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Leaders and representatives of major religious organizations of Russia condemned Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia for antisemitic remarks he made yesterday at a session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
In his speech the head of the Malaysian government claimed, in particular, that "Jews rule the world" and he accused them of "searching for people who would fight and die for them."
"The greater part of Russian society, including believers of the Russian Orthodox church, does not accept demeaning people on the basis of national identity," the vice chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, told the Interfax agency today. "Indeed, there are in the world conflicts among several national and cultural communities, and these conflicts must be honestly recognized," the representative of RPTsMP said. "But surely they should not be intensified but it is necessary to try to resolve them and to bring harmony to relations among people of various religions and nationalities."
At the same time the spokesman noted that "the Russian church has conducted a good dialogue with followers of both Islam and Judaism in Russia and other countries."
"Yesterday President Putin, as far as I recall, stressed that Russia values those tendencies within the Organization of the Islamic Conference that are directed toward respect for international law, dialogue, and creation of mutual respect among religions and civilizations," the representative of the church recalled, expressing the hope that "it is these values that will triumph."
Sharp criticism of the Malaysian premier's declaration was expressed on 17 October by the chief rabbi of Russia (FEOR), Berl Lazar. :"Such talk from such a highly placed leader is so dangerious and irresponsible that it cannot but evoke a state of shock in any healthy-thinking person," the rabbi said in an interview with the news agency, expressing confidence that "Russia's president was no exception." "In my view it would be extremely dangerous to leave what happened without an unambiguous response of condemnation," Berg Lazar added.
Even more harsh was the response of the "Union of Orthodox Citizens" public organization to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's statement, expressing amazement that there would be heard at the session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference "completely wild and brazenly hitlerite talk by one of the Asian leaders who seems not to realize how great was the price paid by civilized nations for victory over the nazi plague." The union's statement delivered to Interfax also expressed the opinion that in connection with this Russia's joining the Organization of the Islamic Conference is impermissible.
A member of the Russian Federation Council, Akhmar Zavgaev, who represents
Chechnia in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, stated in an interview
with the news agency that the words of the Malaysian premier directed against
the Jews are at odds with the basic provisions of the Quran, "which proclaim
religious and ethnic toleration." At the same time he stressed that Russia
should find common language with all nations, including the Muslim world.
In connection with this the senator called it remarkable that USA had recently
officially acknowledged that mistakes had been made in relations with Muslim
countries and it intends to review its own policies in this matter, NEWSru.com
reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 October 2003)
MALAYSIA APOLOGIZES FOR "MISUNDERSTANDING" OVER STATEMENT THAT JEWS
RUN WORLD
by Patrick McDowell
Associated Press, 17 October 2003
Malaysia, faced with angry criticism from the United States and Europe over comments made at an Islamic summit, apologized Friday for "any misunderstanding" over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's assertion that Jews rule the world.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, struggling to contain the controversy wrought by his blunt-spoken boss, insisted he was not apologizing for Mahathir's speech itself on Thursday but said the remarks had been taken out of context.
Mahathir told leaders of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim grouping, that "Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."
The speech drew immediate criticism from Israel and other countries and raised fears that it could fan violence against Jews. But it got a standing ovation from the kings, presidents, sheiks and emirs - including key U.S. allies - gathered in Malaysia's capital, Putrajaya.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said Mahathir has used anti-Israel statements in the past to prove he's tough on the West. But, he said, Thursday's speech was still worrisome.
"What is profoundly shocking and worrying is the venue of the speech, the audience and coming in the time we're living in," Cooper said in Jerusalem. "Mahathir's speech today is an absolute invitation for more hate crimes and terrorism against Jews. That's serious."
Mahathir had used allegations of Jewish dominance to buttress his chief point, that Muslims needed to embrace modern knowledge and technology and overcome divisions over religious dogma that have left them weakened on the world stage.
But the statements about Jews stood out, and condemnations were swift and unambiguous from the United States, the European Union, Australia and Germany, which summoned Malaysia's charge d'affaires in Berlin to protest the comments as "totally unacceptable."
"I'm sorry that they have misunderstood the whole thing," Syed Hamid, the foreign minister, told The Associated Press. "The intention is not to create controversy. His intention is to show that if you ponder and sit down to think, you can be very powerful."
Mahathir declined to speak to reporters who approached him Friday, telling them to wait until an evening news conference.
Syed Hamid said the world's Muslims were in a "quagmire" and feeling "sidelined or marginalized," reflecting a widespread perception in the Islamic world as the war on terrorism has evolved into U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel has increased repression of the Palestinians.
"Please forget about anti-Semitism," Syed Hamid told reporters.
He added that Mahathir's "message is to stop violence, which is not the answer for us to succeed in our struggle. People may not be very happy but this is the reality: the Jews are very powerful."
Syed Hamid noted that Malaysia has a state policy of religious harmony, in which the ethnic Malay Muslim majority lives alongside large non-Muslim Chinese and Indian minorities. The country is one of Southeast Asia's most modern and wealthy, and has jailed terror suspects without qualms.
"How can we be anti-Jew? It is far from the truth," Syed Hamid said.
Mahathir, a respected leader in the developing world with a long history of making articulate, provocative comments, is retiring Oct. 31 after 22 years in power. He told the Islamic leaders that Muslims had achieved "nothing" in more than 50 years of fighting Israel.
"They survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking," Mahathir said of the Jews. "They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."
Mahathir said the world's "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews," but suggested the use of political and economic tactics, not violence, to achieve a "final victory."
In their reactions to the speech, most of the leaders at the summit focused on the aspects that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called "a good road map" toward Muslim empowerment.
Asked by the AP whether he thought the speech was anti-Semitic, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said: "I don't think so."
"Dr. Mahathir spoke of the inhibitions within the Islamic world and that those inhibitions must go away, and I entirely agree with that," Karzai said.
But State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called Mahathir's remarks offensive and inflammatory. "We view them with the contempt and derision they deserve," he said.
The leaders of the European Union, meeting in Brussels, Belgium, planned to adopt a statement saying the 15-nation bloc "deeply deplores" Mahathir's words, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
"The prime minister used expressions that were gravely offensive, very strongly anti-Semitic and ... strongly counter to principles of tolerance, dialogue and understanding between the Western world and the Islamic world," Frattini said.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called Mahathir's comments offensive and repugnant.
"Any suggestion from anybody anywhere in the world of dividing the world into Jewish and non-Jewish groupings is historically indefensible and wrong," Howard told Australia Radio.
Leaders at the summit included Karzai, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines were special guests because of their large Muslim minorities. (posted 17 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
To be a believer in Azerbaijan has become problematic. This is the conclusion reached by representatives of a delegation of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) that recently visited Baku on invitation from the local department of this international organization, "Blagovest-info" reports.
The delegation included the general secretary of the Council of Free Churches in Norway, Dag Nygard, the director of the Evangelical Lutheran church of Norway, Tore Lindholm, and the general secretary of the Eurasian Department of IRLA, Viktor Krushenitsky.
According to a representative of the council of the Azerbaijan department of IRLA, Azad Narimanoglu, Muslims of the country do not have the right to be photographed for their passport in hijab [head scarf]. In addition, there exists in the republic a prohibition on importing religious literature into the country and some religious organizations have experienced difficulty in registration at the Ministry of Justice. For example, according to Azad Narimanoglu, this department, as previously, has refused to register the Azerbaijan department of IRLA.
All these questions were discussed at the time of the IRLA delegation's meeting with the head of the State Committee on Religious Affairs, Rafik Aliev.
During the visit representatives of IARF met with the secretary of the administration of the Baku and Caspian diocese of the Russian Orthodox church, Hieromonk Alexei. During the meeting the secretary of the diocesan administration told guests about the religious situation in Azerbaijan. In their turn the guests described the activity that IRLA will perform in Azerbaijan. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
DENIAL FROM COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE OF OVTsSMP
On 9 September 2003 the Catholic "Zenit" news agency, based in Rome, published a news report titled "Germany. Time to change relations with Catholic church, Orthodox Metropolitan Kirill thinks." Then this report was reprinted by the Russian language Catholic "Agnus" news agency (news edition of 10 September 2003) and by the "Pravoslavnoe obozrenie" electronic newspaper (No. 151). The report talked about an international interreligious meeting arranged by the Catholic "Society of St. Egidei" charitable organization in the city of Aachen (Germany) on 7-10 September 2003.
At the very beginning the writers mentioned a report by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the chairman of OVTsSMP, made at a session on "Orthodox believers and Catholics facing the challenge of ecumenism," on 8 September. However there then followed a collection of quotations taken out of context, the majority of which were not from the report but from oral responses of Metropolitan Kirill to questions of the audience. In this the following quote gives an inaccurate sense of what was said: "With regard to the possible visit by John Paul II to Russia the metropolitan noted 'his trip to Moscow will be an historic event which must be prepared in a proper way,' adding that 'the pope's visits to countries with Orthodox traditions has had a positive significance.'"
In this case nothing was said about the prospects of the pope's visit to Russia as a matter that is either settled or possible in the near future. In reality, Metropolitan Kirill expressed the thought that the visit of the head of the Roman Catholic church to Russia would be an historic event in its essence and thus it should be well planned by both sides. Nothing was said regarding the "positive significance" of papal visits to countries with Orthodox traditions. Probably Metropolitan Kirill's words were incorrectly understood and consequently were translated into foreign languages by reporters of the "Zenit" agency. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox church, whose regular session was held yesterday in Moscow, again called believers not to be concerned over receiving individual taxpayer numbers (INN), Interfax reports.
"One should not fear external symbols and signs since no deception of the enemy of human souls is able to overpower the grace of God that abounds in the holy church," the synod's decision that was delivered today to Interfax says. In the bishops' opinion, "nothing and nobody can shake the faith of a person who truly abides with Christ and takes recourse in the mysteries of the church."
Members of the synod called pastors and the flock "to maintain Christian sobermindedness." At the same time the hierarchs noted that they share the concern that has been engendered by actions of the government, "because in the final analysis we are talking about protection of the right of believers to live in accordance with their own religious convictions."
The Holy Synod thanked the Estonian leadership for its cordiality and hospitality shown to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus. At the same time the bishops expressed the hope that the church structure of the Constantinople patriarchate in Estonia will display a readiness to follow the agreement on the Estonian question that provides for a final resolution of the property disputes and also the restoration of canonical relations of the Orthodox jurisdictions of Estonia.
It also was decided to include the names of fourteen heroes of Orthodoxy in the synaxis of new Russian martyrs and confessors of the twentieth century. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The term for which the Nizhny Novgorod priest Vladimir Enert is unfrocked is still unknown, the vice chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, declared on air at the "Echo of Moscow" radio station.
He said that such decisions are made by the Holy Synod in accordance with the situation. "Sometimes the punishment is imposed for a definite period of time and sometimes it is made without a specified time. It often happens that after repentance and after the passage of a certain amount of time the punishment is lifted and the priest is again permitted to serve," Chaplin reported. "In this case it has not been stated how much time may pass for the period of punishment," he added.
As Chaplin said, the priest V. Enert was unfrocked for marrying people of the same sex which the Holy Synod ruled was blasphemy. The priest Mikhail Kabano also received punishment for participation in this affair; he gave keys to the church to a young man and woman who deceived him into thinking they were planning to get married without a certificate of marriage. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
PRIEST "EXPELLED FROM OFFICE" FOR MARRYING GAYS
Mir religii, 7
October 2003
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox church ruled that the "marriage" of a same sex couple performed on 1 September in one of the churches of Nizhny Novgorod is blasphemy against a church sacrament. This was reported to an ITAR-TASS correspondent at the Moscow patriarchate today.
This
is a "violation of the basic principles of morality and of the teaching
of Holy Scripture and the canonical norms of life of the Orthodox Christian,"
the synod's decision states, which was drawn up in Moscow under the leadership
of Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus. The synod made the decision
"to expel from the office of priest" Vladimir Enert, who performed the
blasphemous action, and it ruled that the action itself has no legal force.
On 1 September of this year a young man and woman came to Mikhail Kabanov requesting that he give them the key to the church where there was no service being conducted on that day so that the sacrament of marriage could be performed for them by a priest from another church. According to the persons making the request, the parents of the woman opposed their marriage. The marriage had not been registered at ZAGS, Bishop Georgy of Nizhnegorod and Arzamas told Interfax.
After
getting the key to the church they brought the priest Vladimir Enert there
and, as previously agreed, he performed the blasphemous act of "marrying"
two young men. At that time the woman who had stated to Fr Mikhail her
intent to be married turned out to be a reporter for the "Komsomol pravda"
newspaper. She took photographs and published them in her newspaper along
with a report about the incident.
With regard to this the synod found the priest Mikhail Kabanov "a coparticipant in the sacrilege" and banned him from ministry.
Members of the synod also reminded the flock of the necessity of preserving the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage and of the impermissibility of same-sex "love," fornication, and adultery.
At the same time the synod called bishops to intensify their catechetical and evangelistic work among laity and to observe strictly the canonical procedure for the performance of the pastoral ministry of the church. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
NIZHNY NOVGOROD CHURCH IN WHICH HOMOSEXUALS MARRIED DEMOLISHED
Portal-credo.ru,
7 October 2003
The church in Nizhny Novgorod in which two Nizhny Novgorod gays, Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov, were married in September has been demolished. Denis Gogolev reported this to a "Rosbalt" correspondent on 7 October. He said that the chapel, located in the central portion of the city next to an unfinished church, was destroyed several days ago. "The church has become a depraved institution, practically a sect," Gogolev said. "It spits on its own canons." "Only Lenin and Stalin destroyed churches," the Nizhegorod gay stressed.
Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov were married by a priest of the Nizhegorod diocese, Vladimir Enert, for 15,000 rubles. He was unfrocked by decree of the Holy Synod "for blasphemy against the sacrament of marriage," and his coparticipant, Fr Mikhail Kabanov, was banned from clerical ministry. Denis Gogolev commented on the synod's decree: "These ministers of the church knew what they were doing and they took the money." Thus he does not see anything reprehensible in the actions of the Holy Synod and he is sure that "there could be many other clergymen dismissed for depravity." (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
DESTRUCTION OF CHAPEL NOT CONNECTED WITH GAY WEDDING
NEWSru.com,
7 October 2003 (excerpt)
The chapel in Nizhny Novgorod in which a wedding of two local gays was held in September has been destroyed. This was reported to "Interfax" news agency today by the press secretary of the Nizhegorod diocese, Fr Igor Pchelintsev. He denied the suggestion that the destruction of the chapel was connected with the marriage of the nontraditional couple. "The destruction of the chapel was not in any way connected with the performance of the ritual since it has long been planned to build a church on the site of the chapel," Pchelintsev said. He said that the church on Soviet Square in the Soviet district of Nizhny Novgorod will be built by 2005. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 7 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Russia's top Catholic condemned efforts to win Orthodox Christian converts on Monday, seeking to ease tensions between the Vatican and Russian Orthodox Church.
"We are condemning proselytism because there is no sense in it," Moscow Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz told Reuters in an interview. "The Russian Orthodox and other Orthodox churches have the same means of salvation as we Catholics have." "I am a Catholic bishop, but for me the Orthodox Church is our sister church. I kneel with equal reverence when I enter their places of worship," he added.
Russia's Orthodox Patriarchate has often accused Roman Catholics of trying to steal their flock, calling the policy an obstacle to progress toward ending a 1,000-year rift between the churches and to a visit by Pope John Paul to Moscow.
"This is a huge misunderstanding," Kondrusiewicz said in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he attended a meeting of Europe's Catholic bishops over the weekend. He said a thaw between Rome and the Moscow Patriarchate showed goodwill. Hopefully dialogue could push ahead to clarify problems of terminology and work out underlying differences. "We need as soon as possible to find a definition of freedom of conscience that is mutually acceptable, and also solve a dispute about canonical territories," the Archbishop said.
He pointed to the ex-Soviet Baltic state of Lithuania as an example that it was possible for Catholic and Orthodox communities to live together in peace and respect. The Russian Orthodox Church last week said despite perceived insults in recent years it desired reconciliation.
Kremlin leaders want the Orthodox to improve their ties with the Vatican in light of Russia's new European integration. Last month President Vladimir Putin said he was keen to receive the Pope in Moscow.
"Our separation since 1054 is a bleeding wound on the one Church of Christ," Kondrusiewicz said. "I have great hope that God is now providing the way out of a situation that humanly speaking is very difficult."
He noted a small but growing trend of "practical ecumenism" among ordinary Russians and intellectuals was another important sign of where things were moving. "They believe in one Christ and one Church and can't understand what the hierarchy are fighting over," he said.
Orthodox and Catholics split in 1054 when the Roman Pontiff and the Patriarch of Constantinople condemned each other over issues of theology and politics. Mutual "excommunications" were lifted only in 1965. Pope John Paul has made no secret of his desire to reunite the Churches but at least in Russia ties have soured in recent years. //Reuters (posted 6 October 2003)
MOSCOW PATRIARCH STRESSES NEED TO CENSURE "PROSELYTISM"
Zenit.org, 26 September 2003
Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church says that if a meeting with John Paul II is to take place, "proselytism" must be censured.
Referring to what would be the first meeting between a Russian Orthodox leader and a Pope, the patriarch told journalists Thursday that "at least proselytism must be condemned."
"I don't want it to be a meeting in front of television cameras, which would not obtain any results," the 74-year-old patriarch said. "We should meet and talk about certain concrete issues, especially proselytism."
The Orthodox Church has accused the Catholic Church of proselytism in Russian territories.
In a July 2002 interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said he was willing to analyze, together with the Orthodox patriarchate, what is understood by the term "proselytism."
"The Holy See's policy with the Russian Orthodox Church is clear,"
he said on that occasion. "We want dialogue, we want collaboration; we
reject proselytism, we want ecumenism, we want to promote the pastoral
care of our Catholics."
(posted 6 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
After negotiations conducted by the dean of the Kalinovsky district of the Vinnitsa diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, Archpriest Vladimir Rozman, with residents of the village of Liulintsa, the latter understood that they had been wrong when they transferred to the jurisdiction of the schismatic so-called "Kievan patriarchate." Residents of the village repented and returned to the bosom of the canonical church. Thus they not only did not accept the last priest sent to them by the Filaretite false bishop Geronty but they asked Archpriest Vladimir Rozman to deliver their request to the Vinnitsa diocesan administration to send to their village to serve a legally appointed priest, who would be able to perform the sacraments of the church. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
A Moscow city court rendered a decision on 1 October on the suit by the Novo-Nakhichevan and Russian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic church against one centralized and three local organizations of the same church that were registered in Moscow. As "Blago-info" reports, the court found that the latters' departure from the structure of the diocese was illegal and the changes and additions made in their charters for this purpose are invalid.
The court's decision resolved a years-long conflict between the centralized organization of the Armenian Apostolic church and the parishes that withdrew from it in Moscow. In addition, the Moscow Department of Justice acknowledged that it violated the requirements of the legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations when it registered the changes and additions to the charters of the religious organizations that are not provided for by the statutes of the Armenian Apostolic church.
At the time of the creation and registration of local parishes of the Armenian Apostolic church in Moscow their adherence to the Novo-Nakhichevan and Russian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic church was voluntarily established without any indication in the charters of the possibility of withdrawing from its structure and of the legal mechanisms for such a withdrawal. Nevertheless, in violation of the statutes of this church, changes were introduced into the charters of the local organizations and the founding meeting of these organizations made the decision to create a centralized organization, the "Armenian Apostolic Church of Moscow," independent of the supreme authority of the Armenian church (with its center at Echmiadzin) and outside of its structure. The Moscow Department of Justice issued to this organization a certificate of state registration on 22 March 2002.
An attorney of the Slavic Legal Center, Vladimir Riakhovsky, who represented the Novo-Nakhichevan diocese in court, demonstrated that the violations of the law that were committed in the creation of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Moscow are ineradicable, and therefore this organization is subject to liquidation. The court also found invalid the registration of the changes and additions in the charters of the local parishes by the Moscow Department of Justice. Commenting on the results of the trial, the attorney said: "It is good that the Department of Justice found within itself the strength to acknowledge that in this case it had grossly violated the requirements of the law. In previous cases they have been involved in the department has stood by its mistakes to the end."
The schism in the Moscow Armenian community happened after the Patriarch Catholicos Garegin II, who was elected several years ago to the Echmiadzin throne, removed from his position Archbishop Tiran Kiuregian, who had ruled the Novo-Nakhichevan diocese for many years, and appointed in his place his own brother Ezras Nersisian. Tiran Kiuregian refused to accept the Catholicos' decree, for which he was subjected to canonical discipline. Nevertheless, the only Armenian church in Moscow in the Armenian cemetery remains in the hands of supporters of Tiran Kiuregian. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
In the opinion of the director of the evangelism department of Ekaterinburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox church, the priest Vladimir Zaitsev, sects present in the Sverdlovsk province "are very politicized" and are trying "to take an active part in the election campaigns of various candidates," the local "Politsovet" news agency reports.
As an example, Vladimir Zaitsev cites the participation of a candidate for deputy to the State Duma, Evgeny Ziablitsev, who was supposed to attend a session of the Seventh-Day Adventists held yesterday. According to the priest, Seventh-Day Adventists are a sect that is on the border between ordinary sects and totalitarian sects. He said "Seventh-Day Adventists use dietary methods that categorically reject the use of many products, which can cause harm to people if done in an uninformed way. It is very bad that the activities of this sect were directed to retired persons; this can seriously affect the health of elderly people."
The director of the evangelism department of Ekaterinburg diocese thinks the participation of a State Duma candidate in an event of the Adventists is incomprehensible, the more so since Evgeny Ziablitsev "has always positioned himself as an Orthodox Christian." (tr. by PDS, posted 6 October 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Eurasian Department of the International Religious Freedom Association expresses serious concern about the recently increasing manifestations of religious intolerance on the part of local administrations and individual representatives of the Russian Orthodox church in a number of provinces of the Central District of Russia.
As has become known from reports of religious organizations, on 29 August in the city of Liski, Voronezh province, an event "You were not meant for narcotics" organized by protestant Christians was broken up by illegal actions of the administration of the district and local police. The event was being conducted at the request of city residents by the Voronezh Center of Spiritual Ministry of the Christians of Evangelical Faith and the Russian Association of Missions of Christians of Evangelical Faith with the participation of the Liski congregation of the same Christian confession. As a result of beatings delivered by police officers a number of participants in the event, including children, received bodily injury.
Organizers of the disrupted event had informed the chief of the city of Liski and Liski district, V.V. Shevtsov, of their intention to conduct it in a timely manner. When they did not receive a response, over the course of several weeks they frequently went to the offices of representatives of the local administration. At one of the meetings the deputy head of the district, R.P. Fursova, demanded that the event get "consent" from the Orthodox clergy. Another deputy, E.V. Mitiurev, told organizers of the event that "we have one official state religion and that is sufficient."
In the city of Tutaev, Yaroslavl province, a charity festival "Faith, Hope, Love" organized by Pentecostal Christians was broken up. The instigators of the disruption were Orthodox priests led by the secretary of the Yaroslavl archbishop, hieromonk Serapion. In violation of existing legislation they organized a picket expressing disagreement with the conduct of the festival. Picketers displayed transparencies that were offensive to the Pentecostal believers, which had the slogan "Beware, a sect!" On 10 August 2003 vandals armed with iron rods attacked believers and set fire to the festival's tent. Two of the attackers were detained by festival participants and turned over to police officials, although they let them go.
On 11 August 2003 the picketing was renewed under the leadership of Fr Serapion; this day fifteen priests of RPTs participated. They set up a bell on a "Gazelle" vehicle and parking it ten meters away from the festival's location they tried to drown out the voices of festival participants with bell ringing and they declared an anathema upon them. Neither the local administration nor police officers responded to the Pentecostal Christians' request to secure public order. On the next day, 12 August, the administration of the city of Tutaev put an end to this incident, declaring that the permission for conducting the festival from 10 to 17 August was no longer valid. Thus Christians of Evangelical Faith were deprived of the possibility of exercising the right to freedom of conscience guaranteed to them by the constitution of the Russian federation.
On 25-27 July 2003 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod there was supposed to be a congress of Jehovah's Witnesses, a religious association that also has official state registration. Its meeting, however, was cancelled by the local administration at the very last moment because the celebration of the centennial of the canonization of St. Serafim of Sarov was being conducted in another city.
The Eurasian Department of the International Religious Freedom Association calls the attention of the Russian public, and state and religious figures, and President V.V. Putin personally as the guarantor of the constitution of our state to these extremely crude violations of the constitutional principle of the separation of religious associations from the state and their equality before the law.
Russian Department of International Religious Freedom Association
1 October 2003
(tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2003)
Posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 2 October 2003
PROTESTANTS SEE RISE IN INTOLERANCE
by Anatoly Medetsky Staff Writer
Moscow Times, 01 October 2003
Protestant officials said Tuesday that discrimination and intolerance is increasing in Russia, citing 10 arson attacks in the past two years and an incident in which the police violently broke up an anti-drug rally.
Before each arson attack, believers received threats from people who identified themselves as patriots, officials said at a news conference. Among the properties set ablaze were Baptist churches in Chekhov and Balashikha near Moscow.
Pentecostal pastor Andrei Bashmakov said the Russian Orthodox Church was at least partially responsible for the difficulties. He said Orthodox officials did not want do deal with rival faiths and were using influence with the authorities to remove them.
Bashmakov, who leads a congregation in Lisky in the Voronezh region and organized the anti-drug rally in late August, showed a video of the police violently breaking up the meeting.
The footage showed men and women scattering and officers stuffing others into police vehicle. The detainees were shown walking out of a police station later that day with bruises on the backs.
Police said the believers did not have a permit to hold a rally, said Anatoly Pchelintsev, co-chairman of the Slavic Legal Center, a human rights organization that supports Protestants.
But, Pchelintsev said, the only permission needed was for a venue. Lisky officials were contacted a month before the rally and they proposed a number of far-flung sites that the believers considered unacceptable, he said. Some officials insisted that the group coordinate the rally with the Orthodox Church, he said. In the end, no permit was issued. There are some 15,000 Protestant congregations in Russia, second only to the Orthodox Church, Pchelintsev said.
LISKI AUTHORITIES IN VORONEZH PROVINCE EXPLAIN DISRUPTION OF PENTECOSTAL
EVENT AS DEFENSE OF INTERESTS OF BELIEVERS OF ANOTHER CONFESSION
Portal-credo.ru,
1 October 2003
After four sessions Judge Larisa Ziubina of the Mirov court of Liski district of Voronezh province found Pentecostal Pastor Andrei Bashmakov of Voronezh (president of the Center of Spiritual Ministry of the Russian Association of Missions of Christians of Evangelical Faith [Pentecostals]) guilty of violation of the Code of Administrative Crimes of the Russian federation. The court sentenced Pastor Bashmakov, as organizer of a mass event unsanctioned by authorities, to a fine of 1,000 rubles. At the beginning of September this same Mirov court fined nine other "ordinary" participants in the "You were not meant for drugs" event, which was broken up on 29 August by officials of the Liski mayor's office and police that was accompanied by physical coercion against the believers. The incident was photographed by videocamera by Pentecostals.
All ten persons who were fined sent a request to an appeals court for overturning the judicial decision. Bashmakov's attorney, the director of the Slavic Legal Center, Anatoly Pchelintsev, insists that the Pentecostals did not violate the law, since it provides for an exclusively informational procedure for conducting religious events. The petitioners twice provided written notifications within the period specified by the law, although no official response to their statement was received from the mayor's office.
In the course of the sessions on Pastor Bashmakov's case witnesses for the Pentecostal side told the court that representatives of the government insisted orally that the organizers of the antidrug tent camp had to get agreement for conducting the event from the local priest of the Voronezh diocese of the Moscow patriarchate, a "certain Father Vasily." "We will permit it if he gives his consent," Vice Mayor Raisa Fursova said. Another vice mayor named Metelev told believers that "in Russia we have one state religion." Police officers at the station to which ten participants in the event were taken beat those who were arrested and called them "traitors to Christ," threatening that "we will show you, Jehovists, how to betray the Orthodox church," the Pentecostals told the court. After the believers were released from the police station, some of them were taken to medical institutions with broken bones, wounds, and bruises, claiming they were the result of physical force on the part of representatives of law enforcement agencies. The fact was established that not all medical institutions of the city of Liski by any means accepted the Pentecostals who asked for help.
A deputy head of the administration of the city of Liski, Raisa Fursova, stated on TV channel 4 (the regional affiliate of the national "REN-TV" television holding company), whose reporters prepared reports about the trial of Pastor Bashmakov, that the authorities and police made the decision to break up the antidrug event because on that day, beginning in the morning, while the Pentecostals were setting up the area, residents of surrounding buildings who were representatives of another religious confession (the vice mayor did not indicate which one precisely) had appealed to the mayor's office. They supposedly demanded categorically that the conducting of the event be prohibited. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2003)
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