In Novorossiysk, the FSB, protecting the spiritual scrapers of the Russian Federation, tore off the festive worship of the Baptists

In the city of Novorossiysk, the Krasnodar Territory, the security forces broke into a private household, where the festive worship of the Baptists in honor of the Annunciation took place. One of the FSB officers explained their actions by the fact that Baptists and other religious movements undermine Russian spirituality.

The special operation of the security forces was carried out on April 7. Representatives of the city administration, police, the FSB and Cossacks participated in it, a member of the Baptist church community Yevgeny Kokora said on a page on Facebook.

In a conversation with Znak.com , Eugene explained that the security forces forbade shooting, threatened parishioners and prevented the service. There were about 70 believers in the hall, including children and elderly people. What claims want to present a church organization and on what grounds it was necessary to stop Sunday worship is incomprehensible.

Representatives of the church immediately tried to contact the local branch of the FSB, but it was not possible to meet with the head of the department and write a statement. However, the appeal to the FSB showed that it was this body that is behind the persecution of the Baptists, says Evgeny Kokora.

According to the representative of the religious community, he led a dialogue with an FSB officer "On the history of the Church and the role of the Russian spiritual world, and of course about what happened on Sunday." Apparently, the Chekist managed to make a positive impression on the believer. Eugene called his interlocutor "very well -read and competent in matters of history, including religious." As an example of such competence, Cocor added that the FSB officer "read the symbol of faith by heart."

In addition, the "well -read" Chekist said that "all sects - Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, etc. - split the Russian single spiritual world."

“Won it !!! We even understood that this is not only the opinion of the FSB minister only the opinion of a private person, but so the state understands us. Therefore, do not be surprised that this is how this is happening,” wrote Evgeny Kokora.

The representative of the religious community asked the security forces not to interfere in their services anymore, since they did not engage in anything bad. Believers will continue to conduct such worships, referring to the command of the Savior.

Baptists made it clear to the FSB officers that officials “artificially pump the situation, causing protest relations to existing power, in particular among believers.”

“If strength pressure continues, then this will not lead to anything good. It is difficult to intimidate believers, our forefathers and either passed in Soviet times,” concluded Evgeny Kokora.

Gospel Christians -Baptists are the largest Protestant association and the second largest Christian denomination in the country. Today, about 150 thousand Christians-baptists live in Russia. There were no decisions on the recognition of the organization by a destructive cult, although the Baptists have already encountered a certain opposition from the authorities repeatedly. For example, in the Tatarstan of the pastor of the Church of the Gospel Christian Baptist "Renaissance" Leonid Povorov was fined 20 thousand rubles for an allegedly unauthorized rally, to which the bureaucrats attributed baptism in the river. The corresponding decision on the fine was made by the court of Naberezhnye Chelnov.

In court, Pastor said that he organized a "entering nature with parishioners": believers drank tea and conducted a baptism ceremony. At the same time, Povorov emphasized that the members of the Church "chose the distant", and the event itself was "non -public", without strangers. There were no banners with slogans, missionary activities were not conducted, he assured. The defense of the pastor claimed that "the event was corporate in nature, in connection with which the coordination with the authorities was not required."

However, the Russian Themis found that "an open demonstration of religious beliefs could annoy or insult those who profess a different religion or do not profess any religion, and therefore, this created a potential danger of damage to the moral and physical health of citizens."

Baptist Christians came to the conclusion that an operation of intimidation was carried out in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. " "The leadership of the Russian Union of Gospel Christians -Baptists evaluates this case as an encroachment on the constitutional rights and freedoms of believers in our country, which inevitably entails discrimination on a religious basis," they added.

We add that the community of Jehovah's Witnesses, which was recognized as extremist in April 2017, has recently been subjected to the most strict persecution. Jehovastic believers face not only mass searches and arrests, but also complain of torture and beating from the security forces.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 11, 2018 at a meeting of the Human Rights Council (HRC) called the introduction of a religious organization to the list of extremist "complete nonsense" .