Unorthodox Russian Priest Arrested for 'Encouraging the Suicide of a Minor'

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Covid-denying Russian monk, who insists Putin has been replaced by Antichrist in rubber mask, detained over child suicide claims

29 Dec 2020 16:55

An Orthodox priest, known for “expelling demons” and warning of secret plans to enslave the world, has been held by police on suspicion of pushing children to kill themselves. His monastery was raided by riot police overnight.

Local media in nearby Ekaterinburg reported on Tuesday that a police operation was underway at the Middle Ural Orthodox chapter, and Nikolay Romanov (known as Father Sergius) had been detained. Hundreds of supporters gathered near the road to the compound to protest the arrest of the faith leader, who has previously been formally excommunicated from the Church.

Some hours later, Romanov appeared before a Moscow court, which will determine whether he can be held or released. The media has been banned from the hearing.

While details of the charges have not yet been released, Romanov’s lawyer, Svetlana Gerasimova, told journalists that he is suspected of encouraging “the suicide of a minor.” The Russian daily newspaper Kommersant suggests the case is linked to a sermon in which he asked his parishioners whether they were “ready to die for Russia.” An advocate for the breakaway church told the publication that “it was not about suicide, but about self-sacrifice for people, about patriotism.”

There is an aspect of Christianity that calls for adherents to 'die to self', that is to die to their selfish desires and lusts, to surrender their will to Jesus just as Jesus surrendered His to the Father - "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done."

It has nothing to do with physical death for the adherent, but only death to the sin nature we are born with.

Look at the extraordinary gaze of the beautiful child in white.

Romanov’s long history of explosive claims have simultaneously won him followers and drawn criticism from church officials. He has repeatedly given voice to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories involving the fabricated ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ hoax, which claim that secretive Jewish organizations are working to subject the world to their rule.

In 2019, he warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would soon be targeted for assassination as a result of changes to pension law. Later that year, he warned that the Antichrist was due to return to earth “at the age of 30, wearing a silicone mask, bearing Vladimir Putin’s face.”

That would be odd since Putin's face is more than twice that age.

Romanov has previously fallen foul of law enforcement over his refusal to close his churches and encouraging followers to break coronavirus prevention laws to attend them. “Whoever encroaches on the closure of temples – damn it and his whole family,” the priest has said. He has previously been issued with a fine over the statements.

Ex-NHL star Datsyuk 'holed up at monastery defended by Cossacks with priest who claims Covid is cover-up to microchip population'

In October, Romanov was officially excommunicated from the Orthodox Church in a decision sanctioned by its top priests. He was found guilty by a Church tribunal of violating the priestly oath, monastic vows and a number of other rules. However, he has since continued to perform his role as a priest as part of the Sredneuralsk Convent.

Romanov controls three large monasteries in the region, as well as residential buildings, industrial sites and farms. His group has plans to build the largest Orthodox Church in the world, with capacity for up to 37,000 worshippers.

Mind-Bending Paradox - Russian Orthodox Church More Open to Abortion Than Russian Government - Correction

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Correction: see comments below

Russian Orthodox Church has ‘soft & flexible’ stance on abortion & does not demand practice be made illegal, spokesman reveals

26 Dec 2020 12:33

By Jonny Tickle, RT

FILE PHOTO Vladimir Legoyda © Sputnik / Nina Zotina

The Russian Orthodox Church is not proposing a blanket ban on abortion and its official position is actually “more flexible” than a complete prohibition. That’s according to Vladimir Legoyda, the institution's main spokesperson.

Speaking on Saturday to RTVI, a New York-based Russian-language channel aimed at expats, Legoyda revealed that the Church is not entirely against the termination of pregnancy being legal.

“We are taking a softer and more flexible position in this case: we demand [abortion] be withdrawn from the compulsory health insurance fund,” he said. The Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund is a taxpayer-funded state program that guarantees the provision of free medical care for a wide range of illnesses.

Russia's religious debate around abortion hit the headlines in November, after Oleg Apolikhin, the chief fertility specialist at the Ministry of Health, suggested creating ‘abortion centers,’ that would be used exclusively for pregnancy terminations. Apolikhin expressed the opinion that terminating a pregnancy had become fashionable and instead wanted to change it into a “socially negative phenomenon.” The specialist also suggested removing abortion from the schedule of state-provided care.

His suggestion was knocked back by the ministry itself, which disagreed with both proposals. However, this idea has complete support from the Russian Orthodox Church, which also agrees with Apolikhin’s view that doctors should be able to refuse to perform an abortion.

“The Church has repeatedly said that doctors who, per their religious beliefs or internal convictions, do not want to perform abortion surgeries, should be able to not perform them,” Legoyda wrote on Telegram in November.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has previously called abortion a sinful practice, believing that terminating a pregnancy because of a discovered abnormality is “even criminal.”

In his opinion, abortion should not be an option just because an embryo “might not make a good football player, or a good lawyer, or a very strong and healthy person.”

Senior Russian Orthodox Priest Calls Sex Affirmation Surgery a Crime

© Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich

A senior Russian cleric has criticized gender reassignment surgeries and called for the criminal prosecution of parents who teach their children that they can choose their gender.

I agree! If a child is encouraged to 'change' their biological sex, that is a form of child abuse, IMHO. These children need help, but sex reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, etc., will almost certainly do more harm to a child than good. Trans people have extremely high rates of attempted suicide.

“Such surgeries are, in my opinion and in the opinion of the church, a crime against God,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department, said in an interview.

He explained that the church doesn’t recognize a person’s “new” gender after sex affirmation surgery.

Hilarion reiterated that the Russian Orthodox Church “will never recognize such lifestyle as normal… when children from the cradle are being taught that there is a biological gender and a gender they can choose.”

The cleric stressed that parents who plant these ideas into their children’s head should be criminally prosecuted.

According to Hilarion, a child should wait until full legal age to decide "if they want to stay as God created them" or change their gender. 

In 2017, the Russian Orthodox church criticized a law introduced in Greece, allowing gender reassignment surgeries for teenagers as young as 15.

In Russia, sex affirmation surgeries are permissible for citizens aged 18 and above, if they are diagnosed as transsexuals.

According to experts, transsexualism is a rare condition that may affect 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 100,000 cases.

Biggest Split in Modern Orthodox History: Russian Orthodox Church Breaks Ties With Constantinople

There is certainly more of politics than religion happening here.

An extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church is held in Moscow, on September 14, 2018. © Sputnik / Russian Orthodox Church

In the biggest rift in modern Orthodox history, the Russian Orthodox Church has cut all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, effectively splitting from it after it granted independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, has ruled that any further clerical relations with Constantinople are impossible, Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, told journalists, de facto announcing the breach of relations between the two churches.

“A decision about the full break of relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate has been taken at a Synod meeting” that is currently been held in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Hilarion said, as cited by TASS.

The move comes days after the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate decided to eventually grant the so-called autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, thus making the clerical organization, which earlier enjoyed a broad autonomy within the Moscow Patriarchate, fully independent.

The Moscow Patriarchate also said that it would not abide by any decisions taken by Constantinople and related to the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “All these decisions are unlawful and canonically void,” Hilarion said, adding that “the Russian Orthodox Church does not recognize these decisions and will not follow them.”

At the same time, the Russian Church expressed its hope that “a common sense will prevail” and Constantinople will change its decision. However, it still accused the Ecumenical Patriarch of initiating the “schism.”

Kiev Pechersk Lavra

The move taken by Moscow marks arguably the greatest split in the history of the Orthodox Church since the Great Schism of 1054, which separated Catholics and Orthodox Christians, as it involves a break of communion between the biggest existing Orthodox Church – the Moscow Patriarchate – and Constantinople Patriarch, who is widely regarded as a spiritual leader of world’s Orthodox Christians, even though his status is nothing like that of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.

Constantinople’s decision seems to be serving the interests of the Ukrainian leadership rather than the Orthodox Christians living there. While most Orthodox clerics in Ukraine still pledge loyalty to the head of the Russian church, Patriarch Kirill, and consider themselves to be part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kiev actively supports a schismatic force, which has been unrecognized by any other Churches until now.

This religious movement led by the former Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who is now called Patriarch Filaret in Ukraine, has sought to gain the status of an independent Orthodox Church, “equal” to the Moscow Patriarchate, since 1990s. Meanwhile, it did not hesitate to seize Moscow Patriarchate’s churches by force.

According to TASS, 40 churches have been forcefully seized by the Kiev Patriarchate between 2014 and 2016. In the first half of 2018 alone, Ukraine witnessed 10 new attacks on Russian Orthodox Churches. Now, as Constantinople is launched a procedure of granting independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, such attacks might further intensify, some experts warn.

Patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church Warns of End Times

Orthodox Patriarch warns of approaching end times,

asks not to push for revolutionary change

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia © Sergey Pyatakov / Sputnik

In a public speech in the main Moscow cathedral, Patriarch Kirill said the signs from the Book of Revelation are now apparent. He also called on politicians and ordinary citizens to unite and stop the movement towards the abyss.

“All people who love the Motherland must be together because we are entering a critical period in the course of human civilization. This can already be seen with the naked eye. You have to be blind not to notice the approaching awe-inspiring moments in history that the apostle and evangelist John was talking about in the Book of Revelation,” the patriarch was quoted as saying by Interfax. 

Patriarch Kirill added, however, that the exact time of the end times depends on everyone’s actions. He called on people to understand their responsibility regarding Russia and the whole of mankind, and to stop “the movement towards the end of history’s abyss.”

He emphasized that many representatives of the modern Russian intelligentsia are repeating the mistakes made by their predecessors, who led the country into the ruinous revolutionary events of the early 20th century.

“Today is the wrong time to rock the boat of human passions because there is already too much negative influence on people’s spiritual lives,” Kirill said.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia turned 71 on Monday. After holding mass in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Holy Synod presented the head of the Russian Orthodox Church with a copy of ceremonial headwear worn by Patriarch Tikhon – the man who was elected head of the Church 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, this brief report is a little cryptic as to what Patriarch Kirill was referring to with regard to 'rocking the boat of human passions'. However, over the previous few weeks he was more explicit in his concerns. He seems to be worried about a revolution that might take Russia back into communism, - a very dark period for Russia and the Russian church, or perhaps he is referring specifically to Ukraine.

Here is a very interesting report from MEMRI dated 13 Nov - 

At The Opening Of Russia's Wall Of Grief, Patriarch Kirill Criticizes The Bolshevik Revolution On Its 100th Anniversary And Warns Against Fomenting New Revolutions

Vladimir Putin has tried to straddle the issue of the Bolshevik Revolution in an effort to forge a consensus between supporters and opponents of the revolution. He has described the fall of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and brought back the anthem used during Soviet times. On the other hand with the exception of the Communist Party that tried to launch commemoratives of the centennial anniversary of the revolution throughout the country and have the anniversary declared an official holiday, the event was officially played down. Lately Putin has become more outspoken against the revolution. In downtown Moscow, on October 30, the Russian President attended the opening of the Wall of Grief (known in English also as the Wall of Sorrow) memorial to victims of political repression during the Soviet-era government.[1] The ceremony was held as part of the official Day Of Remembrance For Victims Of Political Repression. During the event, Putin stated: "It is very important that we all and future generations – this is of great significance – know about, and remember this tragic period in our history when entire social groups and entire peoples were cruelly persecuted… This terrifying past cannot be deleted from national memory or, all the more so, be justified by any references to the so-called best interests of the people."[2]

Patriarch Kirill and the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Wall of Grief memorial. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

A major participant in the solemn ceremony was Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who took the opportunity to express his views on the centenary of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The Patriarch stated that the events that ensued during the Bolshevik Revolution could explain the 20th century repressions that came later. However, the Patriarch's speech, was less an analysis of the Bolshevik Revolution and more an apparent warning against future color revolutions against the Kremlin. Indeed, he warned the new generations against repeating historic errors.

On November 1, in a lengthy address before the 21st World Russian People’s Council in Moscow, the Patriarch reiterated that Russian society should learn from its "mistakes" and remain united, avoiding the trap of fomenting new political revolutions as in 1917. The Patriarch further openly warned against color revolutions, which have become a "technological concept", defining the "forceful change of power" and justifying the "violation of the Constitution" and "norms of international law." Here he was very much on the same page as Putin and his surrogates.

Recently, on November 7, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion channeled Patriach Kirill's views when interviewed on the Rossiya-24 TV channel. "Russia could have achieved much more, if it had developed in an evolutionary, not revolutionary way," said the hierarch.[3]

Patriarch Kirill and the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Wall of Grief memorial. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

Below are excerpts of the Patriarch's recent speeches on the Bolshevik revolution:

Patriarch Kirill: 'The Dream Grew Over Into A Nightmare'; 'The Current Generation Does Not Have The Right To Repeat The Mistakes Of History'

During the ceremony, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill I said:

"The year of centenary of the Russian revolution offers an important occasion for understanding [repressions of the 20th century]. As we look into this tragedy, we’re asking ourselves how it could happen that children of the same country, neighbors, fellow-workers persecuted and killed one another, how the momentous idea of building a world of freedom and fairness led up to bloodletting and lawlessness? At that time, people dreamed of a world without exploitation, poverty or war, about a world of peace where science would resolve the problems and cure all the illnesses but the dream grew over into a nightmare for many, many people."

He then added: "Where did the error lurk? Was it because people were seeking to build a humane and fair society upon denial of spiritual fundamentals of human life and subjugating morality to ideology, which led to justification of acts of cruelty on the way to building the radiant future. Departure from the standards of morality always breeds crisis."[4]

The prelate warned Russia's new generations against succumbing to the same historic mistakes, i.e. starting new color revolution: "The current generation does not have the right to repeat the mistakes of history. Hatred should not lead us in our quest to build a peaceful, just, and prosperous life."[5] He then added: "The tragic pages of our history should not serve as pretexts for fanning animosity or for a buildup of tensions. And condemnation of terror should not turn from an act of morality into a political ritual."[6]

Patriarch Kirill: 'Color Revolutions Have Become A Technological Concept… Justifying The Violation Of The Constitution'

A few days later, on November 1, Patriarch Kirill returned to the topic when he delivered a speech at the 21st World Russian People’s Council in Moscow. In his speech, the Patriarch stressed that with the passage of years Russian society distanced itself from the Bolshevik revolution. Contemporary Russian society should cherish its national unity and steer clear of the "political radicalism" that could lead to color revolutions.[7]

The Patriarch said: "During the last 100 years our society reached a certain maturity and distanced itself historically enough from 1917 - this enables us to speak in a more balanced and meaningful manner without avoiding some judgment and without politicizing the issue superfluously."

"It is hard to deny that the revolution was a tragedy: a civil war, when one brother killed another, the death and expulsion of millions of people, huge spiritual and material losses. The most horrifying thing is that, during the revolutionary struggle, the seeds of hatred and evil were sown in human souls. Currently, we can only painfully observe how the same hatred is resurrecting itself in other regions of the contemporary world – both in faraway countries as well as amongst the most kindred peoples, amongst our brothers" [apparently referring to Ukraine].

"But this hatred has a different ideological garb today and is connecting with drawing new and intensifying the old dividing lines on the planet, with the growth of global inequality and justifying it, by cultivating artificial differences in the societies. These processes are already unconnected to the ideas of the original revolution - they have different ideological roots.

"Despite the rapid growth in the number of conflicts, wars and revolutions in the world, Russia retains enough strength to be an island of stability in this dangerous stream and to continue along its historical path."

"Today, our society is consolidated and there is no tragic civil gap, which [back then] divided the people in two. On the contrary, today we learn again to cheer the national unity and reconciliation.

"This unity and reconciliation ensure us that the country and the society won't stumble and won't rupture into the historical divide as happened back in 1917. Russian history does not go round in circles. We learn from our mistakes. We received immunity to all forms of political radicalism – for us as never before, consensus, is important shared values are important. What unites us - is important rather than what divides us. By cultivating and building the internal peace Russia may serve as an example and moral support for anyone who wants to survive the current crisis.

"The international community is very close today to the historical features, defining the beginning of a new epoch – an age of a great change in peoples' lives, especially the change of the worldview. The new age is coming inevitably, because the limits of globalization have been reached, thus the crisis in its unifying criteria has already emerged. This does not mean that the values of democracy, humanism, and human rights will totally disappear from our lives, but they will cease depending on some abstract, global standards. Every cultural – historical subject will have to seek internal support in its own traditions, a support, necessary for development and progress and will have to seek its own model of modernization, roots of its social institutes system.

"The same thing that applies to the life of a private individual applies to the life of a nation – the belief in social institutions and legal mechanism is dead without moral praxis, without an ability to do the right thing. In this case, this belief leads only to chasing the chimers, the elusive mirages of happiness and freedom. And it leads to uncountable human victims.

"We witness eloquent examples of faith without deeds and deeds without faith - both in the history of Europe and in our Russian history. These are world wars, and revolutions unleashed by the world's powerful. It begins with the French Revolution, which solidified new values in the minds of European peoples, and ends with a series of revolutions of the 20th century. This topic is all the more important because revolutions are currently being mass produced. The so-called 'color revolutions' have become a technological concept, defining the change of power by force and justifying the violation of the Constitution and norms of international law.

"However, despite the fact that the revolution has become just a common technique, its ideologues still rely on quasi-religious rhetoric, they try to justify the revolution as a spiritually lofty, and morally justified act. At the same time, modern revolutionaries, like their predecessors, always sacrifice a part of their own people - through the very logic of the revolutionary process - for the sake of achieving abstract benefits.

"The selective approach of such revolutionaries and their handlers to international norms shows that behind the beautiful facade of legal justifications there are in fact double standards, the desire not to subordinate to the power of laws but, on the contrary, to subordinate others to the right of the strongest, to interfere in internal matters of the sovereign states.

"Revolutions are generally conducted 'from above' – by the elites, which are driving and intoxicating people with their destructive energy. It may be the people's "own elite", uprooted from the traditions, and it may be a foreign elite, driven by colonial interests. The common people are organically disinclined to conductions revolutions – on the contrary the common people are the guardian of traditions without this hindering their desire to attain social justice…

"So, here the question arises regarding the quality of the elite that must be faithful to their own people and be replenished by talented people 'from below', without being constrained by the interests of external global players.

Today Russia looks for the 'shape of the future'. I think the shape of the future is a shape of people and elites which are mutually complimentary. The elites are not above the people. The elites are individuals who take the responsibility for the fates of the country, who equate their own interests with the interests of the state. The elites and the people should be a single undivided whole.

"Thus, it's impossible to 'appoint elites artificially. We need a base from which the current elite is drawn. In order to nurture the elite we need to nurture the people, to nurture society, to invest resources in it. If we don't nurture our own people – others will [he refers apparently to foreign/external forces]…

"Revolutions pretend to create a 'new man' – they strive to break the traditional, Christian core inside a man, to 'reforge him. The struggle of the revolutionaries with traditions and culture stem from this very logic. But this is a dead end, it leads to denial and fragmentation…

"If in the 21st century we want to be a flourishing country, respected by other states and which has a future, if we want to avoid revolutionary catastrophes and civil confrontation – we should not forget our historical experience, we should not renounce our historical fate."

Patriarch Kirill: It All Began 'When People Lost Their Internal Sovereignty'

On November 4, after Saturday's liturgy in the Kremlin, the Patriarch went on speaking about the revolution. He stated that the cause of the Bolshevik revolution had its roots in events that took place 200 years earlier, when people began denying the sovereignty of states and governments.[8]

The Patriarch said: "If we sweep aside the entire political environment connected with the events of a century ago, if we detach ourselves from this ideological view, then by this impartial view we will see a great deal, and we will understand that the beginning of our national illnesses, which led to the catastrophe a century ago, began not a year, not five years, not ten years, but at least 200 years, and perhaps even more, beforehand, when they began to destroy the spiritual foundations of the life of our enlightened society, of the so-called elite."

According to the Patriarch, it all began "when people lost their internal sovereignty, giving their minds and souls to that which came from outside, receiving these signals from outside uncritically, exposing their faith, worldview, and view on life to these ideas."

Patriarch Kirill: 'If There's Liberty, Then There Can Be No Equality'

During his Pastor's Word television program, the Patriarch also commented on the slogan of the French revolution "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" (Liberté, égalité, fraternité). The slogan, as mentioned by the Russian news agency Interfax, became "rooted in the psyche" of the Russian intelligentsia.[9]

The Patriarch said: "If there's liberty, then there can be no equality. Because liberty is just a meadow upon which flowers and grass grow, with each blade rising to the best of its ability. There is no equality: one is stronger, the other is weaker, and there is no sign of the third at all. But equality, it is a mown lawn, everyone is equal but there is no freedom…

"If our unfortunate intellectuals had thought of it earlier, if this kind of comparison had occurred to them, if this kind of comparison could have been disseminated in mass consciousness, then maybe one would have paid closer attention to this seductive motto - equality, fraternity, liberty - because then the revolution would have been carried out primarily for the sake of liberty."

[1] The monument depicts faceless victims of the Soviet-era. The monument was realized by sculptor Georgy Frangulyan, who designed the monument.

[2] Kremlin.ru, October 30, 2017.

[3] Interfax-religion.com, November 7, 2017.

[4] Tass.com, October 31, 2017.

[5] See Putin and Patriarch Kirill Open "Wall of Sorrow" In Memory of Victims of Bolshevik Repression

[6] Tass.com, October 31, 2017.

[7] Patriarchia.ru, November 1, 2017.

[8] Orthochristian.com, November 7, 2017; Interfax.ru, November 4, 2017.

[9] Interfax.ru, October 30, 2017; Interfax-religion.com, October 31, 2017.

Number of Atheists in Russia Halves in 3 Years – Poll

© Sergey Pyatakov / Sputnik

The number of Russians who describe themselves as atheists has fallen from 26 to 13 percent in just three years, according to recent research. The share of those who back the Church’s involvement in state politics has increased slightly.

The poll, conducted by the Russian independent research center Levada in late June, showed that majority of Russians (62 percent) describe their attitude to atheists as “good and respectful,” with only 8 percent stating negative feelings towards this group. These figures remain virtually unchanged since 2014.

At the same time, the share of those who describe themselves as atheists fell sharply over this period – from 26 percent in 2014 to 13 percent today. Nine percent of participants in the poll said that they considered themselves “very religious” and 44 percent said they were “partly religious.”

That would leave 34% as 'religious'.

In the same poll, 28 percent of respondents said that they were confident that the Church must influence the decision-making process in the upper echelons of state power. This is up from 26 percent three years ago.

The share of those who oppose such actions remained unchanged at 36 percent, while 39 percent said that in their minds the influence of the Church on state politics was “exactly at the necessary level.”

When researchers asked the Russian public about their attitude to representatives of various popular religions and confessions, Orthodox Christianity came out as the most popular with the approval of 92 percent of respondents. Just under three-quarters (74 percent) said that they had positive feelings towards Catholics and 61 percent said they felt respect towards Protestants.

The share of those who reported positive feelings towards Muslims is now 59 percent – which is unchanged since 2013. Seventeen percent described their feelings towards Muslims as “controversial” and 13 percent as “fear and hostility.”

Just over half (55 percent) of Russians said they had a good attitude to Jewish people, with 17 reporting controversial feelings and 11 percent stating they had negative sentiments.

Analysts from the Levada Center noted in comments published on the group’s website that while the share of religious people in the country was on the increase, the strength of their faith was apparently getting weaker.

“The increase in the number of believers is not accompanied by sincere faith or understanding of importance of the religion for spiritual life,” the comments read.

“Indirectly, the weakness of Orthodox Christian norms can be confirmed by growing opposition to restrictions imposed during major fasts – such as the restrictions on entertainment, alcohol or sex. The number of people who say that they are not ready to bear this burden has increased up to two times over the past few years.”

The Russian Orthodox Church expects partial fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays, plus they have a plethora of other fasts that vary from forbidding a few things to not eating from Monday morning until Wednesday evening. While many of the fasts are aimed at monks and clergy, it seems devout Orthodox believers often try to follow them as well.

Fasting is a powerful tool in the church, but it seems to me that it should always be volunteered, not imposed. Fasting, while resenting the fast, is not only ineffective but is probably quite a negative experience. Jesus disciples shocked the religious establishment when they picked a few ears of corn to eat on the Sabbath. They had that freedom in Christ as do all who believe in Him. 

Christianity in Russia - Oh, the Troubles of the Last Century, Shall They Return?

What is the state of Christianity in Russia? Well, I've got some good news and some bad news, and I'm not entirely sure which is which

Orthodoxy and Russia inseparable - Putin

TASS Society & Culture 

"Our moral values rest on Christian values, so in this sense it [Orthodoxy - TASS] is a major part of Russia’s soul," president said

    ©  Alexei Druzhinin / press-service of the President of the Russian Federation / TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, /TASS/. Orthodoxy has been playing a major role in Russia’s life throughout the entire history of Russia, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that Orthodoxy and Russia are inseparable, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the film Patriarch shown on the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday to mark the 70th birth anniversary of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

"Orthodoxy and Russia are inseparable. And throughout our entire history, Orthodoxy has been playing a major role in the life of our state and our nation," the president said.
"Our moral values rest on Christian values, so in this sense it [Orthodoxy - TASS] is a major part of Russia’s soul," Putin said.

Russia's Newest Law: No Evangelizing

Outside of Church

(UPDATE) Putin signs new restrictions that limit where and how Christians share the gospel.

Kate Shellnutt, CT

    The State Duma building in Moscow  Bernt Rostad / Flickr

Update (July 8): This week, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a package of anti-terrorism laws that usher in tighter restrictions on missionary activity and evangelism.

Despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin announced Putin’s approval yesterday. The amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, go into effect July 20.

Though opponents to the new measures hope to eventually appeal in court or elect legislators to amend them, they have begun to prepare their communities for life under the new rules, reported Forum 18 News Service, a Christian outlet reporting on the region.

Protestants and religious minorities small enough to gather in homes fear they will be most affected. Last month, “the local police officer came to a home where a group of Pentecostals meet each Sunday," Konstantin Bendas, deputy bishop of the Pentecostal Union, told Forum 18. "With a contented expression he told them: ‘Now they're adopting the law I'll drive you all out of here.’ I reckon we should now fear such zealous enforcement.”

“There are potentially very wide-sweeping ramifications to this law,” Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association said in a Mission Network News report. “It just depends on, again, how it is going to be enforced, and that is a very huge question mark.”

-----

Earlier reporting (June 29): Christians in Russia won’t be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes if Russia’s newest set of surveillance and anti-terrorism laws are enacted.

The proposed laws, considered the country’s most restrictive measures in post-Soviet history, place broad limitations on missionary work, including preaching, teaching, and engaging in any activity designed to recruit people into a religious group.

To share their faith, citizens must secure a government permit through a registered religious organization, and they cannot evangelize anywhere besides churches and other religious sites. The restrictions even apply to activity in private residences and online.

This week, Russia’s Protestant minority—estimated around 1 percent of the population—prayed, fasted, and sent petitions to President Vladimir Putin, who will have to approve the measures before they become official.

“Most evangelicals—leaders from all seven denominations—have expressed concerns,” Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia and a former Moscow church-planter, told CT. “They’re calling on the global Christian community to pray that Putin can intervene and God can miraculously work in this process.”

Following a wave of Russian nationalist propaganda, the laws passed almost unanimously in the Duma, the upper house, on Friday and in the Federation Council, the lower house, today.

“If this legislation is approved, the religious situation in the country will grow considerably more complicated and many believers will find themselves in exile and subjected to reprisals because of our faith,” wrote Oleg Goncharov, spokesman for the Seventh-day Adventists’ Euro-Asia division, in an open letter.

Proposed by United Russia party lawmaker Irina Yarovaya, the law appears to target religious groups outside the Russian Orthodox church. Because it defines missionary activities as religious practices to spread a faith beyond its members, “if that is interpreted as the Moscow Patriarchate is likely to, it will mean the Orthodox Church can go after ethnic Russians but that no other church will be allowed to,” according to Frank Goble, an expert on religious and ethnic issues in the region.

Russian nationalist identity remains tied up with

the Russian Orthodox church

“The Russian Orthodox church is part of a bulwark of Russian nationalism stirred up by Vladimir Putin,” David Aikman, history professor and foreign affairs expert, told CT. “Everything that undermines that action is a real threat, whether that’s evangelical Protestant missionaries or anything else.”

Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, and several other evangelical leaders called the law a violation of religious freedom and personal conscience in a letter to Putin posted on the Russian site Portal-Credo. The letter reads, in part:

The obligation on every believer to have a special permit to spread his or her beliefs, as well as hand out religious literature and material outside of places of worship and used structures is not only absurd and offensive, but also creates the basis for mass persecution of believers for violating these provisions.

Soviet history shows us how many people of different faiths have been persecuted for spreading the Word of God. This law brings us back to a shameful past."

Stalin-era religious restrictions—including outlawing religious activity outside of Sunday services in registered churches and banning parents from teaching faith to their kids—remained on the books until the collapse of the Soviet Union, though the government enforced them only selectively.

Selectively, but mercilessly. One of the most intense books I have ever read, and I have read many, was called The Persecutor, by Sergei Kourdakov. It is also sometimes called Forgive Me, Natasha. Kourdakov documents the horrific brutality with which he and his mates punished Christians for meeting in private homes under the authority of the KGB. Here's the intro to his bio on Wikipedia:

Sergei Nikolayevich Kourdakov (Russian: Сергей Николаевич Курдаков; March 1, 1951 – January 1, 1973) was a former KGB agent and naval officer who from his late teen years carried out more than 150 raids in underground Christian communities in regions of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. At the age of twenty, he defected to Canada while a naval officer on a Soviet trawler in the Pacific and converted to Evangelical Christianity. He is known for having written The Persecutor (also known as Forgive Me, Natasha), an autobiography that was written shortly before his death in 1973 and published posthumously. Since its publication, it has been the source of varied criticism.

The book not only describes the fanatical evil that beset Christians, but it also portrays the utter hopelessness and insanity of the KGB and Soviet military. It is a must read if you can find it. Kourdakov lived only a few years in freedom before he was assassinated - the cost of leaving and exposing the KGB.

Some have questioned whether the government could or would monitor religious activity in private Christian homes.

“I don’t think you can overestimate the Russian government’s willingness to exert control,” Aikman told CT. If history is any indication, the proposed regulations reveal a pattern of “creeping totalitarianism” in the country, he said.

So, I have no small amount of admiration for Putin for which I am greatly embarrassed. Not because he is so vilified by western press and governments - I have no respect for their stated opinions whatsoever; but because I stated years ago that I thought Putin was trying to return Russia to the 'glory days' of the USSR. The 'glory' unfortunately, was restricted to only a handful of people in power while the rest of the country suffered miserably. Nevertheless, Putin seems determined to return Russia to those days and this move to restore Soviet-style control of religion just makes me more sure that I am correct.

Having said that, I am not entirely against the edict as it will have the effect of allowing the authorities of clamping down on Islamic recruitment. That cannot be a bad thing. As far as Christians are concerned, a little persecution is rarely a bad thing; it separates the wolves from the sheep in a hurry. America could use a little such persecution to reduce the wolf population in its pulpits. 

The other question I have is whether the Russian Orthodox Church will preach the real Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they will be allowed to preach it, or will they have to water it down as they did in the communist era. That era was not representative of the thousand years of Orthodox Christianity in the great country of Russia.

The so-called Big Brother laws also introduce widespread surveillance of online activity, including requiring encrypted apps to give the government the power to decode them, and assigning stronger punishments for extremism and terrorism.

The proposal is an “attack on freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and the right to privacy that gives law enforcement unreasonably broad powers,” the humanitarian group Human Rights Watch told The Guardian.

If passed, the anti-evangelism law carries fines up to US $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign visitors who violate the law face deportation.

Russia has already moved to contain foreign missionaries. The “foreign agent” law, adopted in 2012, requires groups from abroad to file detailed paperwork and be subject to government audits and raids. Since then, the NGO sector has shrunk by a third, according to government statistics.

“In Moscow, we shared an office with 24 organizations. Not a single foreign expatriate mission is there now,” Rakhuba previously told CT. “They could not re-register. Missionaries could not return to Russia because they could not renew their visas. It is next to impossible to get registration as a foreign organization today.”

While Russia’s evangelicals pray that the proposed regulations are amended or vetoed, they have gone underground before, and they’ll be willing to do it again, Rakhuba said.

“They say, ‘If it will come to it, it’s not going to stop us from worshiping and sharing our faith,’” he wrote. “The Great Commission isn’t just for a time of freedom.”