Authorities demolish Pentecostal Church, Moscow Patriarchate calls for respect for religious
Moscow (AsiaNews) -
The Russian Orthodox Patriarchate has taken up the defense of the community of
Pentecostals, after the controversial demolition of one of their churches in Moscow, at the behest of
local authorities. The head of the Synodal Department for Relations between
state and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has asked the vice mayor of the
capital to take a position on the incident, asking him to consider that
"the feelings of the faithful for the building, where they prayed, which deserves
proper respect and attention. "
The
night of the 6th of September, as reported by Russian news agencies, a group of
unidentified men, escorted by police and civilian volunteers, knocked down the Pentecostal Church
of the Holy Trinity in Novokosino, eastern outskirts of Moscow with two bulldozers.
As
the pastor of a church, Vasili Romanyuk, told Forum 18 it all happened without formal warnings: "Valuables were
taken away and used in aggressive ways, while volunteers on site did not allow
anyone near during the demolition and took the woman who was guarding the
building to local police. "
Some
time ago, the authorities had unilaterally terminated the lease for the land,
the site of the parish. The community was trying to rectify the
situation, but encountered numerous legal obstacles. A local official, Romanyuk
says had verbally suggested the possibility of demolishing the church by
mid-September, "but no one expected it would happen this way." Public
officials, on condition of anonymity, told Forum
18 that the initiative took place on a court order, but it was not
explained which. Mikhail Odintsov, spokesman for the Ombudsman for Human Rights
in Russia,
stated "it is a Soviet approach: arriving at night with bulldozers and
demolishing everything. It is 'unacceptable'. The church of the Holy Trinity
was built 25 years ago and was one of the oldest Pentecostal churches in Moscow. The Pentacostals
are the largest Protestant community in the country with 400 thousand faithful,
according to expert estimates.
A
complaint was presented to the Ombudsman of Russia, Vladimir Lukin, and now clarification
is expected. Members of the community have expressed concern about the
recurrence of similar incidents with other religions. "It seems that the
authorities can simply cancel a lease and deprive a community of their
church", Forum 18 reports
quoting some Protestants. The same Forum 18
notes that many communities in Russia
feel vulnerable to arbitrary actions by the political and judicial authorities.
In
2007, Glorification of the Pentecostal church in the Siberian town of Abakan and a mosque of Astrakhan were victims of demolitions without
prior notice.
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