RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS
|
Copyrighted material. For private use only. If you quote material, please credit the publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit this Web page for any print use of the material. If any electronic reproduction is made, please acknowledge the URL: http:www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/ |
|||
|
|
|
|
Information |
Orthodox oppose Pentecostals
in Ekaterinburg
EKATERINBURG DIOCESE ASKS PROSECUTOR TO RESCIND PROHIBITION ON ANTISECT
DEMONSTRATION
Interfax, 16 June 2005
The missions department of the Ekaterinburg diocese sent to the prosecutor's office of Sverdlovsk province a letter with a request to find illegal the prohibition of the administration of Ekaterinburg on conducting a picket against the activity of the "New Life" sect. As a representative of the missions department reported to the "Interfax-Urals" news agency, city authorities cited the fact that the "Energetik" house of culture where the sectarians conduct their meetings is a house of worship.
"According to law, it is forbidden to conduct a picket near such facilities and city hall has not given us permission to do this. However we do not agree that the house of culture is a house of worship, and we ask the prosecutor's office to investigate this situation," the agency's informer noted. He said that next Sunday, Orthodox believers will conduct an informational action not far from the house of culture, which will be directed against the activity of the "New Life" sect.
"This will not be a picket nor a demonstration, since we will not have any placards with us. We will only distribute newspapers to those who want them and we will be holding in our hands small flags with the inscription "New Life sect is a pagan cult," the agency's informant explained. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 June 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Pentecostal pastor issues statements
STATEMENT OF SENIOR PASTOR ALEXANDER PURSHAGA, "EMMANUEL" CENTERAL CHURCH OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN PENTECOSTALS OF MOSCOWI, Alexander Ananievich Purshaga, in connection with recent events must declare the following:
As the senior pastor of the "Emmanuel" central church of Christians of Evangelical Faith of Moscow and senior presbyter of the Russian Assemblies of God have not authorized anyone to represent the interests of the Russian Assemblies of God and the "Emmanuel" central church of Moscow or to be an intermediary or spokesperson in dialogue with the leadership of the city. I advise against speculating on the oppressions that our church has undergone because of the prejudiced attitude of government workers toward protestant Christians. I urgently recommend against give a political hue to these events or using these events for advancing one's own political advantage, to say nothing of making a statement in our name or conducting any negotiations in our name.
Addressing leaders of protestant churches and association I have frequently explained to them that the reason that forced me to get the immediate attention of Moscow Mayor Yu.M. Luzhkov by picketing city hall is that other forms (letters, complaints, court suits) did not yield results.
I also asked several clergymen, to the extent possible, to inform the higher responsible officials of the city and country about the true causes of the events that occurred, since I have gotten the impression that the mayor of Moscow is not aware of the true state of affairs and of our requests to him and the cause of the disturbances.
As to articles and publications in which the writers try to give a political hue to the events that happened, I declare the following: "I have my own political sympathies and antipathies which have nothing to do with the fact that our land was illegally seized, which had been designated for construction of the spiritual center of the "Emmanuel" central church of Moscow. The arbitrariness of bureaucrats of the administration of the "Solntsevo" district made the cup of patience overflow, since over the course of two years they did not permit us to begin reconstruction of the building belonging to us and also, in the first instance, did not permit us to acquire the land necessary for the functioning of the building."
As a religious person I say that Christianity stands on two pillars: prayer and action. And if we ignore one of these two, we become spiritual invalids. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 June 2005)
Posted on Portal-credo.ru
site, 16 June 2005
TVER JUSTICE--FULL CIRCLE
Notes of pastor of "Emmanuel" central church of Evangelical Christian
Pentecostals
When I was at the court hearings of 6 June 2005 I observed how stunned the parishioners of "Emmanuel" church were by what was happening.
This is what happened: Judge A.B. Kovalevskaia in concert with the chief investigator, A.P. Krylov, who virtually behaved like a prosecutor, began by selecting as their victim the most inoffensive, intelligent, elderly person. Not bothering to investigate the legality or illegality of the picketing that was conducted from 30 May to 3 June, the judge sentenced the seventy-one-year-old retiree to a fine of 500 rubles.
Her Honor, spurning the requests of attorneys and spending time during the breaks between hearings with Krylov in her chambers, issued in the same way the sentence of the second defendant. But the attorneys asked for only one thing: that before issuing guilty verdicts against people the judge explain the basic question of the legality of the events that were conducted. And only after the judge had issued guilty verdicts against several participants in the picketing did she grudgingly agree to request an explanation from the prefecture of the Central Administrative District on the matter of the legality of the picketing, as well as about their actions after receiving the notification on 20 May 2005, which the church sent to the prefecture.
The judge declared a recess and went off for a long time with A.P. Krylov into a conference room. After an extended recess she appeared with a document sent by FAX from the prefecture from three subordinates of S.A. Vadiukov, who declared in a single voice that they had together phoned and warned the church that the picketing had been moved to Pushkin Square.
Having denied people the presumption of innocence and assigned to a falsified document a "presumption of validity," since it had been signed by "responsible persons," which actually these interested persons were not, Judge Kovalevskaia, finally, having found a point of support, however shaky, continued with the greatest zeal to issue head-spinning fines against innocent people.
The next day, at a conference with the first deputy director of the Department of City Building Policy, Development, and Reconstruction of Moscow, A.D. Kosovan, I became convinced of the desire of Moscow authorities, especially the highest officials of the government of Moscow, to restore legality and justice on the secondary question dealing with the building in Solntsevo.
I do not take into account the kind of light in which several politicians and their news media try to portray us, protestants; here everybody earns their own bread. But it is impossible not to mention that nobody in the Moscow government sold us the building in Solntsevo at a reasonable price, to say nothing of granting it to us. We bought it at the then agreed upon price from a company. And we bought this building, not through the efforts of Moscow bureaucrats but despite them.
According to the requirements and standards, a house of worship must have 0.4 to 0.5 of a hectare of land for its functioning. At the end of this conference, with my hopes raised by what seemed to me to be the resolve of the city leadership to help us, I learned that they had arrested my guest, the senior pastor of the "News of Hope" church of St. Petersburg, Ilia Yurievich Astafiev, who had been invited to preach at the "Emmanuel" central church of Moscow. I do not know how he displeased A.P. Krylov and A.B. Kovalevsky, but he had nothing to do with the planning and leadership of the picketing on Tver Square. I think that he was condemned with special zeal when they learned he was a clergyman, which means a "ringleader."
Thus, when I went to court on 8 June I prepared my things that I would need for a fifteen-day sentence. And I prepared my family for this, understanding that as the organizer and senior pastor of the church that conducted the picketing, the full force of the "law" would be applied to me.
But, whether it was because of the attorneys who were more than convincing or because Krylov and Poliakova seemed pale and frightened in their "testimony," which cannot be called anything by lies, Judge Kovalevskaia, as if excusing herself for it, sentenced me to five days confinement. This was indeed great-hearted justice, wearied by its own injustice.To receive for nothing only five and not fifteen days confinement encouraged all those present. Krylov hung his head and his visage was sad. I went up to express to him my sympathy, and since he was unable to explain the reason for the judicial mercy toward me, I advised him to file an appeal for a severer punishment.
In all my Christian life I have never been in prison. What had befallen our fathers and grandfathers during the stalinist repressions and afterward in the Khrushchev "thaw" never touched me. While I was in the holding cell I recalled the old proverb that applies to our motherland: "One is never safe from poverty and prison." I will not talk about those Christian feelings of gratitude to God for the honor of suffering for him in defending the church, since the average person would not understand me.
Even before the hearing of my case I made a statement and declared a hunger strike of indefinite length, seeing this entire judicial farce and brutality against conscientious and honorable people. Thus the three of us who declared a hunger strike were isolated from one another and denied a daily hour-long walk, I guess as a kind of educational measure.
The sun was replaced by a twenty-four hour burning light, so that, as they explained to me I would not hang myself, and the fresh air was replaced by smell of the rituals that were increased tenfold during distribution of food to the prisoners.
The first day my cell was visited by many prison superiors, who advised that I cease the hunger strike. I learned that only after the third day did they report the hunger strike to the prosecutor's office.
Having lost a sense of time (it is not permitted to have a watch in jail), I thought that it was already evening but they announced lunch. A sergeant came into the cell and said that the commander ordered that a bowl of soup be placed on the table; I returned it in a package since the smell was not at all tempting but just the opposite. This was clearly an attempt of a Turkish prison, with one small difference: there at the cell of hunger strikers they grill tasty shishkabobs.
At night I dreamed that Ilia Astafiev and I had secretly moved into the same cell. When I woke up I saw the prison bars and the thick door with the peephole. It seemed funny to me, like a grave. But in my heart there was calm and God's peace--shalom. So I became convinced that a person can get used to anything. But if he is born free he never can get used to being unfree.
I know that an experienced martyr would make fun of my five-day experience in isolation. Thus I bow before the memory of those who were behind bars for no crime but who innocently suffered from repression and passed through prisons with the honor of bearing the name of a Christian person, protestant or Orthodox.
From the "Rossiia" radio programs played in the prison I learned that the number of persons confined in Russian prisons will soon equal the number held in European prisons. This inspired me. Never before had I heard this radio station, and now I think that I never will.
But this will be under one condition: if I am allowed to live in freedom and they do not falsify some kind of document possessing the "presumption of validity from three officials (troika)," who are completely disinterested persons.
And on Sunday, 12 June, passions boiled on Tver Square. People from various churches, on their own initiative, arrived at Tver Square. Many were under the impression from the experience of the previous days, knowing that by law it is forbidden to violate public order; the people stood and quietly sang hymns and prayed. Suddenly a bus with police appeared. Having given up his rest, our specialist in struggle with women and children, A.P. Krylov, in pink pants (according to a witness) began singling out who should be arrested since it would be easier to prove in court repeat offenders. When he caught up with one girl he promised to put her in an igloo (one could also think that the policeman was in a state of insanity).
Having packed the bus full with detainees, who were supposedly "demonstrating," the police officers took some to the Tver department, and some to Khamovniki. The detainees spent eight hours in a sun-baked, stuffy bus and then were released when they accepted the requirement to appear on Tuesday at the Tver and Khamovniki precincts.
On the thirteenth at 9:25 a.m. I left the isolation cell of the State Directorate of Internal Affairs. It was sad to part with Yury Popov, who remained several more days in this "guest house," but not a roadside inn. Upon my departure they handed me a bill for maintenance in the isolation cell of 100 rubles (without food).
My family and many friends awaited me on the street. On 14 June those arrested appeared at the Tver and Khamovniki precincts. But the judge in Khamovniki did not consent to conduct a judicial hearing (not everybody is a Kovalevskaia) and the police officers asked forgiveness for the misunderstanding of Sunday. (They clearly do not have enough Krylovs at Khamovniki.) Krylov came to the Tver station depressed and complained to those arrested that his colleagues were sending him in a certain direction and that everything had been done without orders from above.
When Yury Popov was released on Wednesday, who is one of the presbyters of our church, many arrived to greet him at the doors of the prison. It turns out that we came as a whole church to ask the mayor for protection from the arbitrariness of bureaucrats of the Western Administrative District, and we got five days in isolation and twenty thousand rubles in fines, from the falsifications of the bureaucrats of the Central Administrative District. We endured numerous beatings and to the present we hear threats of brutality. I have not ended the hunger strike begun at the time of my arrest.
Finally I would like to explain to those who are misleading people by thinking that Christians should only fast and not make a hunger strike. The difference between a fast and a hunger strike is that a fast is the humility of a person before God and a hunger strike is an expressions of a civil position of protest. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 June 2005)
Posted on the Protestant.ru site, 16 June 2005
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Debate about religion in schools continues
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION: STATE SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT HAVE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN PURE FORMMir religii, 15 June 2005
Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko thinks that without knowledge of the history of world religions a person cannot be cultured, but in the schools there should not be religious education in a pure form. "The position of the ministry is that religion, the history of religion, and the culture of religion are an inseparable part of the history of the development of the country and the history of the development of the world," Fursenko said, responding today in the State Duma during the "government hour" to a question from deputies about how beneficial the introduction of religious education in the schools is.
In the minister's opinion, "without understanding and without knowledge of how religions have developed and without the opportunity to work out a world view based on this knowledge, a person cannot be cultured." He reported that the development of a textbook on the history of world religions by associates of the Academy of Sciences has already been concluded. According to Fursenko, in it are expressed the opinions and positions of all confessions represented in Russia.
The minister noted in connection with this that during the study of questions associated with religion, it is unconditionally necessary to talk about the cultural and political aspects. There should be no preference for individual religions, that is speaking more broadly there should not be religious education in its pure form in the schools, he emphasized. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
UNCULTURED BUREAUCRATS HINDER INTRODUCTION OF FOUNDATIONS OF ORTHODOX
CULTURE INTO SCHOOLS
Mir religii,
15 June 2005
Sound teaching of "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" in the schools is being hindered by a lack of culture on the part of bureaucrats who are wasting budget resources on the creation of an alternative subject, according to the author of the course, Alla Borodina, kandidat of pedagogical sciences. "It is my profound conviction that the problem is not with the 'Foundations of Orthodox Culture' course but with the religious intolerance and lack of culture on the part of bureaucrats," Borodina said in an interview published today by the NG-Religii newspaper, Interfax reports.
Borodina affirmed "there is a social demand for the 'Foundations of Orthodox Culture' course, which has been fulfilled by textual resources, but highly placed government workers, who get their salaries at the expense of parents, are ignoring it and squandering resources on the preparation of an alternative course."
The author of the textbook called special attention to the fact that her course is culturological and familiarizing and is not religion, and that the topic is especially adapted for secular children. According to Borodina, every chapter of the textbook has been carefully checked by various bodies, including the church, the Russian Academy of Education, the Textbook Association for Theology of MGU, the Federal Expert Council of the Ministry of Education and Science, and even the Institute for Strengthening Legality and Legal Order of the Prosecutor General's office.
A. Borodina also reported that at the present time she is working on a new course, the "History of Religious Culture." Thus the "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" might be a part of an expanded separate course for acquainting children with the contemporary religious situation. "For us the opinion of parents and teachers is important and we are obliged to take account of the social demand," the textbook author stressed. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
REPRESENTATIVE OF RPTs THINKS ARCHBISHOP KONDRUSIEWICZ CALLING FOR BANISHING
RELIGION FROM SCHOOLS
Mir religii, 14 June 2005
Puzzlement over the position of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz on the question of teaching religion in the schools has again been expressed in the Russian Orthodox church. We recall that on 1 June at a session of the Council for Relations with Religious Associations of the RF presidential administration the head of the Catholic archdiocese of the Mother of God, with its center in Moscow, expressed the opinion that a topic like religious studies is more fitting for secondary schools and the foundations of faith should be taught in churches.
In doing so he cited examples of the experience of Lithuania, Poland, Italy, and Spain. In particular, he said that in Lithuania, Catholic bishops came to the conclusion that the schools do not manage to train children well for the sacraments nor to instill the truth of the faith. [see report]
"It is not entirely clear what Archbishop Kondrusiewicz has in mind when he cites the experience of Lithuania, Poland, Italy and Spain, where Catholic doctrine in the form of purely religious education is taught in the state schools. Such is the situation in the majority of other countries of western Europe, except, if you will, France," the vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Vsevolod Chaplin, told the Interfax news agency today.
"If I understood his speech at the Council for Relations with Religious Associations of the presidential administration correctly, he thinks that the traditional experience of Catholic countries is negative and a thing of the past," the priest added.
V. Chaplin said it was amazing that "a Russian Catholic hierarch is in solidarity, not with the position of the Roman Catholic church in these countries that continue to insist upon Catholic education in state schools, but with the position of anticlericals, who demand its removal." Recalling that Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz proposes teaching the foundations of faith exclusively in parishes, the representative of the Russian church said that "it is good to propose that in Poland or Italy, where there is a great quantity of Catholic schools." "In Russia, where the buildings of tens of thousands of church schools were confiscated after 1917, parishes usually do not possess school facilities, and the situation is completely different," the vice-chairman of OVTsSMP stressed.
He also mentioned that throughout Europe, as in a majority of the countries of the world, school children study separatly the teachings of those religions to which their families belong. "The other day," the priest continued, "the archbishop somewhat modified his position, saying that in some countries the teaching of religion is a normal thing, but in countries that experienced antireligious persecution it is ineffective, since here the religious knowledge of children bears an abstract character. So then does the esteemed archbishop propose for us to intensify that abnormal situation that was created by the persecution of the church? It is not clear why Archbishop Kondrusiewicz actually is arguing for the French model of the total banishment of religion from the schools, which today many are even criticizing in France, seeing that it is leading to the moral and spiritual weakness of society," the agency's interlocutor reported. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
WE AGAIN DEMAND RESIGNATION OF FURSENKO
Declaration of the Union of Orthodox Citizens
15 June 2005
Russian Minister of Education A. Fursenko has made ever more anti-Orthodox statements and ever more sets himself against the Orthodox majority of citizens of Russia. Whereas previously he mollified citizens with assurances that the "Foundations of the Religions of Russia" course that he is working out would give Orthodoxy preeminence, corresponding to its contribution to Russian history and Russian culture and the textbook would deal with the traditional confessions of Russia, now the minister declares that "no religion should be given preference" and a new course "Foundations of Religions" would deal with "all confessions of Russia," that is, with any of the sects. In addition, Fursenko publicly declared that he opposes state accreditation of Orthodox educational institutions in Russia, which is a direct violation of our rights.
We will not cease until Fursenko is removed, our church schools are accredited, and the "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" course is introduced into the federal educational curriculum. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
Posted on "Edinoe Otechestvo" site, 15 June 2005
FURSENKO: RUSSIAN PUPILS WILL STUDY ALL WORLD RELIGIONS
Edinoe Otechestvo,
15 June 2005
The Ministry of Education and Science along with the Russian Academy of Sciences has completed preparation of a school textbook on the history of world religions. This was reported today in the State Duma by the head of the ministry, Andrei Fursenko, during the "government hour" devoted to the reform of education in Russia, ITAR-TASS reports.
"In creating the textbook, the opiniions of all religious confessions were taken into account and it reflects the history and culture of all world religions," he noted.
Fursenko told deputies that separate, specific religions will not be taught in the schools, to say nothing of support for religious development, and the children will study all world religions. "I suggest that without knowledge of world religions it is impossible to form a cultured person," he concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Moscow authorities use Pentecostals to discredit Kremlin
PROTESTANTS HUNGER STRIKE AND SINGby Nadezhda Kevorkova
Gazeta, 15 June 2005
Two pastors sentenced by a Tver court of Moscow justice of the peace, A.B. Kolesnikovaia, to five days detention declared a hunger strike of indefinite length and thirty persons are standing on Tver Square without placards and singing religious songs. The protests by believers against arbitrary actions of bureaucrats were climaxed with the sentence of the court. Pastors Alexander Purshaga and Ilia Astafiev were each given five-day sentences, in response to which they declared the hunger strike. Tatiana Zaitseva, who did not even succeed in taking part in the picketing, was fined by the court. The records of her arrest on 1 June indicated she was arrested at 11.00 while Major Krylov affirmed in court that he arrested Zaitseva at 13.30, and the sentence of the court says that she was arrested at 11.50.
The patient protestants have waited nine years for city hall to permit them to build a house of worship according to an already approved blueprint and to renovate a building they purchased. In despair, they dared to hold a sanctioned demonstration.
Pickets by protestants from 22 to 29 May were protected by police. Pickets by those same believers from 30 May to 3 June were brutally broken up by police officers of the same Tver Department of Internal Affairs. In court, according to testimony given to "Gazeta" by the administrator of the parish, Bakur Azarian, the paradoxical facts were exposed. The chief specialist of the prefecture of the Central Administrative District, E. Pliakova testified in court that the prefecture and parish actively exchanged documents for the pickets of 22-29 May, but for the pickets of the following week the prefecture sent a paper with a prohibition, but not to the parish, only to the police, and that was three days later than the deadline established by law. This paper itself is invalid, attorney Anatoly Pchelintsev says, since it is supposed to be signed by the prefect and not by his deputy. The judge did not take the circumstances into account and refused to admit into the materials of the case videotapes of the picketing and ignored the violations of procedures in police officers' putting an end to the demonstration without an official authorized by the prefecture.
As long as the trial lasted thirty to forty believers stood on Tver Square without placards, singing hymns. According to Bakur Azarian, two majors approached them and arrested aides of the pastor. On Thursday this was Alexander Soloviev. The parish was instructed to file complaints against the court's decision and the police in the same Tver court.
Mikhail Men, vice-mayor of Moscow, assured Gazeta that "one must have patience and wait; the mayor has taken this case under his own supervision."
And Pastor Purshaga and his aides assured Gazeta in one voice that they did not wish for any political response to their demands. However, according to the testimony of Pentecostal Bishop Sergei Riakhovsky, "western news media, and especially the influential protestant media, are already filled with indignation because of the persecution of believers in Russia." Maksim Shevchenko, director of the Center for the Strategic Study of Religion and Politics in the Contemporary World, compared the events in Moscow with "an attempt at a 'velvet' script where petty bureaucrats provoke baseless repressions." "Protestants are a serious force, who to a significant degree, for example, guaranteed the victory of Yushchenko in Ukraine and their fellow believers in the West are some of the most influential churches. So far the western news media have been accusing Putin and his administration of persecution of believers, although it [i.e. the administration] has maintained a rather protective position with regard to protestants. But Moscow authorities are using the believers in a war against the Kremlin," the expert affirmed. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
Posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 15 June 2005
SENIOR PASTOR OF EMMANUEL CHURCH RELEASED
Portal-credo.ru,
14 June 2005
Alexander Ananievich Purshaga, senior pastor of "Emmanuel" central church of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals) of Moscow was released from detention on 13 June at nine o'clock in the morning, a Portal-credo.ru correspondent reported. On 7 June at 11:30 Purshaga was sentence by Tver district court Justice of the Peace A.B. Kovalevskaia to five days of administrative detention for participation in a legal picket, organized by the "Emmanuel" church on Tver Square across from Moscow city hall as a sign of protest against arbitrary actions of bureaucrats, who effectively confiscated a parcel of land allocated previously for construction of the church's spiritual culture center. Purshaga was accused of noncompliance with a legal demand of a police officer.
Thus A. Purshaga spent twenty-one hours in excess in confinement, since the period of confinement is reckoned from the hour of the issuance of the arrest warrant. Immediately after issuance of the arrest warrant Purshaga declared a hunger strike, which has continued even after his release. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 June 2005)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from
which it came.
It is not necessary to credit this Web page. If material is transmitted
electronically, please include reference to the URL, http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.