Modernizing priest



Volume 6 Number 26 - Tuesday, June 29th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY

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Published by Stetson University Russia Religion News, June 26, 2004

Modernizing priest's brotherhood threatened

ST. FILARET'S INSTITUTE, FOUNDING "PRESENTATION" BROTHERHOOD THREATENED WITH EVICTION

St. Filaret's Institute, 25 June 2004 - On 30 June a first hearing will be held in the arbitration court of Moscow on a suit by the religious public organization, "Presentation" [Sretenie], representing the brotherhood by the same name, for finding illegal and with numerous errors the order of the government of Moscow concerning the accident rate and complete reconstruction of the building where the premises of the Presentation brotherhood and the St. Filaret's Orthodox Christian Institute, created by Orthodox priest Georgy Kochetkov, are located.

The large residential building No. 29 on Pokrovka street, concerning which the judicial case was begun, is well known in Christian circles not only in Moscow but also throughout Russia and abroad. It is here that for almost ten years has been the oldest advanced theological educational institution of all those that arose after the years of persecution against the church. The St. Filaret's Institute, founded in 1988, in the opinion of many scholars and cultural leaders is a unique area of lively dialogue between ecclesiastical and secular scholarship and one of the few real centers of the cultural and religious enlightenment and regeneration of the Russian nation. The late Academician Sergei Sergeevich Averintsev and Archbishop Mikhail Mudiugin participated in the life and work of the institute most actively. People attending it receive here not only theological education but also real spiritual help and support. It is no accident that employees, students, and friends of the institute have for several years provided the means for its accommodations, making great sacrifice and donating not only their savings but also personal effects and family heirlooms.

In January of this year the government of Moscow adopted a hastily conceived resolution to find the building dangerous and to evict the residents and other owners of the premises. In doing so the necessary inspection of the building that was the only way to determine its real condition was not conducted. The Presentation brotherhood and St. Filaret's Institute along with residents and other owners intend to defend in court their right to legally dispose of their own property, even if it is located in the center of Moscow. Many hundreds of people have given their signatures and written letters in their support. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 June 2004)

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