Patriarch Aleksei is troubled by Ukrainian Political Interference in Orthodox Church Affairs

His Holiness Aleksei Rediger (1929- ), Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias, First Hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate

Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all the Russias stated that the attempts of Ukrainian politicians to interfere in the internal affairs of the Orthodox Church were intolerable. “The schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy has arisen precisely because of the intrusion of political elements into church life”, His Holiness said in his opening remarks to the MP Archpastoral Council in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow on Tuesday. “Understandably, when there is a confrontation in society on religious grounds, the state cannot remain indifferent, since such a conflict threatens its stability”. The patriarch informed the Council that the Ukrainian president, prime minister, and other officials expressed their uneasiness concerning the situation in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in their talks with him. “Sharing their concern, I stated firmly on my part that it was intolerable for politicians to interfere in church affairs”.

In his opinion, the Ukrainian government could make a contribution to the settlement of the crisis by fulfilling their direct task to ensure law and order, especially by implementing court rulings concerning the recovery of churches taken away from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the MP. “The Church lives according to her own rules and sacred canons, and it is only through their unfailing observance that turmoil in the church can be ended. Any attempt at a de jure unification of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and schismatic groups without their repentance for the sin of schism is doomed to failure. The people of God shall not support such an artificially created Church, and there shall be a new round of conflicts between bothers of the same faith in the Ukraine”.

Patriarch Aleksei stressed that the pressure bought to bear today on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church to force it to accept autocephaly causes concern among many bishops, priests, and lay people. In particular, this is evidenced from the great number of appeals with thousands of signatures coming to His Holiness from all over the Ukraine. In them, the faithful ask the patriarch to defend the unity of the Church, which they cherish and which they are ready to defend even in the most trying circumstances.

According to His Holiness, the conditions of “incessant and furious attacks” by schismatics and nationalists against the canonical Ukrainian church “requires [of the faithful] a special courage, in order to fearlessly defend the canonical battlements of church unity”. Patriarch Aleksei concluded by saying, “We all are called to support our brothers in their podvig (exploit is a very weak translation: editor’s note). They must manifest fearlessness, since they are on the front-lines of the fight for Orthodoxy, for Church unity”.

24 June 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25091

Members of the MP Archpastoral Council Working Group Condemned Bishop Diomid of Chukotka, His Fate to be decided on Friday

Bishop Mark Golovkov (1964- ) of Yegoryevsk

A working group of the MP Archpastoral Council condemned the course of action of Bishop Diomid Dzyuban of Chukotka, but, his fate shall be decided by the entire Council. At their session on Wednesday, the participants in the working group “unanimously expressed their censure of the actions of Bishop Diomid”, Bishop Mark Golovkov of Yegoryevsk, the secretary of the working group of the Council examining the case of Bishop Diomid, told Interfax-Religion. At the same time, he emphasised, “It is necessary to wait in patience until Friday. Then, the Council shall make its decision on the future of the Bishop of Chukotka and assess his behaviour”. Bishop Mark advised journalists not to hype the tension around the issue concerning the future of Bishop Diomid. “You should not be led astray by partisanship or anticipate the decisions of the Council”. Bishop Diomid of Chukotka repeatedly made public statements in the past eighteen months calling for the separation of the Church [from the sinful world]. He also called for the end of all dialogue with the government or other religions and confessions, as well as rejecting active missionary efforts in the youth culture.

25 June 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25127

Dr Fyodor Uglov, Renowned Russian Surgeon, dies at 103

Renowned Russian physician Dr Fyodor Uglov [1905-2008]

The renowned Russian physician Dr Fyodor Uglov died in St Petersburg at the age of 103. He performed over 6,500 operations and won an entry in the Guinness Book of Records in 1994 as the world’s oldest practising surgeon. Dr Uglov was a great champion of healthy lifestyles.

Dr Uglov was a pioneer of many new international trends in surgery, especially in regards to operations on the lungs and heart. His book, The Surgeon’s Heart, became a bestseller. The surgeon, whose motto was “there are no completely hopeless situations, and there should always be a way out”, shall be remembered as being fearless by his colleagues. Often, he took on board cases that his colleagues considered hopeless, and completed the operations successfully.

In a well-known case, he was performing an operation during the siege of Leningrad during World War II and a shell exploded outside the window and the shock wave sent glass fragments flying into the room. Without thinking of his own safety, Dr Uglov bent over the patient to protect the wound. When the nurse told the surgeon that the explosion had made her drop the only clean scalpel on to the floor, Dr Uglov did not hesitate and completed the operation with a razor.

“The life of Fyodor Uglov won admiration across the globe; this veteran surgeon saved many thousands of lives”, said Vadim Tyulpanov, the speaker of the St Petersburg Legislative Assembly.

23 June 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

St Petersburg Times

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28740&cid=48&p=23.06.2008

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=26344

Rouble to Emerge as Regional Reserve Currency

President Dmitri Medvedev (1965- )

President Dmitri Medvedev believes that under the present conditions of global financial instability Russia faces the strategic task of making the rouble a regional currency. He said as much during his meeting with Andrei Kostin, the chairman of the board of directors of Vneshtorgbank, Russia’s second largest bank. Most analysts agree that chances for the rouble to become one of the world reserve currencies are higher then ever.

Dmitri Smyslov, a senior expert at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, took a look at the issue. “The current state of the Russian economy is quite favourable in terms of helping the rouble transform at least into a regional reserve currency in which other CIS countries and neighbouring states would keep their currency reserves. There have been some positive shifts in this direction. Of course, it’s hard to say when exactly the rouble will convert itself into a full-blooded reserve currency because this depends on a varied collection of circumstances. The main prerequisite is the removal of all barriers on capital flows between Russia and neighbouring countries. The second requirement is stable economic growth in neighbouring countries and their capacity to buy Russian goods. Other important circumstances include the opening of an oil exchange in St Petersburg where oil is traded in roubles only. These are the conditions that needed for the rouble’s transformation into a reserve currency, first, for the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and, then, probably, into a world currency”.

Vneshtorgbank President Andrei Kostin said the Russian banking community is already at work on fulfilling the tasks assigned to it. He believes Moscow is a real candidate for becoming a regional reserve financial centre. The rouble as a potential reserve currency is gaining more weight as the dollar continues to fall. The idea of creating regional currencies along with the dollar and euro is becoming increasingly popular with some countries. For example, Brazil’s initiative to build a regional currency union has met with enthusiastic support in Latin America. Similar proposals have been launched by a number of Middle East and Asian countries as they begin to search for an alternative to the weakening dollar.

25 June 2008

Vyacheslav Solovyov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28848&cid=57&p=25.06.2008

Moscow International Film Festival Discovers New Talents

The 30th Moscow International Film Festival offers a special programme featuring its best award-winning movies of the past three decades. It’s called The Happy Dozen. Despite the jubilee, the festival is devoid of pomp and hangouts having little connection to the cinema. It’s the organisers’ principled position, nothing in excess. The Happy Dozen presents masterpieces by Krzysztof Kieslowski, Aki Kaurismaki, Istvan Szabo, Armando Robles Godoy, Kaneto Shindo, and other renowned filmmakers, who came to the Russian capital to reminisce about the happy moments when the Moscow festival’s top prize thrust the doors to the international movie élite wide open for them.

A clip from István Szabó’s Father

Istvan Szabo recalled, “I was 27 when I brought my film Father to Moscow. It got the Grand Prix and suddenly there was a wide road stretching before it. This is my favourite film. I could change all my other films, but, this is the only one I would leave untouched. It opened many roads before me, and I am deeply grateful to Moscow for that”.

Trailer for A Tree Without Leaves (1986) by Kaneto Shinto… I couldn’t find Bare Island… Sorry

The Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shinto is another MIIF Grand Prix winner. “I came to Moscow in 1961 with my film Bare Island. This was an experimental film and the fact that it took the Grand Prix enabled me to set up an independent movie company and continue my work. The Moscow festival means a lot to me. Back then, I was 49, and, now, I am 96. It’s a great honour to be invited to the jubilee Moscow festival where my film A Teacher and Three Students will be shown”.

Trailer for Mirage by Armando Robles Godoy (1972)… I couldn’t find any videos on Alarcon.

The Chilean film director Sebastián Alarcón was studying in Moscow when General Pinochet seized power. He was shocked and decided to make a film about those events. His Night over Chile took the Grand Prix in Moscow. “The Moscow film festival gave me a ticket to life. Imagine me, a young fellow, a foreigner, winning a Grand Prix at a film festival in the Soviet Union! This determined my movie career and gave me a second homeland. I got an opportunity to work at the Mosfilm studio”.

25 June 2008

Milena Faustova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28849&cid=62&p=25.06.2008

Kharkov Pensioners Smash a Memorial Plaque to Slipyj, Chaplain to the SS during World War II

One of our honoured veterans from the 2nd Great Patriotic War

A crowd smashed a granite memorial plaque in the centre of Kharkov dedicated to Uniate “Patriarch” Joseph Slipyj.  According to the evidence of eyewitnesses, a group of “earnest pensioners” did it, the website of the Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on Wednesday. One of the eyewitnesses reported the incident to the police. Thus far, none of the perpetrators have been arrested. The memorial plaque was affixed to a house where the “patriarch” once stayed. Earlier, that building was a transit prison.

Slipyj was a chaplain to the 14 Waffen-SS Grenadier Division Galizien and the Special Group Nachtigall (a unit comprised of Galician OUN terrorists led by the convicted murderer Roman Shukhevich: editor’s note). He was arrested in 1945 and sentenced to hard labour in Siberia. He was released due to the intercession of the Vatican and settled in Rome. Slipyj died on 7 September 1984 in Rome, and his first burial site was there. His remains were transferred to Lvov and buried in a crypt of St George Uniate Cathedral in 1992 in accordance with his will. At present, the process of beatification for “Metropolitan” Slipyj is underway, as many Catholics seek his canonisation as one of their saints.

25 June 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25118

Editor’s Note:

This is one of those things that I would have LOVED to have seen. A bunch of old codgers, probably, all vets of the Great Patriotic War, got sick and tired of seeing a memorial to a Nazi collaborator in the centre of their home-town.

Policeman:

Gran’pa! Where ya goin’?

Old Codger #1:

We’re gonna rip down that plaque to that Nazi and I’m gonna !@#% on it!

Old Codger #2:

Yeah! That +@#$*& supported the creeps who killed my folks! Tfui! (hawks a loogie on the pavement)

Policeman:

I don’t see nuttin’. Be done in five minutes, or I’m gonna have to haul all of ya off to the slammer. Ya unnerstand?

There one has it. Obviously, there was a large, loud, and enthusiastic crowd, and only one reported it to John Law. If this is not a sign of the unpopularity of the Orangies, I don’t know what it is. Sanity prevails. ¡Salud! to the old coots that did this. There’s still life in the old dog, yet. Our Great and United Holy Rus still lives!

BMD