Posts
Pskov Diocese Pronounces Anathema on Journalist
Pskov, Russia
August 18, 2009
Interfax
The Diocesan Council of the Pskov Diocese has decided to excommunicate journalist Oleg Dementyev from the Church.
Such a radical decision was made "due to a continuous heinous slander and satanical lies against the resident nuns of the Spaso-Yeleazarov Monastery, and, in particular, abbess Yelisaveta (Belyayeva)," the Diocese said in a statement on its website.
"By trampling on the honor and dignity of our country's citizens, the society that he is part of, by his heinous slander Oleg Dementyev dared to tarnish the good memory of our ancestors who were cloistered in the Spaso-Yeleazarov Monastery during the pre-revolution period," the statement said.
The monastery filed a slander lawsuit with the Pskov town court of arbitration. On April 14, 2009 the court found Dementyev guilty. The court ruled that the information published by the journalist in the media, tarnishing the reputation of the Spaso-Yeleazarov Monastery and its residents, was untrue.
The Church was criticizing Dementyev's article titled "A Wasp Nest Under the Golden Domes" published in the January 14-20, 2008 issue of the Pskovsky Rubezh newspaper and the Pravda newspaper issue N5 of 2008. The article accused sisters at the monastery of smoking and drinking in their robes.
The anathema decision was made under the "Foundations of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church," which says, in particular, that the head of any particular diocese can inflict a canonical punishment on a person "who blasphemes under God's name, uses other forms of blasphemy, and systematically and deliberately misrepresents the ecclesiastical life and knowingly defames the Church and its servants."
A person who has been anathematized may not participate in the church's Sacraments, is not entitled to burial rituals or to be buried at an Orthodox cemetery after his death.
Domentyev told Reuters: “There is no question that corruption has appeared at the monastery.”
The Pskov Diocese statement can be read here: www.pskov-eparhia.ellink.ru.
This image is falsfying what it claims it proves! This image was for sale as a postcard on a caroussel stand in front of main bookstore on central Rue de la Republique, at Dijon, in France, more than 2 years ago!
ReplyDeleteIt actually features lay muslim women from somewhere in the Near East!
It is an insult to claim these women are Russian monastics, even their headdress shows they are not! (for those who know what the appearance of the dress of a Russian monastic is like, of course! It is an insult to christian monastics anywhere in the world and even to muslim women for that matter, who have a right to their own privacy, too!!
The image is of Catholic nuns and is supposed to be comedic. The source where I got the story had it. Its not supposed to be taken seriously. But thanks for trying to clarify anyway for those who didnt get the joke.
ReplyDelete