Saturday, May 7, 2005
RUSSIA: SECURITY
DETERIORATING FOR
RUSSIA'S PROTESTANT CHURCHES
By Anneta Vyssotskaia
for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA
RLC)
AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- The
following posting on the deteriorating religious liberty and security
situation faced by Russia's evangelical Protestant churches, is written
by Anneta Vyssotskaia. Anneta has a BAHons in Religious Studies and has
been the Russian language translator and coordinator for International
Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the Persecuted Church since 2000. She is also
the co-author of a Russian language web-site on Persecuted Christians
http://pch.vgc.ru/ and she closely monitors the religious liberty
situation in Russia and the former Soviet states.
Anneta Vyssotskaia regards the situation for evangelical Protestants in
Russia as "explosive and unstable". She believes the future security of
Russia's Protestants depends on whether the authorities of the Russian
Orthodox Church continue their policy of developing political
cooperation with the government at the expense of religious minorities,
or decide to concentrate on spiritual matters. "Pray for a big revival
in the Russian Orthodox Church," she asks.
While this posting focuses on the deteriorating situation for
Protestants in Russia, it must be noted that the situation for Russian
Catholics is equally troubling. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has
accused the Catholic Church of "aggression" and of having "expansionist
goals" in Russia, seeks every avenue to hinder Catholic growth. In a
campaign of disinformation and incitement, Catholics, like Protestants,
are accused of being a serious threat to Russian families, social
unity, and national security.
Recommended services that monitor religious freedom in Russia are:
Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org/
International Religious Freedom Watch http://www.irfw.org
and Russia Religion News http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/00currentchoices.shtml
Elizabeth Kendal (WEA RLC)
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
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SECURITY DETERIORATING FOR RUSSIA'S PROTESTANT CHURCHES
By Anneta Vyssotskaia
-----------------------------------
At the end of the 10th Century, Russia's Prince Vladimir accepted the
Orthodox Christian faith of Byzanthia, and introduced it to the
population as the common faith for all Russians. By this measure,
Vladimir sought to overcome the scatteredness of Slavic tribes. From
that time onwards, the Orthodox Church was always supportive of the
rulers of the Russian state. Although the history of the Russian
Orthodox Church has known the names of many truly devoted saints and
missionaries, for the majority of the population, the Christian faith
was simply a matter of tradition. In birth, marriage and death, a
Russian was connected with the Orthodox Church by tradition and state
law.
Throughout all the history of Russian Orthodox Church there were,
however, people who were not satisfied with the existing order and were
searching for deeper truth. Eventually they all came to be regarded as
"heretics" and "rebels" and were severely punished by State and church
authorities. Many of them finished their lives being put into
monasteries as a means of discipline, which actually meant
imprisonment.
In 1667 there was Great Split in the Russian Orthodox Church that
resulted in its division into the officially recognized Orthodox Church
(Nikonians) and the so-called Old Believers, a big part of the Church
that was immediately severely persecuted.
Officially, the first Russian Protestant Christians (or evangelical
Christians as they called themselves) appeared in the second half of
the 19th century. Historically however, there were people and groups
before then that could be considered their forerunners, like Molokans
and Dukhobors, Russian Protestants were very active in making the Bible
available to many people. Many of the noblemen in Russia and even some
of the Russian tsars' family members were attracted by the simplicity
of Protestant traditions and the commitment the Protestants had to the
Word. The Protestant churches grew rapidly in Russia, and this aroused
suspicion and concern in both the Russian Orthodox church and State
authorities. The church was not happy to have rivals in spiritual
matters and did not want to lose its parishioners. The State
authorities were not happy to have people challenging the status quo,
people they regarded as a "threat" to national unity. From the very
beginning, Protestants were considered enemies and sectarians by the
Russian Orthodox Church in Russia. With the exception of short periods
of relative freedom, Protestant Christians were persecuted by the
government with the support and participation of the Orthodox Church.
COMMUNISM
During the times of communism, atheism replaced Orthodox Christianity
as the ideology of the country. All religions were considered "the
opiate of the people" and all were equally persecuted, including the
Russian Orthodox Church. Later on however, a compromise was found and
the government allowed the existence of Russian Orthodox church under
very strict government supervision. All Protestant groups were forced
to join together as one union and were also strictly controlled.
However, some Orthodox believers and evangelical Christians met in
underground non-registered fellowships and were severely persecuted by
the communist authorities. There were short periods when believers
experienced a little more freedom, but they were always followed by
more persecution.
PERESTROIKA
When Perestroika (restructuring) started, all religious groups
experienced much more freedom and there was a real spiritual boom in
the country with people rushing to churches in order to be baptised,
and into evangelistic meetings in order to hear the Gospel. The Bible
became a most popular book in the country. However, cults also came and
spread rapidly. Christian churches experienced difficulties with unity
between different denominations, and between old and new churches. Lack
of good Christian literature and proper theological education often
resulted in serious doctrinal errors creeping into the churches.
FILLING THE VOID
With the fall of the communist atheistic ideology, authorities were
looking for a replacement – for another ideology that would serve as a
tool for uniting the splintering nation, and which could stop the quick
moral decline of the deeply disappointed younger generation. The choice
was the Russian Orthodox Church with its rich tradition of supporting
the existing ruler and keeping the nation together on the basis of one
national faith. It also seemed beneficial to bring more Christian
ethics into governmental institutions to stop corruption and moral
degradation. Inspired by such good perspectives, Russian officials
began to appear at the church services. Because many of them were not
believers, the people ironically called them "candlesticks" because of
the candles they were holding in their hands during the services.
When Vladimir Putin became President he gave the impression of being a
committed Russian Orthodox Christian and immediately started to support
and favour the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). During
Putin's presidency the Moscow patriarchate has greatly succeeded in
securing special favour from government and local authorities, enabling
it to get access to institutions where other religious groups face
difficulties: hospitals, orphanages, army units, etc. Russians however,
do not want to have a faith forced onto them by the government, and the
interest of the population in the Russian Orthodox Church seems to be
in decline.
THE EVANGELICAL, PROTESTANT "THREAT"
Meanwhile Russian Protestant, or evangelical churches (as they prefer
to call themselves), have experienced tremendous growth all over Russia
during the last decade. The number of believers in some congregations
is counted in thousands, while in other parts of the country, even
though the number of church members is not so big, the number of
evangelical churches exceeds that of Russian Orthodox ones. These
evangelical churches are extremely active in both missionary and social
work and their spiritual influence is increasing. The unity among them
is also growing and they are forming unions with hundreds and possibly
thousands of churches in membership. The evangelical churches are also
paying great attention to the proper training of their members and they
conduct seminars and schools on different aspects of Christian life.
All this cannot but generate concern in the officials who are oriented
solely towards supporting the Russian Orthodox Church. Likewise the
Russian Orthodox Church does not appreciate this growth of Protestant
groups. Acting separately and together, the government and the Russian
Orthodox Church are trying to resist this growth and turn the
population against the Protestants.
DISINFORMATION AND HARASSMENT
Most common means used by the government and the Orthodox Church to
discredit Protestants and stunt the growth of evangelical churches are:
1) Publications in mass-media that describe a certain Protestant church
or a group of churches in a very negative way in order to produce
disgust or fear in the population. Often the word "sect" is used, a
word that has had a frightening effect on Russian people since
Communist times. An example of this is the case of the Adventist Church
in Eisk, Krasnodar region, that has been the victim of a savage barrage
of disinformation in the media since 2003. The church has taken the
issue to the courts. On 3 March 2005 regional television reported that
the Adventist church uses the Satanic Bible, and that its letters are
written in blood and its cover is made of human skin. It was also
alleged that some 11-12 ritual murders are committed by the church
every year.
2) Groups of "committed" Russian Orthodox believers, sometimes led by a
Russian Orthodox priest, will organize protest pickets near the places
of evangelistic meetings or Protestant services with threatening and
insulting posters. In other cases such "Russian Orthodox believers" act
without a priest but claim to be moved by the noble feelings of
protecting Russia from "the spiritual enemies". The protesters will use
insulting words and even physically attack the evangelical believers.
The authorities of the Russian Orthodox Church withdraw from any
comments on such cases, thereby showing their tacit approval of such
actions.
3) On the grounds of some mysterious regulation received "from above",
Protestant churches are denied access to work in hospitals, prisons,
orphanages or army units, etc., places where they were previously
welcomed.
4) Churches that have to rent halls because they do not have their own
buildings find they are refused by the administration, or the renting
costs are increased to levels that make it impossible for church groups
to pay.
5) In the cities where Protestant churches are most active, seminars
are run on the threat posed by sects on the spiritual health of the
nation. These seminars are organized with the participation of "leading
specialists" of then Russian Orthodox Church and are held for the
benefit of University professors and students, religious specialists,
mass media people and representatives of local administrations.
6) In some places, so called rehabilitation centres have been
established for the victims of the sects. In these centers, priests
from Russian Orthodox church help " the victims" to be rehabilitated
from the influence of the sects. Such rehabilitation centers are very
attractive for the parents and other relatives who do not accept their
loved one's new faith.
7) In several big cities, before the Jesus film was shown, the
missionary departments of the Russian Orthodox Church distributed
leaflets warning of the danger of being involved in sects.
The list can be continued.
RELIGIOUS SECURITY DETERIORATING
Since August 2004 a series of events demonstrated that the religious
situation in Russia is deteriorating:
In August 2004 in Lyubuchani, Moscow region police used force to try
and stop a conference of unregistered Baptist Union churches. As a
result one of the church leaders was admitted to hospital with a
serious case of heart attack. A few weeks later the prayer house
belonging to the unregistered baptists in Lyubuchani was deliberately
burnt down. After the believers built another house the authorities
threatened to destroy it completely. (see link 1)
In November 2004 a seminar was conducted in Nizhni Novgorod on
totalitarian sects by a leading "anticultist" specialist of the Moscow
Patriarchate, Alexander Dvorkin. (Dvorkin is a Russian Jew who
immigrated to USA in communist times, converted to the Russian Orthodox
faith, and then returned to Russia at the onset of religious freedom in
order to fight against "the sects".) At the meeting he called upon
society to start a campaign of cleaning the city from non-traditional
cults. Among the cult groups he mentioned was the "Word of Life"
church. Later local newspapers published a series of articles with
slander about that church. Subsequently the church windows were
shattered by gunshots. This is just one consequence of such seminars
against the Protestant churches.
In November 2004 the Missionary Department of the Russian Orthodox
Church (MP) in Yekaterinburg distributed leaflets warning local
citizens against attending screenings of the Jesus film on the grounds
that the Protestant churches who organized these screenings are
"totalitarian and destructive sects", and that those who go and see the
film "will be enrolled into sects after a psychological treatment by
use of the method by Bill Bright".
In February 2005 an action was taken against Pentecostal Bishop Sergei
Ryakhovsky (also head of one of the biggest church unions in Russia) by
a group of Orthodox Church leaders who wrote a letter to President
Putin requesting that Bishop Ryakhovsky be exclude from the President's
religious council. They blamed him for spreading "neo-Pentecostalism"
in Russia.
In March 2005 the same scandalously-known anticultist Alexander
Dvorkin, and a Russian Orthodox priest Vladimir Zaitsev, were arrested
in Ekaterinburg by local police for organizing a non-sanctioned meeting
(a seminar on sects) but released very soon after. Zaitsev claims that
he was beaten by drunken policemen. Immediately Dvorkin and Zaitsev
blamed the local charismatic New Life church, accusing it of
controlling the police and local administration. The whole saga show
signs of being a set-up, or a case of provocation, because the
anti-sect seminar that was planned was part of the campaign aimed at
taking the church building from the church.
Immediately after that incident, church members were threatened with
beatings. After the Sunday service the believers were met by a protest
picket whose participants (among them priest Vladimir Zaitsev) were
cursing them, spitting at them, hitting them with newspapers, and
shouting at them, "Sectarians, get out of our city and our country!".
Cars belonging to church members were pasted over with Russian Orthodox
newspapers. The church leaders are very concerned about the situation
because in 2004 some of the church members were severely beaten by
pro-Orthodox aggressive youths.
The most recent event was a police raid on a Pentecostal church in
Izhevsk where they seized 70 believers after a prayer meeting and
Christian seminar for married couples. The policemen kept them in the
church yard and searched them all over, including the women. The church
building was also searched. The policemen were very rude and insulted
the believers, calling them sectarians and prostitutes. Forty-six
believers were detained and taken to police and interrogated. The
questions they were asked included: Who lured them into the sect? How
much money do they give to the sect? How much money does the church
leader receive? Why do you go to the sect instead of the normal church?
One believer was beaten for the refusing to answer the questions.
DEFYING SUPPRESSION, DEMANDING RIGHTS
There is a growing tendency towards the suppression of activities
regarded as "non-traditional" for Russian culture churches, especially
charismatic ones that are fast growing in Russia and have many
believers.
However, a positive tendency is also observed with Protestant churches
speaking more openly about the cases of religious discrimination. They
are appealing to the courts, to the President, and even to the whole
nation in some cases. The churches have become more active in defending
their constitutional rights.
In September 2004 the Ekaterinburg Council of Protestant pastors
published an open letter in which they accused the Orthodox Church of
provoking religious hatred by regularly organizing pickets near
Protestant places of worship and prayer. In October 2004 the Russian
Union of Pentecostal Churches published an open document on the threat
posed by those who stir up religious hatred in the country through
mass-media. In January 2005 a pastor of the registered Pentecostal
"Word of Life" church in Voronezh, and a group of citizens, wrote a
letter to President Putin informing him of the religious discrimination
occurring their city and the authority's resistance to building a new
church centre. In January 2005 a group of church leaders of
unregistered Baptist churches (Council of Churches) also wrote an open
letter to the President in which they expressed their concern regarding
the negative changes in the sphere of the human rights in the country.
In February 2005 a group of Old Believers for citizen rights published
an open letter to the government telling about such discrimination.
The churches are calling lawyers and seeking professional help in
dealing with cases of religious discrimination. The Slavic Law Center
helps Christian organizations defend their rights in accordance with
the law.
CONCERN FOR FUTURE
In November 2004, Patriarch Alexei appealed to society to resist the
spread of the totalitarian sects. His special concern was the work of
"false preachers and missionaries" who, he alleges, seek to divide the
nation through the introduction of different religions. About a week
later Patriarch Alexei and the Minister of Internal Affairs,
Nurgaliyev, signed an agreement on cooperation between the Moscow
Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of
Internal Affairs.
It is also interesting to note that in all cases where agreements are
signed between the Patriarch and the government, the signing always
takes place in the Patriarch's office and the name of the Patriarch
comes first, before the names of the government ministers. This is
something you might expect in a religious state, but not in Russia
where the Constitution decrees that Russia is a secular state where all
religions have equal rights unless they create a danger to society. Of
course, this is the reason the Russian Orthodox Church has been for
years now vigorously working towards getting almost all Protestant
churches in Russia (with an exception of Lutheran Church) labeled as
totalitarian and destructive sects. All this cannot but generate deep
concern regarding the future for many of the Protestant churches in
Russia.
As the political influence of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian
Orthodox Church grows, what expectations can there be for those other
Christian denominations in the country that have a long history of
suppression on the grounds that they are "differently minded"?
Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal
Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) www.worldevangelical.org/rlc.html.
This article was initially written for the World Evangelical Alliance
Religious Liberty News & Analysis mailing list.
Elizabeth can be contacted by e-mail at rl-research@crossnet.org.au.
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