national and religious minorities; we will simply be happy if they can implement the possibility of religious teaching within the framework of the state system of education and such a possibility should be open to us.
PERSONAL
About childhood
--I went to the nursery and public schools. That's all. Occasionally I pulled little girls' hair and hid the dolls of my younger sisters and cousins. Then we found them together and had a laugh. As regards weapons, never in my life did I take aim with them and certainly never fired. I gathered grain, dug potatoes, and hunted mushrooms in the woods. Later I enjoyed motor races. But a motorcycle was beyond our family's budget and thus I never raced myself although I was crazy about the famous Tallin track. I participated in rowing and even was on the youth team of the "Kalev" sports society. I loved to play chess; I won some and lost some. I took the losses calmly and was happy with the wins. It was a normal childhood with all the features accompanying that amazing time of human life.
--And what about football? Did you really never participate in a game?
--I was not fated to become a football player. In childhood I often suffered angina and it caused heart complications so that I could not run hard. When I got older, really, for some time it would be possible to call me a sports fan. But I preferred hockey to football. And figure skating. It's beautiful. Both sports and art. I recall this with special satisfaction. But everything gradually went away, very unfortunately. Today the vigorous hockey games are gone or, let's say, I have forgotten about everything and I do not have time for enjoying the enchanting artistry of figure skaters. I would simply like to glance into some other book but not to read all the way through it, but even this I cannot always achieve. Too many papers; too many documents. This is my "homework" after the working day. From my working residence on Chisty lane this "pile of work"--you cannot call it anything else--follows me to Peredelkino, where I live, or more accurately, where I sleep. Towards midnight the people who did not manage to get me during the day begin calling. They all have urgent, important matters requiring attention and usually immediately resolution. And you talk about football. . .
About God's creatures
--There is outside of Moscow this place, Peredelkino. There I have chickens, cows, dogs, cats. I relax with them.
--Your Holiness, explain, please, regarding the cows, why is it that all you have to do is show up in the stable and they all immediately stand up? We have seen it with our own eyes; otherwise we would not believe it.
--I never feed them by hand. They all rise by instinct.
(tr. by PDS, posted 26 December 2002)
PATRIARCH ALEXIS II: ONE SHOULD NOT SHAMELESSLY BUY PEOPLE'S SOULS
Komsomolskaia pravda, 25 December 2002
About sects
--When Madeline Albright, who was at the time US Secretary of State, came to Russia she asked about meeting with me. It turned out that the only task she gave herself consisted in an attempt to guarantee freedom of action in Russia for foreign religious movements. On my part, I frankly and in detail described for my guest those misdeeds that these movements did behind a facade of external propriety. To which I received the answer: "Yes, of course, one should have this in view. But it is still preferable to give them freedom." Obviously freedom for activity of sects that trample upon the legal right of our people to protection from destruction of their moral and psychological health.
For some reason others who are fighting for all possible rights, when they talk about freedom of religious confession, freedom of religion, forget that the purchase of human souls is the crudest violation of religious freedom. After all, it is no secret that these newcomers from abroad, who do not have any kind of roots in Russia, exploit the material difficulties of our countrymen and shamelessly purchase the souls of people for dollars.
About Pugacheva
--What kind of musical tastes do you have? Is it true what they say about your liking Alla Pucacheva a lot?
--That's not quite true. I most prefer classical music. I love to listen to soviet songs from war time. Evidently because this music reminds me of my childhood and youth. What can be a more splendid time than that? Besides, I have always very much liked music accompanied by guitar.
About the Internet
--I have not yet mastered the Internet. All necessary information, especially that which pertains to church life, is prepared for me in the form of special reviews and memos. So that I am up on everything that happens in the church, country, and world. But as regards the Internet, I think that it has a future.
About alcohol
--Moderation is necessary in all things. It is possible to use it and it is possible to get drunk. And when a person is obsessed with the urge to drink, when he cannot be calm without alcohol and cannot make it through the day, this is a misfortune. We talk much about drug dependency, but alcohol dependency is no less an evil. Nothing should possess me (I Cor 6.12). This pertains not merely to wine.
--Do you let yourself sometimes have alcoholic beverages?
--Strong liquor, no. A little good, red wine I sometimes permit myself. I prefer cabernet.
About Putin
--Vladimir Vladimirovich is a deeply proper, honorable man. He is not shy about his faith since he was baptized in his childhood. And his wife, Liudmila Alexandrovna, truly believes. And I know their girls, daughters, are baptized. A splendid Orthodox family. This is especially impressive to me both as a pastor and as Russian patriarch. Putin has not managed to do everything as he himself would have wanted, and we all did too, but he has tried, and from my point of view that evokes great hope and understanding.
Not so very long ago, when he was on the sacred land of Valaam, talking with the monks not as the president of the country but as a simple pilgrim--this all happened during Vladimir Vladimirovich's brief vacation--Putin said: "There is no Russia without Orthodoxy, and there is no Orthodoxy without Russia." Such a thing from the mouth of the head of our state had not been heard for a long time.
About whether there are many sincere believers among government workers and businessmen
--I meet more and more people who sincerely believe. Perhaps they are not all churched because it is not possible to throw off the effects of seventy years of violence against Orthodoxy in Russia and the training of children in the spirit of denial of faith and Christian moral values. But today among an ever greater number of politicians, businessmen, and public figures there is appearing a clear recognition that it is bad to live without faith. Uzbek President Islam Karimov directly said to me while I was at the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the formation of the Central Asian diocese: "It is impossible to live without faith." Today many government figures who were not baptized are coming to realize that they should be baptized. And many have been baptized.
--It is said that you even baptized Yury Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow.
--I baptized Yury Mikhailovich. And many others. But it is not appropriate to talk much about such things.
About his surname
--Could you explain in more detail your ancestry? From how far back is it known to you?
--Apparently from the time of the reign of Empress Catherine II, when the Kurland nobleman Friedriech Wilhelm von Ridiger converted to Orthodoxy and was given the Russian name Fedor Ivanovich. He also became the founder of one of the lines of this noble family that is well known in Russia. Our clan gave Russia significant military commanders and attorneys. Among them was a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, General Count Fedor Vasilevich Ridiger, whose name was memorialized on one of the monument plaques in the church of Christ the Savior. The war minister of the tsarist government in 1905-1906, Alexander Ridiger, whose heroism in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 became legendary, was also a relative of my father. My grandfather, Alexander Alexandrovich, was a famous judge in St. Petersburg, and my great-grandfather, Alexander Fedorovich, also was an attorney. Thus the fate of my father, just like the fates of two of his older brothers, Georgy and Alexander, was predetermined, and they apparently considered themselves obliged to continue the glorious family tradition and they enrolled in the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, one of the most privileged academic institutions of the Russian empire. In all, in the family of my grandfather and grandmother, Aglaida Yulievna, there were four children, including a daughter Elena, but my father was the youngest. Of course, Mikhail Alexandrovich prepared himself seriously for state service. He went to school for seven years, got a secondary education and a specialized law education and his ability is not subject to any doubt. However in his heart, as later my father admitted to me, from his early years he dreamed about clerical activity.
Then the February revolution of 1917 was approaching and disorders began in Petrograd; there was shooting on the streets and many innocent people died. Then the October uprising; intemperate people threatened to destroy the whole world to its foundations and they worked zealously for this.
My father was fifteen. My grandfather performed a family feat. Correctly assessing the situation, he quickly understood that the threatening outbursts that were rousing the masses could not bring anything good to his noble family. On the contrary, they were fatally dangerous for an intellectual family. Apparently the unsullied reputation of a famous attorney earned that much; whatever, grandfather managed to take all his family into emigration, to Estonia. He had to get rid of all the property accumulated over the years; they left the homeland quickly with only what they could carry with them. But this was not gold and diamonds; as far as I know grandfather and grandmother did not own such things. Of course, this was not the main thing; they managed to survive the dangerous, terrible times without any loss of life, which was possible only because of his timely and decisive actions. Grandfather died in 1929. I was born the same year.
INCIDENTALLY
Alexis II sent Christmas greetings to the pope. "With a feeling of brotherly love for Christ, I greet you heartily on the joyous and world saving holiday of the coming of our Lord and Savior into the world," the patriarch's letter says.
In conclusion, Alexis II promised that during the holiday of Christmas he would pray especially to God to grant the pontiff "peaceful life and a multitude of gifts throughout the course of the entire new year."
The full text of the book may be read on our site: www.kp.ru/book/
(tr. by PDS, posted 26 December 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Today the Catholic church celebrates one of the chief holidays of Christians, the birth of Christ. On the eve of the holiday Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the head of the Russian Catholics and of the diocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, gave an interview to KD corresondent, Pavel Korobov.
--The past year has been very eventful. One of the main events for you was the transformation of the Catholic administrative structures in Russia into dioceses, which worsened relations between the Roman Catholic church and the Moscow patriarchate. How are your relations with the Russian Orthodox church now?
--You are right. Without doubt 11 February 2002 was the main event for us, when the essentially temporary apostolic administrations were transformed into permanent structures, dioceses. Before 11 February there existed in all the world only 13 apostolic administrations, four of which were in Russia. Unfortunately, the Russian Orthodox church took offense at this. Although RPTs has every possibility of creating its own structures abroad. And we, in carrying out our transformations, pursued only one goal, to create normal conditions for the work of the Catholic church in Russia. The Moscow patriarchate and MID were informed in advance by the apostolic nuncio. They say that no conversations were held, but let's look from the other side at this whole process. We do not have any agreements with either the Moscow patriarchate or the government. I am not talking about a concordat, although we often have concluded such an arrangement. If we had, then everything would be prescribed. And then it would have been possible to make some kinds of claims. I want to note here that this difficult situation has been exploited by several political forces for their own purposes.
--What forces and for what purposes?
--You know that demonstrations have been held in various cities of Russia and various declarations have been made by several political figures and representatives of RPTs. And this concerns us, because this says that the church is not separated from the state. The church should be separated from the state. It should retain for itself the right of assessing acts of the government from a moral point of view. In addition, we were surprised by the refusals of visas for Bishop Jerzy Mazur and four other priests without any explanation. We are also bothered by what we heard from the lips of one of the deputy ministers of foreign affairs of Russia. That the policy of MID with the Vatican is conducted in accordance with the opinion of the Moscow patriarchate. Besides this a new law recently appeared "Concerning the legal situation of foreign citizens," according to which by the new year foreigners must obtain an immigration card, although nobody knows where it can be gotten. I cannot avoid talking about the appearance of the draft of the law [sic] "On extremism," in which the Catholic church, along with other confessions, falls under the definition of "extremism." Of the 69 religious organizations that have already been registered, 66 are on the black list, and the Catholic church stands in the first place there. Only the Russian Orthodox church, Buddhism, and Judaism are free from such claims. Of course, I would like to believe that this is all some kind of misunderstanding. This is the kind of atmosphere we live in. In general, relations with the Russian Orthodox church today are very, very complicated.
At the end of June we received a letter from the Moscow patriarchate in which we were accused of incidents of proselytism. But from our point of view it is difficult to accept these accusations. After all, it turns out that if a monastic order has the word "missionary" in its name, then it automatically falls into the category of proselytizing agencies. But on the other hand, I see some kind of advance on the part of the Moscow patriarchate in the fact that such a letter arrived. Unfortunately, there have been no responses to my letters to the patriarchate. We need dialogue. Without it, it will be difficult to solve the problems that have arisen.
Today we find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence and we are throwing stones at each other. But the challenges of the times are such that we need to gather these stones. The future of Christianity depends on our common position.
--Do you still hope somehow to improve relations with the Moscow patriarchate?
--I will try to get meetings with representatives of RPTs. In this difficult time I have been able to attend a reception with several hierarchs of RPTs. I want to say that there was a completely normal conversation, but I would wish for more. I would wish to meet with Metropolitan Kirill and the patriarch. I hope that we can sit down at a negotiating table in order to break down the barriers which, thank God, do not reach to the heavens.
--What kind of relations do you have with the secular authorities in Russia?
--As regards secular authorities, I have already said a bit at the start, that several politicians are using the conflict for their own purposes. Relations with the secular authorities depend to a great extent on specific persons. Let's take, for example, Moscow. Before the revolution we had three churches here. Today we have only two. A third church, of Sts. Peter and Paul, has not been turned over to us. In St. Petersburg, on the contrary, all have been returned. In Kaliningrad, where there are many Catholics, not one church has been returned to us, although, on the other hand, we have been permitted to build new ones.
--What is your attitude toward the idea of creating a state agency for religious affairs?
--My attitude on this is complex. On one hand, it is necessary to create something like this, because it is very had to get a meeting with secular authorities. But on the other hand, I am very much concerned that there not be a repetition of soviet times, when a bishop wrote a decree naming a priest but it had no effect until an authorized agent for religious affairs issued a visa. In general, if there were such an office, then the main thing would be that it is not a controlling agency.
--What do you think about the wish to introduce the "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" subject into secular education?
--Yes, I have heard about this. But we do not know exactly what they want to teach under this rubric. I would be for introducing a course on the "History of World Religions," so that people would know which religious exist in Russia. Almost every day schoolchildren come to our two churches and they are shown "Here is a Catholic church." But they also are taken to the churches of other confessions. In my view, this is good. Perhaps a course of "Common Christian Ethics" should be introduced, but only as a voluntary subject.
--How do you think about the growth of protestantism in Russia?
--The contemporary confessional geography in Russia has changed today. You know, we used to say that Russia is an Orthodox country, just so. But the confessional composition has changed in comparison with 1917. Today, of 20,000 registered religious structures, only half are within RPTs. The protestants hold second place, and Muslims, third. There are regions in Russia where protestant parishes outnumber Orthodox. People are seeking God and faith and, apparently, the protestants have better approaches.
--How many Catholic believers are there in Russia?
--We figure that there are 600,000 in all Russia.
--What kind of charitable programs does the Catholic church have in Russia? Will there be any new programs in this area in the next year?
--Among us charitable work is the occupation of Caritas, a special organization. There is a federal Caritas organization which gives aid during natural disasters. Also there are diocesan structures of Caritas that coordinate the work of parish Caritas groups in which the basic work of this charitable organization is done. And there are parishes that set up charitable soup kitchens. There are even examples when the soup kitchens are opened in cooperation with the Orthodox church. In Moscow the sisters of "Mother Teresa" run two homes. One is a hospice and the other is for crippled children. There also is the "Children of the Street" program. Besides this, nuns run a home for children and youths from unfortunate families. Also distribution points have been set up in our churches. Caritas, for example, has assumed guardianship of abandoned children whose mothers have AIDS. Caritas also distributes free medicines through a special pharmacy. In addition we help hospitals with medicines and bandages, although this activity now has become problematic because of the requirement of certification of medicines. There was a time when we distributed food packages, but now it is difficult to do this because of customs. It is easier to open up the soup kitchen than to get materials from abroad. Unfortunately, in the letter we received from the Moscow patriarchate our charitable work was included under the rubric of proselytism.
--There are rumors going around that you may be transferred out of Russia. Is there any basis for this?
--At the time of my ordination to the priesthood I took an oath of obedience to the bishop, and at the time of my consecration as a bishop, obedience to the pope. I am a simple soldier in Christ's army and I go wherever I am sent to perform my ministry. I obey the church, and the Vatican has the right to do with me what it will. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 December 2002)
KONDRUSIEWICZ: I PRAY THAT DIALOGUE OF CHURCHES MAY DEVELOP
Izvestiia, 25 December 2002
On the eve of the holiday of the birth of Christ according to the Grigorian calendar the Catholic metropolitan of Moscow, head of Russian Catholics Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, answered questions of Izvestiia correspondent Roman Kiriillov.
--Your eminence, Patriarch Alexis II sent the pope greetings for the birth of Christ. How were they received?
--I think that communication between primates of such great churches as the Catholic and Orthodox churches is very important in our time. It is especially important for us, Catholics in Russia, because dialogue has been effectively interrupted. And it is very important that in his letter the patriarch called the pope to restore fraternal communication. I think that this is a very positive step and I pray that this was a new stride in the development of our relations. I pray that the infant Jesus, the source of our joy and hope, may give to us, both Catholics and Orthodox, the strength to cast aside the difficulties and disagreements and sit down at a negotiating table and resolve all problems. The patriarch said that he will pray on these days, and we also will pray in our churches. I think that this is a positive step, the more so in advance of Christmas. Such letters are exchanged every year, but this year the patriarch's letter sounds especially urgent.
--What do you anticipate from the coming year?
--Today the world is filled with many, very serious challenges. We have talked about this, Orthodox have talked about this, and many other confessions and other religious have talked about this, but unfortunately the world does not heed our common testimony. It would be very good if the pope and patriarch expressed their opinion with regard to these challenges with which the contemporary world is living. I travel a great deal around Catholic parishes and I talk with various people and they pose various questions. About drug addiction, alcoholism, terrorism, and problems of youth, but the main thing they ask about is why don't you sit down together and discuss these problems? How greatly this would help us! And this is what simple people say. It seems to me that those on whom the fate of the world may depend should all the more begin paying attention. If this continues then this niche that now is not being occupied will perhaps be filled by someone or something else. And that will be quite undesirable. Thus I consider myself an incorrigible optimist and I pray that this dialogue may develop.
--There are rumors that the return to Russia of the miracle working icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which is located in the Vatican, is possible any day. They say that a special representative of the pope will bring it. Is this so?
--I have heard nothing about this in recent months . That the icon should be returned and that they wish to return it is quite normal and good and entirely in the spirit of the ecumenical ideal of inter-Christian relations between our churches. The Vatican has done a great deal so that this icon not be put into a museum or any private collection. This is a sacred item for the Russian Orthodox church and for the entire Christian world. Prayers are said before it in the Vatican. I think that the day will come when it will be returned to Russia. An icon is not a toy, it cannot be taken to the post office, evaluated, and sent by mail. When relics or the flame from Jerusalem are brought to Russia, whole delegations comes with them. I do not know how or when this can be done with the icon, but it seems to me quite natural that there be a joint delegation of the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate. It would be all the better if the pope were to bring it. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 December 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
On 20 December, at the time of the Friday sermon, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, touched on the question of the introduction of the study of Orthodoxy into the curriculum of Russian schools. Despite the so-called voluntariness of the subject, Ravil Gainutdin noted that the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Kirill, has suggested to government workers that it be included in the educational plan, which will lead to undesirable consequences, since such "voluntariness" deprives children of the right of choice.
Ravil Gainutdin expressed concern that in the event that the project is put into effect, a multitude of Muslim parents will complain to the muftiate about the compulsory conversion of their children to Orthodoxy. Thus, he said, interreligious tension could arise in a city where more than 2,000 schools are operating and where about two million Muslims live. The imam of the main Moscow mosque also reminded those assembled that according to the Quran there is no compulsion in religion. In connection with this he explained that Muslims oppose the introduction of the topic of the study of Orthodoxy into the obligatory academic plan of secondary schools. The head of the mufti council also declared that Muslims favor good-neighborly relations with Orthodox believers and call for following the constitution of the Russian federation that guarantees equal rights to representatives of all confessions of the country, Islam.ru reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 December 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Four times as many Americans as Russians consider religion an important part of their daily life. This is evidenced by the results of a survey published on Friday, which was conducted in 44 countries of the world by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, ITAR-TASS reports.
According to these data, 59% of the participants in the survey in USA stated that religious plays an enormous role in their life while in Russia this opinion was expressed by only 14% of respondents. It was shown that citizens of all other industrially advanced states are much less religious than Americans. Thus, in Great Britain religion is considered "very important" by 33% of those questioned, in Canada, 30%, in Italy, 27%, Germany, 21%, Japan, 12% and France, 11%.
France along with the Czech republic, which have identical results in the survey, turned out to be the countries with the least religious population, while Senegal occupied first place in the states where the survey was conducted. There, 97% of the respondents called religion a "very important part of their life."
Ten countries of Africa, six of Latin America, and six of Asia expressed the same opinion as USA in terms of the number of those questioned. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 December 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
During the four-day visit by Cardinal Walter Kasper to Belarus a date for a visit to Belarus by Pope John Paul II was not agreed to. The Belorussian exarchate of the Russian Orthodox church, with whose leader the cardinal from the Vatican met, did not give consent to the pope's visit. The Belarussian MID, with whose representative the cardinal planned to meet, did not find time for the meeting. At the administration building of President Lukashenko there was no comment about the question of a possible visit by John Paul II to Belarus.
Pope John Paul II expressed a desire to visit Belarus back during his last visit to Ukraine. During the recent uproar with the Kremlin Alexander Lukashenko stated that he would invite John Paul II to Belarus. The four-day visit to Belarus by the papal cardinal Walter Kasper, which ended on Wednesday 18 December, showed that the situation has changed.
Lukashenko's press secretary, Natalia Petkevich, reported that the administration will not comment on the possibility of inviting John Paul II for a visit to Belarus. A source at the Belorussian exarchate of RPTs stated that the patriarchal exarch for Belarus, Filaret, with whom Kasper met, expressed his disagreement over the possibility of the pope's visit, citing the "untimeliness of such a visit." Walter Kasper himself, speaking in Grodno, reported that he would be "happy to deliver an invitation to the pope."
The attitude of the Belorussian authorities also was demonstrated by the fact that the planned visit of Kasper at MID of Belarus also did not occur. The secretary of the Belorussian nunciate, Heinrich Yagodzinsky, reported that technical difficulties prevented such a meeting; the only day that Kasper had free from meetings, representatives of MID were extremely busy. True, the chairman of the Committee for Religious Affairs of the Council of Ministers, Stalinslav Buko, came to a dinner with Kasper. However this could hardly be called a meeting. Thus, not a single meeting with a representative of the Belorussian authorities was held. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December, 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus will come out of his "hospital imprisonment" and return to the fulfillment of his primatial duties in full force. RIA "Novosti" was told at the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate that on 26 December the patriarch will preside at a session of the Holy Synod of RPTsMP.
In addition, plans for the patriarch's subsequent work were announced. In particular, on 31 December Alexis II will perform a New Year's prayer service in the Epiphany cathedral church and on 3 January, a divine liturgy in the Dormition cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On 13 January the patriarchal Christmas children's party will be held in the church of Christ the Savior. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
It happened in the very center of Moscow before the eyes of the police. In the very center of Holy Rus, the Third Rome, the Fourth Domain of the Holy Mother of God, etc. an Orthodox priest was beaten. He was beaten not because his ecclesiastical vestments were not visible. On the contrary, it was because he is a priest that he was beaten. Those who were beating him kept on saying: "Go back to your Caucasus, dark skinned monkey; we have enough padres here." The father's guilt was simply that he is a "person of Caucasian nationality," specifically, an Ossetian.
Peoples of the earth adopted Orthodoxy at various times. Six centuries before the God-bearing Russian people received Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy was adopted by the Alans, the ancestors of the Ossetians. The youths who beat the Ossetian priest of course did not know all of this. They were possessed by "one flaming passion," football "fanaticism." On that day the Army Central Sports Club (TsSKA) defeated "Lokomotiv" in the final game. The fans were looking for release of their emotions.
Suddenly one of them recalled that TsSKA was coached by an Ossteian named Gazzaev. Someone else found out that the coach intended to visit his kinsmen, the parishioners of the Alan extension church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Kulishki after the game. A scouting party assembled quickly.
And the Ossetians, awaiting their famous compatriot, calmly occupied themselves with the routines of work in the church. Time passed. Gazzaev did not arrive, and the "avengers" who had hidden in the gateway began to get numb from the cold. As the investigation revealed, the stiffer they got from the cold, the "stiffer" became their hearts, arms, and fists. After 11:00 p.m. the parishioners began dispersing. Only those closest to the rector remained in the church, a first-year theology student from St. Tikhon's Orthodox University, Aslan Mzokov, 45, and his thirty-two-year-old sister Liudmila and thirteen-year-old son Khetag, who is in the tenth grade in the Moscow cadet corps.
Around midnight four people who were not suspecting anything crossed Slavianskaia Square and approached the crosswalk leading to the metro. The freezing "brigade of avengers" ran out of a nearby bakery. They immediately surrounded them, attacked with empty beer bottles that they had accumulated in abundance during the long hours of waiting (they beat them on the head with several beer bottles), after which they kicked all four onto the pavement and began twisting their arms intensely. This scene was calmly observed by about ten law enforcement officers.
After the Ossetians were laid out flat on the pavement the tired "victors" took a break. The rector, Fr Stanislav, who was less injured than the others, went up to a sergeant and politely asked what he was carrying a machine gun on his shoulder for. The guardian of order answered that he had the right to use a weapon only when someone was being killed. The father politely remarked that in all countries of the world, generally speaking, the police are issued weapons by the state just so that nobody would kill anybody, which, to the priest's amazement, the sergeant had admitted frankly.
According to the policemen's account, it turned out that the commander had strictly forbidden them to use weapons against hooligans, since many of them were "golden youth," that is, sons of deputies, oligarchs, government workers of high rank, and other VIPs who were able to "seal in cement" the whole precinct along with their patrol cars.
Another policeman nevertheless approached the thugs who had no intention of running away and kindly, in an almost fatherly manner, took the oldest one under his arm and whispered something into his ear, after which the rested "defenders of the fatherland" ran off into the underground passageway.
Then the long awaited blue-striped jeeps with their lights arrived. They drove up, and suddenly drove off, carefully not interfering with Fr Stanislav's calling "first aid," which came for the man and young corpsman who were bleeding.
Now Cadet Khetag Maokov and his father, whose skull was sewn up in three places, have been released. The theologian now is able to speak but his memory has not returned. Perhaps by God's mercy this will happen later. But will historical memory return to those "true Aryans" who injured him and to their protectors? (tr. by PDS, posted 20 December 2002)
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