5 May 2008. A Day at the Races…

Russia is first in team count at boxing championship in Helsinki

Russian heavyweight boxing champion Nikolai Valuev after his knockout of American Clifford Etienne

With four golds and one bronze, Russia was first in the team count at a boxing championship in Helsinki in Finland. Uzbekistan was second, and Algeria, third. 67 competitors from 11 countries took part. Russia’s boxers already have a ticket to the Beijing Olympics.

28 April 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26337&cid=52&p=28.04.2008

Zenit beat four-time European champion and tournament favourite Bayern 4-0

The Russian football club Zenit from St Petersburg routed Bayern from Munich on Thursday to reach its first European final, setting up a UEFA Cup meeting with Rangers. Zenit beat four-time European champion and tournament favourite Bayern 4-0 to win its two-legged semi-final 5-1, while Rangers beat Italian Fiorentina 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw to reach the 14 May final in Manchester, England.

2 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26506&cid=52&p=02.05.2008

Stormy weather keeps Russian yachtsman from charting course for Australia

Stormy weather kept Russian yachtsman Fyodor Konyukhov from charting a course for Australia. The only participant in the world’s first non-stop Antarctic yacht race, Mr Konyukhov covered almost 15,500 nautical miles (28,706 kilometres) since the beginning of February. He has 850 nautical miles (1,574 kilometres) to go before he drops anchor at the Australian port of Albany which is already decorated with Russian colours and welcome-ashore posters.

2 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26494&cid=52&p=02.05.2008

Team Russia pounded Italy 7:1 in Québec City

In Québec City in Canada, Team Russia pounded Italy 7:1 in their opening game at the ice hockey World Championships on Friday. The Russians are paying their second game tomorrow with their main Group D rivals, The Czech Republic.

3 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26526&cid=52&p=03.05.2008

CSKA beats Maccabi 91:77

The Moscow CSKA basketball club won its sixth Euroleague championship Sunday, claiming a 91-77 victory over the Israeli Maccabi side. CSKA beat Maccabi in the final for the second time in three years, and is two titles behind Real Madrid, which has won eight times.

5 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26607&cid=52&p=05.05.2008

Olympic torch arrives in China

More than 200 Chinese athletes, models, pop stars, celebrities, businessmen and the Chinese-American Hollywood actor Jackie Chan will carry the Olympic torch in the first leg of its tour of the PRC that kicked off today in the southernmost city in China, Sanya on Hainan Island. The Olympic torch will travel to 113 Chinese cities before it arrives in Beijing on 6 August, two days before the opening of the XXIX Summer Olympic Games.

4 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26557&cid=52&p=04.05.2008

Voice of Russia World Service

Editor’s Note:

This is the first of a continuing series, which shall appear about twice a week. Do not forget that the most popular newspaper in Soviet times was Sovietsky Sport, and Russians are still huge fans of sport, particularly football (soccer), ice hockey, boxing, and basketball. The Olympic sports have more of a following than they have in America. See you at the track… for it’s “a day at the races”.

BMD

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5 May 2008. A Shot of Culture, if you please…

Maestro Vladimir Spivakov opens his 5th international music festival in Moscow

The fifth annual Moscow music festival of Maestro Vladimir Spivakov running in the week beginning April 27 shall promote the message of the Year of the Family in Russia. Young prodigies from many nations will be performing at the Moscow Conservatoire, Moscow State University, and the Moscow Kremlin.

4 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26585&cid=51&p=04.05.2008

Russia shall have a pavilion at this year’s international film festival in Cannes

Russia shall have a pavilion at this year’s international film festival in Cannes in southern France. Soviet screen legends Tatiana Samoylova and Aleksei Batalov shall use the 12 days of the event starting on 14 May to promote the lasting achievements of the Russian film industry. Back in 1958, their movie, The Cranes Are Flying, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

3 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26548&cid=51&p=03.05.2008

NATO troops deliberately destroyed most of the remnants of the Bamyan Buddhas

Officials in Afghanistan say NATO troops deliberately destroyed most of the remnants of the Bamyan Buddhas, after these giant statues were blown up by the Taliban. This action was brutal and was a severe blow to the Afghani cultural heritage.

3 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26544&cid=51&p=03.05.2008

Voice of Russia World Service

When Brothers Dwell in Unity… Images of the joint MP/ROCOR service in New York NY, 3 May 2008

St Nicholas Cathedral (MP), 15 East 97th Street, between Fifth and Mad (accessible by the M1, M2, M3, M4 buses (uptown on Mad, downtown on Fifth, or, take the Lex Ave local subway (6 train) to the 96th Street stop, and then walk one block uptown and two blocks left (you cross Park and Mad), the church is on your right in the middle of the block.

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Patriarch Aleksei said “The Unity of the Church shall be the Principal Topic at the Next Archpastoral Council”

On 23 April 2008, Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all the Russias gave his Easter news conference to Russian and foreign journalists in Moscow. This year, Orthodox Easter is celebrated on 27 April. The journalists focused their attention on various topical religious questions in Russia; in particular, they wished to know the agenda of the upcoming Archpastoral Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is to be held in Moscow from 24 to 29 June 2008. The patriarch told the journalists that, first of all, the council shall review the events in the Church since the last such council, which was held in 2004. However, its principal focus shall be the unity of the Church, he said. “The common duty of the bishops, clergy, and, indeed, all Orthodox Christians, is to preserve the unity of the Church. Our strength resides in our unity”, His Holiness said.

Patriarch Aleksei was asked what the most memorable Easter in his churchly ministry was. His Holiness replied that the Easter that left the strongest impression on him was the one celebrated in 1945, when he was just a boy-chorister at the Cathedral of St Aleksandr Nevsky in Tallinn. “It was the first Easter celebration in the cathedral after a four-year hiatus. It is a particularly strong memory for me because I had taken part in the work needed to reopen the church”, he said. The Nazis had closed the cathedral after they had occupied Estonia in 1941.

Europaica 147

http://europaica@orthodoxeurope.org

Editor’s Note:

“The common duty of the bishops, clergy, and, indeed, all Orthodox Christians, is to preserve the unity of the Church. Our strength resides in our unity”. The maintenance of unity is not a matter for the clergy alone. It is the common work, the leitourgia, of all of us. In fact, we laity play a decisive role, arguably a role more crucial than that of the bishops and clergy, important and necessary as they are. Many Western converts still have a clericalist mentality that is baggage from their days in the heterodox confessions. I was told by one that I had to listen to everything the clergy said, for they had the final word in things! That may be perfectly good Romanism or Protestantism, but it “sure ain’t Orthodox!”

More than once, the laity, often allied with the monastics, saved the Church from wicked and compliant clergy. Think on the iconoclastic disputes, Arianism, and Uniatism. The laity led the way in the defence of the Church. If we had depended on the clergy, well, we would be Arians, Iconoclasts, or Uniates today. To give an example, in the Ukraine, powerful lay brotherhoods arose to fight Uniatism. They sent for priests from Russia, printed Orthodox books, opened Orthodox schools, and supported the Church with their money. If this had not happened, there would have been no Orthodox Church in the Ukraine today. This is still the case in the contemporary world. The faithful of the OCA have to take matters into their own hands to oppose modernism and autocephaly, just as the faithful Orthodox Christians of the Ukraine did to fight Uniatism.

It is time for unity. We are weakened without it. Do not listen to the voices urging “autocephaly”, for most of them are careerists defending their pay packets and the rest are honestly deluded fools. You shall gain nothing by a “dialogue” with such sorts. It is time to come home. Your place is waiting and we fervently desire your presence.

“How good and sweet it is when brothers dwell together in unity”. Amen.

BMD