Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias, the First Hierarch of the MP, will travel to Israel in November for his first official visit since assuming office in 2009. Last week, the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, visited Moscow to discuss the upcoming visit by Kirill with Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk. Estimates say that the Church in Russia has more than 85 million members.
Barkat’s trip was his own first official visit to Russia since becoming mayor in 2008. In Moscow, he also met with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin for more than one hour, according to Matvey Chlenov, deputy executive director of the Russian Jewish Congress (REK), the group that invited Barkat. Chlenov told JTA that Barkat’s reception was “a promising gesture of sympathy from the Moscow administration towards Israel and the Jewish community”. He added that it showed that Sobyanin’s interested in strengthening relations with Israel and Russian Jewry. Before his election as Mayor of Moscow, Sobyanin served as Chief of Staff for President Vladimir Putin. He was Deputy Prime Minister before becoming mayor in 2010, and many believe him to be close to Putin.
28 September 2012. Who Said What? Git Outta Here!
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On Friday, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, the First Hierarch of the Patriarchate of Moscow and all the Russias, shot back at critics that accused him of confusing the roles of the state and the Church, as allegedly evidenced by a draft bill criminalising religious offences, by saying, “The Church isn’t interested in obtaining state powers or even state status as in certain European countries”, in an apparent reference to the legal privileges of Lutheran churches in Scandinavia. However, His Holiness said that demands to separate Church and state often mask an attempt to force the Church to give up its ministerial mission, and that believers should abandon their civil rights and responsibilities. He spoke at a conference at Moscow State University, which students reported earlier to be forced to attend, a move that drew rebuke from Church leadership.
A bill proposing punishing offences against religious sentiment with jail terms of up to three years is currently pending review in the RF Gosduma, where observers expect all four major parliamentary factions to back it. The bill’s critics say it discriminates against unbelievers and is aimed at strengthening the union between the Kremlin and the Church, which flourished after Kirill backed Putin’s presidential bid earlier this year.
Chuck has lived with a friend for eleven years, ever since he was a chick. “He’s truly smarter than a lot of people. In fact, his intelligence is scary at times”. The last image is a little lost polar bear in Chukotka… we use it for wallpaper on our desktop… Nicky loves him.
It’s been a while since my last “Little Brothers” post… it’s time to get back into the habit of doing it, at least weekly… it’s fun. However, I’m no PETA nutter. Hunters and fishermen are the best! They’re the people with the greatest respect for animals that I know… as one said to me, “You only kill what you can use… God will get even with you if you kill for funsies”. Another friend, a farmer, said, “Pests gotta go, but if they stay off my land, I don’t go looking for them. If I shoot a groundhog, though, it goes in the pot, and its good eating, let me tell you”.
