Pannikhida for the reposed served by Archbishop Tikhon Dorovskikh
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On Sunday, the website of the Diocese of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Kurils reported that a gunman opened fire in the Cathedral of the Resurrection {check out its site… where Communist Prospect and Komsomol Street intersect… that’s no lie, kids… who would’ve thunk it: editor} in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin in the Russian Far East, killing two and injuring six people. The man broke into the building at around 14.00 local time (14.00 AEST. 07.00 MSK. 03.00 UTC. 22.00 8 February EST. 19.00 PDT), firing several shots, killing a nun and a worshiper. Archbishop Tikhon Dorovskikh stated that others were in hospital with gunshot wounds in the legs, but their lives aren’t in danger. The cops arrested the attacker after the shooting at the scene, but no one knows what his motive was. An investigation is now underway. On Sunday, the SK RF said the attacker was in his 20s, and was a guard at a local agency. He faces life in prison if convicted. The suspect will undergo mental evaluation presently.
Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias served Pannikhida in Moscow for the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk attack victims and prayed for the recovery of the wounded, saying, “They died like heroes and soldiers on the front line”. He said the attacker was likely a mentally ill person and that people in the church had died as they tried to prevent him desecrating relics. The cathedral, which accommodates up to 450 people, is the main church in the Diocese of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Kurils. The shooting comes days after a teenager killed a teacher and a policeman in his school in Moscow.
9 February 2014
RIA-Novosti
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Nun Lyudmila Pryashnikova (on the right), a victim of the shooting incident in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
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The press service of the Diocese of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Kurils reported that on 9 February, at about 14.00 local time, an armed man burst into the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, firing several shots. Nun Lyudmila Pryashnikova and a parishioner of the cathedral (cops didn’t release the victim’s identity) died on the spot, and six people went to hospital for injuries. The police arrested the gunman at the scene. As reported by the Sakhalin Oblast SK RF, a Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk resident opened fire at the Resurrection Cathedral; the authorities opened a criminal case under Article 105 Part 2 of the UK RF (murder of two or more persons). Police know the shooter’s identity; he’s a man (born 1989) who worked as a security guard in one of the security agencies in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Investigators are currently examining the shooting scene, doing forensic tests to establish all the circumstances of the incident. Investigate the cause and motive of the crime committed. In the near future, the perp will undergo psychological and psychiatric examination to establish the state of his sanity. When he heard of the tragedy in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias served Pannikhida for the repose of the souls of the dead and offered prayers for the wounded during today’s service at the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.
9 February 2014
Patriarchia.ru
MP official website
http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3561926.html
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On 9 February, during the week of the Publican and the Pharisee, and on the day of remembrance of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, the Orthodox chapel in the Coastal Olympic Village in Sochi held Liturgy. During the liturgy, served by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the MP Synodal Department for the Coordination of Church and Society, assisted by Archpriest Nikolai Sokolov, the rector of the Moscow church of St Nicholas in Tolmachi {that’s on the grounds of the State Tretyakov Gallery: editor}, and Archpriest Nikolai Khlynin of the Diocese of Yekaterinodar and the Kuban. Olympic medical personnel and volunteers attended the service.
After the Liturgy, the clergy served a Pannikhida for those slain in the attack at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Fr Vsevolod said, “Often one has to choose the path of life or the path of death; that same choice faced the Publican and the Pharisee in the Gospel, the same choice faced the New Martyrs and Confessors of our Church. Indeed, throughout our history, from the time of the Baptism of Rus, many faced such a choice. Today, many people make this choice; some go to everlasting life, others carry out lawless works of death. We will do everything possible to realise the first choice, for this choice will decide the future of not only each person, but of our whole people (народа). After all, those are the only choices on offer… either on earth or in eternity”. Afterwards, the clergy prayed for the Russian women’s Olympic ice hockey team and visited the Medical Centre for the Coastal Cluster, where they met with doctors and medical staff.
9 February 2014
Patriarchia.ru
MP official website
http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3561939.html
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Cops identified 24-year-old Stepan Komarov, who served in the Naval Infantry, as their main suspect in the shooting incident today at a Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk church. Police sources told us that before this incident, where he shot eight people, he never had any serious run-ins with the law. His employer, Tsenturion Security, said that he provided excellent references and had a firearms licence. For them, the best recommendation was that he was in the Naval Infantry {an élite unit: editor} during his military service, with excellent training. The SK RF in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk said, “At the moment, he’s in detention. Soon, we’ll take the proper measures and book him. Right now, the investigators have him in interrogation”.
Nun Lyudmila Pryashnikova was one of those killed in the church. She came to Sakhalin to help her son. He came to Sakhalin two years ago to work with local indigenous peoples. By the way, she only took the veil late last year. Everyone said that Mother Lyudmila got on well with everybody and was very responsive to people’s needs. At the time of the tragedy, Mother Lyudmila gave her life to save others. She failed in her effort to stop the shooting; six people are in hospital with leg wounds:
- Irina Sidorenko
- Valeriya Klimova
- Igor Li
- Svetlana Ponomarenko
- Kira Voronina
- Olga Zavgorodskaya
Doctors said that none had life-threatening wounds; one of the wounded is already home from hospital. Mother Lyudmila and one other person died at the scene.
Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev prayed for the repose of the deceased and for the healing of the wounded. In the Cathedral of the Resurrection, the scene of the shootings, believers continued to come and go. Many came to bring flowers and light candles. At Vespers that evening, Archbishop Tikhon Dorovskikh of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Kurils emphasised the symbolism of it all. Today was the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia… people who suffered for their faith. The lower church in the Cathedral is open for believers; the upper church is not, as investigators continue their work.
The incident took place at 14.00 local time, during a service at the church. A young man (born 1989) burst inside, and opened fire on the clergy and believers. He shot several times at the cross on the Royal Doors, damaging it. Eyewitnesses said that the shooter screamed invective against Christianity and against believers. When the cops arrived on the scene, they nicked the perp. They discovered that he’d stolen the weapons from the security company where he worked. The shooter will undergo psychiatric evaluation presently.
9 February 2014
http://lifenews.ru/news/126844
Voices from Russia 
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