Bishop Mark Golovkov of Yegoryevsk Temporarily Appointed as the Chief of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations

Bishop Mark Golovkov of Yegoryevsk (1965- ), Acting Head of the MP Department of External Church Relations

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias ordered Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk to temporarily perform the duties of the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations. The First Hierarch announced the decision at a meeting on Wednesday with the staff of the DECR, which he had led for almost 20 years prior to being elected as the Patriarch. Over the past several years, Bishop Mark has served as the deputy chief of the Department.

“I will never be able to strike 20 years of my life out of my memory, this is why the DECR, the people who work here, and the agenda of this institution will always be close to my heart and will have an important place on my own agenda”, Patriarch Kirill told the assembled staff.

He pointed up the importance of continued post-graduate study on the part of the staff of the DECR so that they could carry out their work effectively. Patriarch Kirill emphasised, “The purpose of the staff [of the DECR] is to serve a special purpose within the entire Russian Church. Therefore, I hope that the Division will continue in future to be an incubator, so to speak, for the staff for our Church”. He also noted, “In the most difficult times of political and public crisis”, the DECR contributed much to the changes in the position of the Church in society. The Patriarch pointed up that the active participation of the DECR shaped the legislation regulating the activities of religious organisations, including the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations.

Furthermore, he emphasised the special role of the DECR “in breaking the blockade which existed in information space” in relation to the Russian Church in the early 1990′s. “First, we created a web page, not only the first official Orthodox website in Russia, concerning which it is unnecessary to elaborate, but, it was one of the first religious websites in the world. The website of the Patriarchate of Moscow and all the Russias predates the official website of the Vatican”, Patriarch Kirill noted. He went on to say, “We were the first to confront the ‘missionaries’ who came to our land to pull our people away from both Orthodoxy itself and those who followed our traditional Orthodox faith. I am speaking of our people who, for historical reasons, were non-believers. These ‘missionaries’ tried to convert them to their faith”.

In the words of Patriarch Kirill, the DECR formulated and proposed the concepts used in the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia with the MP. His Holiness also noted the contribution of the DECR to the creation of the Basic Social Concept of Russian Church and the Elementary Principles of the Russian Church on Dignity, Freedom, and Human Rights. Speaking about the future prospects of the DECR, the First Hierarch stated that the effectiveness of the work of the DECR “should in no way diminish”, and expressed his conviction that “the DECR should continue to play a major role in the life of the Church, just as it did for the more than 60 years of its existence”.

11 February 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=28795

Editor’s Note:

Imagine yourself in the St George Hall in the Moscow Kremlin… are you anticipating another awards announcement? If you are, you are correct. The muffled drums are beating; the trumpeters are ready to sound the fanfare. This is a MOST special occasion. Today, the Interfax English translator is receiving the Grand and Exalted High and Honourable Order of the Big Green Weenie (First Class with Diamond Clusters).

THEY ONLY TRANSLATED THE FIRST PARAGRAPH!  PARAGRAPHS 2, 3, AND 4 WERE TOTALLY OMITTED!

Boy-oh-boy, whoever is the English translator at Interfax has worked out a hustle for themselves! They don’t translate the whole thing; they only pick and choose, like a happy-clappy American evangelical! Where is Albert Pierrepont when we need him… drat it, he’s dead… just when we need him to hang this idiot high from the tallest tree (for those not in the know, Albert Pierrepont was a famous English hangman).

This is an interesting piece of news. There are two main competitors for the post of the head of the DECR. One is Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, the MP Representative to the European International Institutions. The other is Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the zamglavy (assistant head) of the DECR. You could not imagine two more disparate personalities if you tried for a month of Sundays. Hilarion Alfeyev is an intellectual, quite the lion of more “liberal” church circles. Fr Vsevolod is a down-to-earth stump-puller. Bishop Hilarion is rather pro-Roman, Fr Vsevolod is considerably more sceptical of the papists and their promises (as well he should be, I might add). Bishop Hilarion has ambition pouring out of his every pore, whilst Fr Vsevolod is an experienced down-and-dirty bureaucratic blackjack fighter.

In short, this appointment means that Kirill is stymied at the moment. Apparently, the two camps are equal; he doesn’t wish to antagonise either faction at this point. So, he is placing a moderate placeholder in charge. This is a good sign. It shows that Kirill cuts to the middle when there is a dispute. It also means that he is going to keep a firm rein on the DECR. If either Bishop Hilarion or Fr Vsevolod were made the head, either man is capable of turning the DECR into a personal powerbase. Furthermore, it means that neither party is going to be sulking. Apparently, there is something big in the works that Kirill does not wish queered by internecine feuding. Stay tuned, kids, same bat time, same bat channel… it bids fair to be INTERESTING.

BMD

Fr Vsevolod Chaplin says that People without signs of Consciousness can be Taken off Artificial Life Support in Some Cases

No end-of-life decision is ever easy or clear-cut. I refuse to judge Signore Englaro. He did what he believed was best. It is best not to make any comment on him, no, one can only pray that he receives peace and God’s mercy…

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, believes that artificial preservation of physical functions of people who linger for years in a persistent vegetative state may be unjustified. “No doubt, there are cases when it is not clear whether a soul still remains in the body, when the body has not shown any signs of conscious life for many years, even though some of its functions can be artificially supported. Perhaps, in such cases, there’s no sense to artificially support bodily functions for such a long time with complicated equipment”, Fr Vsevolod told our Interfax-Religion correspondent on Tuesday. “However, first of all, the things I have mentioned have nothing in common with so-called euthanasia”, he emphasised, and he went on to say that he was against the distinction made by some between “active” and “passive” euthanasia, and that he only considered euthanasia what is called “active euthanasia” (speeding-up a patient’s death on his request or that of his relatives: Interfax).

Thusly, he commented on the case of Eluana Englaro, 38, in Italy, who was in a coma for seventeen years, and, recently, was removed from life-support devices. Her doctors claimed that her condition was irreversible. Besides, Ms Englaro’s father obtained a court order and was given the right to switch off her life-support system. Fr. Vsevolod pointed up, “The Christian outlook has always taught people neither to anticipate their death nor to forcefully keep alive a person who has definitely transited to the other world. A Christian remembers that the most important and real life starts beyond the limits of this world, when a person worthily faces the end of his temporal life, with repentance, prayer, and readiness to meet God. So, it’s not customary to artificially preserve life in his body when he doesn’t show any signs of conscious life. It is not in Christian tradition, our predecessors have never done this”, he stated.

Speaking on euthanasia, Fr Vsevolod reminded us that the Orthodox Church “unequivocally condemns it as a sin, which is connected with murder and suicide. When a man who is given life, and he rejects this gift, he throws down a challenge to God. When one person helps another person to commit suicide, this is contrary to our whole moral nature, and not even unbelievers find it easy to discuss this topic. Legitimising so-called euthanasia is especially dangerous in countries where doctors are negligent and issue incorrect diagnoses”.

However, it is more serious, he acknowledged, to observe situations where “family members and physicians encourage people to think about suicide, and, sometimes, it pushes a person to think, ‘Well, why should I cause torment to others, and make them spend money for medicines for me? I’m terminally ill, isn’t it better to solve all these problems in one fell swoop?’” Fr Vsevolod thinks that “our society is deeply guilty of the fact that it allows this thought to arise in the minds of sick and suffering people and it allows them to dwell on this. From such thoughts, it is not a far road to the imposition of the pseudo-culture of euthanasia, that is, it shall force a situation where people will be compelled willy-nilly to put an end to their lives, if they prove to be useless in practical terms. We know of such examples from the pagan world. Really, does humanity want to return to that practise?” Fr Vsevolod asked us.

10 February 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=28771

Editor’s Note:

Paragraphs 3 and 4 are missing in the Interfax English translation on their website. In this case, these paragraphs are where the rubber truly hits the road for Fr Vsevolod’s argument. This is CRIMINAL. This is LAZY. This is beyond all words.

FOR SHAME, INTERFAX!

This is a Big Green Weenie Award of the Highest Level, with added embellishments, no less. This topic required a complete and rigorous translation. It did not receive such.

I can only shake my head in disbelief…

BMD

Fr Georgy Ryabykh Believes that the Advocates of Legalising Euthanasia shall Impose a “New Totalitarianism” on Society

Never forget that we are not talking about soul-less cyphers, we are talking about unique human beings, each with their own identity and their own life,  a life to be cherished and protected!

The Moscow Patriarchate opposes euthanasia as “just another form of suicide”. “Proposals to legalise euthanasia are nothing but a flight from freedom. It’s strange to hear such appeals to new forms of totalitarianism, to impose a certain attitude to a new form of suicide at the legislative level from some human rights advocates”, Fr Georgy Ryabykh, the acting Secretary of the MP Department for External Church Relations told an Interfax-Religion correspondent on Tuesday. He believes that advocates of euthanasia, in reality, “push people to commit suicide”, whereas today there is a principle of “voluntary choice” on the question. According to Fr Georgy, when the Church refuses to accept euthanasia and considers it “a form of suicide”, thus, it “expresses a greater respect for human freedom than do some human rights advocates, who demand legislative authorisation for this action”.

He pointed up that contemporary legislation doesn’t prohibit euthanasia, people themselves make their decision whether to commit suicide or not, and, consequently, “some countries, including prosperous ones, are concerned with the increasing number of suicides”. However, the Church’s position, Fr Georgy believed, “appeals to the human conscience. If the right to euthanasia is secured, it will impose certain restrictions on society. For example, doctors will be obliged to carry it out according to the law, even if they don’t wish to do so. Besides, if we bring this question into the legal sphere, we provoke and support the tendency to suicide in society”, he stated. Fr Georgy urged us to remember that “the Church always speaks against supporting any kind of evil or sin, and the question of preserving human life or not should be settled outside of the legal field and it should remain in the realm of each person’s conscience. Thus, we will secure more freedom for people than what some human rights advocates suggest”, he concluded.

10 February 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=28762

Fr Nikolai Rehbinder of the Paris Jurisdiction Hopes that Patriarch Kirill shall Unite the Russian Parishes in Western Europe into One Body

Andrei Dmitrievich Schmemann (1921-2008), founder of the loyalist organisation OLTR, defender of Church Tradition, identical twin brother of Aleksandr Dmitrievich Schmemann. The light and the darkness, indeed! Vechnaya pamyat, rab bozhii Andrei!

Fr Nikolai Rehbinder, the Rector of the of Meeting of the Holy Virgin into the Temple in Paris, and head of the Russian Student Christian movement, agrees with the intent of Patriarch Kirill to change the status of the Russian parishes in Western Europe. “I wish that the idea of establishing a single self-governed Russian Church in our countries, as some have suggested, should be revived. We need to address this question yet again. We must do it for the welfare of the Orthodox Church in our region”, Fr Nikolai told the RFI radio station when he was asked what he expected from the new Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. In his opinion, self-governance is not “an end in itself”, but, only “a transitional and better-organised structure on the way to establishing a Local Church”.

Fr Nikolai noted, “If people have settled in our countries, they should gradually establish a Local Church with a structure that will include everyone. There will be Russian parishes, Greek parishes, Serbian, Romanian, and French ones, all included in one Local Church. This is the future”. He also noted that Russian Orthodox believers residing in Western Europe “have always been attracted by the Russian Church and always understood and loved it. Our fathers always considered themselves Russians belonging to the Russian Church. We were under jurisdiction of Constantinople only for external reasons. It was always considered a temporary thing”, Fr Nikolai said.

9 February 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=28736

Editor’s Note:

Fr Nikolai is related to Seraphim Rehbinder, the head of the OLTR, an organisation banding together the members of the so-called Paris Jurisdiction who are loyal to the true Church tradition and faithful to their Russian roots. It should also be noted that the OLTR was founded by Andrei Dmitrievich Schmemann, the loyal identical twin brother of the heretical Aleksandr Dmitrievich Schmemann. Betcha that SVS did not tell you about Andrei Dmitrievich and his ardent efforts in defence of Church Tradition, did they?

In short, it appears as if this misbegotten body in Paris is ready to fall apart. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. They use the same nasty tactics as the Syosset/SVS mafia, and they deserve the same fate. Their tactics are beneath contempt, and they were put in place by Aleksandr Dmitrievich Schmemann.

Bishop Job Osacky of Chicago typified this attitude by saying, “You do not agree with me. That means you are not with me. That means you don’t like me. That means you are against me. That means you’re out to get me. That means you are attacking me. That means I have to destroy you”. Vladyki Job showed his utter frustration with such people by saying, “But, my friends, our reality has shown that the exchange would not take place. The second person would never have been given the opportunity to respond, and the attack by the first person, with the motive of character assassination would begin. And, my sisters and brothers, there would be no opportunity for discussion, for dialogue, or for compromise. This scenario was repeated again and again, and continues today, and has become the basis for promoting personal agendas and lusting after power and authority. Is this noble; is it righteous; is it Christian? Can it ever be justifiable as being ‘for the good of the Church?’ God forbid! And may He help us all, because this is how we’ve been operating in the Holy Synod and Central Church Administration for years, and we are slow to adopt an alternative”.

Add to this the disgusting episode of the so-called “Orthodox theologian” Olivier Clément receiving papist communion without repentance (and basically accepting papal supremacy), one can see that the Paris body must go. The sooner, the better.

BMD