21 July 2014. Pause a Moment… Помним и скорбим… Remember and Mourn

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It’s best that we not put up any new reports on the crash until we get some real intel. For now, it’s sufficient to know that 298 lives ended… 298 lives just slammed to a stop. One of my friends at the Centre said:

I don’t think that this was a deliberate shootdown. It could’ve been a terrorist attack completely unrelated to the civil war in Novorossiya (do recall the other missing Malaysia Airlines craft) or it was incompetence on the part of an untrained Galician missile crew. One of the costs of replacing professional officers with the politically reliable is that the chances of such a stupid accident increased exponentially. Again, I don’t believe that this was deliberate… however, the poor sods on the airliner are just as dead. Remember them…

I agree with this assessment. Remember the dead… say a prayer for them, pause a moment in silence. Look at the above image… the men gathering the bodies were battle-hardened opolchenietsy and tough miners… but you can see that he’s ready to upchuck… violently. This was a tragedy… it’s nothing to be made into a political football. The stench of death and decay is nothing to politicise. President Putin is correct… we should reserve judgement until the facts are in. Do note that the Russian government did so… the Uniate junta did NOT. Which of the two do you think was the responsible party? I don’t think that’s rocket science…

Eternal Memory… 

Вечная память...

Shed a tear for those lost…

BMD

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Legal Wrangle Over St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice Finally Over

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On Wednesday, Xenia and Nikita Krivoshein, acting as spokesmen for the Russian émigré community in France, told Interfax-Religion that the Russian government finally ended its legal battle concerning the property of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, stating, “On 10 April 2013, the Court of Cassation, the highest legal organ of the French Republic, announced that it completely rejected the complaint of the Russian Orthodox Religious Association (ACOR) of Nice (which claimed the cathedral: Interfax)”. Thus, the court ruled that the Russian state is now unequivocally the legal owner of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, “the law and simple good-sense prevailed over sectarianism and denial of reality”.

In 1923, ACOR leased the church for 99 years, and, in 1931, it passed into the jurisdiction of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). On 19 May 2011, a French court confirmed that the Russian state had legal ownership of the church property in Nice. Then, the Russian government decided to hand over the property to MP Diocese of Korsun for its free and unlimited use. However, the Council of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe continued to consider itself the lawful possessor of the cathedral. In December 2011, Sergei Bolkhovitin, a mid-level official of the Russian Presidential Administration, handed over the keys of the cathedral in Nice to its new rector, Archpriest Nikolai Ozolin.

Today’s decision by the Court of Cassation in France marks the end of the long litigation over the legal ownership of the Russian cathedral in Nice. Now, members of the Russian émigré community hope that the Russian government will move on its claim to other major church buildings erected in Europe by the Russian Empire. Nikita Krivoshein noted, “Most of them are in poor condition and falling apart due to the poor maintenance done by their present temporary users. One can only hope that the decision concerning Nice will serve as a precedent for the resolution of similar situations in Paris, Biarritz, and other cities”. He emphasised that this year’s Holy Week services “at the Russian cathedral in Nice won’t be overshadowed by any external factors”.

St Nicholas Cathedral is one of the most visited historical attractions on the Côte d’Azur. Built in the early 20th century, the French state added it to its list of protected architectural monuments in 1987. Beginning of restoration work on the building will begin this year, financed by the Russian state and private sponsors. At present, it’s anticipated that the work will take two years to complete.

10 April 2013

Interfax-Religion

http://interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=50771

Editor’s Note:

When the Parisian modernists lost the court battle over St Nick’s, it was their death sentence. The funds raised from entrance fees to the church were the backbone of the Parisian budget. Frankly, the Phanar may give the Exarchate parishes a choice… go under Moscow, go under the Greek bishop for their area, or go vagante. Remember, the Phanar rejected all the proposed successors to Gabriel de Vylder. In short, even the EP sees that the Parisian Russians are a bad bet, a rum lot, and “dead men walking”.

SVS kissed the arse of the Parisians since the time of the Schmemann–Meyendorff duopoly. Now, there are noises that SVS wants to go EP if the OCA goes under. If they do, they won’t have the independence that they’ve enjoyed up to now (let’s be frank… ADS & Co took advantage of the spineless-jellyfish poofter weakling Feodosy). The Phanar would make them toe the EP party-line unreservedly and without complaint, and that’s that. Just sayin’… do pass the popcorn, the show isn’t completely over, yet… Rue Daru IS next, after all…

BMD

Patriarch Ilya of Georgia to Meet Putin in Moscow

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According to sources in the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the First Hierarch of the Church of Georgia, Catholicos Patriarch Ilya Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili, will meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 23 January. Patriarch Ilya, who left for Moscow on Sunday, is visiting Russia to receive an award from International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations (IFUOCN) {editor: a paper “rotten borough” organisation with no real existence). IFUOCN grants awards annually to political and religious leaders, as well as public figures, for contribution to “strengthening the unity of the Orthodox Christian nations”. The award ceremony will be at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on 22 January.

Archpriest Giorgi Zviadadze, a Church of Georgia spokesman, told journalists in Tbilisi on Sunday before the Georgian Church delegation left for Moscow, “A meeting of the Georgian Patriarch and the Russian Patriarch [Kirill] with President Vladimir Putin is scheduled for 23 January”. President Putin sent greetings to Patriarch Ilya, who marked his 80th birthday this month and the 35th anniversary of his enthronement in December, and said in his message that Patriarch Ilya’s leadership of the Church of Georgia was “exemplary” and his contribution to strengthening of Orthodoxy in Georgia “invaluable”. Putin went on to say, “We highly appreciate your warm relations with Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church (sic). Your personal efforts, your calls for peace, love, creativity, accord, and unity have largely contributed to maintaining multi-century ties of friendship and mutual understanding between our peoples during a difficult stage of history. I’m sure that fruitful spiritual, cultural, and humanitarian dialogue will become a reliable foundation for further development of relations between Russia and Georgia”. Mikhail Shvydkoy, Putin’s special envoy for international cultural relations, conveyed Putin’s greetings during his visit to Tbilisi on 11 January, when he attended events in the Georgian capital marking Patriarch Ilya’s birthday and enthronement anniversaries.

21 January 2013 (MSK)

Civil Georgia

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25662

Editor’s Note:

Here’s the 64,000 Dollar Question… is Ilya going to meet Nino Burdzhanadze in Moscow? If he meets with her, shall it be open or covert? Now, that’s something worth knowing. The so-called Georgian Dream coalition only agrees on one thing… the toppling of Saakashvili. Ivanishvili has no political experience… he’s a rich “empty suit”. Georgian Dream includes factions that range from former communists to pro-Western Free Market lickspittles such as Ivanishvili. It simply is too amorphous to last… that’s why I believe that Ilya’s going to meet with Burdzhanadze in Moscow. She’s the only Georgian leader with any real ability and cred. This trip is proof that Langley’s efforts to make Georgia a reliable American lapdog have failed. Remember, Fathausen went to Georgia a while back… it appears that his mission was in vain (after all, he’s in thrall to the worst Russophobic elements in the US Republican Party).

We’ll see… Georgia’s in flux… and the USA is about to lose its only reliable ally in the former Soviet space. Shall Saakashvili survive? On the other hand, shall he end as an embittered second-rate émigré professor at a third-rate American college (with a “fellowship” at one of the K Street stink-tanks)? Time will tell us… I’d bet on the latter outcome…

BMD 

Patriarch Ilya of Georgia to Discuss Reconciliation in Moscow

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On Sunday, Catholicos Patriarch Ilya Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili of all Georgia will arrive in Moscow on a visit that could create a general background for progress in bilateral relations that have been almost non-existent since the two countries fought a brief war in August 2008. On Saturday, after Epiphany services at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, Patriarch Ilya said, “I’m going to Moscow to discuss issues that are vital for Georgia”. During his six-day visit, Ilya’s expected to meet Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias and with the Russian leadership. On Monday, he’ll receive an award from the International Fund for the Unity of the Orthodox Peoples {editor: a non-existent “paper” organisation} in recognition of his contribution to strengthening ties between Orthodox believers and Local Churches worldwide. The Georgian patriarch, a known strong advocate of normalising relations with Russia, maintains active ties with the MP.

On 11 January, President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Ilya on his 80th birthday and on the 35th anniversary of his enthronement, saying, “We greatly value your warm attitude toward Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church (sic). Your personal efforts … greatly helped in maintaining the centuries-long ties of friendship and mutual understanding between our peoples during a difficult phase of history”. Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia after its August 2008 war over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia lost one-fifth of its territory after the two republics broke away. Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream coalition won the 1 October parliamentary election, said in November that Tbilisi is restarting its ties with Moscow “from a clean slate”, but that restoration of diplomatic relations will be linked to the issue of Georgia’s territorial integrity. Moscow, however, rules out any negotiations on the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognised as independent states. Russian and Georgian official representatives held a meeting on 14 December in Genève in a first attempt to launch the reconciliation process.

20 January 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/politics/20130120/178897345/Georgian-Church-Leader-to-Discuss-Reconciliation-in-Moscow——.html