The St Petersburg Times- "BAD NEWS" FOR ROCOR
Even the St. Petersburgh Times is wary. (!) See the *** Below.
Issue #1057(23), Friday, April 1, 2005
The St Petersburg Times
Reaching for Religious Reunion
[See ** Below]
Contributor - Lawrence A. Uzzell, President of International
Religious Freedom Watch, a Christian organization dedicated to
protecting religious believers of all faiths from persecution by
their own governments.
REACHING FOR RELIGIOUS REUNION by Lawrence A. Uzzell (IRFW)
"Unlike Poland and the Baltic states, Russia lacks a key source of
soft power: a united body of ethnic expatriates who can be relied on
to support the mother country's policies in places like Washington.
"But this could change in the very near future. Moscow may bring
into its sphere of influence what used to be a key ideological base
for the Kremlin's emigre foes, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
Russia, or ROCOR.
"The Kremlin and the domestic, Kremlin-dominated Russian Orthodox
Church could gain a new seal of moral and historical legitimacy at a
time when Russia faces growing criticism for its swing toward
authoritarianism.
"In the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks were jailing or killing thousands
of Orthodox Christians, a small group of refugee bishops formed what
eventually became ROCOR. That body inherited or founded hundreds of
parishes among Russian emigres in Western Europe and the Americas...
"One of those habits is Sergyanism, named after the tame bishop
chosen by Stalin as patriarch of Moscow. Under Sergy and his
successors, the domestic church's top clergy systematically
collaborated with a regime that systematically persecuted the
church's own members. The habit continued to the end of Soviet rule
and beyond.
"Critics of the Moscow Patriarchate note that to this day, it
collaborates with tyrants such as the current rulers of Belarus and
Turkmenistan, as well as with Russia's siloviki. Sergyanism lives
on, observe these critics, not just as past history the church has
never repented of, but as unreformed present reality.
"Consider the Moscow Patriarchate's relations with Saparmurat
Niyazov, better known as Turkmenbashi. Turkmenistan's president for
life presides over a totalitarian cult of personality bordering on
self-deification. He has authored his own personal holy scriptures,
which must be studied exhaustively in the state schools and
venerated in both Christian and Muslim places of worship along with
the Bible and the Koran.
"Instead of telling the truth about Niyazov, the Russian church has
awarded him with the Order of St. Danil, its highest honor for
secular rulers. The Patriarchate's priest Andrei Sapunov serves as
an official of the Niyazov government's Council for Religious
Affairs, the direct continuation of the state agency that controlled
religious life when Turkmenistan was a Soviet republic.
"Nevertheless, the Moscow Patriarchate seems confident that it is on
track toward reunification with Orthodox emigres. The public
statements of both sides have resumed their previous cordial tone
after expressions of disagreement over disputed church
properties in Palestine. Among the honored guests at the
Patriarchate's recent Worldwide Russian People's Council in Moscow
were several ROCOR clerics.
"The speeches at that gathering, devoted to celebrating the Soviet
victory in World War II and linking it to the Kremlin's current
policies, suggest that the domestic church is counting on Russian
nationalism to woo the emigres. Especially striking is the
distinctively Soviet flavor of that nationalism. The main speeches
failed to mention the victory's dark sides, for example the
imposition of totalitarian atheism on traditionally Christian
societies such as Romania and Bulgaria. Patriarch Alexy II made the
incredible statement that the victory brought the Orthodox peoples
of Europe closer and raised the authority of the Russian Church. If
one had no other information, one would think that the establishment
of Communist Party governments in the newly conquered countries was
purely voluntary - and that what followed was unfettered religious
freedom.
"Sergyanism is clearly still thriving, despite the Moscow
Patriarchate's occasional abstract statements asserting its right to
criticize the state. The Patriarchate's leaders still openly
celebrate Patriarch Sergy's memory, with some even favoring his
canonization as a saint. With rare exceptions, they still issue
commentaries on President Vladimir Putin's policies, which read like
government press releases. They seem sure that this issue will not
be a deal-breaker in their quest for reunion with the emigres.
Putin's Kremlin will be hoping that they are right. "
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