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Published by Stetson
University Russia Religion News, July 26,
2004
Patriarchal politics surge in patriarch's absence
WHERE HAS
PATRIARCH BEEN HIDDEN? HIS HOLINESS DID NOT BLESS
OLYMPIC ATHLETES
by Sergei Bychkov
Komsomolskaia pravda, 27 July 2004 - Two years
after his ischaemic stroke, the state of health of
his Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and
all-Rus has again become the center of attention.
After quite diverse articles published in the
press, the patriarch's speech writer, Fr Vsevolod
Chaplin, issued an extremely vague explanation.
The idea has arisen that either the patriarch is
seriously ill or the Department of External Church
Relations is deliberately speculating on his
health.
Always distinguished by his good health, the
patriarch was literally tortured by a schedule of
celebrations associated with his 75th birthday.
OVTsS draws up the patriarch's daily schedule.
Most likely it completely ignored the primate's
age. This also was acknowledged in the press
release: "June and July of this year were
connected for His Holiness with grand divine
liturgies and public church labors. Thus, in these
months there were the celebrations of the day of
His Holiness' enthronement and his 75th birthday
and then there occurred the ceremonies on the
occasion of the return to Russia of the miraculous
Tikhvin image of the Mother of God, during which
patriarchal liturgies were performed in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and Tikhvin."
With some kind of sadistic satisfaction the press
release reported: "As a result of overwork His
Holiness suffered a cardiac arrhythmia, in order
to overcome which physicians insistently advised
him to refrain from his planned trips to dioceses
and to undergo diagnostic, therapeutic action. For
now the recommendation of the physicians remains
in force to have a brief rest and during that time
to refrain from a full schedule." For the first
time the conflict between OVTsS and the patriarch
under treatment by physicians has been clearly
articulated.
Taking advantage of the absence of the primate in
Moscow, the ruckus over the patriarchal throne has
been renewed. The celebration in Kursk associated
with the 250th anniversary of the birth of St.
Serafim of Sarov, was supervised by Metropolitan
of Kiev Vladimir Sabodan. In Moscow the
patriarchal functions are being fulfilled by
Metropolitan Kirill Gundiaev, the head of OVTsS.
On 21 July, he received the Russian Olympic
gymnastic team in Saint Daniel's monastery.
Svetlana Khorkina and Elena Zamolodchikova,
Aleksei Bondarenko and Alexander Safoshkin, Anna
Pavlova and Liudmila Ezhova, Aleksei Nemov and
Nikilai Kriukov arrived for the blessing.
It is well known how zealously the patriarch
supports Russian Olympic athletes. In his youth he
himself engaged in athletics and he understands
well the great significance that Olympic victories
have for today's Russia. Thus a strange dissonance
resounds in the press release of OVTsS: "Now the
condition of His Holiness is stable and a normal
heart rhythm has been restored. His Holiness is
resting in a sanatorium." Chaplin is consciously
concealing from believers where the patriarch now
is located. It is not clear whether he is in
Russia or abroad.
One thing is clear. He will not take part in the
ceremonies devoted to the 250th anniversary of St.
Serafim of Sarov on 1 August in Nizhny Novgorod
and Diveevo. The planned vacation trip to
Switzerland in August has been postponed. It is
unclear when the next session of the Holy Synod
will be held, which had been planned for 18 July
and which also had been considered crucial.The
agenda includes the vital church questions of the
replacements for the St. Petersburg see and the
post of rector of the St. Petersburg academy. All
of them remain unanswered. OVTsS has again
demonstrated its complete impotence. It is unclear
what church diplomats are afraid of. (tr. by PDS)
Posted on the Portal-credo.ru site, 26 July 2004
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