Free Republic

In Moscow, the Orthodox came to the Holy Lake in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district with the intention of preventing the construction of a mosque. According to the project, the religious building should become the largest in Europe. Local residents are adamantly against the project, as the lake is a holy place for Orthodox believers, Bloknot reports. The townspeople are in no way against the mosque, they are only asking to move the building to another place. The appeal was signed by several thousand people. “We will be here until we hear the decision that there will be no mosque here,” the...

Ramzan Kadyrov has expressed his outrage at the unfolding events in Moscow, where hundreds of people have come to a popular rally against the possible construction of a mosque. According to him, the Russian land must be defended on a daily basis, and Muslims are also involved in this difficult task. “If all these participants of the rally wholeheartedly have the idea of ​​​​defending Russian land, then go into the trenches with a machine gun,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.

Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov suggested that opponents of the construction of a mosque in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district in eastern Moscow go “to the trenches with a machine gun”. About this Kadyrov writing in your telegram channel. Previously, the possible construction of a mosque had provoked protests from local residents and a discussion on social networks. “If all these participants of the meeting wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly have the idea of ​​​​defending Russian land, then advance into the trenches with a machine gun! Take a machine gun, push back the Muslim who is fighting for you today in the Russian Donbass, and...

The Muslims in Moscow are planning to construct a huge new mosque on the shores of the Holy Lake. It is planned to be built large enough to fit more than 60,000 Muslims during prayer time. The initial blueprints show a size 4 times larger than Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. This has upset many local Orthodox Christians, who live and have lived near the shores of the Holy Lake for many generations. They do not agree with the majority migrant population of Moscow’s Muslims purchasing vast amounts of property nearby, building up the area and turning it into the...

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s annual cross procession on the eve of the Baptism of Rus’ drew its largest crowd ever this year. According to preliminary calculations, more than 350,000 Ukrainian faithful took to the streets to honor St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles, who baptized Rus’ in the Orthodox faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Borsypil and Brovary, the Chancellor of the canonical Ukrainian Church, reported in the briefing following the procession. The day began with a moleben on St. Vladimir Hill at 1:00 PM in Kiev. Then the procession, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, made...

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) prevented an attempt by Russian intelligence to recruit a Ukrainian citizen, offering a US$2,000 reward, to set on fire a temple of what was until recently called the Moscow Patriarchate, aiming to sow tensions and discord on religious grounds, provoking further destabilization. According to the SBU press service, security operatives revealed that Russian intelligence and Moscow-controlled "security services in the occupied parts of Donbas had been working to recruit Ukrainian nationals who would commit arson attacks on temples operated by Orthodox priests of the former UOC-MP. The targeted Ukrainian was promised to receive the...

Since then, Putin increasingly has referred to Russia as distinct from the West. He promotes an “orthodox morality” that rejects Western notions of tolerance and inclusive societies — seen domestically in the imprisonment of Pussy Riot, new “anti-propaganda” laws targeting gays and a crackdown on any media deviating from the Kremlin line. The West discounted much of this exceptionalist narrative until it was used in Crimea. Putin’s soldiers-of-no-nation are branded “local self-defense forces” to underscore native pro-Russian support. The relentless information war propagates perceptions of ethnic-religious divisions and Western “hypocrisy.” Financial weapons underscore Putin’s reliance on oligarch-princes to revitalize orthodoxy...

October 29, 2011 Washington, DC The Plight of Churches in the Middle East The “Arab Spring” is unleashing forces that are having a devastating effect on the Christian communities of the Middle East. Our Churches in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine report disturbing developments such as destruction of churches and massacres of innocent civilians that cause us grave concern. Many of our church leaders are calling Christians and all people of good will to stand in solidarity with the members of these ancient indigenous communities. In unity with them and each other, we the members of the North American...

A mandatory course in the basics of Orthodox culture is set to start in four provinces of the Russian Federation. For Patriarch Aleksij II, “pupils should know the history of their culture”. Last year, a similar proposal by the Moscow Patriarchate had led to tensions with the Catholic Church in Russia. ---------------------------------- Moscow (AsiaNews) – The teaching of the Orthodox religion has now become mandatory in the high schools of four provinces of what once was the atheist Soviet state. In July Moscow’s Spiritual Academy approved “Basics of Orthodox Culture”, a course soon to be taught in the provinces of...

Holy Pascha - The Resurrection of the Lord during Holy Easter is being celebrated a week after the Western rite Easter this year. Approximately 250 million Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate the Resurrection (Anastasis) of the Lord Jesus at midnight tonight.