| FROM A HELSINKI GROUP TO WORLDWIDE HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING At first the activities of US Helsinki Watch Committee were limited to issuing annual reports on human rights observation in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Treaty countries and also to issuing statements on concrete persecutions and arrests of human rights activists (especially members of Helsinki groups) in these countries. The staff of US Committee grew relatively slowly. At the beginning of 80s the number of its members wasn’t more than 10; except above mentioned a multimillionaire M. Bernard Aidinoff, lawyers Roland R. Algrant, Charles E. Biblowit and Russell Karp joined the group. The practical activities of the group were conducted by Catherine Fitzpatrick, an excellent Russian-speaker. The International Conference of Helsinki groups, which took place in fall of 1982 in Alpine resort near Como, Italy, was a very important event in the process of internationalization of human rights defense. Among the participants there were not only such human rights activists as L. M. Alekseeva of Moscow Helsinki Group and Jeri Laber of US Helsinki Watch, but such well-known liberal leftist political and social activists of Europe and America as French philosopher Pierre Emmanuel and Jiri Pelikan, who was a head of Czechoslovak television in the times of the Prague Spring (Among the guests of the Conference there was also an author of this article). One of the topics of the Conference held in David Rockefeller’s villa was a discussion of above mentioned “double standard” policy conducted by Reagan’s administration. The “answer” of “liberals-realists” to such a policy was the establishment of a new human rights organization, a filial of US Helsinki Watch, with its mission of monitoring human rights violations in Latin American countries – Americas Watch. A Wall Street lawyer and the vice president of US Helsinki Watch Adrian W. DeWind became the first Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Americas Watch. After Como Conference which set forward a task to organize human rights defense worldwide, not to be limited to the criticism of Socialist countries, Robert L. Bernstein and his US Helsinki Watch colleagues began to establish branches “responsible” for concrete regions of the world. |
| 374 In other words, the EOC continued to straddle both sides of the Protestant-Orthodox divide, accepting Orthodox clergy but still believing they could be accepted as a fully Orthodox group and integrated into the Orthodox Church. The trip to Constantinople, as recounted above, proved to be a disaster. Indeed, it would be difficult to find another contemporary example of the Orthodox Church displaying a less welcoming response to an interested group of Christians seeking to enter the Orthodox Church. As we have seen, though, Gillquist was told the Greeks did not trust the EOC to integrate properly and we also know the Greeks had learned of some of the authoritarianism within the EOC, a fact that seems to have affected the Greek response even though Bishop Maximos dialogued with the EOC after learning of this. 375 This left the EOC dejected. Gillquist used the word «despair.» 376 Upon their return to America, the disappointed group met with Archbishop Iakavos at Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. The archbishop informed them there was no plan to bring them into the Greek Orthodox Church as a group. 377 The EOC had refused to let go of their restorationist ideals when dealing with the OCA, the NAE, and the Ecumenical Patriarch. Doing so had led to their humiliation in Constantinople. They were running out of options. Despite their dejection, and likely out of desperation, they followed through with a previously scheduled meeting with Metropolitan Philip, the leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, which was under the Patriarch of Antioch, Patriarch Ignatius IV, whom they also met. 378 The meeting proved to be the beginning of a close relationship though contrary to Gillquist " s published narrative, more work had yet to be done. Gillquist wrote that Metropolitan Philip requested a report from them on how they would like to enter the Church, which they then wrote and gave to him. 379 In his efforts to overemphasize Philip " s role in the EOC conversion, Gillquist omitted a key series of events, indeed perhaps the series of events that finally made their conversion possible, on a practical level. |
| Atheism-as-phobia repeats the common features of phobias in general, whether national or confessional, and the similarity of this kind of atheism with anti-Semitism, for example, has been frequently remarked upon. A certain group of people is declared to be the source of all misfortune and calamity and a great threat to society; the history of this group is described as criminal; and the more repellant members of this group (“the Jewish commissar,” “the Islamic terrorist,” “the greedy televangelist,” “the depraved monk”) are put forward as typical representatives characteristic of the group as a whole. I have seen an intelligent, gentle preacher of atheism who was himself horrified by seeing how the people listening to him turned his views into a primitive hatred towards faith and believers. He did not have this in mind at all. But – and it seems that he lost sight of this – there is a demand for phobias; people will take material from wherever they can, including from him. There is always a definite demand for an explanation of where all misfortune and calamity comes from, of who drank all the water from the faucet. In the dark recesses of the human psyche – alas! – there is something that responds eagerly to the temptation of fitting reality into a simple scheme in which certain people – Jews, Muslims, Americans, Russians, churchmen, cyclists – are declared to be the root of world evil. A refined philosophical discussion about the strength of the proofs for God’s existence will hardly attract many supporters; but Sturm und Drang, bold generalizations, broad strokes – and, most importantly, the proffering of an enemy that can be despised, feared, and hated – will. This is, after all, a respectable and socially approved phobia. That the atheistic regimes of the twentieth century in fact demonstrated a fanatical passion for persecution, witch-hunts, and the cruel suppression of dissent – of everything that atheistic propaganda has accused religion – is precisely what this phobia renders impossible to admit. This alone does not disprove the thesis that “there is no God.” But it does wholly disprove the thesis that “all things bad, all things sinister, come from the crafty minister.” But there are those who cannot put aside this phobia. |
| The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church warmly welcomed the Chairman of the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization. ‘We already met in 2007. Back then, you accompanied a high-ranking representative of your community while I headed the Department for External Church Relations’, His Holiness said. He gave a high value to the established good tradition to appoint those who had worked as representative in Russia to the post of head of the Islamic Culture and Communication Organization. In the Russian Orthodox Church, Iranian Moslems are treated with great sympathy and trust, Patriarch Kirill noted, ‘Twenty five years ago, together with the late Ayatollah Taskhiri, we stood at the beginning of the Commission. My visit to Iran in 1995 was also linked with the development of our bilateral relations, and I keep the best impressions of it, he said, ‘In 2020, Ayatollah Taskhiri passed away to another world and we keep cherishing his memory. That same year saw the death of Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan, who headed the part of the joint working group that consisted of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was co-chairman of the working group in both 2016 in Moscow and 2018 in Teheran’. Today, the Orthodox part of the joint working group is headed by Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan. In Tatarstan, there is a great number of Muslims living in it and a very high level of relationships between representatives of Islam and Orthodoxy, His Holiness pointed out. Metropolitan Kirill also represents the Russian Church in the Strategic Vision Group ‘Russia-Islam World’. Last December, the Commission marked 25 years since its first in Teheran. ‘These 25 years have not been darkened by any negative circumstances or themes, which would divide us or create difficulties in our relations. For the Orthodox members, it is a remarkable opportunity for getting a deeper knowledge of Islam. This immersion in the Islamic theme helps our Russian Orthodox theologians and, through them, also people to get a better knowledge of Islam and to see in Islam not only friends but also people of the same mind on very important problems of today’, His Holiness stressed. |
| St. Nicholas obtained funding for the project through local, state and federal funding. A nonprofit secular group that specializes in restoring Russian churches, Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska (ROSSIA), procured a grant for the project from the state Legislature in 2010. Former governor Sarah Palin vetoed funding for the preservation efforts when she was in office, but Juneau legislator Rep. Beth Kertulla helped obtain the grant later on, said ROSSIA board member and volunteer Rebecca Shaffer. ROSSIA in this case acted as a middleman in obtaining money from the government since government officials are generally wary of giving money directly to churches due to separation of church and state concerns. ROSSIA receives letters quarterly from churches asking for help. The story of St. Nicholas, one of 36 Russian churches in Alaska on the National Register of Historic Places, particularly resonated with the group, according to Shaffer. “This particular church, St. Nicholas, the bell is so heavy on the roof and the roof was rotting out from under the bell that the church really was in danger of collapse,” Shaffer said. “And so stories like that — it’s such an important historic building. I mean really, really important. I came from the East Coast, and there were buildings newer than this that people would climb over each other to help save there. But here in Alaska, the Russian colonial history is really fading fast, and the efforts to save it are just starting.” Other donations to restore the belfry flowed in from the community through an fundraising group called Friends of St. Nicholas. That group raised money to re-roof the main building in 2007, but was left over and went to this project. Shaffer called this moment a historic milestone for the church in terms of its restoration, but noted there is still much work to be done. The next project is to place a foundation under the building because the whole church is up on blocks since it was built without a foundation. |
| THE MOST “POPULAR” IN RUSSIA AMERICAN FUNDS What western funds (including American ones) are engaged in “civilizational” transformations in Russia? To answer this question it’s nesessary to know who finances Russian non-commercial sphere (in particular, human rights organizations). It’s impossible to investigate the sources of all grants received by Russian human rights organizations because some of them often don’t report who is their sponsor (donor), and what sum they were granted. Let us choose the two best known metropolitan human rights organizations – Moscow Helsinki Group and “Memorial” and the two provincial ones – Perm Human Rights Center and Ryazan branch of “Memorial”. Here are ALL the funds financing Moscow Helsinki Group: - Liberty Road (governmental, the Embassy of Switzerland in Russia) - Department for International Development (governmental, GB) - European Commission (governmental, EU) - Ford Foundation (private, USA) - MacArthur Foundation (private, USA) - MATRA (governmental, the Embassy of Netherlands in Russia) - National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (governmental, USA) - Open Society Institute (private, George Soros, USA) - UK Foreigh Ministry - United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (governmental). This shows that NO Russian organization is among the donors of Moscow Helsinki Group. But seven of them are the governmental structures of the countries-members of NATO (except Switzerland). Now you can imagine what sort of policy is conducted by this human rights group which is financially independent from Russian government but financially dependent on governments of NATO countries. In the list there are five American foundations: three of them are private (Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and Open Society Institute), two – governmental (National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID). Here are the main donors of Moscow “Memorial” (some of minoritary donators, such as Edward Klein etc. aren’t worth to be mentioned): Open Society Institute (George Soros), Ford Foundation, NED, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bradley Foundation and Guggenheim Foundation (USA). |
| Public anger boiled over when official directives attempting to gag and finesse reporting of the crash were posted online. The state-run Global Times described the local authorities’ handling of the crash as a “public relations disaster " – a disaster that came to light because of a wave of outrage in the Chinese social media. The international news media picked up on this and on other Weibo exposés. The BBC reports “Weibo's ability to connect people has been used by campaigns to help street children, boycott polluting companies, even to ban the use of sharks' fins in soup.” Some local authorities have embraced the phenomenon by engaging in debate and encouraging feedback from citizens, and China watchers believe Weibo is tolerated because it enables central government to keep local corruption in check and provides a pressure-relief valve to vent public concern. It also allows the state to listen in to its citizens – a useful surveillance tool to spot potential dissidents and nip more serious protest in the bud. As Chinese-American freedom campaigner Martin Johnson pointed out: “The reason Weibo exists is because the Party allowed it.” Censorship So, unsurprisingly, Weibo is subject to censorship, though with a lighter touch than the rest of the Chinese media. According to Martin Johnson’s website, Greatfire.org , the authorities have blocked 1,700 Weibo search terms. Prohibited words include Tiananmen, Tank man, revolution, uprising and 1989 – the year of the Tiananmen Square student protests. Also verboten are the words Lama – as in the Dalai Lama – and Falun, as in the outlawed religious group Falun Gong. Messages containing politically sensitive phrases are removed either automatically, by filters, or by operatives reading and deleting by hand. As well as words, some subjects also are forbidden. These include “democracy and freedom” and any criticism of the Communist Party and its top leadership. A New York Times article exposing the ‘billions in hidden riches’ acquired by the family of Premier Wen Jiabao was blocked and every reference to the article on Weibo was assiduously removed. A Harvard University study estimated that around 13 percent of blogs posted in China have been subject to censorship. |
| «Открой очи мои, и увижу чудеса закона Твоего. Странник я на земле; не скрывай от меня заповедей Твоих» (Псалтирь 118:18-19) Аннотация Творения одного из величайших учителей духовной жизни. Стяжал непререкаемый авторитет как популяризатор и систематизатор восточной аскетики. Богословие Иоанна Кассиана представляет собой своеобразный синтез метафизических интересов Востока и практической установки Запада. Иоанн Кассиан аккумулировал аскетический опыт Египта и Палестины и преподнес его Западу. Иными словами, значение Иоанна Кассиана в систематизации восточной аскетики в более или менее популярной форме. В наше собрание творений Иоанна Кассиана вошли: «Послание к Кастору, епископу Аптскому, о правилах общежительных монастырей» («О постановлениях киновитян» — главный труд Иоанна Кассиана, ситематический труд о монашестве: внешний уклад монастырской жизни, борьба с восмью помыслами), «К десяти посланным к епископу Леонтию и Елладию собеседованиям отцов, пребывавших в скитской пустыне» («Собеседования египетских подвижников» — своеобразное продолжение первой книге Иоанна Кассиан о киноветянах; отличеи он формулирует так: «Теперь от внешнего, видимого образа жизни монахов, который мы описали в первых книгах, перейдем к невидимому состоянию внутреннего человека, и речь от чина установленных молитв должна перейти к постоянству той непрестанной молитвы, которую заповедует Апостол» — по сути череда изречений великих Отцов Пустыни о главных вопросах духовной жизни». Читаемость: Язык: Объём текста: Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . |
| «Открой очи мои, и увижу чудеса закона Твоего. Странник я на земле; не скрывай от меня заповедей Твоих» (Псалтирь 118:18-19) Аннотация «Православная Церковь» владыки Каллиста (Уэра) — хорошее, краткое и доступное введение в историю и богословие Православной Церкви. В первой части своей книги «Православная Церковь» Каллист (Уэр) описывает путь пройденный Церковью от Пятидесятницы до православной диаспоры на Западе и миссии в Азии и Африке. Основные вехи этой истории таковы: «Сегодняшние Христиане ближе к ранней церкви, чем их деды и прадеды. Христианство возникло как религия незначительного меньшинства в окружении преобладающего нехристианского населения; и в наши дни оно вернулось к тому же состоянию. В раннюю эпоху христианская церковь была отлична и отделена от государства; и сегодня в одной стране за другой традиционный союз между церковью и государством приходит к концу. Вначале христианство было religio illicita — запрещенной религией, гонимой властями; и сегодня гонения уже не являются только историческим фактом. Быть может, за тридцатилетие между 1918 и 1948 гг. погибло за веру больше христиан, чем за триста лет, последовавших за распятием Христа.» Во второй части своей книги «Православная Церковь» Каллист (Уэр) кратко описывает веру и богослужение Православия: Св. Предание, Бог и человечество, богослужение, разделения христиан. Читаемость: Язык: Объём текста: play 01. начало.тр3 Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . play 02. византия. церковь эпохи семи соборов.тр3 Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . play 03. первые шесть соборов (325-681).mp3 Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . play 04. святые иконы.тр3 Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin . |
| I believe the Church has a great role to play here. Certainly, our church TV channels and Orthodox mass media are insufficient. There must be a very clear message coming from the Church and conveyed through the mass media. You and I are now using this opportunity, so I personally have nothing to complain about: I am granted a TV air on our state-run channel, and we can talk about our heartaches and interests. I know that viewers do respond to this kind of talk. But I believe we could do much more to let people know about the real church life, about the positive contribution the Church makes to societal life, not only about the scum which is occasionally thrown in the mass media and which consciously or unconsciously depreciates and smears the image of the Church and eventually alienate people from the Church. N. Kotrelev: A simple argument: the Church has proved to be one of the newsmakers equal in its rights and values to those who produced such news as ‘a famous actress drank too much yesterday’, or ‘another mayor jailed for bribery’, etc. that is, it is the world, homogeneous and unstructured qualitatively, the less so morally, destroys the human society. Therefore, it occurs to me as a lay person that pastoral theology today should include not only spiritual guidance for the church flock which is already inchurched but also the mass media problems you have described so well, including those of advertising this life in falsehood. Indeed, the largest part, some 99 percent, of an advertising text is a pure lie evident to both who write and commission it. Advertising is all built on exaggeration, on purely deceptive strategies. That is to say, the church people and the Supreme Church Authority are facing the problem of criticism to be levelled against the civilization which is evidently non-churched. Metropolitan Hilarion: We criticize this civilization but we cannot build our pastoral work and preaching on criticism alone. Here we should certainly follow the example of Jesus Christ who criticized particular segments of the contemporary society, doing it sharply and severely. For instance, He criticized the Pharisees who distorted religious truths and appeared to substitute outer devotion for inner profound faith in God. |
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