Russians Overwhelmingly Support Forming Religious Militias

Edit: Remember when Militia became a boogeyman in the US media in the early nineties?  Well, this is Russia and everything seems to be wildly different here. In addition to making anarchist riots by prostitutes and blasphemous derelicts increasingly unpopular, Russians are overwhelmingly behind the idea of forming religious Militias to defend holy sites.

So, they're not just naming submarines after Saints and making films celebrating reactionary political figures, the Russians are taking it to the streets as it were.  To be sure there will be much hand-wringing in the West.  Or will there be?

It's really not much of a stretch to go from this to forming military units to provide security, medical and material support for Christians in the Holy Land, is it?

Moscow, October 18, Interfax - The majority of Russians questioned in an opinion poll expressed support for a proposal to organize Orthodox Christian militias for the declared purpose of protecting holy sites.

The idea was backed by 66% of respondents in a survey carried out by the All-Russia Center for Public Opinion Studies (VCIOM) last month.

The initiative to form militias for patrolling city streets, put forward in August by the leader of the Holy Russia organization, had the widest support among respondents who support the ruling Yedinaya Rossia (United Russia) party - 71%, - among those are older than 45 (70%), those who are poorly educated (73%), those living in cities with populations of more than a million and those not using the Internet (72%), VCIOM experts told Interfax.

Grass Roots Orthodox Group Seeks Ban on Homosexual Propaganda

Edit: it's a gradual restoration of the values of Christendom. Here's the article from interfax:
Orthodox activists demand closure of gay clubs, ban on homosexual "propaganda" in Moscow

Moscow, October 9, Interfax - Orthodox activists will be seeking a ban on homosexual "propaganda" in Moscow.

"Homosexuality and its propaganda are grave sins. We will be seeking the closure of gay clubs in Moscow and a general ban on same-sex 'love,'" the Orthodox public movement Narodny Sobor (People's Council) told Interfax-Religion.

Narodny Sobor believes Moscow parliamentarians could follow the example of their colleagues in St. Petersburg and other cities, where the propaganda of homosexuality among minors has already been banned.

A law envisioning administrative liability for the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors became effective in St. Petersburg on March 17, 2012.

Legislation banning the propaganda of homosexuality has been passed in some regions of Russia, specifically, in the Ryazan, Arkhangelsk, Kostroma, and Novosibirsk regions.
Link to interfax-religion...

Russian Church Sanctifies North Pole

This is from Mystagogy blog and Barents Observer, about the Russian Church blessing the Arctic:

The capsual includes a small plate with the inscription: “With the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All of the Rus, the consecration of the North Pole marks the 1150 years of Russian Statehood”, a press release from the Church reads.

The Church consecration took place as part of the major ongoing Arctic-2012 expedition, a mission organized by the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. The capsual was dropped to sea by Bishop Iakov of Naryan-Mar in a ceremony attended by both expedition leader Vladimir Sokolov and ship Captain Oleg Shchapin.

As previously reported, the Arctic expedition left Murmansk with the nuclear powered icebreaker “Rossiya” on 8 September. On 13 September, the vessel reached the Pole point, and the expedition subsequently continued through Arctic waters towards the site where the drifting Russian research station “North Pole-39” will be replaced by a new facility.

Read further, at link to Mystogogy...

Bishop Builds Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima in Far East

Edit: Veritas vos Liberavit has cited something Vladimir Putin recently said that:

"Nothing is more important in society than the moral principles that form its foundation, nothing. Everything else is secondary"

It's in the back drop of Putin's great program of moral restoration of the country, that he's seeking to not only reinvent the Russian State's relationship to the Church, but is actually keeping his promises in contrast to what's happening further west, where the Church and its believers are increasingly falling under systematic and pervasive persecution. While others are buying outlandish space age designs and passing them off as worthy Catholic edifices, others are not only building in stone, but restoring the Faith. As if to underscore these hopeful circumstances, another restorationist is as work in his Diocese of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, Bishop Athanasius Schneider is, as if by miracle, building a Cathedral devoted to Our Lady of Fatima as we would say, in the ruins of the Soviet Imperium, as reported by Rorate Caeli:

What is the historical and spiritual meaning of the construction of this Cathedral at Karaganda?

Bp. Schneider: The first reason was this: to have a cathedral in a more dignified and visible place. Because the diocese of Karaganda used up to now a building that had still been built at the time of persecution, and this building is in the outskirts of the town and not exteriorly recognizable as a church.

A cathedral in a more central place, built in an unmistakeably Catholic tradition, that is, in the Neogothic style, will be a silent, yet also potent, sign and means of evangelization in a world in which Catholics are about 1% or 2% of the population, in which the majority of the inhabitants are Muslims, and where there is a strong Orthodox minority. Moreover, a considerable part of the population does not belong to any religion, they are people who search God.< br/>...

The historical and spiritual meaning also has this dimension: the new Cathedral is a sacred place for the remembrance of the countless victims of the Communist regime, since there was around Karaganda one of the largest and most terrible concentration camps - of the Gulag - in which people belonging to 100 different ethnicities suffered. At the same time, the new Cathedral will also be a shrine for prayer of expiation for the crimes of the Atheistic and Communist regime.

Decadent Guerilla Activists Are Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison

Edit: the people lining up in defense of them are the usual suspects, the pornography vendors, various defenders of filth, but also significant figures who have a stake, as Alexander Dugin says, in debasing and derailing the Byzantine restoration ongoing in Russia.

Madonna's First Venue in St. Petersburg to be Purified with Holy Water

Edit: One thing Poles and Russians can agree upon is their contempt for decadent pop stars.  Cut from interfax is the following:

St. Petersburg, August 9, Interfax - Activists from the Trade Union of Russian Citizens are planning to continue a series of lone protests against Madonna's concert in St. Petersburg, the public movement told Interfax.

"At first we were planning to hold protests outside the Sports and Concert Complex (where her performance will take place), but we dropped this idea because representatives from the LGBT movement will be protesting there. We have decided to go to Dvortsovaya Square tonight," the source said.

It was here that Madonna gave her first performance in St. Petersburg a few years ago, he said. "The time has come to consecrate this place. We have invited a priest to spray holy water onto Dvortsovaya Square," the source said.

The Trade Union of Russian Citizens believes that Madonna has turned its ideas into political demonstrations, having become "an ideological weapon of the West," the source said. "We are against the genocide of morality and ethics. Foreigners have no right to dictate the rules of life to us," the spokesman said.

Madonna is performing in St. Petersburg on Thursday. The show is due to begin on the stage of the Petersburgsky Sports and Concert Complex at 8 p.m. Moscow time. Madonna will sing songs from her new album M.D.N.A. as part of her world tour.

During her performance in Moscow on August 7, Madonna spoke in support of the arrested members of thePussy Riot punk band. Also, the singer wrote on her Facebook page that during her performance in St. Petersburg she will touch upon the problem of gay rights violations in the city, which banned "propaganda" promoting homosexuality and pedophilia to minors.

Link to Interfax....

Russian Feminist Activists Admit Mistake to Protest in Cathedral

Moscow, July 30, Interfax - One of the Pussy Riot girls Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, charged with hooliganism for a punk prayer at Christ the Savior Cathedral, admitted that the action was an ethical mistake.

"The fact that we did not plead guilty in line with Part 2, Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code does not mean that we are not ready to explain our actions and excuse for sorrows caused by our performance," a Pussy Riot lawyer Violetta Volkova said citing Tolokonnikova's appeal to the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow on Monday.

"My ethical assessment of the Pussy Riot prayer is as follows: our ethical mistake was that we allowed ourselves to hold the action in a church in this genre. But we did not even think that our actions could be insulting to anyone," Tolokonnikova said.

From Interfax....

American magnates ordered assassination of Russian Imperial family - historian

Edit: Will they name names?

Moscow, July 27, Interfax - PhD in History and author of six books about Nicholas II Pyotr Multatuli is convinced that assassination of the last Russian emperor's family was ordered in the USA. 

"The crime was initiated by the Bolshevik government in Moscow, mainly by the head of the All Russian Central Executive Committee Yakov Sverdlov, and Shaya Goloshchekin, Yakov Yurovsky, Alexander Beloborodov executed it in the Urals. The details were cleared out when the White Army came into Yekaterinburg. There was an investigation and investigator Nikolay Sokolov played an important part in it, he managed to take the materials out to Europe," Multatuli was quoted as saying by the Argumenty i Fakty daily.

In 1922, Sokolov decrypted secret talks between Sverdlov and Yurovsky where it was mentioned that the USA gave an order "to liquidate the whole family." The order was conveyed to Moscow through American mission that then was located in Vologda. 

A community of transnational capital was formed in the USA in the early 20th century, representatives of certain financial and industrial circles were its members. Its headquarters was located in New York. The community strove to establish world hegemony and set up unipolar world, the edition writes.

Besides financial and industrial component, the community had mystical and occult character. There were its followers all around the world. These people could not realize their plans without eliminating autocratic Orthodox Russia. Therefor the monarch aroused organization's irreconcilable animosity, the author writes. 


Link to inter-fax....

Traditionalist Group Spreads Catholic Faith in Moscow

Summorum Pontificum


A German Cleans up Moscow

Even in the capital city of Russia the little plants of the Old Mass are showing themselves to a greater and more powerful tree. -- kreuz.net

(kreuz.net)  Since January 2011 there has been a website 'summorum-pontificum.ru'.

In the sign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus


The web title page is published by the "Society of the Most Precious Heart of Jesus".

The society was founded in 2010 on All Hallows by Moscow Catholics.

Huber was born in the 30,000 population city Buhl -- about 10km south west of Baden-Baden in the immediate vicinity of the Elsace border.

For 10 years he has lived and worked in Moscow.

Destructive and sinful

"It wasn't until 2008 that I visited Holy Mass in the ancient Roman Rite for the first time in Moscow."

For him it is clear, "that this Liturgy is the complete unabridged Catholic Faith celebrated to the honor of God".

At the same time he was surprised that this Liturgy has been so significantly criticized in the Catholic Church:

"That appears to me completely senseless -- even destructive and sinful".

Maintain Permanently


The founding of the "Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" was for Huber a consequential step back to Tradition:

"We experience much joy and gratitude in this work for the Catholic Faith."

Huber's society would like to organize and permanently maintain the worthy celebration of the Old Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in Moscow.

Additionally they promote the spiritual lives of members through Eucharistic adoration, the Holy Office, the ember days, the Rosary and spiritual exercises.

The Society is also taking pains to promote the Old Mass in all Russian regions.

Invitation to Priests

Huber invites priests, who celebrate the Old Mass, to celebrate it in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

The Old Mass will be celebrated there every Sunday at 5pm in the large chapel of the Cathedral.

translated from: Link to kreuz.net....

Holy Mother Russia Defends Christians Against Perfidious UK Government

 Edit: even if government officials can't abide by the standards of free speech, the Russian government is seeing fit to remind them.  Russia once again steps in as a defender of Christians. H/t Daniel Lieuwen. From English Pravda:

The Russian Orthodox Church is going to challenge in court a ban on wearing crucifixes, which was recently introduced in the UK. Russian priests, together with Russian lawyers, intend to help two UK women who were recently fired from work for wearing crucifixes and refusing to take them off.

 The case of stewardess of The British Airways Nadia Eweida and nurse Shirley Chaplin is considered to be unprecedented by many people. Ms. Eweida and Ms. Chaplin have appealed to the Strasburg Court, calling their case a violation of freedom of religion. Earlier, the women tried to defend their rights in a British court.

But while their case was being investigated, the UK authorities worked out a draft law which, in fact, allows employers to sack employees who do not conceal that they are Christians. Moreover, the UK authorities are going to defend their position in the European Court of Human Rights.

“It sometimes looks like Europe’s secular authorities are trying to totally expel Christianity from Europe,” a representative of the Russian Patriarch’s Office in the Council of Europe Father Philip Ryabykh said in an interview with the Voice of Russia. “The Russian Orthodox Church cannot watch this without expressing its protest!”

Read further....english pravda 

H/t: Catholic Vox

It's the Birthday of the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II

Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, born 18 May 1868. Murdered by Bolsheviks 17 Jul 1918. Remains of Nicholas and his family were later identified and interred at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 17 Jul 1998


H/t: TA


Long Live the Czar!





H/t: Adam

Orthodox Priests Battle with Gomorrists in Georgia

Orthodox Priests BattleEvil
on May 17, 2012. (VANO SHLAMOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Edit: This just came in from a friendly reader.  Here's an excerpt from a really poor article which tries to make the decent Christians of these Slavic countries look like monsters.  These Orthodox in the country of Georgia aren't weighted down by the moral languor of the West.  Homosexual acts were legalized in 2,000.  Unlike Putin's Moscow, Georgia unfortunately allows such disgraceful displays to take place.

LONDON, UK – Religious protesters have halted a small gay rights march in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, leading to a fistfight and participants’ placards being smashed.
A few dozen marchers took part Thursday in the deeply religious, ex-Soviet nation’s first such demonstration, waving rainbow flags to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
They had gathered outside the Tbilisi state concert hall and were preparing to march towards parliament when activists led by Orthodox Christian priests confronted them and a scuffle broke out, according to the Associated Press.

Link to global post...

Patriarch Kirill Blessed Putin for Highest Office in Russia

Moscow, May 11, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia prayed for Putin's wise governance on Monday, the day of his inauguration.

"Majority of our people deliberately, reasonably and freely have chosen you the President of the Russian Federation. Today we ardently prayed in this old Kremlin, where many of your pious predecessors were blessed for the highest work for the Motherland, so that the Lord would be merciful to you and our country, give you spiritual and physical strength, wisdom, courage and strength of spirit," the Patriarch said addressing Putin after a prayer service in the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral.

According to the Primate, to make the work successful, it is necessary to hear people's voice.


Read further at interfax...

Arrest of Archimandrite Ephrem is a hostile attack against Athonite monks and Orthodoxy

Edit: for years there are forces in Greece that would like to minimize and diminish the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church. One of the most important targets to attack is Mount Athos, for monasticism has always been the living heart of Christian culture and mysticism.

Last week the court ruled to arrest Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mt. Athos, in connection with a large-scale investigation into real estate deals between the Monastery and the Greek State initiated in 2008. On weekend the police came to the Vatopedi Monastery to arrest Fr. Ephrem. After medical doctors had examined the abbot, it was decided to leave him in the Monastery for health reasons. It was reported on Tuesday, however, that Fr Ephrem was arrested and taken away from Mr. Athos.

Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, gave his appraisal of the actions of the Greek authorities in his short interview to Interfax-Religion.

- Your Eminence, the Greek authorities arrested Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, who has recently accompanied the Belt of the Mother of God in Russia. Please, give your comments.

- We do not and can not know all about the charges in abuses in real estate transactions made by the Vatopedi Monastery in the past filed against Fr Ephrem and other persons. Whether these charges are just, the Greek court will decide; we cannot interfere. However, it is quite obvious that detention under remand of Archimandrite Ephrem, who does not pose any danger, without considering the case on its merits and before a court ruling, is an extraordinary action that surprises us deeply. The authorities arrested nobody but the elderly and ailing priest. This ruling arouses grave concern of believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, puts her hierarchs on guard, and makes us ponder over its true reasons.
Read further at interfax...

Bikers of the Apocalypse Descend on Blasphemers in Moscow

 Eglise catholique russe de Paris 

On April 29th 2012, activists of the Union of Porters of Orthodoxy the disperse a protest in favor of the dissident group "pussy riot" from the front of the Cathedral of Holy Savior in Moscow.  The Porters were particularly effective in their use of holy water in addition to brute force, protesters fleeing the holy water while trying to hold up their pants.(!)

Russian Armed Forces More Friendly to Chaplains than USA

Edit: Russian military personnel, unlike their American counterparts, will have little trouble attending the Liturgy on Sundays, going to Confession or finding a priest to help dealing with psychological challenges of military service.

Moscow, March 26, Interfax - The formation of clergy in the Russian Armed Forces is not as quick as planned, but the goal will be achieved eventually, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Department for Personnel Sergey Chvarkov told the Ekho Moskvy radio on Saturday.

 "Far from all clerics offered to us by the Church meet our requirements," he said. At the same time, the task of forming clergy in the Russian Armed Forces set by the Supreme Commander is being fulfilled.

"This is a very delicate and important task, and there must be no rush here," Chvarkov said.

  Continue at Interfax....

Compare and contrast this favorable situation with the United States Military's treatment of military chaplains:

In the March issue there is a by John L. Schlagter, the General Counsel for the Military Archdiocese, called “Update on AMS protecting Chaplains’ religious freedoms“.
First, the Obama Administration censored Catholics in the military.  Now, one of Pres. Obama unelected underlings, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, has by his master’sfiat, let Catholic chaplains know that, in the wake of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, chaplains may now officiate at same-sex “marriages”.
From the fact that if they “may”, then they in time “must”.
Not only that, the Obama Administration is obliged to uphold federal law.  This note to chaplains directly undermines the Defense of Marriage Act, which is still the law.

Link to Father Z....

H/t: Stella Borealis...

Russian Morality Bill Meets With Disbelief and Threats

Edit: This English language Russian news source bemoans the upcoming passing of this legislation and threatens tourism to St. Petersburg.  Actually, it sounds like a great place to spend the Spring, visiting the famous Hermitage Museum and Imperial Palace.


Perhaps the UN will invoke sanctions for these just laws prescribing vice and protecting Russia's youth as they tried to do when  Lithuania passed a similar law?

[St. Petersberg Times] An anti-gay bill looked likely to pass during its third reading in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, after Friday’s hearing at the Legislative Assembly degraded into a farce, gay rights activists say. But the passing of the bill, which will outlaw “the promotion of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism” might have surprise negative effects for the authorities, they warn.

According to a press release issued by LGBT rights organization Coming Out, United Russia deputy Vitaly Milonov, the author of the bill, brought a group of aggressive supporters to the hearing, who insulted and threatened gay rights activists and the experts they had brought with them.

Milonov himself sat next to a man who was wearing a T-shirt reading “Orthodoxy or Death,” while the crowd chanted “You are not people,” Coming Out said, describing the hearing as a “triumph of militant ignorance.”

Link to original...

Putin Promises to Protect Persecuted Christians Abroad

Edit: like the Czars of old, Putin promises to defend Christendom from its oppressors.

Presidential Candidate promises action for the oppressed abroad -- Putin responds to statements by the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Illarion, that every five minutes a Christian must die for his faith.

Moscow(kath.net/idea) The Russian Premier Minister and Presidential candidate, Vladimir Putin wants to protect persecuted Christians abroad. He made this promise on February 8th in Moscow at a meeting of members of various confessions. Putin responded to a statement by Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Illarion, that every five minutes a Christian must die for his faith. Especially noteworthy are the persecutions, so says the Director of the Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate, in lands like Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan and India. [Not Syria?] For Putin it is important that the various confessions continue to cooperate internationally, according to the Russian news agency "RIA Novosti". Link to kath.net...

Holy Girdle of the Blessed Mother Displayed for "Rebirth of Russia"

(Moskau) The Holy Girdle of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, which is one of the most honored relics of Orthodox Christianity, is in Moscow. The Russian capitol is the last stop of a tour which began its trip through Russia in St. Petersburg on 24th of October. Till the 27th of November, the relic which is also known as the cincture of Mary, will be displayed at the Moscow Christ the Savior Church, recently reopened for the first time since the break-up of Communism. In the first two days there were over 50.000 faithful who came to venerate it. Whoever was lucky only had to wait about six hours in the line. Many stood for over 18 hours in the snowfall and waited patiently, till they could visit the Icon.

For the protection of the relic the strictest security measures were undertaken because the installation of the Holy Girdle fell on the birthday celebration of the Moscow Patriarch Kyril I. Since the 18th of November, the faithful must first pass through a metal detector to see the symbol of the spiritual rebirth of the Russian Orthodox Church after 74 years of Communist dictatorship.

With its "pilgrimage" through Russia the Girdle of Mary had to leave its home in the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos in Greece where it is guarded. The special permission to allow the relic to leave the Monastery in the little Monastic Republic in Greece, falls upon Vladimir Yakunin, the Chief of Russian state transportation. "A reason, is the demographic situation in our country.," explained Yakunin to the Press. "We're hoping that this will lead to the spiritual rebirth of Russia, which is calling for Christian values and above all, the family."

The Vatopedi Monastery dates back to the 10th Century. Which tradition states was a Monastery reestablished there from the 4th century. There is a similar tradition of veneration for the stole of Mary in the Oriental and Latin Churches.

Text: Asianews/Giuseppe Nardi

Link to katholisches....

Icon in orbit with Russian Cosmonauts...

In Russia, Two Out of Three Trust Church

In Europe, only one out of three trusts their church.

Moscow (kath.net/KNA) 68 percent of the Russian people have shown in a recent questionnaire that they have trust in the Orthodox Church of their land. Only twelve percent have mistrust for the Church, as a public poll conducted by the religious information service >>Sreda<<.

A subscriber poll of the "Reader's Digest" (Stuttgart) of Europeans in 16 countrie shows that 38 percent distrust their churches, while 59 percent on the other hand have little or no confidence.

30 percent of Russians surveyed see a strong dependence of their church on the State, 25 percent see it as low. 30 percent of respondents want the official state religion to be Orthodoxy. The majority of 48 percent, however disagrees that church and state should remain separate.


53 percent appreciate the work of the Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarch Kirill I very much; another 40 percent rate it as mediocre, however, the remaining 7 percent below average.

In contrast, Europe (16 European countries including Russia), the Churches and Ecclesial Communities and their representatives, enjoy in comparison to other institutions, below-average confidence. This came from the aforementioned consumer survey by "Reader's Digest" (Stuttgart) which appeared at the end of March 2011. 38 percent of the approximately 33,000 respondents trust the churches there, 59 percent have little or no confidence in them.

The trust shown for churches in Germany is about a third (34 percent), while in the previous year was 40 percent. Even more dramatic is the fall in their trust in the Switzerland where it fell from 43 percent to 34 percent. There was only a slight loss in the prestige churches in Austria - from 37 percent to 36 percent.

In this pan-European survey, Russia was also included at the time, because the investigation "Reader's Digest European Trusted Brands" (Reader's Digest trusted brands) since 2001, has been conducted annually in the following countries: Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Hungary.

Photo: (c) the Church in Need