The Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church consider the appeal to Medvedev about Isaac to reasonable

The St. Petersburg diocese said that they had every reason to appeal to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev with a request to help the return of the St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of the Savior-on-Blood of the Church.

"The St. Petersburg diocese, as before, expresses confidence in the need to return to the historical temples of the northern capital of their original religious purpose. Therefore, it intends to further engage in all efforts and carry out consistent work in this direction within the framework of the existing legislation," the interfax-religion portal, the text of a commentary on the diocesan press service.

As noted in the document, the appeal of the Metropolitan of the St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius to the head of the Government of the Russian Federation "reasonably and quite logical."

The dioceses indicated that the Federal Law "On the transfer of religious property to religious property, which is in state or municipal property" was initiated by the government and was developed under the control of the government commission, the head of which Medvedev was. “Subsequently, he approved and signed this law as the President of the Russian Federation,” the press service added.

Recall that a few days ago, the director of the State Museum-Monuches (GMP) "Isaac's Cathedral" Nikolai Burov expressed the hope that the museum would retain its status after the appeal of the St. Petersburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev on the transfer of the Council of the Church.

“I have been in the know (about the appeal). And what to comment on? Such an appeal already existed last year, however, the addressee was the addressee of the city. The city answered, refusing and retaining the status of the State Museum -Monitor. We will look at the reaction of the Russian government,” Burov said.

So he commented on the material of the Novaya Gazeta in St. Petersburg, which reported that the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanofia addressed Dmitry Medvedev with a request to assist in the transfer of the Diocese of the Isaacievsky Cathedral and the Temple of the Savior-Blood, as well as the premises of the Smolny Monastery, which housed the faculties of political science, international international Relations and sociology of St. Petersburg State University.

"I imagine as the director of the State Culture Institution and I hope that my leaders from the head of the City Culture Committee to the Minister of Culture and the head of the Cabinet of Ministers will perform for the state decision of this topic," Burov said.

He noted that such appeals are “not new” and the church turned to the tsarist government, but it refused to transfer buildings. According to Burov, in the current legislation there are many contradictions that do not allow to unambiguously interpret the issue of transferring museum objects.

Nikolai Burov also noted that the Smolny Cathedral was transferred to the churches, but the museum still has not received an equal room in return and the situation is moving slowly. The museum is also ready to transfer the diocese of Sampsonievsky Cathedral, however, it is an integral part of the 141 subject of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, and "how to act with this wealth is not yet clear."

According to Burov, the appeal of the St. Petersburg diocese also concerns the buildings of the Smolny Monastery ensemble, which houses several faculties of St. Petersburg State University.

According to the press service of the St. Petersburg State University, Interfax agency, no appeals from the diocese were addressed to the university, but they are ready to discuss the issue of transferring the premises at St. Petersburg State University.

"Earlier, the University informed the Russian Orthodox Church about the readiness to consider the transfer of buildings that had documented church appointment to the ROC, provided that the university is provided with premises to ensure those activities that are currently underway in the buildings specified in the mentioned appeal," the press service said.

The interlocutor of the agency emphasized that the decision on the seizure and transfer of the premises in the operational department of St. Petersburg State University, including the premises at Smolny travel, house 1, the letter B, dates back to the competence of the Federal State Property Agency.

As previously reported, in mid-April of this year, the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Maxim Reznik urged the leadership of the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church to stop raising the issue of belonging to the Isaac's Cathedral.

Earlier, according to the results of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department on the relationship between the Church with society and the media, Vladimir Legoyda, said that the Russian Orthodox Church should look for consensus with all interested parties, without ignoring their points of view.

According to Maxim Reznik, "in our city for many years there have been the same" consensus and balance ", which the respected Vladimir Legoyda speaks of." “Under the previous head of the diocese, the work was built: taking into account the interests of the church, the museum community, and the city authorities. And there was no conflict,” the words of the St. Petersburg deputy quoted the Neva News .

"Unfortunately, the responsibility for the destruction of this" consensus and balance "is the current leadership of the diocese. To return everything to the normal direction, you just need to stop lifting the" Isaacievsky issue ", inciting the so -called" Orthodox activists, "Reznik emphasized.

To the history of the conflict

The confrontation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the current leadership of the Isaacievsky Cathedral on the issue of belonging to the object has been continuing in the Northern capital for several months. The St. Petersburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church demands to transfer the cathedral to her. The city authorities have already given a negative answer, but in the spring the group of "Orthodox activists" again raised this issue. Deputy Reznik talks about the readiness to initiate a city referendum on the fate of the Isaacievsky Cathedral.

In early April, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg refused to adopt the lawsuit of the Orthodox activists of the Holy League of St. George, who disputed the city’s authorities to convey the ROC Cathedral.

The lawsuit "was filed in the manner of administrative claim, but it was necessary in the manner of claim," they explained in court, where they also noted that activists "could file a lawsuit in a different court or appeal this definition if they do not agree with it."

The determination of the refusal to accept was sent to the submissions of the statement of claim by mail.

Earlier, the Orthodox activists of St. Petersburg said that they were going to challenge the city government to transfer the church of the church for six months later.

"This will be a civil lawsuit, we consider the actions of the city authorities a violation of the rights of third parties - we believers. We will directly dispute the answer and. O. Governor Govorunov to the corresponding appeal of the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was later confirmed by the press secretary of the Governor Poltavchenko," said the chairman of the Renaissance of Christian values ​​then the sacred league of St. George "Sergey Egorov.

The lawsuit against the decision of the St. Petersburg government was filed in the Smolninsky District Court of the city.

"According to the Federal Law 327" On the transfer of religious property to religious property, the grounds that indicated in the response of the authorities of St. Petersburg are not provided for the response of the property. We understand that this decision was made under pressure from the liberal public, so we decided to apply to the court.

In connection with this initiative, the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church said that "the position of the diocese on the transfer of the Isaac's Cathedral remains unchanged - the cathedral must be returned to the church." "We are conducting a constructive dialogue with all interested forces," the diocese said.

The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church noted that there, "with understanding relate to the initiative of the Orthodox community, as well as the initiatives of other groups of citizens acting within the framework of the law. The diocese supports civil activity aimed at protecting the rights of Orthodox believers."

At the same time, the diocese emphasized that "the prospects of the trial in accordance with the statement of claim filed at the discretion of the court."

The statement of activists was met by the public ambiguously. Thus, the president of the Union of Museums of Russia, the director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky at a press conference in St. Petersburg, said that the current status of the Isaac's Cathedral is the most successful for the monument.

“In the situation with the Isaac's Cathedral, a compromise was found. There are services, big services, when it is necessary to serve the Metropolitan. And at the same time the Isaac's Cathedral is a huge monument of art, architecture, Russian history. These aspects should be present and are available to those who come. His existing status is the best, and nothing else needs to be invented,” Piotrovsky said.

He expressed confidence that the Orthodox activists, who again raised the question of the need to transfer the St. Isaac's Cathedral to the use of the Russian Orthodox Church, are not representatives of the church position.

"There are church power, but there are church activists. There is nothing to do with it, she understands when it is not necessary to aggravate the situation. And about the Isaac's Cathedral, we have a statement that the church has nothing to do with it, and we have a lot of activists: everyone explains which things can be exposed in museums, which is impossible, what and whom we are insulting more and more calmly relate to the presence of different points of view," the director said, "the director said Hermitage.

Piotrovsky believes that museums and church today are conducting a constructive dialogue.

The Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, Alexander Shishlov, commenting on the lawsuit of Orthodox activists, said that "there are purely legal grounds" so that the decision on this application does not take place. “I think that all this will remain another initiative of people who do not want to reckon with the interests of those who live in the city, profess other religions or do not profess them at all,” said Shishlov. At the same time, he, however, found it difficult to clarify what grounds we are talking about.

“I hope that this story will not have dramatic consequences. Isaac's Cathedral has a special history, the history of construction and functioning in imperial times - it does not give reason to consider it an object that should be transferred to the church,” the Ombudsman added.

Meanwhile, the director of the Isaac's Cathedral, Nikolai Burov, said that the Orthodox pilgrims arriving in Isaac for prayer make up about 1% of the total number of visitors to the temple. In 2015, about 36 thousand believers visited it, the number of tourists during the same time amounted to 3.687 million people.

Isaac's Cathedral was built in 1818-1858 according to the project of the architect Auguste Montferrand. Its height exceeds 100 meters, and the inner area is more than 4 thousand square meters. The Government of the Russian Federation transferred the Isaac's Cathedral to the ownership of St. Petersburg in October 2012.