Fires in alternative Orthodoxy buildings TWO CHURCHES OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX AUTONOMOUS CHURCH BURN IN SUZDAL
NEWru.com, 7 August 2003
Two church buildings belonging to the Suzdal diocese of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (RPATs) were seriously damaged as a result of fires that occurred in the morning of 3 August. As "Blagovest-info" news agency was told at the Suzdal diocesan headquarters of RPATs, passers-by noticed a column of flame over the metal hanger of the garage of the bishops' synod building at 4:30. Pilgrims who were in the vicinity of the building noticed that five minutes earlier an automobile had departed hastily from the hangar containing, as the investigation suggests, the criminals who committed the arson. Evidence of intentional arson also was provided by the discovery of traces of bottles with a flammable mixture at the site of the fire.
Before the arrival of firefighters, RPATs clergy and pilgrims tried to fight the flame with their own efforts, as a result of which they managed to save two cars located in the hangar from exploding. One of the clergymen was overcome by fumes and was given emergency medical aid. Approximately a half hour after the discovery of the fire the flame was extinguished by the efforts of two firefighting teams.
As a result of the fire, a store of wood and building materials adjoining the metal hangar was completely burned up; this was the center of the fire. The flame partially affected the interior walls of the hangar, destroying automobile spare parts and covers that were kept there. Fortunately containers standing alongside with combustable materials, including a 12-ton barrel filled with brine, were not damaged. The fire posed a serious danger to residents of neighboring buildings, including housing for young pilgrim children who were spending the night in the building close by the hangar. The Suzdal department of internal affairs has initiated a criminal case for arson.
A second fire broke out at approximately 9:30 in a garage of the RPATs convent of the Disposition of the Robe on Vasilevskaia street. Criminals poured gasoline through an opening in the back wall of the garage into the building and set fire to it. The fire was immediately discovered by workers who were working in the convent yard. The investigation team that arrived at the site discovered a discarded canister and bottle with a flammable mixture not far from the site.
As the chancellor of the bishops' synod of RPATs, Archbishop Feodor Gineevsky, told "Blagovest-info" in an interview, a former priest of this church, Andrei Osetrov, has frequently issued calls for burning the church buildings. In the summer of 2001, after he left RPATs, he initiated a judicial investigation of the head of this community, Metropolitan Valentin Rusantsov, that resulted in the rendering of a conditional sentence. ... In May of last year Andrei Osetrov, who was unfrocked by RPATs, officially joined the Russian Orthodox church [Moscow Patriarchate], where he was again ordained a priest and appointed rector of the church of St Stephen in the village of Kideksha. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 August 2003)
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