Orthodox protest rally against the construction of a Hare Krishna temple in Moscow

On March 21, a protest rally against the construction of a Hare Krishna temple was held on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. According to Portal-Credo.ru , "the official organizers of the rally were the Council of Orthodox Youth Organizations, the Radonezh Society, the Irenaeus of Lyons Center, and the interregional public organization for the promotion of the upbringing of children and youth". Other Orthodox organizations also took an active part in the event, in particular, the SPG and the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers. "Portal-Credo.ru" cites the slogans under which the audience spoke: "Russian Hare Krishnas finance the persecution of Christians in India", "Krishnaism is a reboot of the Russian consciousness", "Glory to Christ, death to the Antichrist." The rally was timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the murder of ROC priest Fr. Gregory in the village of Tura in Evenkia. The murderer, who claimed to be a "warrior of Krishna", who allegedly ordered him to commit a crime, was declared insane by the court. However, representatives of "anti-sectarian" organizations continue to assert that it was a "ritual murder" in which the "Krishnaite sect" as a whole was involved.

Calls to take part in the rally appeared a few days before it began (see, for example, the SPG's appeal of March 17 on the United Fatherland website ). Already on March 18, the public association "Revival of Spiritual Culture" made a statement in which the planned action was regarded as a provocation: "This is another link in the chain of insinuations against Hindu believers ... Now, when construction should begin soon, extremists bank, seeking to stir up sectarian conflict.

The reason for the rally they chose the tragedy that occurred four years ago in the Evenk village of Tura, when a mentally ill person killed a local priest. The madman - and that was precisely the conclusion of the authoritative medical commission and the court - said not a thing. And despite the final verdict of the court, the tragedy in Tours is still wandering around in anti-cult publications as a fact of the "involvement" of the Society for Krishna Consciousness in a bloody crime. Now, the name of the deceased priest Fr. Grigory (Yakovlev) has become a "trump card" in the hands of extremists fighting freedom of conscience in Russia."

On March 21, the day of the rally, the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness addressed the Russian Orthodox community. “On the eve of the 4th anniversary of the martyrdom of the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Father Gregory, who served in the village of Tura, Evenk Autonomous Okrug,” the text of the appeal says, “we unite with you in mourning and commemoration.

<...> Having fulfilled his pastoral vow at the cost of his life, Father Gregory became for us an example of truly Christian love and sacrifice. It is especially tragic that the teachings of Krishna, which brought up one of the most peaceful civilizations in the history of mankind, refracted through the inflamed consciousness of a madman into a ferocious passion for violence. Therefore, on this day, we humbly ask you to raise prayers so that the mind returns to the tormentor of Father Gregory, who is still in a psychiatric hospital, and that he can finally realize the horror of his deed and step on the path of repentance.

We also express our regret if we unwittingly caused you concern with our plans to build a temple in Moscow, rumors about the size of which are greatly exaggerated. Of course, peace and good-neighborly relations are more precious than any buildings. Nevertheless, we bear the burden of caring for the 25,000 parishioners in Moscow, who in a few days are destined to lose their only place of worship, allotted for demolition. Finding ourselves in a hopeless situation, we feel the deepest gratitude to the Moscow authorities for the fact that after a long work they were able to allocate a plot on Leningradsky Prospekt for the construction of a new church. We hope that you will understand our situation, in which the Russian Orthodox Church found itself more than once in former times."

The rally was sanctioned by the authorities, however, since there were more participants than the organizers announced (more than 800 instead of 500), it is possible that administrative sanctions may follow against the latter.

On the same day, March 21, in the Russian View program, Mikhail Men, who oversees religious issues in the Moscow City Hall, once again repeated that the Krishnaites were allocated a plot of only 1 hectare and that they were given permission to build a building of only approximately the same size. as currently in force. M. Men recommended that Orthodox activists turn to the deputies of the Moscow City Duma to decide whether the Society for Krishna Consciousness is an acceptable religious organization or whether it poses a public danger. (True, this issue is not within the competence of the Moscow City Duma - ed.)

On March 22, the website "United Fatherland" published the text of the appeal of the rally participants to the mayor of Moscow. This document, in particular, states: "We do not dispute the rights of the Hindu community of Moscow to have their own temple. But, firstly, it must be a temple of one of the directions of traditional Hinduism, and not of a newly appeared extremist sect. Secondly, it is necessary to observe the principle of proportionality: Hinduism is not a traditional religion for Russia, and a Hindu religious building cannot be comparable in size to the main religious buildings of our traditional religions, and even more so, surpass them.<...>

The construction of the "Center of Vedic Culture" announced by the sect is a challenge thrown in the face of Muscovites, who still cannot get permission to teach their children the basics of Orthodox culture. In fact, no "Vedic culture" exists anywhere in the world, including in India. This is nothing more than a propaganda stamp created by the pseudo-Hindu sect "International Society for Krishna Consciousness". It is obvious that a very small sect plans to create such a huge structure "for growth" in order to get rid of the reputation of a marginal and destructive organization at the expense of the Moscow government, and thus develop a wide proselytizing and commercial activity.

We believe that the Moscow authorities were misled and, we hope that having received the fullness of the information, you will cancel your decision to urgently transfer the Moscow land to the totalitarian sect "Society for Krishna Consciousness" free of charge. We ask you, Yuri Mikhailovich, to make a decision on the allocation of a land plot for the needs of the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness, in terms of area and location corresponding to the place that this sect occupies in Russian society, and taking into account the opinion of believers of religions traditional for our country.

On March 23, it became known that the Center for Societies for Krishna Consciousness applied to the Moscow prosecutor's office with a statement about initiating a criminal case against the organizers of the rally "for slander and inciting inter-religious hatred." The Krishnaites were outraged by the "outright lies, distortion of facts and defamation of Hinduism" by the participants in the action on Pushkinskaya Square. “The seeds of evil and hatred have been sown. Now we can only anxiously wait for when and where they will sprout,” said Bhakti Vigyan Goswami, head of the Russian Hare Krishnas. “Therefore, people pushing Russia to new Black Hundred pogroms must answer before the law.”

Russian view // Muscovy. 2004. March 22.

On March 24, a press conference "Hinduism in Moscow: to be or not to be?" organized by the Center for Societies for Krishna Consciousness in Russia (COSCR) took place in Moscow, which became a response to the March 21 anti-Krishna rally on Pushkin Square.

The president of TSOSKR Bhaktivigyana Goswami (Vadim Tuneev) said that recently Hare Krishnas in Russia have been threatened with physical violence again. At the same time, Goswami believes that "the hostile attitude towards the Hindus cannot be regarded as the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, but only as the course of radical circles." The organizers of the press conference once again denied the information that the future temple will surpass the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in size.

Indologist Boris Falikov pointed out the complete groundlessness of the accusations leveled against the Hare Krishnas by the organizers of the rally on Tverskoy Boulevard. "There can be no talk of any connection with Indian fundamentalists," the scientist believes. In addition, as B. Falikov stated, "such actions harm Orthodoxy as well. In essence, the search for an 'enemy' is a counter-mission of Orthodoxy, taking energy away from the missionary activity of the Church."

Sources

• The Union of Orthodox Citizens calls on Moscow residents to take an active part in the mass action of the Orthodox against the construction of a Hare Krishna center // United Fatherland. 2004. March 17.
• DOCUMENT: The upcoming protests against the construction of a Hindu temple in Moscow are a provocation. Statement of the public association "Revival of Spiritual Culture" // Portal-Credo.ru. 2004. March 18.
• An Orthodox rally against the construction of a temple of the Society for Krishna Consciousness takes place in the center of Moscow // There. 21 March.
• DOCUMENT: Open appeal of the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness to the Orthodox community in Russia // There.
• Orthodox Muscovites protested against the construction of a Hare Krishna temple // Week.ru. 2004. March 22.
• Anti-Krishna rally organizers may face administrative prosecution // There.
• Press release of the protest rally against the construction of the "Society for Krishna Consciousness" center on Khodynskoye Pole and Appeal of the participants of the action to the Mayor of Moscow Yu.M. Luzhkov // United Fatherland. 2004. March 22.
• The Orthodox are determined: there is no place for a temple in Moscow! // There. 2004. March 23.
• PHOTO GALLERY: Anti-Krishna rally of the Orthodox-patriotic community. Moscow, March 21, 2004 // Portal-Credo.ru. 2004. March 23.
• Russian Hare Krishnas file a complaint against the organizers of the provocation on Pushkinskaya Square to the prosecutor's office // There.
• Participants of the press conference in Domzhura condemned the escalation of passions around Hare Krishnas // Religion and society. 2004. March 25.