Press Release
February 17, 2009, Suzdal, Russian Federation
Subject: Human Rights Violations in the Russian Federation (religious persecution in contemporary Russia)
The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the Churches of the Eastern Orthodox communion. The official date for the Christianization of Russia was 988. From then until the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, Kievan, later known as Moscovian Rus’, has officially been a Christian country. In the fifteenth century, the Metropolia of Moscow became administratively independent from its Mother Church - the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Constantinople). The first Patriarch of Moscow, however, was not elected until 1589. Both of these facts are still being disputed by the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the title “His Holiness,” adopted by the Russian Church for the Patriarchs of Moscow, has yet to be recognized by the heads of other Orthodox Churches.
During the period from 1593 to 1721, there were 10 Patriarchs of Moscow. After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, no successor was elected, and in 1721, Tsar Peter I established a new form for the highest ruling authority in the Russian Church - the Spiritual Council, which was soon after renamed the Most Holy Ruling Synod.
The 11th Patriarch of Moscow, Tikhon (Belavin), was elected only in 1917 by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After the Bolshevik October Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church was subjected to unprecedented persecutions that may be compared to the persecutions by the Roman Emperors in the first centuries of Christian history. Most of the clergy, including Patriarch Tikhon and his Locum Tenens, were arrested and executed. The new government confiscated all church property, and initiated the creation of several modernist church groups.
In 1926-27, with the involvement of Bolshevik/Communist government and the secret service of Soviet Russia, the unlawful (from the point of view of canon law) religious organization headed by Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Nizhgorod was created. In reality, the entire upper echelon of church authority had been usurped by a handful of hierarchs loyal to the Communist regime. On the 29th of July, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued a document called the “Declaration of Loyalty to the Soviet Government.” This moment is considered to be the official date of the division of the Russian Orthodox Church into the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (hierarchs and clergy outside of the Soviet Russia), the Russian Orthodox Catacomb Church (hierarchs and clergy inside Soviet Russia who were not allowed to exist legally) and the so-called Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (the name was finally decided upon in 1943, after Metropolitan Sergius was appointed as Patriarch by none other than Joseph Stalin himself).
One of the distinctive characteristics of the hierarchy loyal to Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky were their numerous false statements (spanning more than 60 years, 1927-1992) denying the existence of any persecution on the part of the Communist authorities of believers, and their assertion that there was complete freedom of worship in the Soviet Russia. All the while, hundreds of thousands of clergymen and millions of believing laymen became victims of the regime. Another distinctive characteristic of this hierarchy was the complete cooperation between the hierarchs and the highest-ranking clergy with the secret service and the state. That is apparently the case until this day.
At the beginning of the 1990s, right after the fall of the Soviet regime, it became possible, for a short time, for the remnants of the catacomb church and the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad inside Russia to exist openly, in particular, the Free Russian Orthodox Church. At that time, it was given the use of several half ruined churches in the town of Suzdal and its environs.
In recent years, the believers there have renovated all of these churches, restoring and decorating them at their own expense. The Divine Services in these churches are always well attended. The Churches are served by a full staff of clergy. There are also several active educational, peace-making and humanitarian programs.
In 1998, the Free Russian Orthodox Church was renamed the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC), at the behest of the government.
ROAC has no communion in prayer with Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP) because of the unwillingness of the hierarchy of the ROC MP to repent of its illegal usurpation of church authority, its cooperation with the KGB, its part in the destruction of fellow Christians and religious persecutions during the Soviet era, its servitude to the secular state, and because of its other gross infringements of the canons and rules of Orthodox Church, such as its participation in the egregious sin of ecumenism. ROAC, as well as other true Orthodox jurisdictions of the Russian Orthodox Church, has had no opportunity of taking part in any Councils of the Russian Church, which therefore cannot be considered as legitimate Local Councils of Russian Orthodox Church. Accordingly, the elections of the Patriarchs of Moscow, after Tikhon (Belavin), cannot be recognized as legitimate from the point of view of the more conservative side of the church.
Moreover, the virtual merging of the ROC MP with the secular authority in the Russian Federation again casts doubt upon how seriously the articles of the Russian constitution and its laws guaranteeing the rights of freedom of religion and conscience to Russian citizens of faith, fundamental human rights, can be taken. Although it would seem to most observers that there is a palpable sense of goodwill on the part of the state towards the Orthodox Church, there is in reality only the illegal state support of one sole denomination – ROC MP. The Hierarchs and the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate openly provoke religious conflicts, suborn perjury, and some of them openly call for violence against other Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians, and the believers of ROAC in particular. Thus, just as in Soviet days, the public is again being lied to by its government. For some years now, several relative officials have been putting extreme pressure upon the hierarchs and believers of ROAC for the purpose of confiscating their churches and eradicating this church jurisdiction.
On February 5th, 2009, by decision of the courts for the district of Vladimir, all of the churches in the town of Suzdal, which is the administrative center of ROAC, are to be surrendered to the government. This court decision was made in complete disregard for the articles of the constitution and the laws of the Russian Federation, and tramples upon the most basic understanding of human rights. The local believers are preparing themselves for protecting their churches from the arbitrariness of the authorities, and the lawyers of ROAC are preparing their appeals.
We appeal to the public at large, to civil rights organizations, to the press and to everyone who values the concepts of religious freedom and is interested in protecting the human right of freedom of worship, for their attention to this terrible event now taking place in Suzdal, Russian Federation, for their understanding of the essence of what is at stake here, and to render all possible support to the Christians of Suzdal.
The hierarchs of ROAC invite all Russian and foreign journalists, as well as experts in jurisprudence, authorized representatives of international human rights organizations, and religious leaders, to visit Suzdal and to become familiar with this situation. The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church asks everyone to write letters of support directly to the addresses of the authorities of the Russian Federation calling for the protection of the rights of ROAC believers.
The press office of ROAC is willing to provide any necessary documents for the objective illumination of this problem.
Contact in the Russian Federation (in Russian):
Hegumen Theophan at: suzdalite@suzdalonline.ru
Contact in the USA (in English, French and Italian):
Bishop Andrew of Pavlovskoye at: bishopandrei@gmail.com
Contact in Argentina (in Spanish)
Priest Siluan Dignac at: pravoslavia@speedy.com.ar