CHINESE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT RAIDS CHRISTIAN CHURCH DURING SUNDAY SERVICE, EXPELS WORSHIPERS
from: LifeSite News

(10 Dec.) The Chinese communist government has shut down another Christian church. On Sunday, December 1, agents of the Chinese government burst into Shanghai's Wheat Church, disrupting the service being held inside.

According to China Aid, the emissaries of the communist regime accused the Christians of holding religious activities in an illegal place. They expelled the congregation, who refused to leave. An estimated 200 Christians remained in front of the church to continue their singing and prayers.

"What we’re seeing," David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, told LifesiteNews, "from Xinjiang to Tibet, and across Protestant and Catholic communities throughout China is an all-out war being waged by the Communist Party against religious belief and believers," he said via social media. "It is shocking and appalling in its vast scope and in its brazen disregard for human rights," Mulroney continued.

"But it also betrays the Party's insecurity, its fear that Chinese people might discover, through belief in God, just how false and unsatisfying is the sad and uninspiring mix of socialism and materialism that is the Communist government’s main offering." Mulroney, who lived in Beijing from 2009 to 2012, said believers in China need Western countries to notice their suffering.

"It would help enormously if more western countries, including Canada, still cared about religious freedom and treated it as the essential human right that it is," he said. "But China’s assault on religion is politely ignored in the West, even by the Vatican, which should be providing the clearest and most urgent calls for change." [read more ~~]

UZBEKISTAN: OBSTACLES, PRESSURE, BRIBE DEMANDS OBSTRUCT LEGAL STATUS APPLICATIONS
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service

(11 Dec.) Members of religious communities, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals, have told Forum 18 that many communities would like to obtain state registration, but are "being blocked from registering with various excuses. Others have not applied, thinking that the authorities will not register them." One Protestant, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18 on 3 December that "I know of several Churches across Uzbekistan which the authorities refused to register in 2019."

Members of religious communities, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals, have told Forum 18 that many communities would like to obtain state registration, but are "being blocked from registering with various excuses. Others have not applied, thinking that the authorities will not register them." One Protestant, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18 on 3 December that "I know of several Churches across Uzbekistan which the authorities refused to register in 2019."

Uzbekistan has repeatedly obstructed registration applications, as well as in May 2018 adding new obstacles to the process. Against international human rights law, Uzbekistan demands that religious communities must have state permission to exist and exercise their freedom of religion and belief. Officials rejected the registration application of a Baptist Union congregation in Gulistan. The Land Registry failed to give the church the certificate it needs and the Mahalla Committee Chair demanded full personal details of all the Church's founder members, and then refused to give his approval. "The authorities are trying to create obstacles for us not to register," the Baptists complained. [read more ~~]

NEXT YEAR, THREE OR FOUR CHURCHES TO RECOGNIZE OUR AUTOCEPHALY: PRIMATE OF OCU
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(11 Dec.) Next year, the OCU will be recognized by several local Orthodox Churches. Head of OCU Epifaniy said this in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda. "Now we have clear and good signals from several local Orthodox Churches," the first Hierarch said. "Next year, I think at least three or four Churches will recognize our autocephaly. Gradually. But it is very fast, all testify that autocephaly of any Church was never recognized so quickly. It's only been one year," he added.

Primate Epifaniy noted that Moscow exerts insane pressure on the hierarchs who are ready to recognize the autocephaly of the OCU. "Of course, it is a great achievement for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine that during this year we received recognition from two local Orthodox Churches, which play an important role in Orthodoxy. It is the Greek Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Alexandria, because the Patriarchate of Alexandria is the second most honored in the Orthodox world.

"But we saw what a struggle was going on inside the Greek Orthodox Church, because the Moscow Patriarchate worked very hard. Delegations came, Metropolitan Hilarion (head of the External Church Relations Department of the ROC - ed) also visited them, persuaded, communicated. Each Bishop of the Greek Church received a whole thick folder of various articles, studies aimed against the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Can you imagine how hard they worked on every Bishop." [read more ~~]

RUSSIAN BISHOPS' COUNCIL TO ASSESS GLOBAL ORTHODOX SITUATION IN NEAR FUTURE
from: Interfax-Religion

(2 Dec.) The position of the Russian Orthodox Church on conflicts inside the Christian Orthodox world will be evaluated by its Bishops' Council in the very near future, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said. "We are to thoroughly consider and weigh in the current processes in the Global Orthodoxy, and I hope that very soon the Bishops' Council will make clear our position on schisms and those of our brothers who, regrettably, support such schisms," the patriarch said at a fraternal meal gathering after performing a liturgy at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Monday.

Under the charter, the Council is convened by the Synod which has yet to make such a decision, Moscow Patriarchate's deputy administrator Bishop Savva told Interfax. Over the past year the most talked-about issue in the Orthodox world has been that of recognizing the new church of Ukraine (OCU), created by the Patriarchate of Constantinople with the support of the previous Ukrainian administration, as being uncanonical.

Until recently, the Patriarchate of Constantinople was the only Orthodox authority to have recognized the OCU. The Greek Church and the Church of Alexandria followed suit this fall, prompting Patriarch Kirill to stop mentioning them in prayers, which, translated into the language of church diplomacy, effectively means cutting all contact.

"It is astonishing how, under the influence of outside political factors, our Orthodox confreres embark on the path of recognizing schismatics - people who have no legitimate chirotony, i.e. effectively lay people who are referring to themselves as priests! And what is particularly dangerous and sad is that support for schismatics is coming not only from maverick groups, as was the case before, but now also from among canonical local Churches," Patriarch Kirill said at today's meal gathering. [read more ~~]

BULGARIAN METROPOLITAN EXPRESSES COMMUNION WITH THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF UKRAINE
from: Asia News

(2 Dec.) The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is also taking a step towards communion with its sister Church in Ukraine, recognized by Constantinople, but not by Moscow. In a liturgy presided by Nikolai (Sevastianov), bishop of Plovdiv, the name of Epifaniy of Kiev was mentioned. Moscow accuses the Bulgarian church of "international conspiracy" against Russia and its Church.

On November 28th, a Bulgarian bishop cited the name of the new Ukrainian primate Epifaniy (Dumenko) during a solemn morning liturgy presided over by the Orthodox Metropolitan of Plovdiv Nikolai (Sevastianov) in the Greek church of St. Athanasius and the Saints Acacius and Damascene at Langades, where the prelate had visited Bulgaria. As reported by the Greek website Romalewfronimati, two metropolitans and a bishop of the Hellenic Church concelebrated with Nikolai.

During the ceremony, at the time of the commemorations of the patriarchs and church leaders, the deacon proclaimed the official diptychs of the Greek Church, in which the name of Epifaniy is inserted, and Metropolitan Nikolai concluded the litany with the final prayer. In this way, even if the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has not yet pronounced itself on the recognition of the Ukrainian autocephaly, it is clear that even among Bulgarians the feelings of communion hang more towards Constantinople, than towards Moscow.

Bulgaria, along with Serbia, is traditionally the Slavic country most closely linked to the Russians, but evidently Moscow's claims are not easily accepted even in Sofia. The Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundyaev) recently visited Bulgaria, and was deemed to have spoken in "patronizing" tones towards Bulgaria, as if the Russians were the true liberators of the country. In reality, the Bulgarians consider themselves the ancient "masters" of the Russians, having transmitted ecclesiastical literature to them, and the recent Soviet past certainly does not help the "Slavic brotherhood." [read more ~~]

CRIMEA: RUSSIAN COURT ORDERS PARISH TO DESTROY ITS CHAPEL
by Felix Corley: Forum 18 News Service

(9 Dec.) A Crimean Court ordered the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to destroy its wooden chapel in Yevpatoriya, built before the 2014 Russian occupation. The parish is challenging the 6 November decision. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine fears that the authorities in the western Crimean city of Yevpatoriya will demolish a small wooden chapel it built between two blocks of flats in 2013, before Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea. The city court ruled on 6 November 2019 that the Church is using the site illegally and that it should demolish its chapel within one month.

The Church complains it learnt about the court hearing only on that day. Its lawyer said the Church is appealing against the decision. Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Yefymenko visited the Yevpatoriya church during Sunday liturgy on 1 December, which was attended by "a large number of parishioners" squeezing into the small church. Many had come specially from other cities of Crimea, she told Forum 18. Russia's March 2014 annexation of Crimea is not recognised by Ukraine or internationally.

The Russian authorities in Crimea use the wide range of available laws and regulations to punish communities that meet for worship in places the authorities do not like. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the Russian government not to evict the Orthodox Church of Ukraine congregation from its rented accommodation in the Crimean capital Simferopol while the Committee considers an appeal by 62 parishioners. The premises serve as the Crimean Diocese's Sts Volodymyr and Olga Cathedral. [read more ~~]

CRIMEA: UN CALLS FOR A HALT TO CATHEDRAL EVICTION
from Forum 18 News Service

RELIGIOUS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS JOINTLY OPPOSE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA AND DONBASS
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine

BIBLES FOR CHINA DISCUSSES NEW YEAR, NEW LEADERSHIP, SAME MISSIONAL HEART
from Mission Network News

PATRIARCH KIRILL CALLS TO CONTINUE FIGHT FOR (MOSCOW-ORIENTED) ORTHODOX UNITY IN 2020
from Interfax-Religion

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS SPREAD RADICAL ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GERMAN BAPTIST LEADER IN SIBERIA
from Interfax-Religia

METROPOLITAN HILARION PRESENTS DECR MEDAL TO THE FIRST RECTOR OF OCA REPRESENTATION IN MOSCOW
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate

"WE ARE BRINGING THEM THE PLAGUE" - THE ROLE OF FREUDISM IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF TRADITIONAL VALUES
from Orthodox Christianity

GAY LOVE STORY PREMIERES IN A GEORGIA UNDER SIEGE
from EurasiaNet

GREEK CHURCH HITS BACK OVER UKRAINE BLACKMAIL CLAIM
from Ekathimerini.com

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Our first news article CHINESE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT RAIDS CHRISTIAN CHURCH DURING SUNDAY SERVICE, EXPELS WORSHIPERS details just one of the raids on Chinese churches that are currently taking place there. The Chinese Communist government has recently revived their hard-line policy of suppressing and persecuting Christians and their churches, interrogating and imprisoning pastors.

The same old Soviet-style "delay and intimidation" tactics are on display in our second news article UZBEKISTAN: OBSTACLES, PRESSURE, BRIBE DEMANDS OBSTRUCT LEGAL STATUS APPLICATIONS. I've been documenting these tactics for the past fifty years, so it's easy for me to recognize what is going on. But now we're experiencing the same thing with our applications for a building permit and then for a zoning variance as local government authorities right here in the USA have been delaying our efforts to build an "Agape Restoration Community" in the greater Pittsburgh area. It's been eight months now since we started applying and still no approvals!

Do you want to find out what "information warfare" is like? Just read the description in NEXT YEAR, THREE OR FOUR CHURCHES TO RECOGNIZE OUR AUTOCEPHALY: PRIMATE OF OCU, our third news article. The Moscow Patriarchate has massively ramped-up its anti-Ukraine-independence campaign against the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine to try to keep Ukrainian parish churches in Moscow's fold and keep other worldwide Orthodox jurisdictions from recognizing the new OCU, now that the heads of the Bulgarian and the Egyptian/All-African Orthodox Churches have recognized the OCU. Whatever happened to the "freedom of religious confession" guaranteed in the Russian constitution?

Our fourth news article RUSSIAN BISHOPS' COUNCIL TO ASSESS GLOBAL ORTHODOX SITUATION IN NEAR FUTURE indicates that the main focus of this upcoming meeting will be how to block the OCU. Patriarch Kirill's remarks show that he doesn't even recognize the ordination of the priests, bishops and the metropolitan of the OCU. How very sad!

Now the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has recognized the new OCU: see BULGARIAN METROPOLITAN EXPRESSES COMMUNION WITH THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF UKRAINE, our fifth news article. This is in spite of recent visits to Bulgaria by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who spoke in "patronizing" tones towards Bulgaria as if Russian occupying armies were their liberators. In reality, Bulgaria endured nearly fifty years of Soviet oppression and infiltration of its Orthodox Church.

Our sixth news article CRIMEA: COURT ORDERS PARISH TO DESTROY ITS CHAPEL tells how a court set up by Russian occupying forces has ordered a wooden chapel to be demolished - in fact, it was supposed to be torn down by now, except for a last-minute appeal to the United Nations that has temporarily put it on hold: see our first news headline CRIMEA: UN CALLS FOR A HALT TO CATHEDRAL EVICTION.

And last but not least, our sixth news headline METROPOLITAN HILARION PRESENTS DECR MEDAL TO THE FIRST RECTOR OF OCA REPRESENTATION IN MOSCOW recognizes Protopresbyter Daniel Hubiak who was the first priest to serve at St. Katharine's Orthodox Church in Moscow. We sometimes visited that church because it had services partly in English (spoken by Russians, though, so it was sometimes harder to understand than when they were speaking Russian). Protopresbyter Daniel Hubiak, as it turned out, was the uncle of a lady in our Orthodox parish in Madison WI where we later attended and where we eventually became Orthodox Christians!