Bosnian Serb jailed for genocide role

Milorad Trbić, an officer of the erstwhile Bosnian Serb army, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for his role in the Srebrenica Massacre of 1995, in which over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed.

The court found that, as the Duty Operations Officer of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska in July 1995, Trbić "significantly contributed to the implementation" of the massacre, and did so "with genocidal intent".

Meanwhile, talks aiming to resolve disputes over power sharing in the loose federal structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina have apparently stalled. According to Valentin Inzko, the Austrian diplomat serving as the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, "Bosnia is in a state of paralysis".

The possibility of a return to violence has been voiced by some observers. Although that is highly unlikely, it seems the wounds have still not healed.

Russian church considers Russians and Ukrainians "one people"

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus (i.e., Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) has declared Russians and Ukrainians to be "one people".

Speaking in Arkhangelsk, Kirill remarked,

From the point of view of basic values, we are one people. Certainly, from an ethnic point of view, from the point of view of language, one can speak [of differences]... but, when it comes to basic values, we are one body.

Kirill also spoke about "the historic commonality which was formed during the thousands of years of our common history", and added that "no thoughtful politician in Russia or Ukraine can ignore this fact." Despite all of the above, Kirill called for respect for the sovereignty of both Ukraine and Russia.

So is this the Russian Orthodox Church stepping into politics of its initiative, or is it rather fulfilling the demands of the Russian authorities?

In a recent Naša niva article, Jan Zaprudnik writes that he found highly dubious leaflets being distributed in Orthodox churches in Turaŭ (Turaw) and Žytkavičy (Zhytkavichy), one of which claims that Ukraine was "invented" by Bismarck, of all people.

It's truly sad to see how the church is allowing itself to be the handmaiden of Russian imperialism once again.

Belarusian bishop stabbed

The Orthodox Christian bishop of Mahiloŭ and Mścisłaŭ (Mahilyow and Mstsislaw), Safron, was stabbed by a supposedly deranged person while performing a church service in Mahiloŭ on 23 August. The bishop was wounded in the arm and the stomach.

Following the attack, Safron was hospitalised and underwent surgery. His life is reportedly not in danger.

The 37-year-old suspect was caught by worshippers and has been charged with "intentional causation of heavy physical injury". He had been under observation at the Mahiloŭ Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

This is scary news, given that many of my relatives live in Mahiloŭ, belong to the Orthodox Church and attend services. On the other hand, this seems to be a complete one-off.

Belarus sets up morals council

Here's something that's interesting and has the potential to be very scary: a Public Council on Morals was established in Minsk on 8 July. Its members include official representatives of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, as well as Jewish and Islamic organisations, along with writers, artists and academics. According to Metropolitan Filaret, the chief cleric of the Belarusian Exarchate, President Alaksandar Łukašenka (Aliaksandr Lukashenka) "has expressed his understanding of the church's concern about the moral state of society". Once again, we have the Orthodox Church happily playing second fiddle to Łukašenka in exchange for government favours.

Mikałaj Čarhiniec (Mikalay Charhinets), the head of the government-sponsored Union of Writers of Belarus, is to serve as the first head of the Council.

Hieorhij Marčuk (Heorhiy Marchuk), a member of the Union of Writers and the new Council on Morals, said that the Council would gauge public opinion on "controversial" books and art, and would advise the government on how to deal with books and art that "contradict society's traditional values". He denied that the Council would be in the business of censorship, however.

According to Marčuk, the Council is planning to combat the "profanation of the biblical commandments, history and patriotic feelings." So patriotism, then, is equivalent to the commandments of the Bible? Plus, I do wonder what Marčuk understands by the profanation of history. More than likely, he's referring to the Soviet view of WWII, which has acquired the status of gospel under Łukašenka. I guess if you write a novel questioning the official view as presented in what seems to be a new Belarusian WWII movie every year, I guess you'd better watch out.

Marčuk also added that the Council was planning to organise discussions on things like "the role of Christianity in the artist's work" and "relations between religion and secular morals", which certainly sound like reasonable and interesting topics to discuss. Another one of the Council's planned discussion topics, though, is "certain subjects connected with the place of the good character in modern Belarusian literature". Huh? OK, so there we have it: if you write about "good characters" defending the native land with Orthodox-Christian-patriotic zeal, you're fine. Other types of literature and art, it seems, are going to be made unwelcome in Łukašenka's Belarus.

Here's the thing: a council of this sort, were it a true civil society initiative, would have been a welcome development. If it were actually a forum where writers, artists and religious figures could freely discuss art, religion, the public role of the artist, the role of morality in life, and so on, that would be fine; it would even have the potential to produce some sort of synthesis that would contribute to our everlasting quest for meaning. This Public Council on Morals, though, is a creature of the government, and it shows every sign of being one of two undesirable things. Either it is an effort to scare independent Belarusian writers and artists into towing the government line, or it is simply a bone thrown by Łukašenka to the religious bodies, especially the Orthodox Church, in a further attempt to legitimise his regime through religion. I think the latter is actually more likely to be true. Either way, this just goes to show how much needs to change in Belarus.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

Moscow patriarch dies

Patriarch Aleksiy II of Moscow and All Russia has passed away at the age of 79. Born Aleksei Ridiger in Tallinn to a Baltic German father and a Russian mother, Aleksiy rose through the ranks of the Russian Orthodox Church with the backing of the KGB. His role in the pre-Gorbachev era consisted of helping the Soviet state keep the Church under its firm control. He was elected Patriarch in 1990. Aleksiy was an outspoken supporter of Orthodox unity, but was much more ambivalent towards the unity of the Christian churches (BBC).

In particular, he clashed with the Catholic Church over the issue of the latter's proselytisation of Russians, claiming all Russia and Ukraine to be the "canonical territory" of the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexiy also provided Church backing for the process of integration between Belarus and Russia launched by Aliksandr Lukašenka and Boris Yeltsin.

Alexander Nevsky's remains arrive in Minsk

The remains of St Alexander Nevsky (d. 1263) have arrived in Minsk. The Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia accompanied the remains to Belarus. A "round-the-clock adoration of the relic" is taking place at the St Euphrosyne of Polack (Polatsk) Church in Minsk.

Nevsky is the Orthodox patron saint of soldiers and diplomats (Белорусские новости).

Belarusian journalist imprisoned for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) caricatures

Aliaksandr Źdźvižkoŭ (whose name is also spelled Alexander Sdvizhkov in English), the former editor of the defunct Belarusian opposition newspaper Zhoda (Agreement), has been sentenced to three years in prison by the Minsk City Court for reprinting the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

After having the cartoons reprinted, Źdźvižkoŭ was quoted as saying "We did the right thing by speaking out against Islamic hysteria." I have to say, whipping up hysteria by attacking what is sacred to someone else is a funny way of "speaking out against... hysteria." In particular, Źdźvižkoŭ didn't seem to remember that Belarus has its own community of around 30,000 Muslims who were exhibiting no "hysteria" over the cartoons, and that printing the cartoons in Zhoda (especially given the negative depiction of the Prophet contained in most of them) would be needlessly, gratuitously offensive to Belarusian Muslims.

As it happened, Ismail Varanovič, the head of the Spritual Directorate of the Muslims of the Republic of Belarus, sued Źdźvižkoŭ for "inciting hatred" against the Muslim community. However, he now claims that the government and, in particular, the Committee of Religious and Ethnicity Affairs, put him up to it. More that that, they made him understand that it was their express desire that he sue Źdźvižkoŭ.

Varanovič says that he felt sorry for Źdźvižkoŭ at the trial, which was held behind closed doors, and even tried to help him by telling the court that he had come to think that Źdźvižkoŭ's actions represented not an incitement to hatred, but rather a mere illustration to the story of the cartoon controversy. According to Varanovič, Źdźvižkoŭ apologised to him personally, and to the Muslim community in general, for his actions.

So it seems that the Belarusian Muslim community was led into something not of its own choosing, and was used by the government in its own game against Źdźvižkoŭ. This theory is supported by the fact that the prison term that Źdźvižkoŭ was sentenced to -- three years -- is the most severe of all so far received by people found guilty in the cartoon controversy in any country.

So why is it that the Belarusian authorities were after Źdźvižkoŭ? Two reasons have been raised in the independent and opposition press. Some say that the Belarusian government wanted to impress rich(er) Muslim countries with their defence of Islam in order to attract investments from them. However, the theory that sounds more likely to be true is that the authorities wanted to move Źdźvižkoŭ out of the way for a while because his newspaper, Zhoda, had endorsed Aliaksandr Kazulin, a Social-Democratic candidate for the Belarusian presidency. In addition, the action taken against Źdźvižkoŭ can serve as a warning to what is left of the independent Belarusian media to be more careful in what they say -- not about Islam, but about President Lukašenka. This theory rings true not just because of various actions against journalists undertaken by the Belarusian government in the past, but also because Zhoda was shut down following a threat from Lukašenka to do so.

So where does this leave the Belarusian Muslims? Unfortunately, they have faced a certain degree of scapegoating from the Belarusian opposition, which is not normally known for anti-Muslim positions. Thus, the deputy leader of the Belarusian Popular Front, Alieś Michalievič (Mikhalevich), has asked Metropolitan Filaret, the Exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, to intervene with the authorities in order to get Źdźvižkoŭ's sentence softened. In his appeal, Michalievič claims that Źdźvižkoŭ has been made to suffer for "expressing his Christian convictions", and asks sarcastically whether the "the law of the Shari'a" is in force in Belarus. To which one may reply that one does not need to look as far as the Shari'a to find condemnation of libel and hate speech of the kind that the cartoons represented.

One pro-opposition journalist has even warned that Belarusians should beware of the transformation of our country into "Belarusistan". In his view, Źdźvižkoŭ understood this danger, but went overboard in his response. At best, the journalist's statement regarding the "present threat" posed by Belarusian Muslims reflects a hastily put together reaction that ignores the simple facts that the Muslim community has lived peacefully in what is now Belarus for over 600 years and, that Muslim scholars were writing religious treatises in Belarusian centuries ago, and that further, Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the population of Belarus. These sorts of responses from respected segments of the opposition intelligentsia are irresponsible and seem to imply an attempt to align pro-Western Belarusian views with those of extreme right-wing Western European politicians. What does not make sense in this equation, however, is that those xenophobic politicians try to court public support by attacking immigrants or their children (which is, in itself, wrong), while Belarus, as I said above, has what can be quite justifiably considered an indigenous Muslim population.

So what is needed here are liberal voices, ones that understand that freedom comes with responsibility, and that we Belarusians are one people who must continue building our country for all of us together, whether we are Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, or what have you. Fortunately, there are some who have been speaking out in just such a vein.

Since becoming a "normal European country" is one of the biggest dreams of the Belarusian opposition, I'd like to suggest that turning on minorities at the slightest hint of imagined provocation is not the way to achieve that dream.

Merry Christmas... again!

I would like to wish all my Orthodox Christian readers a merry Christmas!

You can find pictures of Christians celebrating Orthodox Christmas in different parts of the world here.

Russians attempt to coax millenarians out of cave

An area near Penza in Russia is witnessing attempts by groups and individuals to persuade the members of a splinter sect of Orthodox Christians to leave the man-made cave where they are currently holed up. Those trying to put an end to the self-imposed isolation include the group's nominal leader, the self-proclaimed prophet Piotr Kuznetsov. The group of 29 people in the cave includes four children, one of whom is less than two years old. The group has been inside the cave for almost a month now.

Priests and monks from the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church have also tried, so far in vain, to persuade the members of the sect to come out. The sect believes that the end of the world will arrive soon, and have placed themselves in the cave in expectation of the event. They threaten suicide in case the authorities try to storm their stronghold (BBC).

Let's hope the Russian authorities don't try anything silly.

Bosniak war widow wants church off her land

Fata Orlović, a Bosnian Muslim woman from the village Konjević Polje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been waging a battle for several years to get a Serbian Orthodox church removed from her property. Orlović was expelled from her village during the Bosnian War, and her husband was killed in the war. When she returned in 2000, she found that a church had been constructed on her land, right in front of her house.

Ever since, she has been appealing to the authorities to remove the church. The Bosnian Serb authorities have relented, and are now planning to dismantle the church building and move it to a different location.

It is not dislike for Christianity that motivates Orlović. As she says, "It doesn't bother me that it's a church.... I respect churches as much as mosques. But if they want a church they should just put it on their land instead of mine. I respect all nations and religions, but I can't respect people building on my land."

According to James Rodehaver, the Human Rights Director of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) office in Sarajevo, "If she doesn't get the church off her land you will never have a society that is governed by the rule of law.... The legacy of the war would never be resolved" (BBC).

This story does show that Bosnia has come a long way since the war, though. The very fact that the Bosnian Serb authorities are taking Mrs Orlović's request seriously and are willing to remove the building that was illegally placed on her land -- despite the fact that it is as politically sensitive a building as a church -- speaks volumes.

Orša holds an "Orthodox" birthday

The Belarusian city of Orša (Orsha) is currently celebrating the 940th anniversary of its founding. The celebration is entitled "An Orthodox Christian Orša" a "spiritual and educational" fair called "An Orthodox Christian Belarus". Several Orthodox parish choirs were due to perform at the Orša Centre of Culture.

The festivities, which stretch over several days, also include art exhibitions, a conference entitled "Orša in the Historico-Cultural and Religious Development of Belarus", an air show, horse rides, a Medieval reenactment, and a concert (BELTA).

The question is: why are the celebrations emphasising only one aspect of Orša's diverse religious heritage, and creating the impression that the city has been entirely Orthodox for the 940 years of its existence? What about the fact that Orša became a centre of Calvinism in the 16th century? What about the city's rich Catholic and Jewish history?

I don't know if Aliaksandr Lukašenka (Lukashenka) is personally responsible for the decision to marginalise non-Orthodox groups from Orša's celebrations, but he has certainly set the tone of the official promotion of Orthodoxy in the country, a position only a third of Belarusians agreed with in a 2002 poll (while 67% of the population is Orthodox). Interestingly enough, the President describes himself as an "Orthodox Christian atheist".

Bosnian War death toll revised downwards

A study entitled "The Bosnian Book of Dead", conducted over the course of three years by the Research and Documentation Centre located in Sarajevo, has concluded that 97,207 people were killed in the Bosnian War (1992-1995).

According to the Centre, about 65% of those killed were Muslims (Bosniaks), 25% were Serbs, and 8% were Croats (BBC).

I'm glad that this number is only half the original estimate of 200,000. But it is still shocking that this many people were killed in a Europe that had supposedly learned the lessons of the two World Wars.

Muslims suffered disproportionately in the war: although 65% of those killed in the war were Muslims, the community represented only 41% of the population of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991.

Christians celebrate Easter

Christians around the world -- Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox -- celebrated Easter yesterday, on 8 April. According to Christian belief, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ (pbuh) after his crucifixion, making this the most important of Christian holy days.

The BBC has compiled two photo series showing Christians in different parts of the world celebrating Easter. The first one focuses on Orthodox Christians, with pictures from Palestine, as well as Bulgaria and Russia.

The second series shows Christians celebrating in Belarus, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Iraq, the UK, Ukraine and Vatican City.