Copyrighted material. For private use only.
Today, 14 July, His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus
sent a telegram with the following contents:
To the Chief Rabbi of Russia, A.S. ShaevichRussian text at Moscow patriarchateEsteemed Adolf Solomonovich
I am shocked by the crime that was committed yesterday in the building of the Moscow Choral Synagogue. I testify that we have decisively condemned it like any other manifestation of violence, extremism, and nationalistic hatred. I ask you to assure the victim of my sincere sympathy and to relay to him wishes for a speedy recovery.
I wish peace and prosperity to the members of your congregation.
With respect
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus
(tr. by PDS)
METROPOLITAN KIRILL OF SMOLENSK AND KALININGRAD HAS CONDEMNED THE ACT
OF TERRORISM COMMITTED AT THE MOSCOW CHORAL SYNAGOGUE
Office of Communication, Department for External Church Relations
14 July 1999
In connection with the attempt made on the life of Mr. L. Ya. Kaimanovsky,
Executive Director of the Jewish Art Center, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk
and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External
Church Relations, sent the following message of condolences to A. S. Shayevich,
Chief Rabbi of Russia and Chairman of the Congress of Jewish Religious
Communities and Organizations in Russia:
"May I express to you, Highly Esteemed Adolf Solomonovich, and to the entire Jewish religious community in Moscow my sincere condolences over the attempt made on the life of the Executive Director of the Jewish Art Center Mr. L. Ya. Kaimanovsky. I deeply resent this cynical crime hurling a challenge at good relations among the peoples of Russia. I sincerely wish the victim a speedy recovery. What has happened compels us to strengthen cooperation for the sake of inter-ethnic and interreligious peace in Russia, for the benefit of our country and all those who live in it".CARNAGE IN THE SYNAGOGUE
"After the morning service I was sitting in my office," Chief Rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich reports, "and suddenly there was a shout, 'Help!' I rushed to the stairway and saw Kaimovsky lying in a pool of blood. He was unable to explain what had happened; he was barely breathing. Then his secretary, Yulia, came up to us. 'A tall young man came to our room in a light, open shirt and glasses,' she said through tears. 'On his chest a swastika was drawn (incidentally, the swastika was reversed; apparently the criminal drew it while looking at himself in a mirror). Leopold closed my door and shouted Hide. At that moment the criminal struck him three times with a knife in the stomach. Leopold managed to take the knife from him. Then he took out another and struck him several blows and then ran through the door into the yard.'"
The criminal was overtaken at Maroseik.
While they were waiting for the police the student mocked. "There are sixty thousand of us. We will carve up all of you in the same way. You will not live here. We will do everything for this," he shouted to Jews and guards.
At the first hearing Krivchun declared that he did not intend to kill anyone and wanted "simply to set fire to the synagogue," and "the Jew whom I struck could have interferred with me." Police actually found in the choir of the synagogue a 1.5 litre bottle of gasoline. They said, "Krivchun probably was under the influence of drugs. In any case, there is no other way to explain his cruelty." (tr. by PDS)
RUSSIAN ADMITS ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK
by Nick Wadhams
Associated Press, 14 July 1999
MOSCOW (AP) -- A young man arrested in the stabbing of a Jewish leader admitted the attack was anti-Semitic but claimed he was not acting for any political group, according to an interview aired Wednesday.
Nikita Krivchun, 20, told the NTV television station he stabbed Leopold Kaimovsky, the director of the Jewish Cultural Center at Moscow's Choral Synagogue, because he was opposed to Judaism.
``I've never met this man before,'' Kaimovsky said. ``I never knew him personally. I have nothing against him. It was not an act of revenge against him. It was a political act.''
Kaimovsky insisted he was not affiliated with any group.
Russia has seen a recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks, including bomb blasts in May near the Choral Synagogue and another Moscow synagogue. Neo-Nazi groups have denounced Jews at public rallies, and several parliamentary deputies have made virulent anti-Semitic remarks.
Krivchun, who Russian media said was a second-year law student, was arrested after allegedly stabbing Kaimovsky in the knee, thigh, shoulder, face and stomach with a large hunting knife Tuesday at Moscow's Choral Synagogue.
Krivchun is likely to be charged with attempted murder motivated by ethnic, racial or religious hatred, said an official with Moscow prosecutor's office, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Kaimovsky was in serious condition Wednesday after a six-hour operation to close several wounds that included ruptured intestines, said Dr. Nail Yegofarov, one of several doctors treating him. He said it was too early to say if the operation was successful.
Russia's chief rabbi, Adolf Shayevich, told The Associated Press he saw a reverse swastika tattooed on the youth's chest and said the young man told him: ``We will strangle you anyway. We are 50,000 people strong.''
The attack drew strong reaction from government and religious leaders.
Russian Nationalities Minister Ramazan Abdulatipov said the government and society ``have become hostages to nationalism, chauvinism and extremism,'' according to ITAR-Tass news agency. He urged for stronger action against hate crimes.
``Indifference can cause a spread of ideological and national hostility,'' he said.
Alexei II, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, sent a telegram of condolence to Shayevich and said he was ``shaken'' by the attack, according to Interfax.
The Russian Jewish Congress sent a letter to the Central Election Commission demanding that it ban extremist or anti-Semitic political parties from participating in elections.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
PROMINENT MEMBER OF MOSCOW JEWISH COMMUNITY STABBED.
Jamestown Monitor, 14 July 1999
The stabbing of a prominent member of Moscow's Jewish community has raised tensions and sparked charges that the authorities have not taken adequate steps to thwart anti-Semitic political extremists. Leopold Kaimovsky, executive director of the Jewish Arts Center at the Moscow Choral Synagogue, remained in the hospital in serious condition after being stabbed repeatedly yesterday by a 20-year-old Muscovite reportedly sporting a swastika tattoo. The assailant, Nikita Krivchun, a student at Moscow's Labor and Social Relations Academy, was detained by security guards after the attack. He said in a television interview aired today that the attack was "political," not a personal one on Kaimovsky, whom he did not know. Krivchun said further that he did not belong to any political group and that the stabbing was his "personal decision." After yesterday's attack, witnesses quoted him as saying: "We will strangle you anyway. We are 50,000 strong."
There have been several anti-Semitic incidents in Moscow this year. Last May 18, a large bomb was discovered and defused in a Jewish theater, while on May 1, two small bombs exploded near two synagogues, but did no damage. In February, police arrested two neo-Nazis who in 1998 had allegedly attempted to burn down a synagogue. The Moscow city authorities earlier this year effectively outlawed the wearing of Nazi-like uniforms or symbols and the activities of Russian National Unity (RNE) after Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov banned the group from holding a congress in the Russian capital (see the Monitor, February 24-25 ).
Vladimir Gusinsky, founder of the Most business empire and president of the Russian Jewish Congress, said yesterday that he was "extremely shocked by the news of the ugly crime committed at the main Jewish synagogue." Gusinsky called the knifing of Kaimovsky "the consequence of the anti-Semitic hysteria provoked by a series of provocative statements publicly made by several prominent Communist leaders and their allies from left-wing and Nazi extremist organizations" (Russian agencies, July 13). Gusinsky was clearly referring to anti-Semitic comments made last year by two prominent deputies in the State Duma who are members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF)--Albert Makashov and Viktor Ilukhin.
Adolf Shayevich, Russia's chief rabbi, said that the knifing incident
showed "the state is too weak to resist extremism." Shayevich warned that
if a "wave of lawlessness" is allowed to sweep across Russia, "Jews will
suffer first, but they will be followed by all other ethnic groups." The
rabbi said he was surprised the extremist newspaper Zavtra has not yet
been closed down, but said he opposed a total ban on the KPRF, adding that
it should have been banned back in 1991 (Russian agencies, July 14).
(posted 14 July 1999)
STABBING OF RUSSIAN JEWISH LEADER DRAWS STRONG REACTION
Cable News Network, 15 July 1999
MOSCOW (CNN) -- Tuesday's stabbing of a Jewish leader -- the latest in a wave of anti-Semitic attacks -- drew widespread condemnation from Russian leaders.
Nikita Krivchun admitted that he stabbed Leopold Kaimovksy, the director of the Jewish Cultural Center, with a hunting knife because he was opposed to Judaism.
"Why did I try to kill him? That's a good question indeed," Krivchum, 20, told Russian NTV television. "My motto isn't about fighting Jews, it's about fighting the evil that is Judaism."
Kaimovsky was in serious condition at a Moscow hospital after six hours of surgery. He suffered wounds in the knee, thigh, shoulder, face and stomach.
In recent months, Neo-nazi groups have denounced Jews at public rallies, and several members of the Duma have made anti-Semitic remarks.
In May, a bomb blast rocked the area near Moscow's Choral Synagogue, which houses the Jewish Cultural Center. Another Moscow synagogue was the target of a similar attack.
Blame placed on government
Jewish leaders blame the Russian government.
"In my opinion, this attack was preceded by many anti-Semitic public statements and press publications that unfortunately were not officially denounced by the government, said Russia's chief rabbi, Adolf Shayevich.
"That's what inspires people to go ahead with these kind of things," Shayevich said.
The stabbing drew strong reaction from President Boris Yeltsin's Cabinet, as well as from religious leaders.
"Indifference can cause a spread of ideological and national hostility," said Nationalities Minister Ramazan Abdulatipov, who urged stronger laws against hate crimes.
Alexei II, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, sent a telegram of condolence to Shayevich and said he was "shaken" by the attack.
Many fear the attack is just a small manifestation of a much wider problem facing more than 100 different nationalities living in Russia.
"This is part of the xenophobic atmosphere that is reigning in Russia today," said Tankred Golenpolski, editor of the Jewish Gazette.
"Today it is the Jews; several months ago it was the Tajiks who were beaten up. It was the Uzbeks, the Chechens, or whoever."
Correspondent Mike Hanna and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
© 1999 Cable News Network.
RUSSIAN SUMMER OF DISCONTENT
by Howard Flower
14 July 1999
(St. Petersburg) - Russia is an explosive country with an explosive history--a place where you can expect the unexpected. This week's murderous attack on a prominent Jewish leader in Moscow's Choral Synagogue was one of those shocking brutal events all too common here in Russia today.
'October events' like the 1917 Revolution or the 1993 shootout at the Parliament building are the culmination of forces that build up during the preceding summers and springs.
This year's tension continues to rise and is becoming frighteningly real as the summer wears on. A heat wave and continued poverty along with rising inflation drive many to desperation. And Russians historically look for scapegoats. This year the Russian Jews are being targeted for scapegoating retribution--as in the last century.
The pogroms of the last century occurred in Jewish Ghettos. Now these ghettos are gone and no longer do the Jews here in Russia live in community--except at the Synagogues. The Synagogue is the center of Jewish community life in Russia and is therefore the target of the new wave of pogroms. Many Jewish people have moved from the South of Russia and come to Moscow. And for that reason a revival of Jewish life has occurred. But that same revival has made the Jews a bigger target for terrorists.
Previously the pogromic activity was bombs and bomb threats. Often a synagogue was the target and occasionally a cemetery was desecrated in a cowardly fashion. But certainly the cemetery represents a group of Jews to the terrorists also.
Now the acts grow bolder. This brash young Nazi who walked right past the security guards at Moscow's Choral Synagogue went directly to the office of Leopold Kaimovsky, the director of the Jewish Cultural Center, and stabbed him in the knee, thigh, shoulder, face and abdomen.
The drive-by shootings in Chicago and this stabbing in Moscow have a certain resonance that foreshadows even more horrible anti-Semitic acts in the not too distant future. And here in Russia one can only wonder what things will be like this October when the hot summer is over and the frustration and pent-up pressure of this often very abusive society will burst and lead to another wave of violent and brutal acts later this year as it did last year.
Gidon Sapir, 34, an Israeli, and one of the men wounded in Chicago just a week ago, said after he was shot in the lower back: ``It's a bit ironic. I'm a captain in the Israeli infantry and after spending time in Lebanon and the West Bank, I get shot in Chicago." Sapir says the experience has reinforced for him one ``obvious" belief: ``The only place Jews should live is Eretz Yisrael."
- from Russian Intercessory Prayer Network
(posted 18 July 1999)
During my stay in Kiev the report arrived about the beating on 30 April in Mariupol of the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church--Kiev Patriarchate (UPTs--KP), Filaret Denisenko. The arrival in the Don territory of the self-proclaimed patriarch, who was anathematized by the bishops' council of the Russian Orthodox church, evoked numerous and well-organized protests of clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church--Moscow Patriarchate (UPTs--MP), which in the end culminated in a scuffle in a vacant lot where Filaret was trying to consecrate a plot of ground for construction of a church. The small guard was not able to protect the head of UPTs--KP from physical contact with the Mariupol picketers, who first poured a pail of water on his head and then struck him on the head with this pail, tearing his cowl and panagia from him and breaking his patriarchal staff. This incident evoked an unusually stormy response, forcing one to recall the religious war in Ukraine that upset many people just a few years ago.
The religious situation in Ukraine is radically different from the Russian.
First, there is an absence of a monopoly on the spiritual nurture of the historically Orthodox population. Three Orthodox churches are conducting a struggle for the soul of the population: UPTs--MP (on 1 January 1999 there were 7911 parishes, 6568 priests, 105 monasteries), UPTs--KP (2178 parishes, 1743 priests, 17 monasteries), Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAPTs--1022 parishes, 543 priests, 2 monasteries), as well as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGKTs) which is administratively subordinate to the Vatican but retains the "Byzantine" rite (also called Uniates--3198 parishes, 2161 priests, 73 monasteries).
Second, in Ukraine the influence of the Roman Catholic church (RKTs--751 parishes, 401 priests, 33 monasteries) has been maintained and in recent years even has substantially grown.
And third, protestantism has achieved broad expansion (4870 congregations in all) which has recently shown itself also as a political force.
The complex religious situation in the country does not permit Kiev to administer effectively the situation in the provinces and thus the State Committee on Religious Affairs actually retains only statistical functions. The registration of congregations, allotment to them of land, or the transfer of property are in the hands of local authorities. Thus the ethno-confessional distinctives of specific regions or even districts have very great significance for the existence of one or another church.
The regional factor in the religious life of Ukraine, which acquired its present borders only in 1954, is currently divided into three regions. The southeastern region includes the territory of left-bank Dnepr settled by Russian and russified Ukrainians, Malorossiia and Crimea. The central region is the right-bank territory which fell under the rule of the Russian empire at the end of the eighteenth century, that is, Kiev, Cherkassk, Khmelnitsky, Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, and Dnepropetrovsk provinces. The western region unites territories that were at various times parts of Austria-Hungary, Poland, and Romania, and finally were incorporated by soviet authority only at the beginning of the 1950s; this includes Galicia (Lvov, Ternopol, Ivano-Frankovsk provinces), Volyn (Rovno and Volyn provinces), and Transcarpathia and Chernovits provinces.
The situation in the south east is more clear. These territories, beginning from the seventeenth century, were within the Russian empire and the dominant religion here was Orthodoxy. The ethnic composition and pro-Russian sympathies permit UPTs--MP to fell quite confident here, acquire the support of local authorities, and actively to oppose attempts of competing confessions to gain a foothold in this territory. In the large industrial cities and working settlements, where the overwhelming majority of the population of the south east lives, the position of the protestants is strong (in Donets and Zaporozhe provinces the number of their congregations is almost the same as that of the registered Orthodox associations). In addition, the south east is a territory that was subjected to communist and atheistic propaganda to the highest degree and thus the level of the religious culture of the population is lower in comparison with other regions of the republic.
In central Ukraine the position of UPTs--MP is strong as it was in the past, although it has been subjected to pressure directly from various directions. UPTs--KP and UAPTs, appealing to nationalist sentiments of Orthodox Ukrainians, have propagated with some success the idea of the necessity of the formation of an independent local church. And although in no province has the total number of parishes of UPTs--KP and UAPTs exceeded that of the UPTs-MP parishes, the difference between these figures here is less than in the south east.
Another factor which has had a serious influence on the religious situation in the central region is the sharp growth in the number of societies of the Roman Catholic church. In three of the 25 provinces of Ukraine, Vinnitsa, Zhitomir, and Khmelnitsky, there are more than 40% (335) of the parishes of RKTs existing in the country, which exceeds even the number of parishes in the three traditionally "Polish" provinces of Galicia (224, or 28%). And although their number is approximately five or six times less than the number of Orthodox parishes, the requirement of holding services in Ukrainian, or in Polish and Russia when necessary, and the stress on catechizing and a well-trained priesthood (mostly for now from Poland) have all led to the creation of sufficiently large and active congregations comprising not only descendants of Poles but also of native Ukrainians and even Russians (for example, in Kiev). All this gives the possibility to Fr Veslav Stenpen, secretary of the Kiev-Zhitomir diocese, to cite the Zhitomir province as an example of "a typically Catholic region," where the number of practicing (that is, attending church on Sunday) Catholics is greater than the number of practicing Orthodox (although the number of baptized Orthodox is decidedly greater).
The most complex situation is in western Ukraine. This is a region where the influence of traditional confessions is felt most strongly. Over the course of many years, western Ukraine was a financial and personnel contributor to the Moscow patriarchate and the loss of influence in this region continues to be extremely painful for it. The confessional identity of the region can be divided into two parts. In the three provinces of Galicia Greek Catholics predominate (2875 societies of UGKTs, as opposed to 1807 Orthodox), while in two provinces of Volynia as well as in Transcarpathia and Chernovitsy provinces the Orthodox have the lead.
Common problems of the religious confessions: The religious life of Ukraine consists, of course, in more than endless schisms and confrontations over church buildings. People go to church to baptize children, marry, and bury the deceased. Old churches are being renovated and new ones are being built. Catechesis and evangelism are being conducted. Large editions of religious literature are being published. Even this normal on-going work gives rise to greater problems which are more important for religious organizations than inter-confessional disputes. Without doubt each religious organization deals with its own problems created by the peculiarities of its internal structure or doctrines, but there are problems that a common for all basic confessions. Primarily they are the heritage of decades of the soviet atheist regime.
First is the low religious culture of the people, especially in the central and south east regions. Although the overwhelming majority of the population of these regions consider themselves believers, they have no experience of church life. Annual (in the best case) attendance at church (on Easter) and ignorance of how to behave in church are the most outstanding traits of these believers. Churches must put forth substantial efforts simply to teach these people who are believers "in principle" to attend church on Sundays.
Catechesis of the population is possible only when there is a high level of education of the clergy. For the time being this matter is poor in Ukraine, and this is the second problem that bothers the leadership of the largest confessions.
In 1988-1998 the number of societies of all confessions in Ukraine grew more than three times, from 6179 to 19780-. It was necessary to ordain to the priesthood people who were badly prepared (while, to be sure, 90.4% of them have at least a high school diploma). In just five years, from January 1993 to January 1998, the number of priests of all confessions grew by 82% and reached 17,798 men. At the same time religious educational institutions have not managed to train novice priests. As a result, according to data of the chairman of the State Committee on Religious Affairs of Ukraine, V. Bondarenko, from 1990 the number of priests of UPTs--MP who have high school or advanced religious education had dropped by 1998 from 71.1 to 50.8 percent. That is, half of the priests of the largest Ukrainian church, which has the most developed system of religious education, have not completed even the correspondence course of a seminary.
The level of preparation of priests even in the seminaries of UPTs--MP continues extremely low. Educational institutions of the majority of other confessions are in worse shape. It would seem that the crisis of the situation could be mitigated by training of priests abroad. Although in the period 1989-1993 practically all confessions sent seminarists for study abroad, they soon realized that the majority of such students either tried by various means to stay in the west or, when they returned, were completely unable to deal with local conditions.
Despite the growth of the number of priests, it still is substantially less than needed. For every Orthodox parish there now is 0.8 of a priest (by way of comparison, the protestants have 1.3 pastors for each congregation).
The third common problem is church buildings. When for all Orthodox and Greek Catholics of Ukraine there was the single church of the Ukrainian exarchate of RPTs, the problem with church property was small. Each village had under the best of circumstances only one open church to which the believing folk went. Subsequently UGKTs came out from underground and UAPTs was formed, and then UPTs--KP sharply intensified the problem, especially in the western region. It was fine when the residents of a village were united and the congregation simply declared its choice: to remain with UPTs--MP or to transfer elsewhere. But in many cases conflicts arose. Some members of a parish continued to consider themselves Orthodox while some declared themselves Greek Catholic. There was one church and they began to divide it up, sometimes with the use of force and with the participation of local authorities. Incidentally, by no means all of these cases consisted in "requisitions" by UPTs--MP; a substantial number of conflicts over churches were among congregations of UPTs--KP, UAPTs, and UGKTs.
Approximately three years ago the situation was more or less stabilized. Although according to data of the chief editor of the Kiev magazine "Liudina i svit", V. Elensky, there still are 359 unsettled cases of churches, but this is nothing like the situation of 1991-1992 when the number of such churches exceeded 1,000.
One extremely specific peculiarity of the religious situation in Ukraine is the clearly expressed family or clan characteristics of the clergy. In conversation with any priest or presbyter one quickly discovers that among his relatives there are many colleagues in the trade. Usually such families come from the western region. Near the Pochaev lavra in Transcarpathia there even are villages in which on church holidays dozens of Orthodox clergy from various countries of CIS gather who are natives of these places. In some dioceses such familial or territorial clans completely control the situation. Whether this is bad or good for the church is an open question. On one hand, any clan strives to monopolize power and resources; on the other, the member of a clan bears an additional burden and is less inclined to make spur of the moment, including politically motivated, decisions.
Another issue that is common for all Ukrainian confessions, about which for some reason they prefer to remain silent, is their active evangelistic work in all countries of CIS, primarily in Russia. Protestants are engaged in this in the most obvious form, who, beginning with Baptist "Initsiativniki" and ending with Pentecostals, travel with their enormous families into Russian or Central Asian heartlands in order to found new congregations and reinforce old ones. Orthodox parishes of Ukraine are placing clergy in Russia not so much as founders as supplements. So while the Moscow patriarchate has its church on the territory of Ukraine, UPTs--KP is opening its own parishes in Russia. (tr. by PDS)
to be continued in 8 July edition of RM
(posted 14 July 1999)
Today we received a report from our Khabarovsk correspondent. A court case has begun there against members of the international Scientology sect, supporters of the so-called Hubbard school.
The sect is banned in almost half the developed countries. The Scientologists became famous in Russia a year ago thanks to rumours that the sect had suspicious ties to ex-Prime Minister Sergey Kiriyenko. The fuss grew and died down.
This spring, mass searches and document seizures took place at the Scientologists' Moscow offices, also without visible consequences. But the matter was brought to court in Khabarovsk.
[Correspondent Aleksey Romanov] You have ended up alone. Your children are causing you unbearable spiritual pain. You are not getting any joy out of life anymore. Thousands of people ascended these steps for a year to solve these problems like this. For example, a month ago several people from the tax police and the economic crime department were among these thousands.
The police brought nothing close to a wish to get rid of all their life problems at once to the Khabarovsk humanitarian dianetics centre. They came to the organization that generously hands out promises of heaven on earth to investigate it. The results were predictable.
The humanitarian organization, which once even wanted to gain the status of a religious organization, turned out to be conducting paid education and medical treatment.
[Yevgeniy Kozlitin, captioned as head of the department for monitoring inquests and investigation of the Territorial Prosecutor's Office] It is clear from the explanations that they were treating people for somatic illnesses, which we found extremely surprising because special knowledge in the medical field and special medical preparations are needed for this. But this is a public organization, a humanitarian centre...
[Correspondent] A criminal case has been opened against the Khabarovsk centre for illegal business in the field of medicine and education.
courtesy of Russia Intecessory Prayer Network
(posted 14 July 1999)
Uzbekistan courts handed down stiff verdicts in June in four known cases against Christians of different denominations.
On June 24, the leader of a Pentecostal church in Tashkent, Ibrahim Yusupov, was tried by a district court in the capital and sentenced to one year in prison on charges of conducting missionary activity -- a crime under Uzbekistan's harsh 1998 law on religion.
Married with four children, Yusupov is an ethnic convert to Christianity. The Uzbek-language church that he pastors began as a home fellowship in 1991, and then purchased its own building three years later. Yusupov has been trying unsuccessfully since 1994 to obtain official government registration for his church.
In a second case heard June 30, the district court in Bukhara sentenced Christian pastor Na'il Asanov to five years in prison on charges of possession of drugs and spreading extremist ideas. An appeal against the sentence is now being prepared.
Asanov, 27, was arrested with his fiancé and another woman in Bukhara on March 5. After his arrest, he was taken back to his apartment by police, who conducted an illegal search. Back at the police station they then strip-searched him, planting a packet of drugs on him.
Although Asanov denied the drugs belonged to him, he eventually signed a statement dictated by the investigating officer, fearing that otherwise harm might come to the two women being held in a nearby cell. The statement declared that he had found the drugs outside his home and had put them in his pocket without knowing what they were. The three were then freed.
The next day, March 7, he was again detained by police and has been in custody ever since. Two people who saw him a few days later reported that he was in a "terrible state" after heavy beatings.
In the wake of Asanov's arrest, his parents Shamil and Razia Asanov called for support for their son. "We are appealing to you for assistance to protect the rights of our son," they wrote in a March appeal.
The couple strongly denied that Na'il had ever been involved with drugs. "Our son never had any connection with marijuana. He has been a believer for several years already and does not even take alcohol or tobacco. And as a Christian, he is a peaceful man and abides by the law. We ask you to defend him."
An appeal has also been lodged in a third case against three members of the Full Gospel Church, sentenced June 9 by the city court in Nukus to long years in prison and their property was confiscated. Pastor Rashid Turibayev received a 15-year sentence, while Parhad Yangibayev and Issed Tanishiev received 10-year sentences. The confiscation of property has hit the families of the three ethnic convert men hard. All three are married and have young children, who are thus left destitute.
Three weeks later, a June 29 Uzbek television report on the trial showed the three defendants standing in a metal cage in a full courtroom before three judges. According to the Channel 1 report, the three were guilty of "deceiving ordinary people" by promising to "wash away their sins with the water from a canal in the town of Nukus," as well as distributing materials "glorifying the society of Christ."
The defendants, who were also accused of possessing and using drugs, appeared impassive in the short clip, but unbowed.
In a fourth judgment, the most senior Pentecostal leader in Uzbekistan, Bishop Leonty Lulkin, was among three Pentecostals tried and sentenced June 11 by a court in Chirchik on charges of violating the procedure for religious meetings.
Lulkin, who is in his 70s, and two preachers, Aleksandr Gudov and another Aleksandr (last name unknown), were not sentenced to prison terms, but each received a massive fine of 100 times the minimum monthly wage. The three men have already paid the fine, apparently deciding that an appeal would be unlikely to succeed.
The Chirchik Pentecostal community had persistently tried to gain official registration, but this had been blocked. It is reported that the mayor of the town had allowed the community to meet, but it was closed down by the secret police, the National Security Ministry (the former KGB).
As well as subjecting Christians to criminal trials for trying to exercise their religious rights, the Uzbek authorities have continued to penalize members of unregistered groups under the administrative code, which punishes lesser offenses. All activity by unregistered religious groups is illegal under the 1998 legislation.
The leaders of the Baptist churches in Chirchik and Almalyk have been fined for heading unregistered communities. Both churches have lodged registration applications but have been turned down, according to a July letter from Pavel Peychev, the head of the Baptist Union for Central Asia.
Although the two churches had completed all their paperwork for registration by July 1998 and even paid their fees, Peychev said local authorities have refused to sign their documents. He said the churches had resolved to continue functioning, despite the threat of up to three years' imprisonment for being unregistered. The Baptist leader noted that only 12 of the 30 churches that are members of the union have been able to regain registration.
Also subject to administrative penalties in recent months have been leaders of the Korean Church in Chirchik and various Christian communities in Tashkent, as well as a number of Jehovah's Witness leaders in Navoi and Chirchik. Typical penalties are fines or imprisonment of up to 15 days.
UZBEK AUTHORITIES BLOCK REGISTRATION OF BAPTIST CONGREGATIONS
Newsroom, 6 July 1999
Local authorities in Uzbekistan are denying official recognition to two churches that insist they meet requirements of the country's new law on religion. Leaders of small Baptist congregations in the cities of Chirchik and Almalyk have been fined and face possible three year prison sentences if they continue to lead the churches, the Baptist World Alliance reports.
Uzbekistan passed a religion law in May 1998 that gave all churches until August 1998 to re-register. Congregations that have at least 100 members and pay a registration fee are accepted, but local jurisdictions, called Hokimiats, have blocked the two Baptist congregations, says Pavel A. Peychev, president of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Middle Asia. "Those churches were registered during the Soviet regime and when Uzbekistan became independent, the churches were re-registered," Peychev said. "They acted under the law and had no problems with the government before. Now their activity is considered illegal."
Peychev has appealed to the Baptist World Alliance, an affiliation of 192 Baptist unions, for help. BWA president Denton Lotz wrote to Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov, asking him to intervene on behalf of the churches. "With the new freedom that came to the former Soviet Union, and with the fall of communism, we had hoped that democracy and religious freedom would be available to all people who had suffered so much under communism," Lotz wrote.
In Uzbekistan unregistered religious groups are subject to search and seizure of any religious texts and face the possibility of prison sentences if they continue to meet. Getting a Christian group registered is practically impossible, according to expatriate Christians in the country. Groups that do have the required 100 adult members must have each member sign a list and show his or her passport. That apparently scares away some members in the predominantly Muslim nation, which has few known Christians.
Police broke up a house church meeting in February in the city of Uchkuduk and later sentenced one of its participants, Sergei Viktorovich Brazgin, to two years in prison for "illegal religious activity." The officials confiscated notes, literature, and audiocassettes and verbally insulted the participants, who were later taken to the police station and forced to write an explanation, sources in the country said. Brazgin, along with his wife and another colleague, were interrogated and threatened with physical violence.
Uzbek authorities have become more vigilant toward religious groups because of the perceived threat of Islamic extremism. In May, New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report in which it charged that the Uzbekistan government is committing serious abuses in its drive to quell extremists, including mass arbitrary arrests, violation of freedom of religion, and "disappearing" Islamic leaders.
One tactic used by police against religious activists is to plant drugs on them, according to the Compass Direct News Service. In June four members of an unregistered Christian church in the Karakalpakstan autonomous republic in Uzbekistan were sentenced to long prison terms on what Christians in the country say are trumped-up drugs charges. All four men sentenced are converts to Christianity from a Muslim background. Another Christian was arrested June 3 after reportedly giving out several Christian tracts in the Karakalpak language at an airport.
(posted 13 July 1999)
Erevan, 12 July 1999 (Metaphrasis): In the primatial city of holy Echmiadzin, at a joint session of the Supreme Church Council and the episcopate on 4 July, Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian, the head of the administration of primatial holy Echmiadzin, was elected acting catholicos of all Armenians.
At his first press conference the newly elected acting catholicos advanced some initiatives which evoked concern among representatives of the clergy. Nerses Pozapalian declared that it is necessary to introduce amendments in several articles of the current regulations of the Armenian Apostolic church. In particular, according to the regulations the elections of a new catholicos should be held no sooner than six and no later than twelve months after the death of the supreme patriarch. The acting catholicos proposed conducting elections before the end of this year, supporting his suggestion in the following way: it is desirable that the Armenian church, as one of the oldest in the world, enter the year 2000 with a new supreme patriarch.
Opponents of this suggestion declare that adopting new amendments in the existing regulations (according to the regulations themselves) is the prerogative of a national church assembly and for any other organ or assembly to adopt them is not authorized. Besides, they say, the adoption of amendments during the period of preparation for elections of a catholicos would be able to work for the benefit of one or another specific candidate, which also is impermissible.
Another proposed amendment is much more serious. In essence it is the following: in accordance with the existing regulations, the participants in an election should be the episcopal clergy (around 50 persons) plus lay electors (around 300 persons, one for every 25,000 parishioners). Citing the fact that among the lay electors there are "fortuitous people," Nerses Pazapalian suggested that the new catholicos be elected by the episcopal body and one layperson per society. Thus, in the election the Ararat diocese, with its 1.5 million parishioners and, say, the Italian pastorate with 5,000 parishioners would have exactly the same number of delegates.
Most likely the debates about the necessity, or on the contrary, impermissibility of introducing amendments into the regulations of the Armenian church have just begun. This evokes within a substantial portion of society unpleasant associations with 1995 when the tensions associated with the election of the catholicos made it virtually like political elections.
DOSIER: Nerses Pazapalian was born 5 July 1937 in Grg Khan, Turkey, into the family of a crafstman. In 1939 he emigrated with his family to Beirut, where he received elementary education in the local gymnasium "Nuparian." In 1951 he enrolled in school in the Antilles where he studied until 1955. From 1955 to 1957 he studied at the Central Advanced Gymnasium in Eshrefie. In September 1957 he was repatriated, along with his parents, to Armenia. A month later he enroled in the ecclesiastical seminary. In 1957 he was ordained a deacon by Archbishop Aikazun Abramian.
In 1960, after graduating from ecclesiastical seminary, he traveled to Moscow where over the course of a year he studied at the Zagorsk ecclesiastical academy. On 5 June 1961 he was ordained a monastic priest by Catholicos Vazgen I of all-Armenians, taking the name Nerses. With the goal of enriching his religious and ecclesiastical education, in 1963 to 1965 he studies at the school of advanced religious studies at the college in Yorkshire, England. In 1965-1969, having returned to the primatial city, he occupied the post of inspector of the ecclesiastical seminary. In 1969-1970 he studied at the Geneva ecumenical institute. In 1969-1972 he was the spiritual pastor of the London church of St. Sarkis. In 1974 he was elected by the church council of the congregation the spiritual leader of Armenians in England. In October 1974 Catholicos Vazgen I ordained him bishop and appointed he spiritual leader of Armenians of England and patriarchal legate to the archbishop of Canterbury. In 1982, on the invitation of Catholicos Vazgen I, he returned to the primatial city and occupied the post of director of the chancelery. The holy father also conducted ecumenical work in Echmiadzin. In 1983 he was elected a member of the central committee of the World Council of Churches. He was the founder of the Bible society of Armenia and still continues as chairman of the board of directors of this society. In November 1998 he was elected an academician of the Academy of Humanities of Russia. He is the author of around a dozen works of poetry and sermons. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost
ARMENIANS TO ELECT NEW HEAD OF CHURCH IN OCTOBER
Reuters, 13 July 1999
YEREVAN, July 13 (Reuters) - Senior clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the world's oldest Christian faiths, will elect a new head in October to replace Catholicos Garegin I who died last month, the Church's press office said on Tuesday.
"A new permanent head of the Armenian Apostolic Church will be elected at the Ecclesiastical Synod meeting due to be held from October 26-31," a church's spokeswoman said by telephone.
The 1,700-year-old Armenian Apostolic Church is the faith of millions of Armenians scattered throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America, as well as the national religion of the tiny former Soviet republic of Armenia.
Archbishop Nerses Pozapalyan was named temporary head of the Church after Garegin I died of cancer on June 29.
OBITUARY
Telegraph, 12 July 1999
The Armenians regard theirs as the first nation to embrace Christianity, the Church having been established there by St Gregory the Illuminator in 301, more than a decade before Constantine made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire.
But in the turbulent centuries that followed, the Armenian nation was broken and its people disseminated across the Middle East. This led to the foundation of three separate and independent sees at Jerusalem, Istanbul and, most notably, Cilicia (later translated to Antelias, in Beirut).
Yet though firmly autocephalous, each of the three acknowledges the moral primacy of the original see of Echmiadzin, in Armenia itself, of whose throne Karekin became the 131st occupant on his election in 1995.
With Armenia just emerging from years of Soviet rule, and from a disastrous war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Karekin had the urgent task of reorganising and inspiring his downtrodden clergy. Although more of a scholar than an administrator, he worked hard to revitalise the dioceses within Armenia and, most importantly, greatly increased the numbers of young priests in the seminaries, which under the Communists had been limited to a total of 40 entrants.
He strove too to reconcile the various factions within his church, particularly those opposed to his ecumenical tendencies, and tried to resolve tensions between Echmiadzin and the other sees of the diaspora, in particular the rival Catholicosate of Cilicia, of which he himself had been leader for 18 years before his election as Supreme Patriarch.
Conscious of the approaching 1,700th anniversary of Armenia's conversion, Karekin also attempted to raise the profile of both his church and his country. In this he was helped by his great charisma, being never happier than when holding forth with a glass of whisky in one hand and a vast cigar in the other, and though he often played the role of honest broker among the other Orthodox churches, he was not above a little skulduggery when it might serve Armenia's interests.
Nor was he above teasing his fellow Orthodox churchmen. With only the faintest twinkle in his astute blue eyes, he liked to declare that the reason Armenian priests had pointed hats was so that, unlike the stove-pipe ones worn by their Greek colleagues, the Devil could not perch on top of them.
Catholicos Karekin was born Neshan Sarkissian in Kessab, northern Syria, on August 27 1932. At 14 he entered the seminary of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, in Beirut, and in 1952 was ordained a celibate priest, taking the monastic name of Karekin.
In 1955 he was appointed an archimandrite and a year later became Dean of his former seminary at Antelias. Then from 1957 until 1960 he studied theology at St Catherine's Society, Oxford, working on a thesis about the Council of Chalcedon in 451, at which the monophysite heresy was repudiated by all but the Armenians, who continued to hold that Christ has but one nature, fully divine rather than both divine and human.
Karekin later became an honorary fellow of St Catherine's, and he retained great affection for Oxford and for the Anglican Church.
A remarkably fluent and lively speaker of both English and French, he eventually published more than 20 books on the Armenian Church and its spirituality in several languages; among his hobbies was learning dictionaries of foreign words.
In the early 1960s, Karekin served as principal aide to Khoren I, the Catholicos of Cilicia, and from 1962 to 1965 he was an observer at the Second Vatican Council. Then in 1964 he became Bishop of Tehran, there being a sizeable Armenian community in Iran (based mainly in Julfa, a suburb of Isfahan), and in 1971 he was made Vicar of the whole Irano-Indian eparch.
Karekin continued to travel widely thereafter, and in 1973 he became Archbishop of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian church in America. Four years later he became Coadjutor with his mentor Khoren, and on the latter's death in 1983 Karekin was installed as Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.
Much of his tenure in Beirut coincided with the Lebanese civil war, in which he endeavoured to stay neutral. When the shelling drew too close to the Armenian monastery, the monks took shelter in the cellars that housed their printing press, where they amused themselves with endless games of Risk. Karekin would sit a little apart, puffing on a personalised cigar and working on a meditation, The Cross Made of the Cedars of Lebanon (1989).
In December 1988, he made a joint visit with Vasken I, then the Supreme Patriarch, to the site of the devastating earthquake that had struck Armenia, and when Vasken died in 1994, after a reign of 40 years, Karekin was elected as his successor at the end of the customary period of six months.
The Armenian Church is a particularly democratic one, and its prelates are chosen not by synods but by the congregations themselves.
Karekin was very active in the World Council of Churches, and a loud voice there in favour of tolerance. A friend of both the Pope and Archbishop Carey, he especially enjoyed welcoming visitors to his palace, where he would dismiss his retainers, serve soup himself, and wax lyrical about the benefits of widescreen television.
He was buried yesterday in the courtyard of his cathedral at Echmiadzin;
by tradition, his grave will be gradually filled with earth by mourners
during the coming week.
It is with profound sorrow that I have learnt of the death of His Holiness Karekin 1, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin. On behalf of the Churches of the Anglican Communion I offer condolences to the faithful of the Churches of Etchmiadzin and Cilicia and to Armenian Christians everywhere.
The People of God have lost a dynamic and visionary leader whose spiritual and theological influence extended well beyond the Armenian Apostolic Church. His contribution to the ecumenical movement has been outstanding, through decades of committed work with the Middle East Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. A close friend of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, His Holiness had been an Observer at the Lambeth Conference of 1968. He met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, most recently in November 1997, and with other Anglican leaders several times throughout his fruitful ministry. The dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, including the Armenian Apostolic Church, received the constant personal support and encouragement of His Holiness. The long-standing bonds of trust and friendship between the Anglican Communion and the Armenian Apostolic Church was deepened through his commitment to this historic relationship.
In one of his writings, His Holiness, reflecting on the time of genocide and dispersion of the Armenian people, mentions the spirit of endurance, the inner strength stemming from God's gift of Christian faith, that helped his people overcome trials, past and present. This inner strength sustained His Holiness over a long illness which he endured with much grace. With thanksgiving for his life and example, Anglicans pray that the servant of God, Karekin I, be received into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
The Reverend Canon John L Peterson, Secretary General ,The Anglican
Communion
It is with regret and a deep sense of loss that the World Council of Churches (WCC) shares the news that His Holiness Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, Armenia, died yesterday at the age of 66.
From 1975-83 Karekin I was vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee. At the fourth assembly of the WCC in Uppsala 1968 he was elected to the council's Central and Executive Committees. He also served on the WCC's Faith and Order Commission.
Born in August 1932 in Kessab, an Armenian village in northern Syria, he was baptised Nishan Sarkissian. In 1946 he was admitted to the Theological Seminary in Antelias, Lebanon. From 1957-59 Sarkissian attended Oxford University, England, from which he received a B. Litt. After his return to Antelias he became dean of the Armenian Theological Seminary in the Catholicossate of Antelias, a position he held until 1973. During this period he also lectured in Armenian studies at the American University in Beirut, served as general secretary for interchurch relations in the Catholicossate and was from 1971-1973 primate of the Julfa-Isfahan diocese, Iran.
In 1973 Archbishop Karekin Sarkissian moved to New York, USA, to take up the position of prelate of the eastern diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. In 1977 the national assembly of the Armenian Apostolic Church elected Karekin Sarkissian as coadjutor-catholicos. As Karekin II he assisted Catholicos Khoren I, whom he succeeded in 1983.
In 1995 he was elected Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, Armenia.
The funeral will be on Friday, 9 July.
The following tribute to His Holiness Karekin I has been paid by the World Council of Churches (WCC):
His Holiness Karekin I, lies in God's peace after a long illness. He will be remembered by all those who knew him as an outstanding Spiritual Leader, and a committed Ecumenist.
The Outstanding Spiritual Leader:
Nishan Sarkissian, an outstanding deacon born in Kessab (Syria) of the brotherhood of the Catholicossate of Cilicia (Antelias, Lebanon), was ordained priest in 1949. He was given the name Karekin, in memory of the Catholicos Karekin I Hovsepiants. The priest Karekin lived his vocation as a pastor and teacher of the Armenian Church dynamically and creatively. As the Dean of the seminary of the Catholicossate, he devoted himself to the preparation of a new generation of clergy to become, in his own words, 'Ambassadors of Christian Faith,' so that they might make new 'Ambassadors' among the people. It was with this zeal that in 1963 he established in Lebanon the Armenian Apostolic Church University Students' Movement which continues until today.
Archbishop Karekin's spiritual journey led him to become the Prelate of the Dioceses of New Julfa (Isfahan, Iran) in 1971. He modernised the Armenian museum and library of New Julfa, thus reviving the long history and heritage of Armenians in that region. He became The Delegated Representative of the Catholicos Khoren I to the Eastern Diocese of New York (USA) in 1973. He reorganised the dioceses of both New Julfa and New York, thereby enhancing the spiritual and cultural life of his people and encouraging the publication of cultural, spiritual theological literature by new authors.
Catholicos Co-Adjutor (1977-1983) and elected Catholicos Karekin II of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon (1983-1995) Karekin continued his leadership in the same dynamic way. During this period he established the 'Day of the Armenian Book,' in which he invited all dioceses to organise one week of exhibitions, lectures and other presentations to help the public appreciate past and present Armenian literature. Whether outside Lebanon, or as Catholicos of Cilicia, he also accompanied the faithful in Lebanon during the difficult days of civil war. In 1988, soon after the disastrous earthquake in Armenia, he focused his thoughts and actions on the reconstruction of the newly independent country.
In 1995 he was elected Catholicos of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin (Armenia). As Karekin I, he continued to live his vocation and articulate his vision in the same enthusiastic way, while struggling against his fatal illness. His Holiness Catholicos Karekin I will always be remembered by the Armenian people through his writings and his deeds. However, in the coming few years he will most be remembered for his unfinished agenda. He was the Co-President (with the Catholicos of Cilicia, His Holiness Aram I) of the Pan Armenian Committee which is preparing and coordinating the celebrations of 1700 years of Christian Armenia, to be culminated in the year 2001. His last courageous act, as part of these celebrations, was his insistence on attending the opening of the exhibition of the Treasures of Armenian Spirituality and Culture in the Vatican Museum on March 1999 with His Holiness Pope John Paul II.
The Committed Ecumenist:
Father Karekin Sarkissian was one of the important architects of ecumenical relations in modern times. In 1955 he participated in the Middle East Youth Conference in Beirut. As a result of his initiatives, with the support of His Holiness Zareh I, the Catholicossate of Cilicia joined the ecumenical movement and became a member of the WCC in 1962. Father Karekin was an observer to the Vatican II Council (1962) and in 1968 at the Lambeth meetings. In 1963 he attended the World Conference of Faith and Order and continued to be a member of the Standing Commission. To strengthen the ecumenical relationships of the Catholicossate of Cilicia, in the '60s he organised visits for His Holiness Khoren I to the Archbishop of Greece, to Pope John Paul II, to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the World Council of Churches.
For many years Father Karekin, then Bishop and Archbishop Karekin, attended WCC Assemblies from New Delhi (1961) to Vancouver (1983) either as observer or as the Head of the delegation of the Catholicossate of Cilicia. In 1968, at the Uppsala Assemby he was elected a member of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches.
At the Fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1975, held in Nairobi, Catholicos Co-Adjutor Karekin was elected as Vice-Moderator of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches.
His Holiness Karekin I was instrumental in the establishment of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). After his term as President of MECC was over, he was nominated as Honorary President.
Starting with the establishment of the MECC and the Nairobi Assembly, His Holiness Karekin I, together with his student, Father Aram Keshishian (the future Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia), strengthened and deepened the ecumenical relations of the Armenian Apostolic Church on the world level as well as regional and national levels.
There is a body of literature accompanying H.H. Karekin I's ecumenical journey, most significant of which is his doctoral dissertation on 'The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church'. In his life, deeds, and writings he carried the Christian vocation of being an 'Ambassador' for the restoration of the unity of the church and the spiritual enrichment of both of his people, the Armenian people and the people in the oikoumene."
(posted 13 July 1999)
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