Patriarch Kirill is concerned with difficulties of Orthodox mission in Baltic States and Central Asia
Moscow, February 2, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia speaking at the Bishops’ Council in Moscow voiced a number of problems the Russian Orthodox Church experiences in the Baltic States and Central Asia.
“Unsettled problem persists in relations between the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Estonian Republic, though there’s rather a serious dialogue: many church buildings are transferred to the Church for long-term lease and can be given into property only if approved by jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate,” the Patriarch said on Wednesday in his report at the forum.
The Primate is convinced that there is an evident misbalance in relations of Estonian state with religious associations: “much more support is provided to Lutheran parishes and parishes under jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate though the Russia Church flock almost equals to the Lutheran Church and exceeds the Constantinople parish eight-ten fold.”
According to the Patriarch, there are number of problems in church-state relations in Lithuania. “According to the concordat with the Catholic Church only this Church is exempted from land taxes, while all other religious communities don’t have such privileges. The Orthodox Church is subjected to the same 15 percent income tax as all country’s commercial organizations,” he stressed.
Speaking about work of the Russian Orthodox Church in Uzbekistan, the Patriarch pointed out to the country’s ban on missionary activity and expressed concerns that it is impossible to organize Orthodox comprehensive schools there. Besides, according to the Primate, the Russian Church in Uzbekistan faces some difficulties when registering new parishes.
The republic of Tajikistan, he further said, has the most difficult in the Central Asia situation with religious and social processes as the republican legislation has many limitations, which became a result of bloodshed civil war and desire to fence the society from radicalism in disguise of religion.
