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VATICAN CITY -- Reflecting uneasy ties with the Vatican, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has yet to say if he will attend upcoming events important to the pope - three days of prayer in Rome and a pilgrimage to Assisi.
The Vatican on Wednesday released a list of more than 200 representatives of various faiths and Christian denominations coming to the assembly, which begins Oct. 25. But it said Patriarch Alexy II, leader of the largest Orthodox church, has yet to respond.
The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, Monsignor Michael Louis Fitzgerald, said the Vatican refused to characterize the patriarch's lack of reply as a refusal.
"We're still waiting to see," Fitzgerald said. "We understand that the situation is difficult."
Pope John Paul II sees the assembly as a runup to 2000 Holy Year and millennium activities.
Two years ago, Alexy scuttled a planned meeting with the pope at the last minute.
John Paul has improved ties with Orthodox believers, a main goal as Christianity marks 2,000 years of existence.
When the globetrotting pope made his first visit to a predominantly Orthodox country in May - a pilgrimage to Romania - the occasion was depicted by the Vatican as a launching ground for the pontiff's ambitious plans of meeting with Alexy and going someday to Moscow.
While in Romania, John Paul declared that the moment has come to put an end to "every form of fear and suspicion" between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union brought freedom for religious activity, Orthodox clergy have accused the Vatican of spending its money to build its own churches and to convert Orthodox believers.
The Eastern church broke definitively from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054.
October's gathering in Rome and in Assisi, Italy, is drawing large delegations of Jews, Muslims, and Protestants, as well as representatives from Hinduism, Buddhism and Shintoism.
The Orthodox who accepted the invitation include the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alessandria and Africa and a representative from the Orthodox Ecumenical Center in Chambesy, Switzerland.
John Paul will address the participants at some point during the gathering, which includes a pilgrimage to the hilltown of Assisi, the home of St. Francis, on Oct. 27.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
(posted 30 September 1999)
Naina Yeltsina spent six hours at the casket of the first lady of USSR
by Galina Fominova
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 24 September 1999, Internet
edition
Yesterday at the Novodevichy cemetery the burial of Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva was held. It was preceded by a funeral at the Russian Fund of Culture. In contrast with the civil funeral which was conducted Wednesday, the ceremony was closed. The right side of Gogol Boulevard was completely closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic and only people who were the closest to the Gorbachevs were permitted into the room of the culture fund that was draped with mourning.
An official delegation came from Germany to the burial of Raisa Gorbacheva, headed by the president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Tirze. He was accompanied to Moscow by the wife of the current chancelor, Doris Schroeder-Kepf, the former minister of foreign affairs of FRG, Hans Dietrich Genscher, and former chancellor Helmut Kohl. He was the only person who came out to reporters. "Unfortunately, this is a very sad an occasion for returning to your country," he said. "But I cannot help but do it. We have accompanied Mikhail Gorbachev on a long journey. I recall our first acquaintance. . . . Raisa Maximovna always was at Mikhail's side. If it can be said of anyone that 'they were a couple," then it applies to them. . . ."
Everyone noticed that although Boris Yeltsin did not appear at the funeral ceremony, Naina Yeltsina, who had attended the civil service for Raisa Gorbacheva in the morning, subsequently was present at the service in the church of the Novodevichjy monastery and stayed at the burial until the very last minute, spending almost six hours, from 10:30 to 4:00 in the afternoon at the casket of her predecessor.
The ceremony at the culture fund ended at 11:15. . . . The funeral continued at the Novodevichy monastery. The asphalt paths were covered with a carpet of flowers. All approaches to the cemetery were carefully blocked and people stood around the fences. Many had flowers in their hands. . . .
The ceremony continued in the monastery cathedral of the Smolensk Mother of God. As Anatole Sobchak noted for NG, "so far as I know, neither Mikhail Sergeevich nor Raisa Maximovna were extremely religious people, although both had been baptized. Gorbachev recognized the necessity for the ceremony after a conversation with Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna. It was he who convinced Mikhail Sergeevich that all are equal before God. As God has decided, so it must be."
Before the funeral, turning to those present, Metropolitan Yuvenaly said: "We have heard that Mikhail Sergeevich questioned himself, 'Did I do everything for Raisa Maximovna in these days?' I must say to you, Mikhail Sergeevich: you did everything that you could have done and even more. You gave everyone an example of the sanctity of marriage and family bonds."
Around 1:00 p.m., while the bells rang, the casket with the body of Raisa Maximovna was taken out of the cathedral. In the plot beside the cemetery wall where the grave already had been dug, a small requiem was conducted. The speeches were brief. The vice president of television company CNN, Patricia Mitchell, noted that Raisa Gorbacheva was the inspiration for the greatest changes in the history of our century. The same was said also by the former ambassador of Czechoslovakia to USSR Rudolph Slansky: "She was the personification of the human face of perestroika, the transformation in the Soviet Union." (tr. by PDS)
(posted 24 September 1999)
On 15 March 1999 Deacon Evgeny Morozov was arrested in the village of Melianda (outside Viatka, Kirov). On 16 August 1999 the district court sentenced him to three years in prison for extortion of money by use of deception. On 14 October, on the feast day of the Protection of the Mother of God, Morozov's appeal is supposed to be reviewed.
Morozov was ordained a deacon on 17 December 1994 and appointed to serve in a village in the suburbs of Moscow. On 20 November 1997 he was unfrocked on the allegation that he had concealed at the time of his ordination that his wife had been previously married. At her first marriage, Morozov's wife had not been married in church ("crowned"), while in other cases the hierarchy of the Russian church has not viewed a civil marriage as valid and has considered only the church marriage as the first. It should be noted that according to the canons of the Orthodox church the grace of ordination is inalienable and that a deacon can be banned from ministry but it is impossible to remove from him the grace of the Spirit of God that was given to him upon ordination.
The real cause for the mistreatment was Morozov's and his wife's closeness to Fr Georgy Kochetkov.* Morozov moved to the home region of his wife near Viatka and there, in the village of Melianda, he began to restore the Orthodox church (he managed even to mount a cross on it) and he told people about Christ. They lived modestly; the Morozovs have four children. The villagers gave Morozov about one hundred or two hundred rubles each. The local newspaper printed Morozov's sermons.
Having learned about this, the local bishop, Archbishop Khrisanf of Viatka, reported in a letter of 29 July 1998 to the vice chairman of the administration of Lebiazhe district that Morozov was conducting his activity in Melianda without the permission of the bishop. Thereby the bishop violated the law on religious association, according to which the church is separated from the state. The district procurator charged Morozov with wearing the clothing of a deacon and representing himself as a deacon in order to extort money from people. A declaratin from the villagers that they had no misconceptions about Morozov was rejected by the judge.
If the people who had given money to Morozov had simply asked for a return of the money through the court, that would have been a civil suit and Morozov could not be sent to jail. However his wearing of a cassock was represented as "racketeering" and thus the case was turned into a criminal one and he was jailed before his sentencing as a dangerous criminal. Actually, any person can wear a cassock; it is not a military or police uniform. Throughout Russian there are hundreds of real racketeers in monastic dress who really are extorting, without the blessing of the patriarch, money from people under the guise of alms, but the police do not deal with them.
Bishop Yuvenaly Poiarkov, who took the trouble to report to Viatka the inconvenient deacon, and Bishop Khrisanf Chepil, who accused Morozov of "deceptive" preaching of the gospel, used the authority of the state in order to punish the preacher who was inconvenient to them.
Deacon Evgeny Morozov needs prayers for his release and the restoration of justice. His wife and children need material aid. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 24 September 1999)
*ed. note: When this item was first posted, it bore the lead "Associate of Fr. Kochetkov found guilty in civil court." RRN received a note from Fr. Georgy Kochetkov's St. Filaret's Institute disclaiming association with Deacon Evgeny Morozov. In response to a direct request, the lead has been amended. (PDS, 30 September 1999)Additional information about this case is available at the following locations:
"Facts on the continual persecution of the life and activity of Deacon Yevgeni Morozov"
"Deacon Yevgeny still in custory"
"The Morosovs kept alive by prayers and support of believers"
"Judgment delayed for Deacon Yevgeny"
"Whereabouts of Deacon Yevgeni unknown"(courtesy of Russia Intercessory Prayer Network)
ed. note: This disturbing article, appearing in a publication with a reputation for moderate liberalism, is aptly described by one of my colleagues as "bizarre." It is posted here in keeping with the policy that RRN documents what is being said in the media in the FSU. The reader should make appropriate judgments about the ethical and factual significance of the contents. PDSCITIZENS OF ISRAEL, CONTROL YOURSELVES!
by Leon Onikov
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 18 September 1999 (Internet edition)
With the approach of the bimillennium of the birth of Christ, the reasonable, understandable, sincere feelings of Christians have grown at a geometric rate. The Holy Land is awaiting a massive pilgrimage of Christians in those days.
The massive influx of Christians of all kinds, Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans, etc., is quite evident. It is also evident that believing Jews and Muslims, of whom there are many in Israel, will display their own negative reaction.
Early reports in the world and public press to this effect already have appeared. Recently Nezavisimaia gazeta published a picture showing how some pervert exposed himself to a group of Russian nuns who are ministering in Jerusalem. I am extremely concerned that such actions will increase in connection with the upcoming events.
I am not a Russian nor a Jew; I am Armenian. My personal career, and I am not a young man, has developed such that I have outlived all general secretaries of the central committee of the communist party of the Soviet Union from Stalin to Gorgachev. I was a substantial party worker, serving for three decades without interruption in the staff of the central committee. I have traveled throughout all of the homeland and I know it by direct experience, some parts well and others less so. In a word, I do know it. Of the almost 100 union and autonomous republics and their constituent regions and districts, I have been in all but six. On the whole, all of the ethnic groups are good. The most magnanimous with regard to the nationality question, in my opinion, are the Russian and Belorussians. The ovwhelming majority of ethnic groups on the whole are healthy in this regard.
I return to the subject. As I already said, I am not a Jew. But if I were a Jew, I would write a book with a title like "Why we Jews are not liked." The main point of the book woul be that we are not liked because we Jews have no sense of moderation to the greatest degree. In my opinion, this is the key to the negative attitude toward Jews. But that is the subject for another conversation.
Today I must address the citizens of Israel simply because I cannot fail to address you, Israelites, through my native "Nezavisimaia gazeta": wake up to the complexity and delicacy of the upcoming events. I have always combatted antisemitism, not Jews. I cite the example of the late Isaiah Leizerovich, my calssmate in Tbilisi. Once I was afraid of the breakthrough of the Germans in the Caucasus into Tbilisi so I forged my Armenian passport, giving it to Isaiah with his identification as an Armenian. I thought that if the fascists burst into Tbilisi, where we were then living, this would save his life. When the bureaucracy of the central committe of the part was liquidated, the first person to phone me was Isaiah: "Leva,don't worry about it; you and your family will not suffer materially because I can help you for a long time." There are many such Jews.
I'll finish the article. Citizens of Israel and its government, I beg you to ruthlessly put an end to all hooligan and dirty methods in regard to the massive arrival of Christians for the birth of Christ. You have a good army and police; throw all of their might against humiliation and insult of the massive arrival of Christians for the bimillenium of the birth of Christ; do not ignite antisemitism in my country.
I would like to recall that our law enforcement agencies have responded instantly whenever any hooligans have done harm in synagogues in Moscow and other cities. Take an example from them.
If you do not display good sense and recognize the significance of the upcoming bimillenium of the birth of Christ, you, citizens of Israel, will fuel the fires of the wave of antisemitism that already has been raised (Makashov), and believe me as a son of my motherland that we already have enough difficult problems without that. Understand!
As a normal man, I always have been an opponent of antisemitism. I have published writings in our land, in particular in the magazine "Jewish Street." I have one which is called "Jews, pray for the Black Hundred Shulgin," who had openly acknowledged that he is an antisemite. In a book that was published in your land, Israel, titled "Jewish emigration in the light of new documents," on page eight it says that I was the only worker in the staff of the central committee who openly and on the record in 1974 spoke out against the eruption of the stalinshchina, the father of state antisemitism, and against antisemitism. For this, as is evident in the book, some wanted to dismiss me from work but, as is said, it blew over.
I hope that the embassy of Israel, as a state institution, will take these ideas to the ruling circles of Israel.
about the author: Leon Arshakovich Onikov is a political observer for ITAR-TASS. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 24 September 1999)
Deacon Andrei Kuraev is a theologian, philosopher, and author of the books "If God is love," "The call of ecumenism," "Our defeat," "Satanism for the intelligentsia," and "School theology." He is one of the most active people in contemporary Orthodoxy, an enthusiast, a preacher, and a popularizer. Father Andrei can be called an Orthodox of the "new generation": he is open, self-critical, sincere, and free thinking. He defends his Orthodoxy in a radical and rather polemical form, summoning his audience to pose questions, argue, think, and disagree. In his books and lectures doctrine alternates with common parables and philosophical anecdotes with quotes from Pasternak, Galich, and Brodsky.
--Father Andrei, in your view should Orthodoxy become a state religion?
--That all depends on the meaning of the word "state." If a state religion means that it is obligatory, then no. If by "state" one understands that religion with which the state cooperates, then why not? It would be a state religion like the Anglican church in England, Lutheranism in Germany, and Orthodoxy in Greece. In those places people are not forced to adopt these confessions. The issue is that the school curricula acquaint the children with the history and symbols of that religion which has made the key, determinative contribution to the history of the culture of the given country.
--You can be called an Orthodox of the "new generation." You are not dogmatic but you are a self-critical person. There are very few such people within Orthodoxy.
--Don't you know that one of the teachings of Orthodoxy is self-criticism; in church language it is called repentance and sobriety. Sobriety is the ability to reject conceit.
--Don't you have many enemies or opponents within the Orthodox church, people who do not accept your style, democratism, and free thinking?
--Of course there are such people. It would be strange if there were not. In the course of many generations, especially in the soviet years, people got used to the idea that preaching could happen only in a church. But it is impossible to preach outside of the church in the language of the church sermon, to address those who are not parishioners, people of other views and other values orientation. I try to speak in the language of the venue in which I am speaking. Church people usually are not used to this. And what is unaccustomed is often condemned and is irritating. Thus even our Patriarch Alexis says that we should learn to speak different languages; that, for example, it is impossible to talk with youth in the language that we use with elderly people. When the patriarch's position is grasped and understood by the other people of the church, then it will become easier for me to live.
--You have traveled a lot around Russia. How "dense" is our average Russian citizen regarding church questions? On one hand, there now is a lot of intellectual ferment, and on the other hand the people are at a loss and helpless with regard to the question of the selection of a faith, a confession . . .
--In and of itself ignorance is no vice; "denseness" is no sin. It is desire not to change that is sin. The self-justification of ignorance is profound ignorance. Thus when I meet a person who doesn't know the history of religion very well, I do not condemn him. But if that person says to me: "how could I learn it; the soviet regime didn't give it to us?" then I respond: where's the soviet regime now? The soviet regime has been gone ten years already. For ten years you have been able to buy a Bible at any crossroads and study. There are hundreds of possibilities. Why didn't you remember about Orthodoxy when your son joined a sect? What prevented you from doing it sooner? You shouldn't blame the sectarians or the soviet regime, but you should think about yourself. The main thing is that a person shouldn't be self-satisfied, conceited. One should understand that ignorance doesn't satisfy. Try to learn.
--Father Andrei, you are a socially active person. What is your attitude toward democracy? What are your political sympathies?
--I am afraid that I don't have any political sympathies left. I have pure antipathies. Usually an antipathy arises within me for that party whose newspaper I happen to be reading at the time. . .
--Will the church not participate in the construction of the state? Will you not vote?
--I cannot speak for the whole church. But if on election day I happen to be near a voting booth, perhaps I will vote. . . . But I do not intend to arrange my travel plans so that I can be at my poll on election day. Fortunately I "sat out" the last presidential elections in Finland.
--You graduated from the philosophy department of MGU. Do you agree with the proposition that after the death of A.F. Losev our philosophy became marginalized? That it has no leading lights.?
--No leading lights? There are. For example, Yana Pavlovna Gaidenko is a profound, splendid analyst. It is beside the point that Russia is not used to her kind of philosophy. After all, in Russia people are accustomed to philosophize in a journalistic style. Since my leftist side has risen up, today I will write. . .
--Are you talking about the philosophy of the Golden Age?
--Yes, philosophy in the style of Berdiaev. Today I got started off on the left foot, so I wrote a chapter about the truth of communism. Tomorrow I'll start off on the right foot and will write about the falsehood of communism. Gaidenko is a very serious person, attentive to sources and facts. She combines sobriety with profound Orthodox convictions. She has a very sublime cultural and philosophical thought. An important phenomenon in our Russian philosophical tradition is the work of T.M. Goricheva of St. Petersburg and S.S. Khoruzhi of Moscow.
--Once in a lecture you quoted a sentence from the philosopher G. Fedotov, which he said in 1937: "In communist Russia they are publishing Pushkin; that means that Russia will return to Orthodoxy." This year we marked the 200th anniversary of this national genius. What are the main "lessons" of this poet for you?
--I agree that in literature "Pushkin is our all." This "all" must be understood both as sublime and profound. It is some kind of a wild amorality, that often has broken out in the history of our national character. The thirst for sanctity, penitence, and an amazing lack of understanding and stubbornness. Nevertheless it seems to me very important that we stop treating Pushkin as a Decembrist. It is very important to pay attention now to the fact that Pushkin was a person who changed over the course of his life. Our outstanding Pushkinist, V. Nepomniashchy, has talked about this. In the course of his life Pushkin's embrace of Russia, autocracy, and Orthodoxy changed. He grew up, he wised up. It is good that now in our schools it is primarily the wise Pushkin, the later one, who is presented and not his youthful wildness.
--One of the conflicts of Russian history always was the conflict between the intelligentsia and the church; we recall Lev Tolstoy. The Russian intellectual has been occupied with searchings in the bosom of literature and philosophy. This permitted Osip Mandelshtam to issue his famous formula "Culture has become a church."
--In a certain sense this is pay back to the church for its inability to become a church completely and for everybody. We have to start from the fact that people turn to culture and not to the church in their search for the meaning of life and for answers to the important questions. They did turn to us, but they did not find the answer. I remember one woman, a philosopher, very intelligent, a person with a complex inner struggle, who once said to me: "I understand everything that you say. And I have tried to be Orthodox. I once even went to the lavra for confession. And what did I hear at confession? I was asked: do you eat meat on Fridays?" Really, when a priest, instead of seeing the person and the pain, trivializes the tragedy, then the person will feel suffocated in the church. And this often is the fault of pastors who themselves, sometimes without recognizing it, shut up the person's mouth. My life has taught me that before accusing others--those sectarians--I must ask myself: what are you accusing them of? Of being active? Of being honest? We should be like that. The point is not that, alas, these sectarians have gotten out of hand. We simply are paralyzed, idle. And we can say the same thing we say about sectarians about secular leaders, about secular culture. From my point of view secular culture still is a substitute. It does not have sufficient air. One must seek Christ; one must seek the church and the house of prayer. Although, I repeat, I know for sure good, humane people who have not found for themselves a place in the church.
--Are there modernizing tendencies in Orthodoxy?
--There are, but not in the Russian Orthodox church; in Finnish, American, and Arab Orthodoxy. But it seems important to me that Orthodoxy maintain the spirit of "protest" against the spirit of this age: newspaper images and stereotypes. For me it is very painful to meet with western Orthodox priests who talk in the language of the newspapers and TV programs. We do not need such modernization. Orthodoxy can be renewed, but it must proceed from out of itself and not conform to the forms of this or that fashionable ideology.
--Once on television I saw that in western churches they baptize and bless guinea pigs and cats. What do you think of this?
--In the first place, this is a kind of excess. According to our understanding, animals do not sin so why perform for them the sacraments that are performed for people in order to forgive their sins? Animals have no moral law. Second, this has an element of sacrilege, because the scriptures say not to give what is holy to the dogs.
--You have engaged in a lot criticism of theosophy. Do you consider Blavatskaia and Rerikh "sincerely deceived" or were they intellectual charlatans?
--Both. Undoubtedly, they had a personal spiritual experience of contact with the supernatural world. But it was an experience of fellowship not with Christ or with God but with the spirit world. Of course, their works contain an element of evasion, an element of propaganda and falsification. In make a detailed analysis of the falsifications in my book "Satanism for the intelligentsia."
--Father Andrei, your opponents, in both religious and secular circles, call you an obscurantist. But in my view you are a typical free thinker. . .
--At least I would like to be a free thinker and dissident. I try not to think in accordance with the textbooks.
--Are you a principled anticareerist?
--No, I am simply a lazy person. I try to rid my life of everything that I don't want to deal with. Because of my "hibernating" character I almost consider as a personal enemy somebody who calls me up or visits or takes up a particle of my time. Thus I want to keep the number of contacts to a minimum. I have been appointed to administrative positions, dean of the faculty or head of the department. I cannot even stand this. I hold to the principle of economy of effort. . . .
--Finally, if you will permit me, a "frivolous" question. You are a very striking, talented person, an interesting man. Do you often have to resist temptresses?
After he smiled, Fr Andrei answered: They are not all temptresses, although this problem really exists. But this problem deals not only with me. It is a quality of youthful feminine religiosity. When a young man searches for the truth, he goes to church by himself or he dabbles in philosophical debris, or movements, or sects. But young women for the most part go to church because of relationships. They have fallen in love with somebody who represents this tradition, not because they understand that here is the truth but for some other human sympathies or antipathies. Often the girls themselves do not recognize that this is the case. They do not realize that when they go to church they are coming to Christ, not the priest. So that the priest is valuable to them not only as a spiritual pastor but because they have a hidden erotic attraction to him. The fundamentals of pastoral psychology that we study in seminary warn us that we have to be prepared for this.
--Thank you, Fr Andrei. May God give you strength in your ministry. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 18 September 1999)
The decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox church not to permit the participation of clergy in the upcoming elections still remains in effect. However the hierarchy is seriously thinking about how there nevertheless should be in the State Duma laity who could defend the interests of the church. Yesterday there was a meeting in Sofrino. Representatives of physicians, teachers, workers of the "Sofrino" craftshop, and residents of the Pushkin district sent an appeal to the most holy patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus, Alexis II, requesting that he bless the director of the "Sofrino" enterprise, Evgeny Parkhaev, whom they had nominated as a candidate for the State Duma. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 17 September 1999)
The mystical fate of the Vladimir Mother of God continues even today: it was returned from the museum church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi to the depository of the Tretiakov gallery. On 8 September of this year, on the feast day of the Presentation of the Vladimir icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, believers were able to pray in front of this shrine in Nicholas in Tolmachi. The transfer of the icon from the hall of ancient Russian art to the museum church was surrounded with great celebration. In order to protect the icon better, specialists in the Moscow factory of metallurgy, which is a sponsor of the Tretiakov gallery, had made a special icon case which could maintain the proper temperature and humidity at the time of liturgies. Last Wednesday Archbishop Sergius of Solnechnogorsk conducted a celebrational liturgy and at two o'clock the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus himself came to the St. Nicholas church in order to serve a celebrational prayer service. "NG" wrote about this event (9 Sept. 1999).
Many legends about the icon itself have been preserved. For example, that it was painted by the Evangelist Luke and that the wood for it was taken from a table on which Christ had dined. There is a story that when the iconographic image appeared to Tamerlane he turned back his troops and quit the territory of the Muscovite state without a fight. Russian troops gained the upper hand at the battle of Borodino on 8 September, the day of the celebration of the Vladimir Mother of God. It is also said, although probably it is a legend, that in 1941, when German troops approached close to Moscow, Stalin ordered that the icon be carried around the Kremlin and presently there was a turn in the battle for the capital. A month before the Chernobyl catastrophe the Vladimir Mother of God supposedly was seen in the window of an old church in a village near the atomic power station. Mysticism interweaving popular myths and truth has thrived in the more than 900-year history of the icon.
Naturally many people, both believers and ordinary visitors in the gallery, rushed to Lavrushinsky Lane in order to view the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. But it turned out that it was neither in the museum church nor in the regular display of the Tretiakov gallery. Immediately after the patriarch's departure, by a decision of the academic council of the gallery, the icon, which is venerated as the intercessor for the Russian nation and state, was transferred to the depository.
In the museum they say that it is under the care of restorers. The director of the department of ancient Russian art, Nadezhda Gennadievna Bekeneva, whose whole life is connected with the Vladimir icon and who has devoted so much energy to protecting the icon from danger, is now on leave. In her absence workers of the department as well as workers of the Tretiakov in general are trying not to give out information about the present condition of the icon. In the words of the chief curator of the gallery, Lidia Romashkova, the capsule in which the icon was supposed to be kept in the museum church during services has not been put through all the necessary tests.
Now the capsule (icon case) has been returned to the factory for completion of the tests. In general the factory originally was supposed to build it, at no cost to the museum, only in December. After which the capsule was supposed to be used for two months without the icon inside. It was not the Tretiakov gallery that initiated the hasty transfer of the icon from the permanent display in the gallery to the museum church. This came, as they say, from a higher power. One should not suppose it was God. The rush was for the holiday.
Now several workers of the museum are reacting extremely nervously to attempts to learn something about the fate of the icon. To the question whether it had been damaged or not, Lidia Romashkova responded: "That is what we are working for here" and she hastened to cut off the conversation on an "unpleasant topic." In the Tretiakov they are not so much afraid of resentment on the part of the innocent factory that made the capsule but more of a dispute with the church which, of course, now has greater power than the top art gallery of the country and all museum authorities together.
It obviously was no accident that at the celebrational dinner one of the leaders of Moscow asked the church to go even further in its intended direction, inasmuch as we have in Russia many icons still in museums and many churches. A dispute with the church now, of course, could greatly threaten the normalization of relations of the Tretiakov gallery with the leadership of RPTs. One must hope that this does not happen.
But mysticism is an integral part of our current life, in which church attendance is easily accompanied with the reading of horoscopes and recourse to various kinds of magic and folk remedies. So those who note the coincidence of the dates of the appearance of the icon in the church of St. Nicholas and its return with the dates of the subsequent tragedies in Moscow evidently do not find the coincidence accidental. Naturally they are raising a great uproar with the most absurd suggestions and assumptions.
The general director of the Tretiakov gallery, Valentin Rodionov, assured us that only the placement in the depository could guarantee the preservation of the icon, because the time that it spent within the walls of the church even in a special capsule showed that it is impossible to create conditions there that are like those of the depository. This is why the academic council, after intense discussion, made the decision. Besides, even in the depository the Vladimir Mother of God will be accessible to gallery visitors, but of course not to all. The leadership of the Tretiakov is planning also to conduct a press conference in the near future devoted to the icon. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 17 September 1999)
On 17 September a meeting of the commissioner on human rights in the Russian federation, O. O. Mironov, with a group of heads and representatives of religious associations of Russia took place in Moscow. The situation in the area of human rights was discussed in connection with the recent acts of terrorism, as was the preelection situation. The secretary of OVTsS for relations between church and society, Vsevolod Chaplin, participated in the meeting.
The meeting participants issued a declaration regarding its results which said, in particular:
"At the threshhold of the twenty-first century we unfortunately still are unable to put an end to uncivilized methods for resolving social problems. Examples of this are the explosions in churches and other places of divine worship and desecration of graves in cemeteries. What is more, interethnic conflicts in North Osetia, Ingushetia, Karachaevo-Cherkesiia, armed conflicts in Chechnia and Dagestan, and the recent horrifying events in Buinaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk point to the fact that a real threat to the national security and territorial integrity of Russia has been created. . . .
"It is no secret to anyone that there exist in the country forces which would not want political stabilization and public accord. They are trying to turn the election campaign and the elections themselves into an unrestrained war ofaccusations of wrongdoing. We are deeply concerned about political pressure upon religious associations which is intended to draw them into the political struggle for narrowly political and often mercantile, egotistical goals which correspond in to wat to the hopes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of Russians. . . .
"We appeal to the president and government of the Russian federation, all ethnic groups, and all citizens of Russia to manifest in the emerging situation reason and restraint, not to surrender to provocation, and not to allow themselves to be drawn into armed confrontation which will lead to untold new victims and sorrows. We have no doubt that healthy sense and respect for law will triumph over emotions. It is our sacred obligation not to permit new bloodshed and to do everything for maintenance of the unity and territorial integrity of Russia and for the preservation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of our citizens." (tr. by PDS)
(posted 17 September 1999)
Series of terrorist acts prevented in Moscow, which satanists had planned for Day of the City
Segodnia, 6 September 1999
The explosion in the Okhotny Riad forced capital law enforcement agencies to adopt the tactic of preventive strikes. Last Friday evening, as our paper reported already, a student of the Moscow Literature Institute, twenty-two-year-old Mikhail Naumenko, was arrested in the lobby of the Arbat metro station. According to intelligence from the Service for the Struggle with Terrorism of the Moscow UFSB, the former leader of the "Black Dragon" satanist sect, who had been followed since 1997, is suspected of planning a series of terrorist acts for the Day of the City, aimed at Christian religious objects in Moscow.
At first glance the detainee did not give the impression of an obsessed satanist. A rather chubby, clean shaven young man in glasses, he did not put up any resistance and after his arrest he calmly answered questions and even agreed to an interview with the Segodnia reporter. According to Naumenko, he did not understand the reason for his arrest. The whole action, in his opinion, had been planned in order to punish a free thinker for his convictions, which he did not even conceal. To the question what relationship Mikhail had with Black Dragon he responded that in 1992 he was one of the founders of this organization which occupies a position of radical satanism (a cult with extremely cruel manifestations), but he had left Black Dragon several years ago.
However, Mikhail still wears a medallion with a representation of a black dragon on a red background. At the same time Naumenko stated that the police were "somewhat stretching the truth" in declaring him a satanist. According to Mikhail, he is only a "dark pagan," who worships not Satan but the dark pagan deities, out of the Slavic pantheon of gods: Moran-Death, Kashchei, and the like, in sum, the dark forces of nature. At the same time Mikhail is convinced that the struggle with Christianity remains his chief task. In his words, this is retribution: "If in their time the Christians shed rivers of pagan blood, then why should not pagans shed some Christian blood today?" Mikhail does not rule out the possibility of participating in the desecration of Orthodox churches, although the ideas of the radicals are foreign to him: "I do not want to shed blood of even my ideological enemies, but some could go to more decisive measures."
Police found confirmation of these words in a search of Naumenko's apartment of the embankment of Kosma and Damian. Besides occultic literature, a cassette with recordings of Gothic music, and cans with sulfur, detectives found a 200-gram block of TNT and a detonator. And Mikhail could not reasonably explain why he, an opponent of bloodshed, needed an explosive and the foreign revolver which was taken from him at Arbat. (tr. by PDS)
SATANIST TERROR
by Roman Ukolov
Single step literally separates Lucifer's worshippers from him
Segodnia, 7 September 1999
The recent arrest of twenty-two-year-old Mikhail Naumenko, suspected of planning terrorist acts against Christian religious objects, and the subsequent discovery in his apartment of explosives could force the public and law enforcement agencies to take a different view of the problem of the spread of satanism and other related destructive movements in Russia.
Until recently in Moscow, as in the rest of Russia, no single terrorist act had been proven as planned or carried out by the followers of one or another occultic sect. As a rule, satanists are inclined to deface religious shrines with blasphemous slogans and bodies of slain animals. The greatest crime against an Orthodox church was committed in October 1996 when satanists set fire to a church in the city of Zaslavl. On the conscience of the servants of Lucifer also lies the murder in 1993 of three monks at the Optina Pustyn monastery. Actually, this triple murder is one of the few about which it is possible to state with assurance that is was ritualistic. All three monks were beaten with a ritual club with the "number of the Beast" on the handle and it was done on Easter morning, 18 April. And the murderer who was quickly arrested, Nikolai Averin, did not conceal either his participation nor his convictions. But satanists have still never moved to action which could lead to the death of dozens of people.
It is possible that in the past several years the ranks of the satanists have been expanded by converts who have more activist inclinations or this is a new concept for attracting adherents. In order to answer this question, one must understand just what kind of satanist sects and cults now exist in Russia.
As the Segodnia reporter was told at the Moscow patriarchate, in the past decade they have managed to collect information about only ten organizations with pronounced satanist characteristics, which includes some even in Moscow. Among them is the "Southern Cross" or the "Moscow Church of Satan," whose ideology is to win after death a place in Hell in order to serve Satan better rather than God. The largest satanist cult in Russia in terms of number of groups at the present actually is the "Black Angel." It was formed in the mid-70s and possibly is a wing of the "International Association of Luciferites of the Eastern Celtic Rite." In the Black Angel adepts are divided into two categories: disciples and priests, from whom a chief priestess is elected (the followers of this doctrine consider that a woman is close to the devil).
Another sect, the "Society of Satan," is possibly one of the subdivisions of the "Moscow Church of Satan." The movement arose in Moscow around 1989 and is one of the largest satanist groupings in Russia. Most of the followers rea people of the creative professions and university and high school students, who are led by the chief priest and his fifteen associates. As regards Black Dragon, of which Naumenko was one of the founders, it was created in 1992 and today numbers several thousand followers. The organization publishes its own magazine, conducts Internet conferences, and is distinguished by its extremely brutal radicalism.
The "Black Dragons" call themselves the "most genuine, black satanists." Apparently this confidence is based on their scrupulous adherence to the precepts of the sacred book of satanists, the "Black Bible," which was written in 1968 by Antony Shandor La Vei. Actually this work calls the followers of satanist cults to a bloody struggle with the world outside the cult: "Satan proclaims something other than turning the other cheek. . . . Return blow for blow; repay lavishly death for death. . . . Avenge yourselves four-fold, a hundredfold. Become the embodiment of Terror itself for your enemies." If one thinks about it, this is in essence a ready-made program for the outbreak of a terrorist campaign and today could be just the beginning of a wave of occultic terror sweeping over Russia. Who could be sure that Naumenko's act will not inspire his fellow believers to take more decisive action? We can only hope that counterintelligence, as in the case of Naumenko, will learn in time of crimes being planned. And if not? . . . (tr. by PDS)
(posted 11 September 1999)
WASHINGTON, September 10 (Itar-Tass) - The first annual report of the U.S. State Department on the religious freedoms in the world was published on Thursday on a basis of data collected from January 1998 through late June 1999 in 194 countries and territories.
The constitutional clause on religious freedoms is, generally, observed in the Russian Federation, the report says. It, however, repeats the well-known American stand on the Russian law "On the Liberty of Conscience and Religious Organizations" and says it is potentially discriminative. The report refers to the provisions retarding the activity of foreign religious organizations in Russia.
It notes numerous cases of violence in the Northern Caucasus, some of which have religious reasons. The report says that anti- Semitic motives remain in hundreds of extremist publications and speeches of some politicians. There is also a problem in the return of temples to the Church, the report says.
Links to individual country reports:
U.S. CITES LOCAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CURBS IN RUSSIA
WASHINGTON, Sep 10, 1999 -- (Reuters) The United States said on Thursday that despite promises by Russia's federal government that it would ensure religious freedom, a complex 1997 law was allowing increasing restrictions on religion at the local level.
The first annual report of religious freedom worldwide released by the U.S. State Department said President Boris Yeltsin and other Russian leaders repeatedly had stated that the law would be applied in a liberal, tolerant way.
And it added: "To date no religious organization has ceased operations as a result of the law."
But the report said that restrictions were applied at a local level in Russia.
"The vagueness of the law and regulations, the contradictions between federal and local law, and varying interpretations furnish regional officials with a pretext to restrict the activities of religious minorities," it said.
The 1997 law was enacted in response to concerns among many Russians, in particular nationalists and some in the Russian Orthodox Church, that a 1990 religious freedom law following the collapse of Soviet communism was too liberal.
That law, which forbade government interference in religion and set up simple registration procedures, was seen by critics to have opened the way to well-financed foreign missionaries and what they called "nontraditional" religious groups.
The State Department report called the 1997 law "restrictive and potentially discriminatory," and said it had "raised questions about the government's commitment to international agreements honoring freedom of religion."
The report said Yeltsin and leaders in his government had "taken a flexible approach to implementation of some of the law's most negative aspects and have shown some willingness to intervene with local authorities in defense of religious rights."
It said the most worrying aspect of the law was its provision limiting the rights of groups existing in Russia for less than 15 years. Although three sets of guidelines were issued in 1998, the report said key points still were unclear.
And it said that since 1994, 30 of 89 regional governments in Russia had "passed restrictive laws and decrees intended to restrict the activities of religious groups."
(C)1999 Copyright Reuters Limited.
(posted 11 September 1999)
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