What are the traditional religions? The main ones are Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. In addition, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and real Russian Baptists (not the phoney American imports) are considered legit faiths. Orthodox Schismatics, Uniate Catholics, JWs, Mormons, Sectarians, Pentecostalists, and Old Ritualists are outside the ambit of “Traditional Religion” (JWs and Mormons are rightly suppressed by the state).
______________________________
Rav Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, recognises the value of the cooperation he receives from the Moscow Patriarchate and looks forward to its further development. “The patriarch fully understands our problems, and the cooperation that exists today between our religions is very warm and genuine, not only in words, but in deeds”, Rav Lazar told reporters after a meeting with Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias in Moscow on Tuesday. In particular, he pointed up that rabbis and Orthodox priests served together in the army and prisons. He expressed the hope that “with the Patriarch’s blessing”, Orthodox and Jews would “carry out even more good work together” for the benefit of our people. Rav Lazar went on to say that the Patriarch “appreciates what the Jewish community does today in Russia, as it constantly evolves [in approach”. He regretted that “there are radical forces who don’t want to see such cooperation between us. We see how the Church is vigorously growing, it’s a good sign for all of us… when one religion is growing, it’s a sign that all of us should progress”, he said. For Jews, it’s important to see that, “despite the fact that this is a mostly Orthodox country, there is much respect shown to all the traditional religions”, he added.
In turn, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the MP Synodal Department for Church and Society, said after the meeting that they discussed plans for joint activities under the auspices of the Inter-Religious Council of Russia and “other areas where the traditional religions interact”. He said, “We also plan to study the possibility of joint participation of members of traditional religious communities in coping with natural and man-made disasters”. He also told us that both sides expressed satisfaction with the progress of the experimental programme in teaching basic religious culture and ethics in secular schools, “it was noted that it didn’t lead to any ethnic and religious conflicts” and that the implementation of this course contributed to the spiritual and moral formation of students. Fr Vsevolod noted with satisfaction the development of interaction between the traditional religions in the Armed Forces, in assisting with the patriotic and moral education of military personnel.
16 November 2010
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=38256
Voices from Russia 
You must be logged in to post a comment.