EP Patriarch Bartholomew Wishes to come to the Ukraine for the Celebration of the 1,020th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia

The Baptism of Russia

Mikhail Shankov

2003

______________________________

EP Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis wishes to visit the Ukraine so that he can participate in the celebrations honouring the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia that shall take place in July and August. Previously, Patriarch Aleksei Ridiger of Moscow and all the Russias invited a delegation from the EP to join the festivities. In turn, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko personally invited Bartholomew “to head the celebrations”, according to a posting on the official website of the EP. (It should be noted that since Yushchenko didn’t clear his proposal with Patriarch Aleksei, the canonical hierarch of the Ukraine, his invitation is null and void: editor’s note) The Holy Synod of the EP, at its most recent session on 23 to 25 June, “after examining this invitation from the Church, state, and people of the Ukraine, in all due respect for their feelings towards their Mother Church that led the Ukrainian people to baptism, shall in response to this invitation send a patriarchal delegation headed by his ‘All Holiness’ (sic) himself”, the internet posting noted. (Bartholomew wasn’t invited by the Church and people. That would require an explicit invitation from Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan of Kiev: editor’s note) “This agreement is a sign of the importance and significance that the EP gives to the proposals of the Ukrainian President in connection with the celebrations of the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Russia”, stated Yuri Bogutsky, assistant head of the presidential secretariat of Yushchenko. He pointed out that Yushchenko sent invitations to participate in the celebrations of the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Russia to all the heads of the Local Orthodox Churches. “Soon, we expect that many delegations shall confirm their participation in the holiday festivities”, Bogutsky said. (Again, the parvenu Yushchenko has no right issuing invites to other Local Churches without the permission of the canonical hierarch. Anathema!: editor’s note)

Earlier, Patriarch Aleksei indicated his willingness to head the church celebrations of this anniversary. His Holiness hasn’t been in the Ukraine since 1997. Some time ago, after the MP learned of the invitation tendered by the Ukrainian President to Patriarch Bartholomew to take part in the celebration of the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, they reminded all concerned that according to canonical requirements, any valid invitation must proceed from the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias. “According to the ancient and universal church tradition, the First Hierarch of a Local Church does not enter the canonical territory of another Local Church without the permission of the First Hierarch of that Church”, said Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, the secretary of the MP Department of External Church Relations. He also noted that “nothing is known of this agreement (the invitation of Bartholomew: Interfax) of the Ukrainian government in either the MP or the canonical UOC/MP”. The MP Archpastoral Council, which concluded its business last week, was preoccupied with the interference of the EP on its canonical territory in several countries, including the Ukraine. The participants in the Council reminded the EP that it was inadmissible to alter the firm guideposts of inter-Church relations, noting that ignoring the canons would lead to “dangerous consequences for the unity of Orthodoxy”.

3 July 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25257

Editor’s Note:

Yushchenko and his schismatic and Uniate cronies truly stepped in it this time. Bartholomew of Istanbul, better known as Black Bart to most of us, is trying to hijack a celebration wholly planned by the MP. This is a church festivity, not a state affair; therefore, Yushchenko should’ve kept his nose out of this business. Black Bart is attempting to set foot on the soil of Holy Russia without the permission of its rightful hierarch. What hubris! What arrogance! How many faithful are on his territory? 10,000 at best. He is the head of nothing, and he is certainly not the “first amongst equals”, let alone the Eastern Pope, as his apologists constantly reiterate. Who is Yushchenko going to invite next? The Pope? God help us. Thankfully, Benedict Ratzinger has the brains not to get involved (one hopes). However, expect Yushchenko to invite Uniates. That’s insulting and quite beyond the pale. In short, Yushchenko and his Galician Uniate cronies mucked about with the wonderful festivities planned by Moscow. May they be thrown out soon, and may the godly banner of Holy Russia fly over Kiev again, the “Mother of all Russian cities”.

Rossiya, Ukraina, Byelorossiya, tri bogatyryam! (Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, three (united) epic heroes!)

BMD

In Kamchatka Court, Doctors Received Permission to Save a Little Girl’s Life, despite Resistance from Her Sectarian Jehovah’s Witnesses Parents

Doctor in the emergency room, not the present situation, but, it illustrates well the emotions felt by the doctors when the parents refused treatment for their child.

In a Kamchatka court, doctors defended their right to save the life of a six-year-old girl whose parents were against it due to their religious convictions. Early on Wednesday, the Procurator’s Office of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky received a message from Lukashevsky Regional Hospital of Kamchatka region that the parents of a six-year old girl refused to give their approval for a blood transfusion to their daughter, who was in the casualty ward with a serious cranio-cerebral injury, Assistant Regional Attorney Olga Filatova said Thursday to Interfax. The parents refused the treatment prescribed because they are members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect. Ms Filatova said their refusal was due to their claim that “their religious beliefs assert that such a procedure is harmful”.

According to an order from the Procurator’s Office and under the applicable family laws, the relevant guardianship and trusteeship authority approved the blood transfusion to save the child’s life. During the session in the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky municipal court, the girl’s parents and their numerous confederates continued to insist on their right to refuse treatment to the child, regardless of the fact that the girl’s condition worsened with every hour. The court decided that the doctors could immediately start a transfusion because it could save the child’s life. Now, the girl is in serious condition, but, her condition is improving. The Procurator’s Office started an investigation of the parents in view of the fact that they failed to perform their duties, which include the protection of their child’s life and safety.

3 July 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25271

Editor’s Note:

Sanity prevails. Blood transfusion is an accepted medical procedure opposed by no major religious group from Amish to Zoroastrians! The little girl’s life was in imminent danger, and the doctors were right to override the bigoted objections of the sectarian parents.

This shows the danger of sectarianism. All major religious bodies respect medicine and doctors, and urge believers to seek medical attention when needed. There is something wrong with a group that goes against this universal teaching. If adults wish to be nutters and hold squiffy ideas, that is one thing, but, to harm a child due to such is beyond the pale.

God bless the doctors and the court for acting swiftly to save the little girl’s life.

BMD

3 July 2008 (2). A Shot of Culture, if you please…

Buryat festival in Irkutsk

Buryat traditional archer

The Altargana 2008 Buryat Festival is opening in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, bringing together about 9,000 participants from Russia, Mongolia, China, France, and Kazakhstan. For the three days of the festival, Buryat performers, journalists, athletes, and artists will take part in song and dance contests and folk craft and athletic competitions.

3 July 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29193&cid=87&p=03.07.2008

Jury of the Russian Booker Literary Prize announced its long list of nominees for this year’s award

The jury of the “Russian Booker” Literary Prize announced on 2 July its long list of 23 candidates for the award. This year is the 17^th anniversary of the awarding of the prize. The short list of finalists will be made public on 2 October and the name of the winner will be announced on 3 December.

3 July 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29193&cid=87&p=03.07.2008

Timur Bekmambetov makes it to the top five directors

Timur Bekmambetov (1961- ), distinguished Russian film director

The Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov was amongst the five most famous directors of the world according to an announcement made by the Internet Movie Database. Mr Bekmambetov is famous for his films Night Watch, Day Watch, and Irony of Fate, The Continuation. His new film, the Hollywood blockbuster Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, was recognised as the top film last week in world distribution of motion pictures. The film was screened in 22 countries, with a premiere on 26 June, and collected over 84 million US dollars (1.969 billion roubles. 53.222 million euros. 42.126 million UK pounds) across the world in box-office receipts. Its box-office take surpassed 300 Spartans, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Hard Nut.

3 July 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29183&cid=51&p=03.07.2008

The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow ended its 232nd season

Aleksei Ratmansky (centre) with dancers of the New York City Ballet in 2005

The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow ended its 232nd season by staging a première, the ballet The Flames of Paris based on the music of Boris Asafiev. The theme of the ballet’s plot revolves events of the French Revolution. Aleksei Ratmansky, the art director of the ballet dancers’ group, reconstructed the choreography of the ballet using fragments of an old film of the play, which was produced by the great Soviet ballet master, Vasili Vainonen, in the 1930s. New dances have been created and the libretto was changed too. A love story runs against a background of historical events. Over 140 artists danced in the ballet.

3 July 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29199&cid=51&p=03.07.2008

Thursday closes a one-man show by prolific Russian painter Sergei Andriyaka

Summer (Mikhail Kozlov, 2003). Mr Kozlov is a student at the Sergei Andriyaka Watercolours Shool in Moscow. This work was painted when the artist was only 16, a great talent for the future. Slava k Rossii!

Thursday closes a one-man show by prolific Russian painter Sergei Andriyaka, an exhibition that marks his 50th anniversary as an artist and his big splash in Moscow. As many as 1,500 watercolours are on display, most of them depicting a variety of magnificent Russian landscapes. Mr Andriyaka, who is currently at the helm of a Moscow watercolour art studio, gave a master class during the exhibition. Remarkably, some Moscow Metro underground trains are emblazoned with his and his students’ eye-catching works.

3 July 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29228&cid=51&p=03.07.2008

Voice of Russia World Service

USA Lays Financial Foundation for Kosovar Sovereignty

Daniel Fried, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs said the USA would offer 400 million dollars (9.391 billion roubles. 254.4 million euros. 201.64 million UK pounds) to the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo. Judging by what Assistant Secretary Fried said, Washington expects its European allies to follow suit. Mr Fried said that much more than a billion dollars (23.51 billion roubles. 636 million euros. 504 million UK pounds) might be collected at a US–EU-sponsored conference of donor-countries, which is to be held in Brussels at the end of next week. This sum of money will enable Kosovo to get a good start, Mr Fried said.

To call a spade a spade, the USA and its partners are laying a financial foundation for the sovereignty of Kosovo. Their donations will be spent in an effort to build a judiciary, a police force, and other elements of the governmental structure of that self-proclaimed republic. They will also be spent in attempts to streamline economic programs in economically-troubled Kosovo. Kosovo is a stillborn republic. The years that have passed since its separation from Serbia prove that beyond doubt. Only Western aid and drug trafficking keep it afloat. Left to its own devices, a legally- and economically-troubled Kosovo would have collapsed long ago. It owes its bogus sovereignty to NATO, whose vision of the Balkans has no room for a united Yugoslavia or the legal successor to that country, Serbia.

Nadezhda Arbatova, an expert with the Centre of European studies under the Institute of the Global Economy and International Relations, sees those foreign-sponsored processes as a threat to the Balkans. In Ms Arbatova’s view, “any move for Kosovar sovereignty will, in the absence of a legal foundation for it, send tension up inside Kosovo and in neighbouring countries. Furthermore, because they incite separatism, these sorts of moves will exert an equally negative influence on the Albanian minorities in other countries”.

The US and EU strategy for Kosovo sets a dangerous precedent and, as Russian President Medvedev told journalists of the world’s leading industrialised nations, it will take Europe decades to eliminate their negative after-effects.

3 July 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=29210&cid=67&p=03.07.2008