"When the communism comes back..."

No, I'm sorry to tell you but you're wrong. The current godless and morally anarchic situation in the West is not yet communism, but we are almost there. It is not communism neither as a political and economic doctrine, nor in the Catholic sense of the term developed through Our Lady's messages and through the line of understanding and struggle of the Popes who fought against these regimes. What we currently have in the West is the result of a long and complex process of cultural Marxism that prepares us for communism. I think this process is on the verge of its completion. Antonio Gramsci would probably say at this point that the masses are ready for communism.

Classical communism, in the economic sense of the term, no longer makes much sense in the current historical context, it seems to have evolved to a certain point. Communism, in the political and Catholic sense of the term, continues to exist today, not in the West, but in China, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua and is now reborning in Russia or Belarus. We are talking about totalitarian regimes with strong police persecution, lack of freedom of expression and above all religious persecution, only religions belonging to the regime or controlled by the regime are tolerated. In this context, this includes the closing and destruction of churches, persecution of Catholics and others, political and religious arrests, illegalization of unofficial religious denominations, torture, martyrdom, etc.

 

Fair enough, let's call what we have in the West 'Proto-Communism', but it's of a more virulent strain. Things are playing out just as Augusto del Noce predicted about fifty years ago, with the secular liberalism of the West metamorphosising into a more evil form of Marxism, with the distinction that most of the people are manipulated into wanting and craving it, for little more benefit than a certain modicum of social security. No need for guns or torture and the churches queue up for compliance. It is in lockstep with growing apostasy.

 

I think Malachi Martin described it very well, what the remnant Church is going through now in Western countries can be described as dry martyrdom. If we believe that the prophecy of Fatima is still open, we should expect bloody martyrdom.

 

Ukraine's Top Catholic Piles Pressure on GOP Over Russia's Church Attacks

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is exterminating religious freedom, signaling a return by Moscow to Soviet-era levels of persecution of faiths, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has said.

Sviatoslav Shevchuk was in Washington D.C. this week with a delegation of his church's senior figures to express gratitude for U.S. help toward Kyiv so far, in what he described as a "David versus Goliath" battle between Ukraine and Russia over two years of war.

However, in calling for further American support for Ukraine, with a funding package stalled in U.S. Congress by a wing of the Republican Party, Shevchuk said he was alarmed at the destruction of religious buildings and the arrests and killings of faith leaders. Newsweek has emailed the Kremlin for comment.

"Today, in the occupied territory, there is not one Catholic priest. All my priests, even the Roman Catholic priests, were all expelled or imprisoned," Shevchuk told Newsweek in an interview. The church he heads has full communion with the Vatican and is the second largest particular church in the Catholic faith after the Latin Church.


This image from January 27, 2024, shows a destroyed church in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk region. Russian forces have destroyed hundreds of churches in their invasion of Ukraine, the country's top Catholic has said as he lobbied U.S. lawmakers for further aid.

"Around 50 religious ministers, Protestant pastors, Orthodox priests, Catholic priests have been imprisoned or killed," Shevchuk said. He added that Russia is returning "to the time of the Soviet Union where all of those religion were prohibited or overcontrolled, or simply destroyed.

"In the Soviet Union, [dictator Joseph] Stalin completely destroyed our church, imprisoned all our bishops and all our priests who would not sign an agreement to become Orthodox," added Shevchuk, who started his priestly formation at an underground seminary in the USSR.

"Even in those territories where Russia were not able to come and occupy, almost 600 churches, places of worship, synagogues were destroyed."

"We have to be a main actor in the humanitarian battle but not to fall to the same temptation the Russian Orthodox Church fell into and become an instrument of hatred."

Shevchuk said the message he tried to convey in Washington this week was that Ukraine needs help from the U.S. "Ukrainian people are wounded but unbroken. We are tired but we are resilient. Nobody in Ukraine, even in his secret private thoughts, would ever say, 'Let's stop our fight. Let's give up.'"

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Source:
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-catholic-church-us-aid-lawmakers-1877568

 

How and why are priests being persecuted in Belarus?

The law On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations is being changed in Belarus. This is an attempt by the state to control religion even more. Unfortunately, the repression against religious figures does not stop, but keeps increasing.

According to the monitoring data of Christian Vision, as of October 11, 2023, at least 60 priests suffered due to political persecution "during the crisis in Belarus".

Which priests are political prisoners now?
At least four men who are or were involved in religious service are now in captivity due to political persecution.

Siarhei Rezanovich

Orthodox priest, rector of the Church of St. Archangel Michael in the agro-town of Stsiapanki, Žabinkauski district (Brest region) Siarhei Rezanovich was sentenced to 16 years in a medium-security penal colony and fined 19,200 rubles. He was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code (participation in a criminal organization), Part 1 of Article 14 and Part 2 of Article 357 of the Criminal Code (attempt to seize state power unconstitutionally), Part 1 of Article 13 and Part 3 of Article 295 of the Criminal Code (illegal actions involving objects whose damaging effect is based on the use of combustible substances committed by a group of persons).

Together with him, his wife Liubou (15 years in prison) and son Pavel (19 years in prison) were also convicted.


Yauhen Hlushkou
A former clergyman (sexton) of the parish of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Lady in the village of Prybytki of the Homel district, Yauhen Hlushkou, was sentenced to nine years in a medium-security penal colony for photographs of the airfield in Zyabrouka. He was found guilty of treason against the state (Part 1 of Article 356) and the promotion of extremist activities (Part 1 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code).


Uladzislau Beladzed

A criminal case was opened against seminarian Uladzislau Beladzed on incitement of hostility (Article 130 of the Criminal Code). He was arrested several times in a row for 15 days. After 30 days spent in Akrestsina, Uladzislau looked like a man who had been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment.


Aliaksandr Tarasenka

The former hieromonk of the Homel St. Nicholas Monastery, Aliaksandr Tarasenka, was punished with two years of imprisonment in a general security colony. He was found guilty under Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting Lukashenka).

Who else has been convicted in criminal cases?
Some of the priests were behind bars, but they were sentenced to non-custodial sentences.


Maksim Stasilevich

The minister of the Gethsemane Church of Evangelical Christians in Minsk Maksim Stasilevich was sentenced to two years and six months of restriction of freedom without being sent to an open-type correctional institution (home confinement).


Vital Chychmarou with his family

Pastor of the Light of Hope Baptist Church Vital Chychmarou was found guilty under Article 342 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to three years of home confinement.

Andrei Mamoika, an elder of the Novaya Ziamlia Baptist Church, and his wife Vera were also sentenced to home confinement. Political prisoners were tried under Part 1 of Article 342 (organization and preparation of actions grossly violating public order, or active participation in them) of the Criminal Code. Judge Viktoryia Shabunia sentenced each of them to two years and six months of restriction of freedom without referral to an open-type correctional institution (home confinement).

 

[Cont.]

How are clergymen tried in administrative cases?
Compared to last year, the administrative persecution of priests has significantly increased.

Uladzislau Bahamolnikau, a teacher of the Minsk Theological Academy, an Orthodox priest, was detained in August 2022. In 2020, he held a service at the Square of Changes for the repose of Raman Bandarenka, and Bahamolnikau also declared a hunger strike in support of a political prisoner Ihar Losik. The priest spent seven administrative arrests in a row (more than 100 days) in Akrestsina.

In September 2022, church pastor Anatol Bokun was fined 3,200 rubles.

In November 2022, priest Vital Chabatar, vice-dean of the Mahileu Dean's Office, vicar of the parish of St. Anthony of Padua in Mahileu, was sentenced to a 15-day arrest. Apparently, the reason for the arrest of the priest was his actions on social media.


Vital Chabatar

Also in November 2022, a 12-day arrest was imposed on priest Ihar Kandratsieu.

In May 2023, two Roman Catholic priests from the Miory Deanery were detained. The rector of the parish of the Ascension of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Miory, Andrei Kulik, spent three days in the status of a detainee. Priest Viachaslau Adamovich was punished with a seven-day arrest for reposts on social media.


Viachaslau Adamovich

In June 2023, Greek Catholic priest Aliaksandr Shautsou was punished with a 45-day arrest. He was tried for reposting materials of the Charter-97 website on his Vkontakte social media page (Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code: distribution of information products containing calls for extremist activity).


Aliaksandr Shautsou

The court of the Čašniki district sentenced Aliaksandr Zaretski, pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church in Navalukoml, to 15 days of detention. The reason was the "dissemination of extremist materials" (Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code) through likes and comments on materials from Internet resources recognized as "extremist".

A priest from Navahrudak, Yuryi Zhaharyn, was fined for reposting a 2016 publication. On July 17, 2023, the Navahrudak District Court considered a case of an administrative offense under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code against a priest who in 2021 liked an "extremist" page and reposted from it. An administrative penalty was imposed on the priest in the form of a 555 roubles fine with confiscation of the subject of an administrative offense (a mobile phone).

In August 2023, Antoni Adamovich, a priest from Ščučyn region, was arrested. The rector of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Peršamajsk was tried under Article 19.11 Part 2 (distribution of extremist materials).


Antoni Adamovich

A church official was fined for not adhering to the route of the procession. On September 15, 2023, the judge of the Beshankovičy District Court, Katsiaryna Matskevich, imposed a 740 rubles fine on the assistant the rural dean responsible for the construction of churches of the Holy Prophet Elijah, local resident Mikalai Bondar for not adhering to the route of the procession agreed with the authorities. In the summer, a group of ten people marched along a rural road in the Ščučynski district of the Hrodna region. The event was sanctioned by the Hrodna Regional Executive Committee, but it is possible that the participants voluntarily changed the route of the procession, thereby they violated the requirement of the law On Mass Events.

Hrodna priest Andrei Nazdryn was fined for "spreading extremism." Judge Alena Toustsik-Samoila imposed a fine of 555 roubles on the priest. A "crime weapon", his mobile phone, was confiscated.


Andrei Nazdryn
Dzmitryi Shaviakou, an evangelical pastor from Dzisna, was fined 740 rubles in September 2023.

How else is religion persecuted?
A new wave of repression has affected the religious community in the context of the war in Ukraine. Priests are fined and imprisoned for several days for anti-war actions, appeals, reposts, comments, and likes. For example, in January 2023, priest Dyianisii Karastaliou was detained because of a prayer for the defenders of Ukraine.



Because of the pressure, priests are forced to leave the country and lose their jobs. Entire religious institutions are being persecuted. Thus, in September 2022, the Red Church was closed, in July 2023, the Minsk arch-cathedral church named after the Blessed Virgin Mary was searched. Minsk City Executive Committee filed a lawsuit on the dissolution of the New Life church. Back in August 2023, the pastor of the church Viachaslau Hancharenka was punished with a 10-day arrest under Articles 24.3 and 19.1 of the Administrative Code and the social media of the New Life were recognized as ”extremist".

Separately, we must mention the political persecution of a song. Singing Mighty God (Mahutny Bozha), which has become a real national anthem among many Belarusians, was repeatedly forbidden at religious celebrations. It is known that in October 2023, Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption detained a Minsk resident Katsiaryna Shapavalava, who in 2020 sang Mighty God near the Philharmonic.


[Anthem for spiritual freedom in Belarus]

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Source:
https://spring96.org/en/news/113099

 

UGCC Churches Sealed Off in Donetsk
At the beginning of 2024, the “Cossacks” of the so-called “Donetsk People's Republic” sealed off all churches and adjacent territories and did not allow believers of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to enter the churches and the territory to conduct prayers and divine services.


Institute for Religious Freedom reports.

The appeals of believers to local authorities of the “DPR” regarding the sealing of churches and obstruction of religious activities by the “Cossacks” have not yielded any results. Greek Catholic believers are unable to access their churches or conduct services.

Prior to these events, priests who performed services in these churches were expelled from the occupied territories. Additionally, on November 16, 2022, UGCC priests from Berdiansk, Fr. Ivan Levytsky and Fr. Bohdan Geleta, were imprisoned and are still being held in captivity.

It is worth noting that on December 26, 2022, in the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region, the occupation authorities issued a so-called order banning the activities of the UGCC and its social service organizations in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region.

For context, since 2014, in Donetsk, the “DPR” militants has seized prayer facilities from a number of religious communities of different denominations.

The UGCC Department for Information

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Source:
https://ugcc.ua/en/data/ugcc-churches-sealed-off-in-donetsk-978/

 

Belarus leader tightens control over country’s religious groups



Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a law into effect that significantly tightens control over various religious denominations and organisations.

The law, published on the presidential website this week, mandates that all denominations and religious groups reapply for state registration, which authorities reserve the right to refuse.

It is the latest step in Mr Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent, which intensified after a disputed presidential election in 2020 gave the authoritarian leader a sixth term in office.

The government arrested more than 35,000 protesters in demonstrations that denounced the vote as rigged, and thousands of them were beaten in custody. Many were forced to leave the country to escape prosecution.

Since 2022, involvement in unregistered organisations became a criminal offense, punishable by up to two years in prison.

According to official data in 2023, a total of 3,417 religious groups were registered in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million. About 80% are Orthodox Christians; nearly 14% are Catholics, residing mostly in western, northern and central parts of the country; and about 2% belong to Protestant churches.

During the 2020 anti-government protests, some Catholic and Protestant churches gave shelter and support to the demonstrators.

The new law gives authorities broad powers to deny registration and to shut down any religious organisation. It stipulates that in order to be registered, a religious group or denomination needs to have at least one parish that operated in Belarus for at least 30 years. All denominations and groups must reapply for registration within a year.

It also prohibits those accused of involvement with what authorities deem as extremist or terrorist activities from running a religious organisation, and it bans the use of any symbols other than religious ones in church services. It also outlaws any gatherings in churches other than for a service.

The Rev Zmitser Khvedaruk, a Protestant pastor, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the law was “repressive”.

He expressed concern that “Protestant churches in Belarus will become the main target of the new law” in the predominantly Orthodox country, especially given their popularity among younger people.

“Many Protestant churches in Belarus will face a tough choice — to either cease their activities or return to the dark Soviet times, when Protestant churches effectively worked underground and illegally gathered at people’s homes, with (believers) praying under the threat of criminal prosecution,” Mr Khvedaruk told AP.

Analysts say Belarusian authorities are seeking to tighten control over the entire public sphere ahead of parliamentary elections set for next month and a presidential vote in 2025.

“The Belarusian authorities view the clergy as leaders of public opinion, who influence large groups of people, therefore, they strive to take all denominations under tight, centralised control,” said Natallia Vasilevich, co-ordinator of the Christian Vision monitoring group.

“The new law is repressive and doesn’t conform to international standards of freedom of conscience.”

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Source:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...y-s-religious-groups/ar-AA1mwv9N?ocid=hwminus

 

Mother Venezuela wants to denazify Guyana

 

Russia is waging a war against religious freedom in Ukraine


Religious freedom is under attack in Ukraine. Not from Ukrainian lawmakers, as some critics have falsely alleged, but from actual Russian soldiers.

A forgotten element of Russia’s war on Ukraine is its calculated destruction of churches and religious sites, part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s physical and spiritual assault against the Ukrainian people. The U.S. must help Ukraine with both.

statement overseen by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. It described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” and declared that “the entire territory of present-day Ukraine should be included in the area of Russia’s exclusive influence.”

Russia is therefore willing to bomb Ukraine into submission. According to a new report by the Institute for Religious Freedom in Ukraine, at least 630 religious sites have been damaged, looted or destroyed due to Russian aggression. Russia’s physical and spiritual pincer movement has wrought incredible destruction upon Ukraine’s religious landscape.

Despite Putin’s claims to be a protector of Orthodox Christianity, the Institute found that “Orthodox churches suffered most damage from the Russian aggression — at least 246 in total. Of these, the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate) suffered the most — at least 187.”

Fifty-nine churches affiliated with the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine were destroyed or damaged. More than 200 evangelical and Pentecostal churches have been confiscated or ruined by Russian forces.

Evangelical pastor Ivan Rusyn described this situation when speaking to policymakers in Washington: “This war is not about our land. This war is about the very existence of our freedom, identity, values, and culture.” He shared about the destruction of his seminary and the murder of priests during the Russian occupation of his hometown, Bucha, in the early days of the war. Once it was liberated, hundreds of dead bodies were found across the city. Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Pastor Rusyn said the choice is obvious: “Fight or die.”

Russia’s abysmal domestic record on religious freedom demonstrates what is at stake should Putin prevail in Ukraine. In a rare area of agreement between the Trump and Biden administrations, both have designated Russia as a religious persecutor in every year since 2020.

Russian actions are even harsher in the occupied territories. Maksym Vasin from the Institute for Religious Freedom said that “if Russia retains control over the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions throughout 2024 and beyond, Ukrainian churches and religious communities in these regions will face the same fate as believers in the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied since 2014.”

For their report, the Institute interviewed pastors to obtain their firsthand experiences. Their stories were chilling, highlighting the war crimes involved in Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Proof of Russia’s guilt is made evident by the intentional targeting of churches and other cultural sites.

Valentyn Syniy, rector of the Tavriski Christian Institute in the occupied Kherson region, spoke of death threats leveled at his employees by Russian officers. He quoted Russian soldiers saying, “Evangelical believers like you should be completely destroyed since you are sectarians and American spies. But simply shooting you will be too easy for you. You need to be buried alive.”

After years of atrocities, these are not idle threats.

“The oppression of religious freedom continues to this day,” writes Mykhailo Brytsyn, Presbyter of Grace Church of Evangelical Christians in the city of Melitopol. “Russian soldiers have taken away buildings, documents, and keys from almost all Protestant churches in the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions…Remaining church ministers are under constant pressure to obtain Russian passports.”

Policymakers need to understand that Putin opposes religious freedom both at home and abroad. But in Ukraine, various forms of Orthodoxy coexist alongside Catholicism, Protestantism, evangelicalism, Islam, and Judaism.

Reports of Ukraine shutting down Russian Orthodox churches or fostering antisemitism are unfounded. Drawing from my two decades of diplomatic experience, Ukraine stands out as a beacon of religious liberty among the former Soviet republics, while standing head and shoulders above Russia in this regard.

Russian assaults have targeted not only physical structures but also the spiritual and cultural identity of the Ukrainian people. We should take at its word Patriarch Kirill’s World Russian People’s Council, that Russia seeks to undermine the unity and autonomy of Ukraine, further escalating tensions and inciting fear among its citizens.

Russia’s actions once again violate international norms and betray a fundamental disregard for the beliefs and rights of individuals and communities. In the face of such aggression, the U.S. must condemn these attacks, support Ukraine with the tools it needs to defend itself, and stand in solidarity with Ukraine to protect its religious heritage and freedom.

Source:
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4598979-russia-is-waging-a-war-against-religious-freedom-in-ukraine/

 

Russia's War Against Evangelicals



After they beat Azat Azatyan so bad blood came out of his ears; after they sent electric shocks up his genitals; after they wacked him with pipes and truncheons, the Russians began to interrogate him about his faith. “When did you become a Baptist? When did you become an American spy?” Azat tried to explain that in Ukraine there was freedom of religion, you could just choose your faith. But his torturers saw the world the same way as their predecessors at the KGB did: an American church is just a front for the American state.

Azat was dragged back to the makeshift cell in the occupied city of Berdiansk, in southern Ukraine, where he was held with six others in a cellar that had a bucket for a toilet and hard mattresses on the floor. The other inmates wondered how he could be religious when the punishments meted out to him were so much worse than to them. Azat answered he felt God was always with him. He prayed for the other inmates to be spared. When the torturers returned they left the others alone but told him to come with them: “This time we will kill you.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is accompanied with a strategic effort to repress, control, and crush religious groups outside of the Kremlin controlled Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church. There are over thirty cases of religious clergy killed and kidnapped. 109 known cases of interrogations, forced expulsions, imprisonments, arrests. 600 houses of worship destroyed. And these are just the confirmed numbers, with the real ones in information blackout of the occupied territories will much likely be higher.

Evangelicals are targeted by the Russians disproportionally, and Azat’s story is typical for Russia’s systemic persecution of Protestants in occupied Ukraine. Protestants were the victims of 34 percent of the reported persecution events, and 48 percent in the Zaporizhzhia region where Azat was held. Baptists made up 13 percent of victims – the largest single group after Ukrainian Orthodox. Under Russian control 400 Baptist congregations have been lost, 17% of the total in Ukraine.

There’s a reason for this. Protestants flourished in the democratic decades since the end of the U.S.S.R. Baptists are the third largest denomination in Ukraine. The mayor of Kyiv between 2006-2012 was an evangelical. And for the Russian occupiers they are perceived as agents of America.

Petro Dudnyk, Pastor of the Good News Church, explains that the occupying forces "thought and spoke like this: you are the American faith, the Americans are our enemies, the enemies must be destroyed." Inside Russia Jehovah’s Witnesses are banned, as is missionary work for Mormons. Evangelical groups are constrained by laws banning missionary activity and labelling some groups as “undesirable organizations.” The U.S. Congress Commission on International Religious Freedom considers Russia as one of the world’s “worst violators” of religious freedom, on par with Iran and Pakistan.

What this persecution highlights is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is more than just the latest iteration of the Kremlin’s centuries old attempt to crush Ukraine’s freedom. It is also part of the Kremlin’s larger war against America. By hurting those who practice an “American” religion the Kremlin can claim it is striking against American power—while picking on the powerless.

The Russian persecution of Protestants is pursued through intimidation, expropriation, enforced conversion, and even murder.

"Your church has no right to exist, as it has connections with America and other Western countries," Russian authorities told the deacon of the Pentecostal church in Nova Kakhovka, Oleksandr Prokopchuk. They arrested him and his 19-year-old son. Both were later found dead in a forest. In occupied Sloviansk four members of the Evangelical Church of the Transformation were accused of being American spies because some U.S. dollars were found in their pockets. They were subsequently shot and killed.

But it’s not just individual clergy Russian forces go after, sometimes it’s whole congregations. As soon as Russia take over a city armed men turn up during prayers. The investigative news outlet, The Counter-Offensive, has reported on the fate of an Adventist congregation in Donetsk, where, the pastor explains, “every week or two there were searches. People would come with machine guns. Sometimes a tank would come. …they said, 'You are Americans, this is an American church, this is not [a Russian] church. We were treated like dogs. They beat us. Some were killed. Some disappeared."


When Russian occupying forces shut down the Melitopol Christian Church, they used sledge hammers to break into the building. Members were interrogated as to whether the church was hiding any Americans. The house of worship was expropriated and given to a Russian Ministry. Its fifty foot cross was chopped down. Click here for video.

Sometimes the Russians also try to “cure” protestants. Viktor Cherniiavskyi, was held for 25 days, beaten with a baseball bat and given electro-shocks. A Russian Orthodox priest was present in this process, and tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian. The torturers used a taser to help the exorcism along.

The way the priest and the torturer worked together is emblematic of the interconnection between the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Moscow Patriarch, Kirill, who was reportedly a KGB agent in the 1970s, has vociferously supported the invasion of Ukraine, openly backs the destruction of Ukraine’s sovereignty and promises Russian soldiers their sins will be washed away. When Russian forces accuse evangelicals of being agents of the U.S. they are projecting how the Moscow patriarchate aids and abets Putin. The tradition of priests working for spy agencies continues with Orthodox priests in Ukraine who report to the Moscow Patriarch have also been found guilty of reporting directly to the Russian security services.

 

(cont.)

Only 4% of Ukrainians Patriarch remain faithful to Kirill’s Moscow Patriarchate—the vast majority have moved to the Orthodox Church under the Kyiv Patriarchate. Moreover 85% of Ukrainians think that the Moscow branch of the Orthodox Church is a security threat. The Ukrainian Parliament is considering a bill that would prohibit religious organisations that are controlled from a country waging armed aggression against Ukraine. Steven Moore, a former Republican strategist who now runs a center documenting religious crimes in Ukraine, compares the approach to the struggle to legislate against TikTok in the US. According to Moore “Congress wants to ban TikTok unless it gets new ownership. The parliament of Ukraine has drafted a bill to close individual churches affiliated with Russia unless they find ‘new ownership’ and renounce the Russian affiliation.”

But such nuance is lost on some lawmakers and media in America, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson, who accuse the Ukrainian government of attacking religious freedom. It’s a twisted situation thinks Moore: while Russia literally murders and tortures Protestants, Ukraine is attacked for trying to find a balance between religious freedom and security.

When I asked Azat about Americans who think Russia a bastion of Christianity while Ukraine persecutes Christians he shook his head in bemusement: “The Russians have come here to kill and oppress—that is against God’s law, let alone human law.”

Altogether Azat spent 43 days in captivity. I asked him how his faith had helped him through the ordeal. He described one moment in particular. After a night of torture so bad he couldn’t walk any more. He lay on the floor of his cell, desperate for water. But there was none in the cell. At that moment it began to rain—a rare occurrence in the stifling summer of Berdyansk. Azat managed to rip a plastic tube from the wall and use it to funnel water from the narrow basement window. As he drank it in it felt like God had answered his prayer.

When we spoke Azat was in Zaporizhzhia, where he now works as a Baptist Children's Pastor and founded a children’s centre, Garne Misce. Zaporizhzhia is near the front lines, and is under constant bombardment from Russia, partly due to stalled military support for Ukraine. For the moment the children have warm, bright rooms for study and play.

I asked Azat what life was like for Baptists still inside the occupied territories. Some, he said, meet in secret, in peoples’ apartments. This is how the evangelical movement first developed in the Soviet Union. Other get the ‘choice’: they can keep their congregations if they collaborate and give speeches praising Putin, supporting the invasion. “That’s what the Kremlin fears about Protestants- we follow God’s law, not theirs. But they want to have everything under their control.”

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Source:
https://time.com/6969273/russias-war-against-evangelicals/

 

We Lament the Degradation of Church Life in Russia: Head of the UGCC in the 114th week of war

To all those who echo the clichés of Moscow’s propaganda, we assert: where the Russian occupier comes, dignity and freedom, especially religious freedom, disappear. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this on the 114th week of the great war that Russia brought to our peaceful Ukrainian land.



The Primate noted that the war has been raging in Ukraine for 11 years, claiming new lives every day. This week was again marked by the tremendous crimes of Russians against humanity on Ukrainian soil.

The Head of the Church expressed gratitude to all rescuers, paramedics, and doctors who save human life: “We were deeply moved by the words of the Chernihiv paramedic who, pulling out the wounded body of the boy, prayed loudly to the Lord God, pleading for his life. Once again, we express our sincere gratitude to those who save the lives of Ukrainians and proclaim to the whole world the words that are familiar to everyone, but so important to us: Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that religious representatives in Ukraine carefully listen to everything said by state leaders and politicians of certain countries about Ukraine.

“This week, Christians, Jews and Muslims of Ukraine,” the spiritual leader noted, “were appalled by the words of some American congressmen who believe that the Russian leader is defending Christian values in the modern world. They claim that Russia is now almost the last stronghold of traditional values, the Church, particularly in Ukraine.”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav stated that a return to the Soviet methods of influencing the Church, which Russia is currently exerting, would mean slavery for the Church, regardless of denomination, for any religious community.

“We, the Greek Catholics,” he added, “remember well when in the Soviet Union we were deprived of legal status and existed in the catacombs, we were the largest public opposition to the Soviet regime in the twentieth century.”

“Occupying Ukrainian lands,” says the Head of the Church, “Russia primarily destroys religious freedom. More than 600 churches of various denominations were destroyed in the occupied territories.”

According to him, the Russian Orthodox Church is ceasing to be a church, turning into a part of the state machine with peculiar religious decorations.

The Primate explained that the Russian Orthodox Church first labels the collective event as satanic and declares a metaphysical war against it. Subsequently, it attempts to justify crimes, murders, and violence against Christians, including the Ukrainian people, promising eternal life and absolution for their atrocities committed in Ukraine. We have recently learned that this war, initially termed the national liberation war of the Russian people, has now been declared sacred.

“So, the one who presents himself as the last defender of the Church and traditional Christian values becomes a blasphemer. For by calling the war sacred, he commits a crime not only against man but against the Lord God — he commits an act of sacrilege,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav summarized.

The Head of the UGCC thanked those who have the courage to confront the truth, which liberates and without which there is no justice, no true freedom, neither in Ukraine nor in Europe, North America, nor any other country in the world.

The UGCC Department for Information

Source:
https://ugcc.ua/en/data/we-lament-the-degradation-of-church-life-in-russia-head-of-the-ugcc-in-the-114th-week-of-war-1016/

 

Omsk court put a Greek Catholic parishioner under arrest

In Omsk, the district court of Kuybyshev sentenced 57-year-old Igor Maksimov, a member of the Greek Catholic parish of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to house arrest.

The information was provided by the Telegram channel "Christians Against War."

Maksymov placed an icon in the church depicting Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, Stepan Bandera, and Roman Shukhevych.

Maksymov was accused of rehabilitating Nazism (Part 1 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and insulting the religious feelings of believers (Part 2 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was also accused of allegedly "spreading among parishioners the idea of the superiority of one religion over another, the superiority of the Ukrainian people over the Russian people."

One of the parish visitors reported the Ukrainian icon in the church building. Maksymov faces up to three years in prison.

House arrest is effective at least until June 17th.

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Source:
https://risu.ua/en/omsk-court-put-a-greek-catholic-parishioner-under-arrest_n147879

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More information here:

https://katolik.life/rus/news/sotsi...-veruyushchim-okazalsya-ne-svyashchennik.html

 

I don't understand why a Catholic Church would put an “icon” of Stepan Bandera in their church. Stepan Bandera was a Nazi who fought alongside Nazi Germany during the Second World War & killed thousands of Jews and Poles .. “There are still open wounds in the memory of many people,” Duda has said, an obvious reference to the massacres of some 100,000 Poles during the 1940s. Poland considers the killings genocide.

In 2023, the Australian government introduced a Bill to ban Nazi symbols and the sale of goods-for-profit featuring Nazi or the SS, including on flags, armbands, T-shirts in public and online, with a maximum penalty of up to 12 months' imprisonment. The move to ban Nazi symbols has been welcomed by those researching the rise of far-right extremism in Australia. Most States now want the Nazi salute to be included: "This is a blight on Victoria when we've got a situation where we've got Nazis standing and effectively Nazi saluting on the steps of Parliament House. It's really unacceptable for that to happen," he said.

 

Moscow Increasingly Worried About Rise Of Roman Catholicism In Belarus – OpEd


By Paul Goble

Both the Kremlin and the Moscow Patriarchate are increasingly worried about the rise of Roman Catholicism in Belarus, with the former concerned primarily about the possibility that the church’s rise will threaten Putin ally Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the latter about the danger that it will weaken the Moscow church in Belarus.

These fears have been growing over the last several years, following the prominent role Catholics played in the protests following the last “elections” in Belarus and the spread of autocephaly movements among Orthodox churches in the post-Soviet states (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/04/moscows-greatest-fear-about-orthodox.html).

These fears have fed anti-Catholic attitudes both in Moscow and in Minsk (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/01/anti-catholicism-spreading-in-moscow.html) and have now led to direct attacks on the Vatican for what one Russian author says is its direct involvement in the rise of an anti-Russian and anti-Belarusian Catholic movement in Belarus.

On the Rhythm of Eurasia portal, Moscow religious affairs commentator Artyom Karpovich directly attacks the Vatican and Pope Francis for what he says is Rome’s efforts in Belarus to overthrow both Russian Orthodox and Russia’s ally Lukashenka (ritmeurasia.ru/news–2024-04-22–vatikan-aktivizirovalsja-v-belorussii-72858).

He argues that the Roman Catholic Church has always been anti-Russian, although he notes the Pope Francis has promised in public not to interfere in Orthodox affairs. But he says that pledge has been undermined by the increasing activity in Belarus of an apostolic administration set up last year to coordinate Catholic churches in that country. (On that body, see vaticannews.va/ru/church/news/2023-03/belarus-novaya-struktura-dlya-katolikov-vizantijskogo-obryada.html).

According to Karpovich, the pope has taken this position because he fears retaliation from Moscow and Minsk; but the pope’s subordinates believe that they can proceed and that the Holy Father will eventually change his position and allow the creation of a Roman Catholic exarchate in Belarus.

To that end, the Catholic apostolic administrator has become increasingly active in meeting with Belarusian officials and in providing financial support and guidance to the growing number of Catholic churches in Belarus (eadaily.com/ru/news/2023/04/07/pochemu-v-belorussii-aktivizirovalis-grekokatoliki).

The Belarusian Catholic church is closely connected with the Greek Catholics of Ukraine. Many of its priests were trained in western Ukraine, and not surprisingly, they and their flocks have supported Ukraine since Putin launched his expanded invasion of that country in February 2022, yet another reason for Moscow’s opposition to Catholicism in Belarus. (On these interrelationships, see dekoder.org/ru/gnose/greko-katolicheskaya-cerkov-v-belarusi.)

The Belarusian government and the Russian church in Belarus recognize the dangers that this “fifth column,” to use Karpovich’s expression, poses to both. And the former has adopted new laws that give Minsk far greater powers to interfere in and limit the growth of Roman Catholicism in Belarus (apnews.com/article/belarus-lukashenko-religion-repression-dissent-58428374005dd0da383fbac7ad2c5d57).

Karpovich would clearly like to see the Belarusian government do even more and the Moscow church there become increasingly active in opposing what he believes is a Catholic threat to both.

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Source:
https://www.eurasiareview.com/27042...ut-rise-of-roman-catholicism-in-belarus-oped/

 

Russian Orthodox priest sanctioned for eulogizing opposition leader Alexei Navalny



Dmitri Safronov has been banned from conducting religious services following a decree by Patriarch Kirill, issued after he delivered a eulogy for opposition leader Alexei Navalny in late March.

Last month, Russian Orthodox priest Dmitri Safronov was issued a decree from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church after he officiated a memorial service for opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The decree, which was recently published on the Moscow Patriarchate's website, prohibits Safronov from leading services and wearing the cassock and cross, effective as of April 15.

Father Safronov, who previously served at a church in central Moscow, will now assume the role of sacristan at another church in the Russian capital, as per the decree. The specific reasons for this penalty were not disclosed. "The reasons for the ban are not indicated in the document (but we clearly understand why)," Navalny's team shared in a statement on Telegram April 23.

Crackdown on dissenting voices

Safronov delivered the eulogy on March 26, forty days after Navalny's death, in accordance with Orthodox tradition. The service took place at Borissovo Cemetery in Moscow, attended by Navalny’s family and supporters. Navalny, a prominent political opponent of the Kremlin, died under mysterious circumstances on February 16 in an Arctic prison where he faced particularly harsh detention conditions. Russian authorities claimed his death was due to natural causes, but Navalny’s close associates accuse them of murder.

The suppression of dissent in Russia has significantly intensified since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Thousands of Russians have been arrested for protesting against the campaign, with many receiving prison sentences. Nearly all notable opposition figures are either incarcerated or in exile.

In January, Father Alexei Uminsky, known for his opposition to the Kremlin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was removed from his pastoral duties and summoned before the Moscow diocesan court. He had refused to recite a prayer by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill calling for the "victory of Holy Russia" in his parish.

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Source:
https://international.la-croix.com/...r-eulogizing-opposition-leader-alexei-navalny

 

Occupiers transferred Greek Catholic Church in the Kherson Region to the Moscow Patriarchate



With the blessing of "Bishop of Yenakiieve and Rozdolne" Aleksey (Ovsyannikov), who carries the title of "acting head of the Skadovsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church," the so-called dean of the Skadovsk church district, Archpriest Nikolai Kanyuka, and "employee of the department of the Yenakiieve Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church for interaction with the Russian Federation Armed Forces," Sergey Samishchenko, performed the "minor consecration" of the church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Oleksandrivka, Skadovsk district of the Kherson region.

Orest Ilnytsky wrote about this on Facebook.

The "Yenakiieve Diocese" announcement states that the church was previously Greek Catholic, but "by the decision of the local community and after an appeal to the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church," it, along with the parish, "came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate."

In 2006, the priest Volodymyr Halatiuk, together with the parish, moved from the Greek Catholic Church to the newly established Orthodox parish of St. Archangel Michael in the village of Oleksandrivka (then Ptakhivka).

Since then, the parish, which was part of the Odessa Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, held services in a former warehouse, which was initially rented and was later purchased through an auction at the end of 2011.

In early 2017, the community received permission to build a church on the allocated land plot. It is this church, which was under construction, that the "priests" from the Moscow Patriarchate, serving the occupiers, "reconsecrated."

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Source:
https://risu.ua/en/occupiers-transf...son-region-to-the-moscow-patriarchate_n148033

 

The similarities between recent cases and the Soviet past are frightening...

 

I don't know if this is a sign that communism is coming back, as much as everything is being nationalized and used for securing political agendas. What I mean by this is that King Henry the VIII took over the Church in England, as a means to be able to dictate belief and remove foreign influence, which is very very convenient for any ruler. So this kind of action isn't exclusive to communism.

It does appear that nationalism is on the rise in Russia, and the people seem to be good with it. This looks to be a reaction to what is seen as a threat from the West. So religion then becomes more cultural than faith based. A kind of cultural cohesion in defiance to what they perceive as a threat. This kind of social cohesion has been demonstrated by Russians many times in the past.