2013
I did my best to copy Yolkin’s “autumn” colouring for the cartoon’s heading.
BMD
Sergei Yolkin looks at where people are going or are planning to go this week… students are going back to school, and voters are going to the polls, but Barack Obama‘s thinking about going to Syria.
6 September 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://ria.ru/caricature/20130906/961265411.html
2013
The title was a bear to “English”, as the original was И город возглавит… Возглавит город… I had to maintain the flavor of the Russian wordplay. I think that the above does that.
BMD
For the first time in ten years, the capital had the chance of voting in a direct election of its mayor. Turnout was 32.07 percent of the registered voters and officials have counted 100 percent of all ballots. Sergei Yolkin gives us his view of the proceedings…
9 September 2013
RIA-Novosti
Editor’s Foreword:
I’ve taken the Russian text to be normative for this post. That’s because VOR was expressing the MP’s take much more than the OCA’s. I compared the Russian with the English, and where the Russian differed, I inserted it to replace the English. Indeed, it’s a “declaration of war” on the part of the MP against the EP’s pretensions in North America in particular, and in the Church at large in general. Pay particular heed to the last paragraph. The fact that oca.org didn’t allude to this post or to what it expressed is clear evidence of the duplicitous deceit of the Syosset/SVS gang and their konvertsy allies.
BMD
Metropolitan Tikhon Mollard of all America and Canada (sic) said that the Russian Orthodox Church (sic) has a great deal to offer to the modern world. An OCA delegation participated in the celebration of the 1,025th anniversary of Christianisation of Rus. In a VOR interview, Metropolitan Tikhon shared his impressions of his visit to Moscow, Kiev, and Minsk. This was his second visit to Russia, but his first as OCA First Hierarch (he became such in November 2012). Vladyki Tikhon said that it was a real blessing to participate in the special jubilee celebration together with the heads of other Orthodox Churches, saying, “We’re filled with gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for the invitation to come and to serve with clergy from all the Orthodox Churches and also to venerate the holy relics and to visit the sacred places of Moscow and Minsk. It’s truly a wonderful opportunity to visit these places in person and to venerate the saints that we know very well and that inspire us in our lives as Orthodox Christians”.
The OCA is the newest autocephalous Church; therefore, it’s last in the list of the fifteen Local Orthodox Churches. To speak frankly, some of the ancient patriarchates, including Constantinople (EP), Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem haven’t yet recognised the canonicity of the OCA’s autocephaly. The OCA became an independent Church structure in 1970, when it received autocephaly from the MP. At present, Orthodoxy in America is gradually gaining influence, whilst its membership grows every year. Metropolitan Tikhon said, “There are many facets to Church life in the USA, in North America in general. Firstly, there is the ethnic diaspora, both the third- and fourth-generation ethnics, and more recent arrivals. Besides this, many converts come to Orthodoxy. They come from heterodox Christian groups, other religions, or from no faith background at all, finding the fullness of the faith in the Orthodox Church. As an example, a little over a half of our Synod Bishops is composed of converts to Orthodoxy, and our seminaries usually have about 50 percent of students who’re converts”.
Metropolitan Tikhon believes that the scale of the recent celebrations held in Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarus once again showed not only the unity of the Local Orthodox Churches, but also the deep respect enjoyed by the MP in the world. He thinks that people expect much of the MP, and that it does have much to offer, saying, “There’re several ways in which the MP can influence world events and society. Firstly, one should mention the robust missionary activity of the Russian Church, exercised over many years in the Far East, as well as in North America. As you know, the Church in North America owes its existence to the missionary activities of Russian monks. The strong missionary ethos of the MP is a very important and significant dynamic today. Another area in which the MP has certainly made its influence felt is its categorical stand on Christian and moral values in society. I think that it’s an exemplar for the rest of the world in how the Church and the Gospel of Christ should really be the foundation of society. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the MP have certainly been great voices in that area”.
In 2014, the OCA will celebrate a significant event, the 220th anniversary of the Orthodox faith in the Americas. Metropolitan Tikhon hopes that the other Orthodox Churches in the world will share its celebration with the OCA as the OCA shared the recent celebrations in Russia.
2 August 2013
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_08_02/Mitropolit-Tihon-Amerikanskoe-pravoslavie-objazano-russkomu-6201/
Editor’s Afterword:
The last paragraph bears repeating; it’s the meat of the core of this post:
In 2014, the OCA will celebrate a significant event, the 220th anniversary of the Orthodox faith in the Americas. Metropolitan Tikhon hopes that the other Orthodox Churches in the world will share its celebration with the OCA as the OCA shared the recent celebrations in Russia.
That is, HH is telegraphing his intention to visit the USA in 2014. No wonder that Jordanville is doing major restoration work and that major road work is going on around the monastery! “Metropolitan Tikhon hopes that the other Orthodox Churches in the world will share its celebration with the OCA as the OCA shared the recent celebrations in Russia”… that’s HH’s figleaf. You see, he’s not coming on his own nickel; he’s coming at the explicit invitation of the Local Church! Let’s keep this simple and focused… the MP claims North America as its canonical territory; it never gave up that claim. Put this together with Bart’s recent junket to Estonia (where he fawned on the local neo-fascists), one sees that MP and EP have taken the Great Game to a new level. It COULD result in a schism in American Orthodoxy… that is, an MP party and an EP party, both not in communion with each other. It’s a possibility… a nasty one, but there because of the EP’s stubborn intransigence and shortsightedness (such as naming a Greek to head the ACROD). It won’t be boring, that’s for certain.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Putin Urges USA to Back Syria Plan, Abandon Use of Force
Tags: chemical weapons, Middle East, Middle Eastern, Moscow, peace in the middle east, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Sergei Lavrov, Sergey Lavrov, Syria, Syrian Civil War, United States, USA, Vladimir Putin, Washington
______________________________
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s initiative to place Syrian chemical weapon stockpiles under international control would only be feasible if the USA and its allies pledge not to use force. Putin pointed up that it’s difficult to require any country, including Syria, to disarm unilaterally if others threaten to use force against it, adding that the Russian government “would work together with the Syrians and with our American partners. To reiterate, I hope that this would be a good step toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis”. Putin said that Moscow hopes that Syria would accept international control over its chemical weapon stockpiles and would join the convention forbidding the use of chemical weapons.
Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would soon put forward a “workable” plan for placing Syrian chemical weapons under international control, following up a day-old Russian proposal that’s shifted the international debate on military intervention in the war-torn country. Currently, Washington is contemplating a strike on Syria as retaliation for a deadly 21 August chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, which it attributed to Syrian government forces. The Syrian government blamed the attack on rebel forces, and Russia tentatively backed its long-time ally, whilst calling for further investigation.
10 September 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20130910/183343615/Moscow-Urges-US-to-Back-Syria-Plan-Abandon-Use-of-Force.html