| " He will go down in history as the savior of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy during a very difficult historical moment, as the preserver of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy. " The head of Ukraine " s Orthodox Church has died at 78 after leading it for more than two decades during the tumultuous post-Soviet period. Metropolitan Volodymyr, who had been credited with stabilizing the church, died Saturday “after a long illness,” the church announced online Saturday. Recently, Volodymyr often reflected pro-Russian opinions in Ukraine, as battles raged between government troops and separatist insurgents in the east of the country. President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church falls within the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. “We will forever remember the many years of Metropolitan Vladimir’s hard work, his devoted pastorship, his great personal contribution to strengthening Russian-Ukrainian friendship and his talent as a preacher, which won him deep gratitude and respect on the part of the people of Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said in a statement released Saturday. In his more than 20 years as head of the country’s largest church, Volodymyr weathered the breakaway of two groups that declared themselves independent of the Moscow Patriarchate, which incorporates the Ukrainian church. Observers say he succeeded in preventing even more splits. “He will go down in history as the savior of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy during a very difficult historical moment, as the preserver of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” said Andrei Zolotov, a Russian journalist and expert on Orthodoxy. Born Viktor Sabodan to a family of farmers in western Ukraine in 1935, Volodymyr studied at seminaries in Odessa and Leningrad, was ordained at 26 and took monastic vows soon thereafter. Orthodox priests are allowed to marry, but that limits their career paths. He served briefly in Russian Orthodox Church missions in Jerusalem and Geneva, then as a bishop in Russia and Ukraine, both of which were then a part of the Soviet Union. In 1973 he was appointed the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary and promoted to the rank of Archbishop of the Moscow Diocese. He later became a senior administrator at the Moscow Patriarchate. |
| Two-Year Prison Sentence for Punk Band – Opinions from Russian Clergymen and Lay Activists admin 21 August 2012 Moscow’s Khamovnichesky District Court has given its verdict on the members of the punk group with regard to their scandalising demonstration in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina have each been sentenced to two years in prison. The editors of the Russian-language version of Pravmir.com have asked a number of well-known clergymen and lay activists to comment on the sentence. We are publishing various opinions, some agreeing with the sentence, others categorically opposing it. The opinion of the editors is not always in agreement with the opinions expressed. Andrei Zolotov Andrei Zolotov, Deputy Director of the United Editorial Board of the Foreign Information Service of the RIA Novosti News Agency. The sentence will not help prevent further blasphemies. I regret that the court has sentenced them to prison. I am pleased that the Supreme Church Council gave its assessment of the blasphemy and called on the government to show mercy within the limits of the law. I think that the main and most complex matter in the present situation is to distinguish between the assessment of the event itself which took place in the Cathedral, the video clip on the internet, and the prosecution the three women were subjected to. The wide-ranging debate that has unfolded around the event shows that it has touched some very raw nerves concerning Church-State relations in our country. The problem is that although the issues involved are very important and even vital, the form in which the demonstration took place and the reaction to it by the State will in no way help find solutions to the issues. I think that if it is a matter of criticizing the social and political position of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill, that is possible, there is nothing wrong with that, provided that the criticism and even protest is expressed in a civilized way. |
| Eminent Orthodox Church Leader Dies Andrei Zolotov Jr. 06 November 2012 The oldest leader of the world’s unruly family of fully independent Orthodox Churches and the only patriarch to survive both the Communist era and the post-Communist government’s attempt to oust him, Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, died in the early hours Monday of heart failure in Sofia’s University Hospital, the church announced. He was 98. Having led the Balkan country’s main church for over 40 years, the patriarch demonstrated incredible political resilience against the biggest challenge that any major church institution in Eastern Europe has faced in recent decades. At the same time, he is remembered by those who knew him, including in Russia, as a jovial yet deeply spiritual man. Born in 1914 as Marin Naydenov Minkov, he graduated from the seminary in 1935, was tonsured a monk with the name Maxim in 1941 and represented the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Moscow from 1950 to 1955. He was consecrated as bishop in 1956, and elected patriarch in Communist Bulgaria in 1971. “At that time, it was easier to die than to understand and assess how to live and carry out the duties of the first hierarch of the Holy Church,” Patriarch Maxim said recently in an interview for a documentary about his life. In the interview, he recalled his meetings with Bulgaria’s Communist leader Todor Zhivkov, saying he used them to ask the government to save another church from demolition. “Of course, I committed sins, like all people do, but I never allowed compromises that would harm the Church, and did not even allow myself to think that possible,” the late church leader said. Yet that is not what some post-Communist leaders, and a significant part of Bulgaria’s clergy, thought after the Communist regime in Bulgaria fell in 1989. In 1992, the government led by the Union of Democratic Forces, which saw Maxim as a “Communist stooge”, instigated a split in the church, questioning the legitimacy of his enthronement and setting up an alternative synod led by Metropolitan Pimen of Nevrokop, which eventually ousted Maxim. |
| Listening to the People We are witnessing a situation, when the Moscow Patriarchate, long accused of being in cahoots with the Kremlin, is making careful moves to distance itself from the most odious positions in regard to the post-election situation in Russia. Andrei Zolotov Finally, it is official! Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who had remained silent and out of sight ever since he voted, in front of television cameras, in the State Duma elections on Dec. 4th, made two consecutive statements last weekend on the political situation in the country. He said that there is a difference between a Divine Truth that is worth dying for and private truths, that are not worth dying for but that disunite nations with the help of the modern political system. That one should be wary of “information technologies” manipulating people. But he also said that the government should listen to the concerns of those who are protesting the elections, and called for a national dialogue to avoid a revolutionary scenario. That means that the grassroots movement within – let’s be precise – noticeable parts of Orthodox Christians circles in Moscow and St. Petersburg, no more, but no less, has been heard by the hierarchy. We are witnessing a situation, when the Moscow Patriarchate, long accused of being in cahoots with the Kremlin, is making careful moves to distance itself from the most odious positions in regard to the post-election situation in Russia. Yet he by no means sides with the opposition. In the long tested practice of the church’s leaders, he makes his statements cautious enough so that people of varying convictions can interpret them as supporting their position. “Let the Lord make wise all those who have different viewpoints, including those regarding the political situation in the country and the past elections, and helps begin a real civic dialogue, so that our national life, which is being reconstructed bit by bit with such a great effort, doesn’t get destroyed,” Patriarch Kirill said in his Sunday sermon. “But in order to overcome the misunderstanding, restore trust, make the society more consolidated and capable of moving into the future, the authorities have to relate to people with greater trust and foster this dialogue and communication, overcoming the misunderstandings and differences – so that no human temptations, no mistakes, no misunderstood service to the good of the country would not divide people. We no longer have the right to be divided. The blood shed in the 20th century, doesn’t give us such a right.” |
| Sad Details of the Pre-Conciliar Process Andrei Zolotov, Executive Editor (Europe) of Russia Direct, exclusively for Pravmir In less than a fortnight, on the feast of the Holy Pentecost, the Bishops of the fourteen universally recognized local Orthodox Churches are supposed to show each other and the world their unity in Christ by serving Divine Liturgy together and spending the following week deliberating and adopting documents that express their unified vision of their Church and its mission in the modern world during the Great and Holy Pan-Orthodox Council on the island of Crete. However, today we, unfortunately, have to forget these lofty words. The Council that has intermittently been in the making for almost fifty years is now on the brink of falling apart. The bombshell exploded on 1 June, when the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church put forward six objections to the agenda and procedure of the Council unanimously ruling that the Council was to be postponed and that, in its present form, the Bulgarian delegation withdrew from attending it. Two days later, on Friday, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate convened and, based on its resolutions, it became known that, in addition to the Bulgarian Church, other Churches also had objections. The Hierarchs of the Churches of Georgia, Serbia, and of Greece, as well as the monasteries of Mount Athos, expressed a desire to amend the documents and procedure of the Council. An especially difficult situation arose in connection with the conflict between the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem over the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Qatar. The Patriarchate of Constantinople announced that a joint commission to resolve this problem would be formed after the Council. The Patriarchate of Antioch, which is based in Syria and Lebanon, replied that this decision “invalidates the very purpose of the Council “as the expression of Orthodox unity” and “threatens the convocation of the Council at its specified meeting date,” according to the proceedings of the Moscow Synod. |
| The Murder of Father Daniel Sysoev: Let us Be Silent in Surprise Orthodoxy in the World Last Updated: Feb 8th, 2011 - 05:50:02 The Murder of Father Daniel Sysoev: Let us Be Silent in Surprise By Andrei Zolotov Nov 20, 2010, 10:00 Discuss this article Printer friendly page Editor’s note: One year ago, on the night of November 19, priest Daniel Sysoyev was shot to death in his church in Moscow. We offer you a translation of the article written one year ago by Andrey Zolotov, chief editor of Russia Profile , few days after Fr. Daniel " s murder. Translated by Alexey Malafeev Edited by Hierodeacon Samuel (Nedelsky) In the face of holiness and eternity it is difficult to say anything definite in the language of mass-media journalism, or in that of politics. That is because there is too much that is amazing and inconceivable to say. One can discover and report more details about the murder of the 35-year-old priest and missionary, Daniel Sysoev. One can find out what his parishioners, friends, and family thought of him. One can point one " s finger at the alleged murderers, who seem to be backed by a dangerous and impudent force, and yell, “Enough is enough!” One can encourage calm and reserve for the sake of public peace. All of this is entirely right and justifiable. And then what? And then there is just quiet, silence in surprise. After that those who can pray should do so, which is the only possible reaction of a person who has encountered God. Indeed, God turns out to be full of surprises. It turns out that martyrdom concerns not only the legendary pagan persecution of Christians in the first centuries of Christianity, or the lesser-known oppression of Orthodox Greeks by Turkish Muslims in late medieval times, or - the seemingly close to us and yet distant from our present days of well-being – Soviet Communist persecution of the first half of the previous century. It turned out that a martyr lived in our city, we or our colleagues interviewed him, and we could agree or disagree with his posts on LiveJournal, which you can find still there, though he will never add anything to them. |
| The phoenix is reborn. It’s time to fly Growing up in 1970s Moscow, I had a nanny who had lived in our family for 45 years. She died in 1981, when she was 93 and I was 13. Like most Soviet people, my family was not religious. My grandfather prided himself in becoming an atheist in prerevolutionary Russia and refusing to attend the Orthodox doctrine class at school. It scandalised his father, a priest " s son turned high-ranking civil engineer. In Soviet Russia, it was a norm enforced by persecution, education and all-encopassing atheistic propaganda. Andrei Zolotov Jr. 29 June 2009 –> –> Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines Growing up in 1970s Moscow, I had a nanny who had lived in our family for 45 years. She died in 1981, when she was 93 and I was 13. Like most Soviet people, my family was not religious. My grandfather prided himself in becoming an atheist in prerevolutionary Russia and refusing to attend the Orthodox doctrine class at school. It scandalised his father, a priest’s son turned high-ranking civil engineer. In Soviet Russia, it was a norm enforced by persecution, education and all-encopassing atheistic propaganda. But my nanny, Yevdokiya Frolova, was different. She was a nun. After her convent was closed in 1927, like all of her sisters she spent time in a labour camp. Unlike many, she survived and ended up serving four generations of our family selflessly and lovingly, quietly maintaining a rigorous monastic discipline of strict fasting, daily prayers and regular church attendance. Thanks to my nanny, for me it has always been the Russian church, the church of my ancestors, which somehow had an existence in this world parallel to the Soviet reality. But much had to happen before it became a faith of my own: an appreciation for the Russian liturgical music and icons; the 1988 celebration of the Millennium of Christianity in Russia, when the church was let into public life; a trip to the US as a student, where I met a prominent émigré Russian priest, Protopresbyter Alexander Kiselev. Ultimately, it all came into one with my baptism into to the Orthodox church – my faith in God, the immense beauty and profound meaning of Orthodox liturgy and belonging to my family’s and my nation’s past and present, to the Russian civilisation as a part of the European civilisation, to the whole world around and, hopefully, to God’s kingdom. Ask any Russian, and you will likely hear a similar story. |
| The phoenix is reborn. It " s time to fly Contemporary Issues Last Updated: Feb 8th, 2011 - 05:50:02 The phoenix is reborn. It " s time to fly By Andrei Zolotov, Jr, founding editor of RUSSIAPROFILE.ORG Jun 30, 2009, 10:00 Discuss this article Printer friendly page Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines Growing up in 1970s Moscow, I had a nanny who had lived in our family for 45 years. She died in 1981, when she was 93 and I was 13. Like most Soviet people, my family was not religious. My grandfather prided himself in becoming an atheist in prerevolutionary Russia and refusing to attend the Orthodox doctrine class at school. It scandalised his father, a priest " s son turned high-ranking civil engineer. In Soviet Russia, it was a norm enforced by persecution, education and all-encopassing atheistic propaganda. But my nanny, Yevdokiya Frolova, was different. She was a nun. After her convent was closed in 1927, like all of her sisters she spent time in a labour camp. Unlike many, she survived and ended up serving four generations of our family selflessly and lovingly, quietly maintaining a rigorous monastic discipline of strict fasting, daily prayers and regular church attendance. Thanks to my nanny, for me it has always been the Russian church, the church of my ancestors, which somehow had an existence in this world parallel to the Soviet reality. But much had to happen before it became a faith of my own: an appreciation for the Russian liturgical music and icons; the 1988 celebration of the Millennium of Christianity in Russia, when the church was let into public life; a trip to the US as a student, where I met a prominent émigré Russian priest, Protopresbyter Alexander Kiselev. Ultimately, it all came into one with my baptism into to the Orthodox church - my faith in God, the immense beauty and profound meaning of Orthodox liturgy and belonging to my family " s and my nation " s past and present, to the Russian civilisation as a part of the European civilisation, to the whole world around and, hopefully, to God " s kingdom. |
| Judging from the reactions of the majority of those present at the service, one could easily figure out that almost all of the congregation were not regular church goers, but visitors. It was a fine day; many people were strolling in the Moscow city center and just dropped in to the church. His Holines also understood what was going on; and so, his sermon was simple, as clear as day – the most basic elements of the faith. Having knelt down and asked everyone for forgiveness, Alexy spoke, “And now approach and I shall bless you for Lent.” And then hundreds, perhaps even thousands of mainly non-practicing and occasional practitioners of the faith stretched out in a line leading up to the Patriarch, asking him for a blessing. After some time one priest and then another one came up to the tired patriarch, suggesting to stand in for him (this was Alexy’s second service of the day). But Alexy refused to leave his place in the middle of the cathedral. After probably half an hour had passed, I got bored and decided to leave. But all the while the Patriarch stood there, giving his blessing to one person after another, to people who had hardly crossed the threshold of the church and won’t necessarily remain there. You will be deeply missed, Your Holiness! Andrei Zolotov, Jr. is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and the Founding Editor of Russia Profile. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Georgy Gupalo, who heads one of the leading Russian Orthodox publishers, Dar, said he saw Patriarch Maxim several times and considers him a “holy elder.” “I have always been surprised by the atmosphere that emerged when he appeared,” Gupalo wrote, responding to questions via email. “There was a feeling that everything began to shine. A person of his age usually looks tired. You rarely meet a nearly hundred-year-old man with such bright, jovial eyes, full of light, love, engagement and something else, that we usually see among children – let’s call it curiosity. He always displayed a keen interest in people. He experienced the bitter taste of rejection, but his sight remained bright and joyful.” In recent years, Patriarch Maxim was frail and appeared only for major occasions. According to the Statutes of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the longest serving metropolitan – currently Metropolitan Grigory of Veliko Tarnovo – will preside over the church for the next seven days until the Synod elects the interim head. The new patriarch will be elected by the specially convened Council of clergy, monks and laypeople within a four month period. The candidate should be at least 50 years old and must have served as a metropolitan for at least 5 years. Source: RIA Novosti Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Eminent Orthodox Church Leader Dies Andrei Zolotov Jr. The oldest leader of the world " s unruly family of fully independent Orthodox Churches and the only patriarch to survive both the Communist era and the post-Communist government " s attempt to oust him, Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, died in the early hours Monday of heart failure in ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
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