Bishop Nestor Sirotenko of Korsun Commented on Mayor Bertrand Delanoë’s Recent Remarks on the New Russian Orthodox Spiritual Centre in Paris

______________________________

Strife made the monkey chew hot peppers.

African Proverb

******

The newspaper Le Parisien contacted Bishop Nestor Sirotenko of Korsun, the head of the MP diocese in France, to comment on a statement made recently by the Mayor Bertrand Delanoë of Paris about the projected Russian Orthodox spiritual centre in the capital of France. Bishop Nestor said, “In this regard, we aren’t surprised because we knew his position, which is based upon his architectural tastes. However, we’re grateful to him for having supported the project of a Russian cultural centre in Paris”. Vladyki Nestor spoke about the negative reactions of some to the projected design of the centre, saying, “Wherever you go, you’ll find those who don’t like innovative designs”.

1 March 2012

Pravoslavie.ru

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/news/51903.htm

Editor’s Note:

Vladyki Nestor decided not to throw petrol on the fire in this situation. Everybody knows the “real” reason for M Delanoë’s comments. He’s pissed off because St Petersburg just passed a law restricting the propagation of homosexuality amongst minors. That’s all… it restricts nothing between consenting adults. M Delanoë supports the Radical Gay Agenda and that’s that. He’s going to make pot-shots for a while until he finds a new hobby-horse to ride. Vladyki Nestor is going to follow Br’er Fox and “lie low”… he’s not going to be like Paffhausen, Moriak, and Dahulich, who emulate Br’er Rabbit, who like to “punch the Tar-Baby”. I much prefer Vladyki Nestor’s way, don’t you?

BMD

Advertisement

Russians are Becoming “More Orthodox”

_____________________________

According to a poll taken by the all-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM), over the past 16 years, the proportion of Russians attending services increased from 57 percent to 71 percent. VTsIOM said that the results indicate that 7 percent attend services at least once a month, 30 percent attend occasionally, and 34 percent go sporadically. The number of those who never attend services fell from 42 percent to 26 percent. Amongst those baptised Orthodox, the proportion of those who attend services is 83 percent. At the same time, 11 percent of unbelievers said that they occasionally went to church. According to VTsIOM, 33 percent of respondents received charitable aid at one time or another, whilst 29 percent donated money to the church. VTsIOM took the poll on 18-19 February 2012; they interviewed 1,600 people in 138 locations in 46 Russian oblasts and republics.

1 March 2012

Pravoslavie.ru

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/news/51900.htm

Editor’s Note:

This is BIG NEWS. As Fr Vsevolod Chaplin stated recently, its cause for celebration when 5 percent keep the Lents, for only priests’ families did so in Soviet times. If you gauge this result by what was current in 1986, when the revival began, it’s time to break out the bubbly. It’s major when one sees that KP and RIA-Novosti run full-colour supplements on the Lenten rules. Catholic and Protestant bishops in Western Europe would LOVE to have this level of participation. An American RC priest said to me, when I asked him about the level of participation of RCs at mass, “About one in six attend mass regularly, once a month. Only about 1 to 2 percent attend every Sunday. Our churches would be packed to the gills if everyone attended all the time”. Take all konvertsy caterwauling about “perfect attendance” with a block of salt. Most people choose to attend services as they will… and the figures show that about half aren’t “Christmas and Easter Christians”. That’s pretty good. God smiles… so should we.

BMD