MOSCOW LETTER:UNTIL THE Soviet Union was dissolved Fr Valentin at the Church of the Assumption in the Potteries near Taganskaya Square in Moscow was banned from holding the procession that is part of the Orthodox Easter's midnight liturgy. The Krestny Khod, in which the congregation enters the street and walks three times around the church, was banned by the Soviet authorities as an "obstruction to traffic" but has been permitted since 1992.
Anyone who knows the Taganka area will know that traffic around this beautiful little church with its outdoor icon of the Virgin with Three Hands is slight at the best of times and after midnight in the days of the USSR it was non-existent.
Since those days there has been a surge in religious adherence among Russians. Almost every taxi in Moscow has its selection of little icons to protect driver and passengers against accidents. In a city where driving standards are low and speeding is almost a way of life one can understand why Russian motorists appeal to heaven.
In the Ireland of my youth prayers were said for the conversion of Russia but those who feel this goal has been achieved might be dismayed by the anti-Catholic feeling that exists among a small section of Orthodox believers.
Some years back an Irish diplomat on a tour of the great monastery of Sergiev Posad to the north of Moscow noticed a painting of the Last Judgment which included people in clerical garb suffering unspeakable indignities at the hands of Satan and his crew in hell. “Who are they?” he asked the monk who was conducting the guided tour.
In a tone that indicated everyone should know who the sufferers were, the monk replied: “They are the Roman Catholics.”
Andrei Zolotov, a leading Moscow journalist, editor of the prestigious Russia Profilemagazine and devout Orthodox believer, recognises that this type of tension did exist but is now waning. In the papacy of John Paul II there were strained relations between Moscow and Rome tied up with the complex historical relationship between Russia and Poland.
Relationships have improved under the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, who is regarded by Zolotov as “orthodox with a small o”, and following the succession to the Moscow patriarchate by Patriarch Kirill upon the death of Patriarch Alexiy II.
In a church in which its beautiful music plays an important role, Zolotov’s wife, Katya, sings in the Moscow Synodal Choir, one of the most prestigious in the capital, and his mother-in-law, Tamara, is an extremely observant believer.
Zolotov’s family background is an unusual one in that his nanny was a nun who died when he was 13 and she was 93. He believes he might have been baptised secretly by her as a child but cannot be sure. He was baptised therefore in 1990 in a special ceremony for those who may have been previously baptised.
He regards his parish as his second home and a very important part of his life. It is a bit of a stretch to say it is a way of life. “It’s supposed to be like that but I’m not sure I’m there yet,” he says.
While the Orthodox Church has gone from strength to strength, Russia’s second-largest religious denomination is undergoing major changes. More than 16 million citizens of the Russian Federation are Muslims and with most of them living in European Russia the country can claim to have by far the largest numbers of Muslims in Europe.
Russia’s Islamic population is concentrated in two main geographical areas. Tatarstan and the adjoining Bashkortostan are the most northerly traditional Muslim regions on Earth, while in the Caucasus region to the south, territories such as Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan have strong Muslim majorities.
Like Orthodoxy, Islam received a boost after the Soviet Union ended. But the arrival of radical Wahhabis and the funding of students with money from Saudi Arabia, while strengthening beliefs and organisation, have brought problems with them.
Chechnya is comparatively quiet after two disastrous wars. A state of insurgency exists in Dagestan and many of those killed have been traditional moderate imams opposed to the militant beliefs of others.
Less dramatically, imams newly educated in the Middle East have won disciples from traditional imams who were deprived of a full Islamic education during the Soviet era.
To the north, many of the Russians captured and detained in Guantánamo Bay were from the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, formerly known as Brezhnev, to the east of Tatarstan’s capital, Kazan. But in general Tatarstan, one of Russia’s wealthiest regions, has managed to stave off more radical Islamic tendencies.
