The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Nice was completed in 1912.
The cathedral was made for Russians who vacationed or settled on the French Riviera. Now Russia wants to claim it back.
Posted on 01/09/2008 6:14:40 AM PST by NYer
NICE, France — On a February morning in 2006, a group of experts in Russian art approached the onion-domed Russian church here and demanded to be admitted to take an inventory of the building and its contents — icons, liturgical vestments, incense burners, everything.
“We refused them entry,” even though they had an order from a local judge, said the Rev. Jean Gueit, for the last four years the archpriest of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. “It was a long morning,” he added.
The cathedral, completed in 1912, was built with the “solicitude and generosity” of Czar Nicholas II, as a stone plaque on the church states, for the Russians who vacationed or settled on the French Riviera.
The court order was obtained by lawyers representing the Russian government. It was a first salvo in a local struggle for the stones and, perhaps, the souls of the Russians living here.
“By obtaining the right to proceed with an inventory of the goods of the church of Nice, first its buildings, then its content,” said Alexis Obolensky, deputy chairman of the parish council, “they presented their request as though they were the normal owners.”
Church leaders like Mr. Obolensky, 62, a retired university lecturer whose grandfather immigrated to Nice from St. Petersburg, see the lawsuit as part of a broader effort to consolidate the authority and legitimacy of the present Russian state, an effort close to the heart of President Vladimir V. Putin.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The cathedral was made for Russians who vacationed or settled on the French Riviera. Now Russia wants to claim it back.
Ping to the Orthodox.
Oh, please! Big Bad Vlad and his boys have remarkably shiny ones, probably designed by Faberge.
“The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Nice was completed in 1912.
The cathedral was made for Russians who vacationed or settled on the French Riviera. Now Russia wants to claim it back.”
That kind of logic only applies to Muslims.
It appears to me merely another example of the French cultural deathwish—the inability to muster the resolve to survive—let alone prevail.
Orthodox ping; I suspect this has something to do with the incomplete reunion of ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. I am somewhat surprised it is claimed that the Russian government is involved, but relations between the Russian state and the Russian Church are, to say the least, close, closer than in other orthodox countries, which should be a cause for concern not only for other Orthodox jurisdictions, but also for Western dialog partners and Western governments.
Resistant groups and schismatic assemblies are not uncommon to the Church, east or west. For example, there are bishops who deliberately refused to comply with the Pope's recent letter regarding liberalization of the Traditinal Catholic Mass (aka "Tridentine" Mass), or TLM.
You have Catholic sedevacantists who do not recognize the Pope, etc., not to talk about SSPX who are having disagreements with the official post-Vatican II Church. Or the Jesuits whose teaching is sometimes at odds with the official line.
There is a serious rift between the monks of Mt. Athos (Holy Montain) autonomous region in Greece and their claim that the Ecumneical Patriarch, to whom they belong, is a heretic.
The reunion is complete between ROCOR and the ROC. Some people obviously stand to lose a lot if not everything from this and are resisting.
I am somewhat surprised it is claimed that the Russian government is involved, but relations between the Russian state and the Russian Church are, to say the least, close, closer than in other orthodox countries
As for the government connection and the Church, in Greece the official religion is Greek Orthodox. It doesn't get any closer than that, Kolo.
which should be a cause for concern not only for other Orthodox jurisdictions, but also for Western dialog partners and Western governments
The Church cannot protect itself, so it formed aliances with governments. The Latin Popes, beginning in the 6th century sought protection and obtained it from the Franks.
The EP enjoyed the protection of the Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The Vatican today is portected by the fact that it is an internationally recognized secular state, protected by international laws. Without that secualr identity, the RCC would have to depend on the Italian government for protection.
This is best evidenced by the fact that the Turks show all the respect to the Pope as a secular head of state, and treat the Ecumenical patriarch as a renegade Turkish parish priest.
The Russian Church has over 80% of all the world's Orthodox. It is never going to place itsself at the mercy of the goodwill in order to have some elbow room to operate lest it end up the way the EP is relying on the Pope's internationally recongized secular authority to ease his miserable position, and viretual house arrest.
I am not so sure it is a bad thing to have a Russian President that is a devout Orthodox Christian..... :)
I agree. :)
LOL! Maybe it’s the site where Lenin descended into hell.
Grasping deadbeat goons, without a shred of principle...
Do you think Putin is a sincere Christian?
“...lest it end up the way the EP is relying on the Pope’s internationally recongized secular authority to ease his miserable position, and viretual house arrest.”
I wish I’d said that. Next time I’m with one or more of our crowned heads and Black Bart of Istanbul comes up, I’ll try to remember that line.
“I am not so sure it is a bad thing to have a Russian President that is a devout Orthodox Christian..... :)”
Indeed it is a very good thing, one which has influenced, at least to some extent, Russian foreign policy for the good...like in Kosovo. It softens a bit an otherwise rather frightening face to the world.
Its a shame that TROP Bush doesn’t have the same commitment to Christians that Putin does.
Shall we compare his policies vis a vis the practice of Christianity out in the world with those of Bush? I’d suspect he is at least as committed to Orthodoxy as Bush is to Methodism and likely much more. Putin also isn’t gushing over become midwife to a Mohammedan terror state which even now is bent on wiping out Serbian Orthodox Christians as part of a Greater Albania plan. Bush’s plans in Iraq have resulted pretty much in the destruction of the Iraqi Christian community and he has looked the other way while his pals in Fatah have made life a living hell for Palestinian Christians. Putin is willing to support those Christians and so far as I can see, all Christians.
That's because Putin is the sugar daddy of an actual Mohammedan terror state - Iran.
Putin is willing to support those Christians and so far as I can see, all Christians.
As much as I think you're right about Bush, I think you're short-sighted when it comes to Putin. Once KGB, always KGB.
“I think you’re short-sighted when it comes to Putin. Once KGB, always KGB.”
Well, I didn’t say I trusted or liked him. Putin is a Russian nationalist; he is no promoter of democracy and his political theories owe more to Nicholas II than Edmund Burke. Putin is, however, a man who is willing to do what is necessary to advance the interests of Mother Russia which he identifies with the Russian Orthodox Church. Bush isn’t willing to do what is necessary to advance the interests of the United States and certainly isn’t interested in advancing the interests of Christianity or Judaism, though he has shown a great tenderness for Mohammedanism.
Oh, and those Iranians; bad bunch...but unlike Bush’s pals in the Iraqi and Kosovo governments, they aren’t killing off their native Christians.
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