The Bishop of Barnaul spoke out against the participation of representatives of “destructive sects” in the governor’s council and presented property claims to the authorities

Bishop Maxim (Dmitriev) of Barnaul and Altai expressed his disagreement with the draft regulation on the governor's council for interaction with religious associations. Vladyka is not satisfied with the principle of equal representation of confessions, thanks to which the Orthodox may find themselves on the council together with the "destructive sects" against which the Church is fighting.

During a March 22 meeting between Governor Alexander Karlin and representatives of more than 50 denominations existing in the region, Bishop's assistant Sergei Goncharov spoke in favor of a broader representation of "traditional" denominations. "That's fair," he said. "After all, say, the Orthodox Church in Altai has hundreds of thousands of parishioners in its ranks, while many other religious organizations have several hundred."

Marina Volobuyeva, consultant of the regional department for work with citizens' appeals and public associations, explained that the future council is being built by analogy with the council under the President of Russia. The draft formulates only the aims and tasks of the council, "and nothing is said about its composition."

At a press conference, Bishop Maxim demanded that one of the buildings of the Barnaul City Hall (there used to be a religious school) and the planetarium building (originally a temple) be transferred to the diocese. Sergey Zyuzin, the chairman of the city committee on information policy, said on this occasion: “We are not going to return to the Bolshevik times, when some people were deprived of their property and given to others. The official urged believers to "be patient for a few years" until a new planetarium building is built. As for the City Hall building, the authorities do not want to create a "dangerous precedent." "If this building is given to the Russian Orthodox Church," S. Zyuzin said, "then Catholics (the former church building on Lenin Avenue, now a pharmacy), Muslims (two buildings) and others will demand their property." "In general," the official stated, "the issue of city property is decided by the City Duma. As it decides, so be it."

Sources

• Orthodox bishop fights for inequality // Blagovest-info. 2006. March 23. (Article by Yu. Belov from Kommersant)