Voices from Russia

Metropolitan Lavr (Laurus) Mikhailovich Skurla (left) and Patriarch Aleksei Mikhailovich Rediger (right). Please, note how Vladyki Aleksei is discreetly holding Vladyki Laurus’ arm and supporting him. Was Vladyki in worse health than most of us knew?

Moscow, 16 March 2008 (Interfax):

Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia expressed his condolences in connection with the recent death of Metropolitan Laurus, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. “We pray that the soul of the newly-departed Metropolitan Laurus shall find rest in the heavenly mansions”, the patriarch said in a telephone conversation with Archbishop Mark of Berlin and all Germany, the second deputy chairman of the Holy Synod of the ROCOR. The press service of the Moscow Patriarchate reported that His Holiness expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the Holy Synod, clergy, and faithful of the ROCOR in regards to the recent passing of its Primate. He also noted the prominent role of Metropolitan Laurus in the restoration of the canonical unity of the Russian Orthodox Church after decades of tragic separation in the 20^th century due to the consequences of the Red victory in the civil war.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=23346 (in Russian)

Fr Nikolai Balashov, of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations

Moscow, 16 March 2008 (Interfax):

The Moscow Patriarchate thinks that the death of Metropolitan Laurus, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), Archbishop of New York and Eastern America is a huge loss, and that it was symbolic that he died on the day of the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

“Vladyki Laurus managed to complete his lifework. He became a part of history, as he united the ROCOR with the Church in the motherland. It is remarkable that he died on the very day that the Church celebrates as the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy”, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, told Interfax-Religion. “Of course, this is a huge loss for the whole Russian Orthodox Church”, he said. Fr Nikolai expressed his satisfaction that Metropolitan Laurus was able to visit Moscow last month, “and we clearly saw that he was happy because his lifework had been completed”. “He spoke much about the good things that the unification last year of our churches has brought to the Russian people abroad”, he said.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=23345 (in Russian)

New York, 16 March 2008 (Interfax):

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Metropolitan Laurus, Archbishop of New York and Eastern America, passed away on Sunday at the age of 80, the ROCOR official website reported. Metropolitan Laurus passed away on the day the Church celebrates the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

He was born Vasily Mikhailovich Skurla on 1 January 1928, in the village of Ladomirovo, in present-day Slovakia (then, a part of Czechoslovakia). He was ordained to the diaconate in 1950, and became a hieromonk in 1954. Fr Laurus graduated from Holy Trinity Theological Seminary in 1954, and was appointed its inspector in 1960. He was elevated to archimandrite on 17 April 1966. Archimandrite Laurus was consecrated bishop of Manhattan on 12 August 1967, and appointed Archbishop of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery on 20 October 1981.

In July 2001, he became the deputy to the Primate of the ROCOR, Metropolitan Vitaly Ustinov. Later, that same year, Laurus was elected Primate of the ROCOR and Archbishop of New York and Eastern America. Metropolitan Laurus was actively involved in restoring the canonical unity of the Russian Orthodox Church that was broken after the Red victory in the civil war. Metropolitan Laurus will be buried in the cemetery at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville NY, alongside previous primates of the ROCOR. The ROCOR administrative centre is situated at Holy Trinity Monastery.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=23344 (in Russian)

Authorities in Riga have approved a march by former Waffen-SS legionaries due to be held on Sunday.

These marches have become a regular occurrence in Latvia and neighbouring Estonia. Meanwhile, organisations opposing the glorification of fascism were denied permission to hold their own rallies today. Earlier, the Latvian Socialist Party published a statement strongly condemning any attempts to revive the Nazi ideology. The government, however, seems to completely ignore the fact that the notorious Waffen-SS divisions that operated in countries under German occupation during the Second World War were declared illegal by the Nürnberg Tribunal. Incidentally, Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is on sale without hindrance in any bookstore in Riga.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has repeatedly voiced concern over the idolisation of fascism in a number of European countries. In Fieldkirchen in Austria, a local ultra-right group and German neo-Nazis staged a gathering under the slogan “A Jew Was and Remains an Enemy”. In Germany, Udo Voigt, the leader of the extreme right-wing National-Democratic Party, announced recently, “Our time has come”. There are neo-Nazi groups in Hungary and other European countries.

Last autumn, Russia presented at the UN General Assembly session a draft resolution aimed to prevent the spread of Nazism and racist movements. It came as a big surprise when 33 countries, some members of the EU included, abstained from voting. A military expert, General Nikolai Leonov, told us how Russia could have acted in such a situation.

“We can discuss the issue in all international organisations, including the European Court in Strasbourg. Fascism can receive other names, but, its essence will always remain the same. All countries condemn this system, that is why we should be persistent to achieve our goals”.

Russian MPs have long been discussing a draft resolution to ban neo-Nazi factions from spreading their activity in Europe. Moscow wants the UN Security Council to accept the initiative and make the resolution obligatory for all UN members.

16 March 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=24278&cid=56&p=16.03.2008 (in Russian and English)

Metropolitan Laurus Skurla [1928-2008] fell asleep in the Lord today. If it were not for his bravery and vision, the reconciliation between the Church in the rodina and the Church abroad would have never occurred.

He passed away quietly, in his sleep. That was the way of it for this simple and unpretentious man. He would not desire fulsome eulogies or excessive grief. That is why I chose the Easter tropar, Khristos Voskrese (Christ is Risen), as the musical backdrop.

Vechnaya Pamyat, Valdyko!

I am still absorbing this news, excuse me.

from an ordinary Orthodox Christian,
Vara Drezhlo

New York, 16 March 2008 (ITAR-Tass):

Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), died in the American city of Jordanville, the Synod of Bishops said. A funeral service for Metropolitan Laurus was held at the Holy Trinity Monastery, a source at the American office of ROCOR told ITAR-Tass. The metropolitan died in his residence located on the monastery premises.

Metropolitan Laurus, Archbishop of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, and Aleksei II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, signed the Act of Canonical Communion that ended the split of the Russian Orthodox Church, at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow on 17 May 2007.

Vasily Skurla, as Metropolitan Laurus was known in the secular world, was born on 1 January 1928, in the village of Ladomirovo (aka Vladomirovo in its Russianised form) in Czechoslovakia. He grew up in a staunchly Orthodox family, despite the surrounding influence of the Roman Catholic Church and the pervading influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1939, aged 11 years, Vasily joined the St Job of Pochaev Brotherhood which had a monastery in Ladomirovo, and remained with them throughout World War II. In 1946, he emigrated together with the Brotherhood to Jordanville in upstate New York in the US.

In 1948, he was tonsured to the monastic life and renamed Laurus. The following year, he was ordained deacon, and in 1954, to the priesthood. By 1966, Fr Laurus was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was a lecturer at the Holy Trinity Seminary, attached to the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville. Fr Laurus was consecrated Bishop of Manhattan on 13 August 1967 and appointed Secretary of the Synod of Bishops. After the death of Archbishop Averky Taushev in 1976, Bishop Laurus was appointed Ruling Bishop, and later, Archbishop, of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery. In October 2001, upon the retirement of Metropolitan Vitaly Ustinov, Archbishop Laurus was elected by the Synod of Bishops to be the fifth Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and its Primate. Metropolitan Laurus continued to be the Superior of Holy Trinity Monastery, in addition to his other episcopal duties.

ITAR-Tass

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12482093&PageNum=0 (in English)

Editors’ Note:

Bear Convicted for Theft of Honey

The taste of honey was just too tempting for a bear in Macedonia, which repeatedly raided a beekeeper’s hives. Now, it has a criminal record after a court found it guilty of theft and criminal damage. But, there was an empty dock in the court in the city of Bitola, and no handcuffed bear, which was convicted in its absence.

The case was brought by the exasperated beekeeper after a year of trying vainly to protect his beehives. For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music. But, when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, the bear was back, and the honey was gone once more. “It attacked the beehives again”, said beekeeper Zoran Kiseloski.

Because the animal had no owner and belonged to a protected species, the court ordered the state to pay for the damage to the hives, around $3,500 US (£1,750 2,238 euros 82,684 roubles).

The bear, meanwhile, remains at large… somewhere in Macedonia.

14 March 2008

Paddy Clark

BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7295559.stm (in English)

The Organisation of Islamic Conferences condemned extremism and terrorism as incompatible with Islam. In a closing declaration after a summit in Dakar on Saturday, it also proposed a high-level dialogue forum of the world’s Muslims and Christians. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, told the gathering that Russia uses its time-tested partnership with the Islamic world for building ethnic, confessional, and cultural harmony in all parts of the globe.

15 March 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=24262&cid=45&p=15.03.2008 (in Russian and English)