HONEST HISTORY: UKRAINE'S ORTHODOX CHURCH BATTLES FOR INDEPENDENCE
from: Kyiv Post

(15 Jun.) For Archpriest Serhiy Dmytriyev it was a question of dignity, more than faith. In the summer of 2014, Dmytriyev and the congregation of St. Barbara Church in Kherson, a city of 293,000 people 547 kilometers south of Kyiv, switched allegiance to the Kyiv Patriarchate.

It wasn’t a spontaneous decision. During his numerous trips to the war-torn Donbas, where Dmytriyev served mass and gave communion to Ukrainian soldiers, he often heard one question: 'Father, you are not from the Moscow (Patriarchate) church, are you?"

"And it was painful to realize that as a Ukrainian, I am in contradiction with my patriotic views,' Dmytriyev explains. Before Russia launched its war in early 2014, the church Dmytriyev helped to build in 2002 was pledged to the Russian Orthodox Church and its primate, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

"I've noticed that the Moscow Patriarchate churches were often not free in their decision-making and couldn't clearly determine their position on important issues that concerned the church community and me as a clergyman,' he said. That's why Dmytriyev decided to unite with the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 'We did it mostly because of the anti-Ukrainian stand of many hierarchs and priests of the Moscow Patriarchate," he says.

Many other Ukrainians are going the same way — or want to do so. Some 28.7 percent of Ukrainians associated themselves with the churches of the Kyiv Patriarchate in 2018, compared to 15.1 percent in 2010, according to a recent poll conducted by the Razumkov Center, a think tank. At the same time, 12.8 percent of the faithful associated themselves with the Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate. This, however, doesn't include the data from Crimea and the Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian church is still popular. [read more...]

RUSSIA: PROTESTANTS TARGETED IN NIZHNY NOVGOROD
by Victoria Arnold: Forum 18 News Service

(25 Jun.) Law enforcement agencies are increasing pressure on Protestants in Nizhny Novgorod Region. They are using both the so-called "anti-missionary" amendment and immigration law to punish churches and their members for such activities as inviting students to parties and posting videos of worship on social media. Judges have fined and ordered the deportation from Russia of two African students at Nizhny Novgorod's medical academy for appearing in or reposting videos on the VKontakte social network.

The two students' Pentecostal church, Jesus Embassy, has received multiple fines under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label") and Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity").

The FSB security service initiated the prosecutions of both Jesus Embassy Church members and the latest prosecution of the Church itself. The two deported students have been permitted to stay in the country to complete their final exams, but must leave by 30 June. "After spending 6 years in Russia, they would have become a connecting thread between our countries," Pentecostal Bishop Konstantin Bendas, commented in "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper on 17 May. "Now this thread is broken."

"The charges of illegal missionary activity are completely unlawful," Pentecostal Union lawyer Vladimir Ozolin insisted to Forum 18. "I would like to hope that the cases were initiated by the stupidity of the siloviki, otherwise this greatly undermines the authority of Russia in the international arena." [read more...]

AUCCRO CALLS ON UKRAINIANS TO OPPOSE POGROMS AND PERSECUTIONS ON ETHNIC GROUNDS
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(27 Jun.) It is with indignation and anxiety, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations notes the increase in the number of attacks and pogroms against the Roma. As a result of the last such incident, a murder occurred. On June 26, the AUCCRO issued a statement on pogroms.

"We strongly condemn such acts. This kind of action, no matter by whom they were committed and whatever the slogans were, these cannot be justified, deprive us of our dignity, discredit Ukraine, and therefore is a case that benefits the enemies of our country. Every inhabitant of our country, regardless of their national, ethnic, religious affiliation, must feel themselves worthy and fully competent citizens of the state, and the state authority must protect their rights and freedoms, first of all, the right to life, health and free development.

"At the same time, we are aware of the problems of crimes committed by some Romas and condemn such crimes. However, it is deeply wrong to project one's indignation with specific criminal acts to the whole nation or ethnic group," goes the statement of AUCCRO. "The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches calls on Ukrainian citizens to strongly oppose pogroms and persecution on ethnic grounds that has nothing to do with either religious or universal rules and norms."

As reported by RISU, an attack in Lviv, which resulted in the death of a 24-year-old man, David, and three injured people, including a 10-year-old boy, became the latest in a series of brutal acts committed against Roma settlements in the last two months. [read more...]

LEGITIMIZATION OF UKRAINIAN SCHISM COULD CAUSE BLOODSHED - MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE
from: Interfax-Religion

(28 Jun.) The legitimization of the schism in Ukraine could lead to bloodshed, according to the Russian Orthodox Church. "Filaret Denysenko [leader of the self-proclaimed Kiev Patriarchate] has deceived people using various methods for 25 years. He is now trying to convince people that the Constantinople Patriarchate will grant autocephaly to his structure in the near future. [...] He is also saying that the Kiev Lavra of the Caves and the Pochayev Lavra will need to join this new church structure as soon as it is created," Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in an interview with the Greek ecclesiastical news agency Romfea.

"The realization of these plans may have tragic consequences, as believers will just not give away their monasteries," he said. "Some 50 churches of the canonical Ukrainian Church have now been illegally taken over by schismatics. Orthodox Christians are being subjected to violence. Imagine what will happen if schismatics start taking over monasteries. Thousands of people will come together to defend them, blood will be shed," the metropolitan said, adding that "this should be prevented by all means."

He said he believes it is significant that Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew said at a recent meeting in Istanbul that to him, any schism is a schism, and that he sees Denisenko as the initiator of this schism. Metropolitan Hilarion also said Patriarch Bartholomew has said that the people who are spreading rumors that a tomos on autocephaly has already been written are enemies of the Constantinople Patriarchate. [read more...]

THE HORRIFIC STORIES BEHIND ASSISTED SUICIDE LAWS
from: LifeSite News

(29 Jun.) In the course of challenging California's End of Life Option Act, we have learned that a handful of doctors have written most of the prescriptions for lethal drugs since the law went into effect.

One of those doctors is Lonny Shavelson, a former contract ER doctor who came out of retirement as soon as the law was passed to dispense lethal prescriptions. Shavelson is not board-certified in any medical specialty, including diagnosing or treating mental illness, which is often at the root of a request for suicide.

His sole "practice" consists of getting people to die. Shavelson admits to having "attended at bedside" as 89 people committed suicide. He stresses that the lethal drugs must be taken within 2 minutes, or they can "fail." By "fail," he means the people don't die – and may decide that they don't want to kill themselves.

In his book "Chosen Death," Shavelson writes about observing an assisted suicide. Gene, a lonely widower, contacted the Hemlock Society, which has since changed its name to "Compassion and Choices." "Sarah" the head of the local Hemlock Society office, came to Gene's home to prepare and dispense the deadly concotion. This was not Sarah's first experience with "assisting" a person's death. She called it "the most intimate experience you can share with a person.... More than sex. More than birth... more than anything."

Sarah held Gene's head on her lap as she gave him the suicide drugs. As he started to fall asleep, Sarah put a plastic bag over his head and told Gene to "Go to the light." But the drugs failed. Gene woke up and started screaming. [read more...]