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The party of Viktor Yanukovich [defeated presidential candidate--tr.] will support the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate according to a statement made by Yanukovich Wednesday in Moscow in conversation with reporters.
"The [oppositional] Party of the Regions has made the decision. We will support the traditional Ukrainian Orthodox church, Yanukovich said, according to a report by the news agency "Novosti-Ukraina." He said that the opposition also will strive for the introduction of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" course into Ukrainian schools and for the production of Orthodox programs on Ukrainian television. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2005)
YUSHCHENKO CONFIDENT THAT UNIFIED ORTHODOX CHURCH WILL BE CREATED IN
UKRAINE
Mir
religii, 5 March 2005
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is confident that a united Ukrainian Orthodox church will be created in Ukraine: "I am sure that we will live to see an assembled Ukrainian Orthodox church," Yushchenko declared when he addressed today the founding congress of the "Our Ukraine National Union" in Kiev.
Yushchenko also expressed confidence that "we have the possibility of respecting the feelings of every person irrespective of which church he attends. If we are friendly with various confessions and respect feelings, I am sure that we will find the answer for living in fraternity and mutual understanding, without ignoring the feelings of a single person," Yushchenko said.
At present the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate has the majority of parishes, while the second largest number of believers and parishes are in the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kiev patriarchate, which grew up as a result of the unification of two branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy that have advocated independence from the Russian Orthodox church: the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church and some of the representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2005)
UOC-KP ORTHODOX PATRIARCH BLESSES UKRAINIAN PEOPLEšS PARTY ASSEMBLY
Religious Information
Service of Ukraine, 2 March 2005
Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), was invited by the leaders of the Ukrainian Peoplešs Party (UPP) to participate in the opening ceremony for the Sixth Assembly of the UPP, which took place in the Ukraine National Palace on 26 February 2005. At the request of National Deputy Yuriy Kostenko, head of the UPP, the patriarch said the "Our Father" and greeted the more than 3000 delegates and guests of the assembly, wishing them Godšs blessing, fruitful work and wise and considered decisions.
Patriarch Filaret stressed the importance of the consolidation and cooperation of all the democratic and patriotic forces which supported President Viktor Yushchenko in Ukrainešs recent presidential runoff election, for the development of Ukraine. This cooperation for the good of Ukraine, can, according to patriarch, become a strong foundation for new social relations among the people of Ukraine, based on the precedence of spiritual over material values.
The UOC-KP site says that, since the founding of Rukh ("Movement" or the Peoplešs Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika) in 1989, whose ideas and spirit are continued in Yuriy Kostenkošs UPP, national-patriotic forces have consistently supported the necessity of creating a National Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. In the name of the UOC-KP, Patriarch Filaret stressed many times that, while it remains outside of politics, the UOCKP has supported and will continue to support all political forces that work to strengthen Ukrainešs independence and sovereignty, as well as the spiritual and moral revival of its people.
Several UPP activists, including Ivan Drach, Pavlo Movchan and Vasyl
Chervonii, are members of the Higher Church Council of the UOCKP.
(posted 10 March 2005)
Source: Ukrainian
Orthodox Church (KP)
ANCIENT KIEV CHURCH BUILDINGS SHOULD BELONG TO CANONICAL UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX
CHURCH
Pravoslavie.ru,
1 March 2005
The heart of Orthodoxy of the eastern slavs--the ancient churches of Kiev--should belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox church that is recognized by all as the canonical church. This opinion was expressed today at the Moscow patriarchate, in a comment on the report appearing in the Ukrainian press concerning the possibility of the transfer of the historic churches to the newly formed structure, the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kiev patriarchate (UPTsKP), ITAR-TASS reported.
"The church of the Tithe and other ancient churches were built in the period of Kievan Rus. At the time there was no division between the church located within the borders of Ukraine and the church located within the borders of present-day Russia," the secretary for inter-Orthodox relations of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarch, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov said. From this it clearly follows, in his opinion, that the ancient churches "should be property of the Ukrainian Orthodox church that is in canonical fellowship with the Moscow patriarchate and with Orthodoxy worldwide."
The agency's interlocutor declared that the Russian Orthodox church considers "the task of restoration of the unity of the Orthodox church in Ukraine, which has suffered from schisms, to be extremely important." But "achieving this task is possible only on the basis of the sacred canons" (the Moscow patriarchate is convinced that unification of Orthodox communities is possible only around the church that is recognized by ecumenical Orthodoxy).
According to statistics, around 10,500 parishes belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate, while barely more than 3,000 belong to the Ukrainian church of the Kiev patriarchate, and more than 1,000 to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church. The Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate received the status of independence and self-administration in 1990, without breaking canonical ties with the Moscow patriarchate. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2005)
YUSHCHENKO INSTRUCTS KIEV AUTHORITIES TO RESTORE CHURCH OF TITHE
Portal-credo.ru,
4 February 2005
In Kiev work on restoration of the historic monument, the church of the Mother of God (church of the Tithe) has begun, "Blagovest-info" reports, citing "Korrespondent.net." The head of the Kiev city government, Alexander Omelchenko, told this to reporters on 3 February.
He said that the cost of the work will run around 90 million grivnas (17 million dollars). Omelchenko stressed that the question of the restoration of the church is "the first question that the new president has placed before Kiev."
The church will be rebuilt upon the ancient foundation which will provide possibility for conducting archaeological investigations. Similar techniques were used in restoring the church of the Archangel Michael of the Golden Roof.
The church of the Tithe (989-996) was the first stone church in ancient Rus. It was constructed by Byzantine and Ancient Russian builders in the period of the reign of Vladimir Sviatoslavovich, who donated a tenth of his principality's income for its construction, whence it received its name. The church of the tithe is a "church on the blood." According to tradition, it was built on the spot where pagans killed, in 983, the Varangian Christians Ioann and Fyodor..
The church, along with many sacred objects, ancient icons, and books were irreplaceably lost during the destruction of Kiev by the forces of Batu in 1230. . . .
It was previously intended by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to restore the church of the Tithe during 2001-2003, which was expressed in his order "On urgent measures for restoration of the church of the Mother of God (Tithe) in the city of Kiev." Cost of construction was to have been paid by the charitable fund "Regeneration of the church of the Tithe." (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The secretary of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate for inter-Orthodox relations, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, in effect refused on 9 March to comment for "Portal-credo.ru" on the establishment by the Romanian patriarchate of the Exarchate of New Lands and a Moscow deanery on Russian territory. From the point of view of the notion about "canonical territory" held by the Moscow patriarchate, the creation of such structures could be viewed as schismatic.
As Fr Nikolai stated, "with regard to a question that touches upon relations between two local churches, if we are going to make public statements, then I will choose a different context and a different form."
As reported earlier, in January and February of this year the Romanian patriarchate received into its jurisdiction several parishes on Russian territory, located in Moscow, Moscow province, and the Chuvash republic. The decree on creation of the Moscow deanery, which is headed by Archpresbyter Alexander Sergeev-Zarnadze, was signed by the head of the Bessarabian metropolia of the Romanian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Peter Peduraru, a former bishop of RPTsMP who was banned from the ministry by the Moscow patriarchate. The Bessarabian metropolia, which operates on the territory of the republic of Moldova, is also a schismatic structure on its "canonical territory," from the point of view of RPTsMP. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Unknown vandals desecrated the walls and tried to break into the building of a synagogue in Samara, Interfax was told on Wednesday by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR).
"At 3:00 p.m. on 8 March a pair of unknown persons penetrated the grounds of the synagogue. They climbed the fence and they covered the walls of the building with fascist symbols and vulgar antisemitic slogans. Then they tried to break into the worship hall," a representative of the federation explained.
The sound of breaking glass alerted the security of the synagogue. "In all likelihood, they did not expect to encounter anyone in the building on this day, and they retreated," the news agency's informant noted. He stressed that "Samara is a multinational and religiously tolerant city and is considered relative calm. Yesterday's incident was the first when extremist attacks were directed against the Jewish community," the representative of FEOR said. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2005)
CHIEF RABBI OF RUSSIA CALLS FOR STERN PUNISHMENT FOR DESECRATION OF
RELIGIOUS OBJECTS
Interfaks-religiia,
9 March 2005
The chief rabbi of Russia, Berl Lazar, called the government to use stern measures of punishment for desecration of religious objects, in connection with the desecration of the synagogue in Samara.
"Today I wish to address the central authorities with a call to make a principled resolution of the question regarding crimes against religious objects. This kind of activity cannot any longer be viewed as ordinary 'hooliganism,'" Lazar says in his statement, the text of which was delivered Wednesday to "Interfax."
"The peoples of our country paid too horrible a price for such 'hooligans,'" the statement stressed.
The rabbi called attention to the fact that the target of today's neofascist attack was a cemetery and a house of worship and thereby it was directed not only against Jews but also adherents of other religions. "All of this forces me to be inclined to think that today we have a case of not merely crimes directed against Jews. These vandals and scum hate the one God and, in desecrating temples and cemeteries, they are directing their challenge against him," Lazar noted.
In planning to capture the Samara pogromists, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, whose spiritual leader is Berl Lazar, at the same time calls the government "to take principled, maximally harsh measures against all organizations and groups that justify such actions and especially that instigate them."
"The church, of course, is separated from the state, but God is not separated from the people, the citizens whom the state is obliged to protect. We know from history that the most horrible crimes always have begun with persecution of faith and believers," Rabbi Lazar recalled. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
"Our goal is to help teach young people God's plan for sexual purity, ways to resist the allure of illegal drugs."
The leading evangelical mission organisation in Russia - Russian Ministries - has recently started a new initiative to spread "Biblical values" and an "anti-drug [and] sexual purity" message among Russian children and youth, according to its statement to the Budapest-based BosNewsLife Christian News Centre.
The project has been proposed in the wake of the rising AIDS/HIV epidemic in Russia over recent years. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), "Russia has experienced one of the most explosive rates of HIV spread in the world. There are already nearly 300,000 people living with HIV registered by the health authorities."
It estimated last year that close to 1.8 million people are infected in Russia. "Experts believe the total number to be much greater, and it is growing all the time," the UNDP added. The worrying trend is even being observed in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Estonia.
Russian Ministries "Time to Live! Fund" plan to help at least 40,000 Russian children in the next 12 months, many of whom are infected with the HIV virus which causes AIDS.
The AIDS epidemic not only ruins the life of those who are infected, but it also threatens the quality of life of the next generation. This is what the Russian Ministries are most concerned about.
"Every day more HIV-infected children are in Russian orphanages. Even more children end up in orphanages just because their parents contract the disease or abuse drugs," Russian Ministries said.
Russian Ministries revealed that the HIV positive orphans are often marginalised. They are isolated from the other children or even kept in locked cells. It therefore stressed that it wants to support Russian Christians to reach out with "mercy ministries" to "hurting, dying children already infected with HIV" and youth who are at risk of contracting this deadly disease.
In order to eradicate the root of the AIDS epidemic, the evangelical Russian Ministries tries to make people understand that only the word of God can guide people towards the true way of life and thus protect them from the physical lures of this world. Instead of promoting the use of condoms as a strategy to tackle the spread of AIDS, the ministries will adopt a more fundamental evangelistic plan.
"Our goal is to help teach young people Godšs plan for sexual purity,
ways to resist the allure
of illegal drugs, and strategies for how to cope with the many difficulties
they are facing in
the new Russia since the collapse of Communism," said Sergey Rakhuba,
vice president of Russian Ministries.
"We are incorporating biblical values and the anti-drug message into our training programs," President Anita Deyneka added. "We are also working with partner ministries- teaching a No Apologiesš sexual abstinence curriculum as well as translating and distributing Focus on the Family youth-oriented materials."
In addition, the ministry also plans to reach youth by more attractive ways with music, presentations and counselling, such as a "Time to Live!" Festival. (posted 8 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Presenting himself as Jesus Christ, the impostor "academician" Grigory Grabovoy, the head of the sect who promised residents of Beslan who lost children during the terrorist act to "resurrect" their children for 39,000 rubles each, has decided to become president of Russia in 2008.
In a special February issue of the "Prognosis" newspaper that he publishes, Grabovoy wrote specifically that one of the points of his "presidential platform" will be "adoption of a law that will be fulfilled in any case. This is a law prohibiting death," IA Regnum reports.
According to assurances of leaders of the sect, the "Prognosis" newspaper has been distributed in the State Duma, the Federation Council, and the presidential administration of Russia, and members of its editorial board include Federation Council members V.A. Gustov and V.P. Orlov, and State Duma deputies V.I. Alksnis, N.M. Bezborodov, V.P. Voitenko, V.I. Grishin, N.P. Zalepukhin, V.S. Katrenko, A.E. Likhachov, V.V. Luntsevich, V.Ya. Pekarev, G.I. Raikov, and V.P. Cheremushkin, IA Regnum reports.
Much has been written already about the activity of Grabovoy's seect. In particular, back in December of last year the "Izvestiia" newspaper, which decided to investigate the sectarians' activity, exposed the sectarian charlatan activity of Grabovoy in a full article. We will quote several statements by the "great disciple" of Grabovoy, Yu.N. Kirillov, at one of his seminars: "Grabovoy has saved all of us, but not everybody knows about this;" "Grabovoy teaches us like Christ, as one having authority"; "Fifty methods of resurrection of the dead exist; the most effective is the 47th and the 19th is worst"; "From the first to the tenth of September we ruled the future of Beslan and sent light rays of love to the terrorists, but the local residents were themselves guilty and provoked what happened by their sympathies and experiences." These are quotations of the words of the sectarian by Izvestiia. As the saying goes, comment is superfluous.
In his time, Izvestia said, Grabovoy literally declared the following: "This is my prediction. In 2008 I will become president of Russia. My predictions always come true, especially those regarding myself. Already now many church hierarchs are ready to declare that I am Jesus Christ, but I myself do not want that. Because then I would not have any competitors and I want to win the election in an honest struggle. And I will win. You will see. I have already created a political party, the "Voluntary disseminators of the teachings of Grigory Grabovoy" (DRUGG).
There it is -- no more, no less. The sectarian impostor and blasphemer Grabovoy, who declared himself Christ, aspires to the presidency. And what is most frightening is that according to the sectarian's own statement, a number of State Duma deputies support him. To be sure, as the Nizhny Novgorod telegraph agency reported today, duma deputy Aleksei Likhachov has already denied the report about his participation in the activity of Grigory Grabovoy's sect. "Such a report cannot evoke anything other than displeasure," the deputy declared. "Mention of my name as a member of the editorial board is a deliberate provocation and talk about such horrible things as the resurrection of dead children is criminal!" deputy Likhachov told NTA. However the other deputies mentioned by Grabovoy are still silent. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The Moscow section of the "Yabloko" party expresses its decisive protest against the indictment issued by the prosecutor's office against the organizers of the "Beware, religion" exhibit, Yury Samodurov, Liudmila Vasilovskaia, and Anna Mikhalchuk.
Just as in the case of the "Yukos affair," the issue is the selective application of the law. A multitude of recent movies and print and video media can be characterized as incitement of religious strive with far better basis than in the case of the organizaers of the exhibit and the artists. The criminal case was initiated simply because the site of the exhibit was the Sakharov Center.
This kangaroo court has become the means of settling political accounts with the public organization that has devoted itself to preserving the heritage of Academician Sakharov and the dissemination of ideas. It cannot be ruled out that the anger of the Kremlin, that administers the court system in the country, was evoked by the activity of the Sakharov Center in defense of human rights in Chechnia.
The persecution of the Sakharov Center recalls the hounding by the KGB of Academician Sakharov himself. It does not have anything in common with either Christianity or Orthodoxy, which are based on the ideals of toleration and love for one's neighbor.
The "Yabloko" party considers this trial to be political and will strive for its termination by all legal methods.
Sergei Mitrokhin
Vice-chairman of Yabloko party
(tr. by PDS, posted 8 March 2005)
posted on Portal-credo.ru,
7 March 2005
"OH, OPENING," EXHIBIT CURATORS MAY BE THREATENED WITH PENAL COLONY
by Vladimir Fedosenko
Rossiiskaia gazeta, 4 March 2005
Hearings on the case of the scandalous exhibit, "Beware, religion," have been going on in the Tagan court of Moscow and its organizers have been charged with incitement of religious strife. The state's attorney in the trial, Kira Gudim, requested the court to sentence the director of the Sakharov Museum and Commuinity Center, Yury Samodurov, to three years confinement in a prison colony and museum employee Liudmila Vasilevskaia and artist Anna Mikhalchuk to two years confinement. At the same time the state's attorney requested Mikhalchuk be released from serving time because of the expiration of statute of limitations.
Attorneys for the accused insist on the innocence of their clients. Samodurov denies any guilt for offending religious feelings. "I am convinced that there were not works in the exposition that were directed to disparagement of anybody's convictions or religious confession," he declared. In his opinion, such prohibitions will lead to "contemporary critical art losing its meaning," and the exhibit was merely an occasion for talking about various aspects of religion. That a group of citizens tossed paint on the exhibit's pictures, in his opinion, is a case of elementary hooliganism." (tr. by PDS, posted 8 March 2005)
Posted on Religiia i SMI, 5 March 2005
RUSSIA PROSECUTORS SEEK SENTENCES IN RELIGIOUS HATE TRIAL
Associated Press, 2 March 2005
Prosecutors asked a court Wednesday to sentence a rights activist to three years of internal exile if convicted on charges of inciting religious hatred by organizing a controversial religious exhibit, Russian news agencies reported.
Yuri Samodurov, the head of the Sakharov Museum, which is also a leading human rights group, is on trial for organizing a 2003 art exhibit prosecutors claim inspired religious hatred.
Prosecutors also requested two-year sentences for two others charged in the case - museum worker Lyudmila Vasilovskaya and artist Anna Mikhalchuk, who contributed to the exhibit, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported.
Mikhalchuk shouldn't have to serve time, though, since the statute of limitations on her alleged crime had expired, the prosecutors said, without elaborating.
Titled "Caution, Religion," the exhibit at the Moscow museum included a Russian Orthodox-style icon with a hole instead of a head where visitors could insert their faces. Another work featured a Coca-Cola logo with Jesus' face drawn next to it and the words: "This is my blood."
All three defendants have pleaded innocent, saying they didn't understand how specific works at the exhibition were inciting religious hatred. It was unclear when the judge would make his ruling.
Members of the Russian Orthodox Church called the exhibit blasphemous and insulting, and urged officials to press charges.
The exhibit was vandalized four days after its opening, and six attackers were detained and charged with hooliganism. Those charges were dropped after a publicity campaign conducted by a Russian Orthodox priest. The trial has been watched closely by atheists and religious minorities, who claim that Russia's dominant Orthodox Church has ties that are too close with the state, and that religious symbolism has become as omnipresent and oppressive as atheism was in Soviet times. (posted 8 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
In front of the provincial administration building in Kharkov a picket line has been set up, whose participants demanded that the broadcast of a sectarian program on television cease, Pravoslavie.ru correspondent Sergey Stepanov reports, citing the "Obektiv" media group.
Kharkov Orthodox believers have come out against showing a program with the participation of American Mark Finley, a representative of the sect of "Seventh-day Adventists. His "sermons" are to be broadcast from 4 to 26 March by satellite television to all of Ukraine. Parishioners of the Orthodox church call the production "sectarian expansion."
We recall that Adventists have conducted vigorous activity in Ukraine,
drawing people into the sect by deception. Visiting missionaries conceal
their affiliation with the sect and called themselves "simply Christians."
In addition, often Adventists enter into open confrontation with the Ukrainian
church. Some months ago in Vinnitsa diocese sectarians tried to break up
a processions of the cross devoted to the 80th anniversary of the Kalinovka
miracle. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 March 2005) [The "Kalinovka miracle" was
reported to have occurred on 7 July 1923 when a drunken soldier, returning
from the civil war, shot a bullet into a grave marker and adjoining icon
of the "Crucifixion," and blood began flowing out of the Savior's shoulder
where the bullet penetrated the icon. The site then began attracting thousands
of pilgrims, provoking harsh countermeasures by the local communist rulers.
PDS]
Rustam Khachatrian, attorney for a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses society, Areg Khovkhanesian, called the four-year prison sentence "inhumane," which was pronounced on his client on 16 February by a court in Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic, for refusal to perform military service on the basis of religious convictions. "Areg's family lives very modestly and for them the loss of the eldest of their surviving sons to imprisonment is very difficult," Khachatrian told the "Forum 18" news service. "Areg was one of five children, but his sister and brother were killed during the war in Nagorny Karabakh. They were playing in the streets which a bomb struck them."
Coming from a family of Jehovah's Witnesses living in Stepanakert, the eighteen-year-old Khovkhanesian told the court that he is ready to perform alternative civilian service. But since such service does not exist in Nagorny Karabakh, he was sentenced on 16 February in accordance with part 3 of article 327 of the Criminal Code, which set the punishment for refusal to perform military service at four to eight years "in circumstances of martial law, war, or during military actions." (Nagorny Karabakh adopted the Criminal Code that was adopted in Armenia in 2003). After pronouncement of the sentence Khovkhanesian was placed under arrest.
Attorney Khachatrian blames what happened on a presidential decree that extended martial law in Nagorny Karabakh to 1 January 2006, and this is what permitted such severe sentences to be issued. Although a ceasefire was announced with Azerbaijan in 1994, the conflict remains unresolved.
Lt. Gen. Seiran Oganian, the minister of defense of the unrecognized republic, is convinced that those who cannot serve in the armed forces on the basis of their convictions must be judged in accordance with this law. "This does not depend on me; in accordance with our law in Nagorny Karabakh there is no alternative service, so that they are sentenced according to law," he stated on 21 February to Forum 18. "Those who do not want to serve in the defense of our motherland place the republic at risk."
Gen. Oganian noted that in individual cases the armed forces make exceptions for believers who cannot fight on the basis of convictions, permitting them to work in the army in noncombat positions. He pointed to the case of a young Baptist, Gagik Mirzoian, who, as Forum 18 reported, refused to bear arms after he was drafted into the army, despite pressure for the commander and military chaplain of the Armenian Apostolic church. "He will serve in Khadrutsk district without arms and will not wear a military uniform," Oganian stated. "But he will do the same things as other conscripts." Gen. Oganian insisted that Mirzoian, who was drafted on 6 December 2004, was not subjected to beatings in the army, although the Baptist himself maintains that the commander of his platoon and chaplain Fr Petros Ezergian beat him several times in December.
Although in past years the conditions of martial law, which have been renewed annually since 1992, included a ban on activity "of religious sects and unregistered organizations," Khachatrian emphasized that the current decree on martial law does not contain such a ban. Although in recent years the activity of congregations of protestants and the Jehovah's Witnesses were disrupted, as Forum 18 reported, Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses say that they now are abld to conduct services without hindrance. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 March 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items