Moscow, 'Lent, the most suitable time to fight for justice'

At the beginning of the Lenten period, groups of people demonstrated in the city with signs bearing biblical phrases. Solidarity with those imprisoned for reasons of conscience. The social and political activity of those "who go to church".

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Yesterday 2 March Lent began according to the Julian calendar of the Orthodox Church, which is followed by the patriarchate of Moscow and several other autocephalous churches. Precisely on "Sunday of Forgiveness", in which all the faithful exchange mutual forgiveness to purify themselves at the beginning of the Great Fast, several people decided to hold isolated demonstrations (gatherings are increasingly prohibited, especially in times of coronavirus) for the defense of civil rights and the unjust imprisonment of political prisoners in Russia.

Christian and Muslim faithful met on the Bridge of the Patriarchs, in front of the Cathedral of the Holy Savior in Moscow. The choice of Sunday of Forgiveness is not accidental: it is a sign of solidarity towards many people imprisoned for reasons of conscience, who have been charged with criminal offenses and received long sentences, according to a practice sadly known in the past of Tsarist and Soviet Russia.

Aleksej Minjaylo, one of the young men arrested for the Muscovite protests last September against expulsions from the electoral lists of the Municipality of Moscow, first took the initiative of solitary pickets with protest signs, according to the Novaja Gazeta.

In his opinion, “Christians often think that political prisoners belong to another world, that they have nothing to do with. But this is not so: we invite all Orthodox to defend prisoners of conscience, political ones and those who suffer for their faith, such as Jehovah's Witnesses. " Minjaylo explained the choice of the day of forgiveness: "Fasting does not lie in reducing food, but in performing acts of mercy, therefore Lent is the most suitable time to fight for justice".

Novaja Gazeta has collected the testimonies of several demonstrators, such as that of the icon painter Anna Maslova (see photo): “We are in a time when anyone can find themselves in the place of those who are sent to the camps. I am a single mother and I never went to the demonstrations because I was afraid that something would happen to me ... as soon as my children grew up, seeing what was happening in Russia, I went to my spiritual father and I told him: I protected my parents, my children, but it seems to me that now we have to defend them by really doing something. "

Anna added that "it seems that only a small group of liberal Orthodox have gathered here, but it is not so: there are many people who go to church and believe they must participate directly in social and political activity, perhaps only by supporting the families of the prisoners, collecting money and praying together for them. Even if they are not seen on Facebook and in the square, there are many Orthodox who do not remain passive and indifferent ".

Aleksej Kozlov is a university professor of linguistics, and in the church he serves the altar during the services: “Today is the last day before the beginning of Lent and we Orthodox are preparing to contemplate the Passion of the Lord, the memory of the most terrible among the unjust convictions in the history of humanity. It was a death sentence, complete with humiliation and personal violence against the most innocent of men born of woman, Jesus Christ. Thus, remembering those events, we cannot let any other unjust condemnation leave us indifferent, it is something we cannot accept. "

Nikolai Bobrinsky is a lawyer and municipal deputy: “I am an Orthodox Christian, and my Christian conscience cannot resign itself to the lie that is perpetrated on our behalf, on behalf of the Russian citizens in the courts, where they persecute innocent people. Today, on Sunday of Forgiveness, we want to remember the duty of mercy towards all the guilty, and even more towards those who suffer without guilt; and all the more to cry out that without true justice the people cannot remain whole, divine punishment will be reversed on it ”.

In the photo: Anna Maslova with quote from Heb 13.3: "Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering".

• russia
• religious freedom
• prison of conscience
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• demonstrations for democracy
• courts
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