Recent news from the Russian Church

At most I post an Interfax article a month. Three good stories have just been published, so bear with me as I post them in serial fashion.

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Russian Church wants French cathedral returned...

Moscow, August 2, Interfax - The Russian Embassy in Paris, France, is working out a plan for specific efforts to recover the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice, France, owned by the Russian Federation, Alexander Avdeyev, the former ambassador of Russia to France and the current Minister of Culture of Russia, said.

"The cathedral has been occupied by the parish of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe (albeit illegally after the court ruling). No keys have so far been transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Embassy in France will decide upon specific efforts to recover the property," Avdeyev states in an article run by Ogonyok weekly.

He recalls that the land under the cathedral had been purchased by Russia by the will of Tsar Alexander II. Eventually, the land with the right to construct a church on it was granted to the Russian Orthodox Church for the so-called "emphyteutic" lease of 99 years. Thus, upon expiry of this lease, the land and constructions thereon must be transferred back to the owner. After the 1917 Revolution, the church built from government and public donations was originally used by the Russian Orthodox Church and was later given to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The lease term expired in January 2008, and Russia asked to return the building and land.

"As ambassador I personally notified the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe (exarchate of the ecumenical patriarchate) that the lease term was about to expire and we needed to look for some options for occupation of the cathedral by the parish. I mentioned that the parish might stay if we managed to agree upon new lease conditions bearing in mind that the church was the property of the Russian Federation. But no talks were held," the article says.

Avdeyev also said charging of entrance fee by the current lessees was unacceptable practice.

"We may assume quite a large amount of money collected in Nice which sees tourist influx every summer. There is big money behind this whole affair," he believes.

This May, the appelate court of Aix-en-Provence, France, hold Russia the owner of St. Nicolas Cathedral.

A rethinking of how the state should handle abortion...

Moscow, August 2 (Interfax) - Member of the Expert Council of the Synodal Youth Department and senior lecturer at the bioethics department of Russian State Medical University Hieromonk Dimitry (Pershin) urged the government to apply abortion money to raise the birth rate.

"A woman must be paid at least two thousand roubles a month beginning from the third week of her pregnancy. The money will be available, if the government cancels the "abortion rent": today, taxpayers contribute their own money to pay for "free" abortions which cost us several billion a year," Father Dimitry said in an interview run in an August issue of Krestovsky Most, an Orthodox newspaper.

According to him, abortions should be paid for (except for some specific cases) and "those abortion billions have to be paid to women willing to give birth to their children." Besides, Father Dimitry continued, the abortion industry should be separated from obstetrics and gynecology sector into a special category and the government should grant special licenses to the dedicated centers and rigidly oversee their work.

Every woman intending to make an abortion should be given at least two days to think over her decision, he said and emphasized that this measure has reduced the number of abortions in Estonia by one third.

If such women do not have neither money nor conditions to bring their babies up, they should have an option to anonymously leave the baby in special centers.

Western European countries have a well-established network of such centers which should be also opened in Russia at different medical institutions, orphanages and large monasteries," Father Dimitry believes.

An update on the Archimandrite Zacchaeus recalling...

Washington, August 2, Interfax - Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood), Dean of St. Catherine the Great Martyr-in-the-Fields Church in Moscow and representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia has been placed on a leave of absence and recalled to the United States.

Metropolitan Jonah prohibited Father Zacchaeus from exercising any liturgical or sacramental ministry, the website of the Orthodox Church in America reports.

Priest John Kechkin, who is attached to St. Catherine Church, will provide pastoral services for the time being. Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, Director of External Affairs of the Orthodox Church in America, will assume duties as the representative of the OCA to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

The report does not state any reasons for such decision.

Representatives of St. Catherine Church told Interfax-Religion that Father Zacchaeus is currently under medical examination in a Moscow clinic.

"He had his gallbladder removed before and now the decease exacerbated," the source said.

The source failed to tell the reason of Father Zacchaeus recalling and only supposed that "it may be related to some internal developments in the Orthodox Church in America."