Pope Francisco Spoke Against Encroachments on Integrity of Russian Church

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On Thursday, Pope Francisco Bergoglio said at a meeting with a group of Russian clergy that the Roman Catholic Church is in favour of the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the wake of Ukrainian President P A Poroshenko’s plan to institute an independent local [national] Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeyev, the chief of the MP OVTsS, led the group visiting the Vatican. The Pope of Rome said:

I want to confirm most of all in front of you, dear brother, and before you, that the Catholic Church will never allow an attitude of division to be born on its own. We’ll never allow it; we don’t want it. In Russia, there is only one Patriarch, yours. We won’t have another. Unification as a method isn’t acceptable in relations between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians at the current stage and only a sisterly dialogue between these two denominations of Christianity is possible. The Catholic Church, the Catholic Churches, shouldn’t interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, not even in political matters. This is my position and the position of the Holy See today. Those who meddle don’t obey the Holy See.

At the end of April, the Verkhovnaya Rada supported President Poroshenko’s appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis of Constantinople, who has the titular status of “first amongst equals” in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. He asked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant autocephaly to a “united” Orthodox Church in the Ukraine. The global Orthodox Christian community recognises only one canonical Orthodox community in the Ukraine… the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of to Moscow Patriarchate. Operating simultaneously are another two bodies, unrecognised by global Orthodoxy… the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of to the so-called Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In the meantime, experts and analysts say that Poroshenko’s aspirations received substantial backing from the so-called Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite), which is under the Vatican. Earlier this month, Metropolitan Ilarion told NTV that Archbishop (sic) Svyatoslav Shevchuk, the leader of the Ukrainian Uniates “repeatedly stated his support of the project for a unified Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church, while saying that the unity of this Church should be built on the successor of St Peter, that is, the Pope of Rome”.

31 May 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/society/1007457

Editor:

Francisco is telling the Uniates to cool it. However, they’re refusing to obey him. They’ve taken the CIA’s shilling for years; they more listen to Washington than to Rome. The Uniates don’t care what Francisco wants… their leadership are fanatics, as is the leadership of the so-called “Ukrainian Orthodox”. Ukrainian nationalists are evil… they push an agenda mired in falsehood and lies. The Habsburgs sicced these nutters on the world… the Austro-Hungarians have the blame for starting this kerfuffle (they wanted to weaken Russia… it led to their death camp at Thalerhof). Don’t forget, the Uniates blessed the SS, as did the so-called “Ukrainian Orthodox”. They’re unrepentant of that… hell, they’re proud of it! Ponder that… ponder it well…

BMD

Alfeyev Opens Big Mouth on Gender… It ISN’T the Teaching of the Church… It’s Only His Ignorant Opinion

This is Alfeyev with his Uniate pals… he doesn’t even hide his treachery to the Church… this is why HH won’t give him a diocese… he fawns on the enemies of Christ’s Church

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Illarion Alfeyev is opening his big mouth again. This time it’s about gender. Read this. This is NOT the teaching of the Church. It’s Alfeyev’s ignorant unsupported opinion. As he lacks any medical or scientific background, anything that he says is pure GIGO… rubbish of the highest order. Alfeyev is, perhaps, the most unpopular hierarch in the MP. Even the Kapalin brothers have more cred and tread. Alfeyev is only a patriarchal vicar… he’s just a vicar bishop with a white hat… HH refuses to give him a diocese, and outbursts such as this one are the reason why. Alfeyev panders to papists in general, to Uniates in particular, and to Evangelical sectarian boobies. Much of what he says isn’t official policy nor is it vetted by the Centre. He remains in his position because of his ties to certain oligarchs, to the papists, and to Westerners in general (he’s pro-American to a fault). He has no real basis of support in the Church in Russia, except for the clique around Shevkunov. However, expect the American Hard Right konvertsy to have a field day with this. I repeat… it isn’t the TEACHING OF THE CHURCH… it’s only Alfeyev’s idiosyncratic opinion. There are those amongst us who are worse than any outsider… Alfeyev is one such. Look at the image above… he kisses the asses of Uniates (the ones pictured are Galician Uniates from the USA… the worst sort of CIA stooges that you can imagine)… that shows the depth of his loyalty to Christ’s Church. What a loser…

By the way, the policy in the Russian Federation is quite similar to that in many American jurisdictions. If one presents legitimate medical documentation to the OVIR, the state changes the gender designation on one’s passport with no hassles or problems. So if you hear Amerikantsy Hard Right sorts blather about how Russia isn’t like the West… I’d advise you to take such with great scepticism. The Russian state listens to medical and scientific experts, not ignoramus loudmouths with no credentials like Alfeyev. Alfeyev embarrasses the Church yet again…

BMD

The Ukraine’s War on Orthodox Christianity

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The Ukrainian Verkhovnaya Rada is considering legislation that could lead to a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate (UPTs/MP). If the new laws pass, they’d allow the Ukrainian régime to ban churches, regulate worship, monitor church activities, ban missionaries from entering the country, and seize the assets of churches. The laws would only apply to churches whose ecclesiastical leadership was in what Ukrainian nationalists consider “aggressor states”. Russia is the only state that the Ukraine currently views as an aggressor. Not only is this an attack on the freedom of worship, it’s clearly a racially motivated attack on believers. Advocates of religious freedom all over the world condemned these proposals. The Ukrainian proposals would be totally illegal in the EU (which Ukraine seeks to join) as well as the USA. Previously, Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeyev drew the world’s attention to the oppression of Middle Eastern Christians at the hands of western-backed jihadist groups. He called the Ukrainian proposals:

It’s a full-scale war on believers. In the first place, these draft laws target the UPTs/MP. That’s no question; it’s obvious. These bills don’t even try to cover it up. The UPTs/MP would be under the submission of the Kiev authorities in a way that didn’t exist even in Soviet times.

Fr Andrei Zuevsky told RT:

Should state officials be given the right to forcefully eliminate religious communities, that’d be open and brutal interference into believers’ private lives. In Orthodox Christianity, personal faith is largely realised within a community, a church. When a government interferes in its life, it violates religious freedom.

An MP statement said:

The proposals threaten the constitutional rights of millions of Ukrainian believers; they may cause a wave of violence, new seizures of churches, and escalate the intercommunal conflict in the Ukraine.

Over 300,000 people signed a petition protesting attempts to destroy religious freedom in the Ukraine.

18 May 2017

Adam Garrie

The Duran

http://theduran.com/ukraines-war-on-orthodox-christianity/

Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeyev sez Court Ruling will Weaken JW Influence in Russia

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Editor:

Note who’s saying this…  Alfeyev was always cosy with Westerners (especially, papists), but this drives a wedge between him and his Western pals.  The Westerns get peevish when vexed, and they’ve decided that they’re going to defend the JW nutters.  I think that Alfeyev’s ambition is kicking in…  he lusts for the Patriarchal throne… but his pro-Western stance makes him the most hated of all MP hierarchs.  Paris has ALWAYS been worth a mass…  but will it work for Alfeyev or will he be another Dmitri Banditsky?  Only time will tell us…

BMD

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Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeyev, the head of the MP OVTsS told us:

The Church welcomes the ruling of the Supreme Court to prohibit Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activities in Russia, as it destroys the traditional family.

In speaking on The Church and the World on the Rossiya24 news channel, he said:

This’ll weaken the JW’s influence, but it’d be scarcely possible to eliminate it altogether.  One should hardly have any doubts these sectarians would remain and would continue their activity, but at any rate, they’d stop equating themselves with Christian denominations openly.  To paraphrase it, this product won’t be on the market of existing denominations of Christianity anymore.  This’ll save families and people’s lives, and I think a ruling of this kind is only welcome.  The JWs are a totalitarian sect that misinterprets the Gospels and, on top of that, they destroy families.  The real danger isn’t in their distortions of faith; the danger is in their being a totalitarian sect that focuses its entire activity on manipulating the human consciousness.  They destroy the human psyche; they destroy families.

The religious doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses prohibits blood transfusions.  In addition, members of a family can’t sit at the same table with any relative if, for whatever reason, they decide to leave the sect.  Metropolitan Ilarion said:

I think that we should hail the decision, but the Church didn’t take part in any way in its formulation.  No one asked us for our opinion.  In general, the Church never advocates subjecting heretics or sectarians or other dissenters to criminal persecution.  When the state takes such decisions, it’s a judicial decision finding that a sect engages in extremist activities.  The case in this situation doesn’t encroach on any religion in any way, but rather it treats with violations of the law.

2 May 2017

TASS

http://tass.com/society/944305