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Moscow (AsiaNews) – A picket due to be held by Russian Orthodox outside Moscow’s Catholic Cathedral has been cancelled by the organizer following public pressure. The man behind the event, a renowned and influential theologian deacon, Anrej Kuraev, decided to cancel the picket after news of the demonstration was widely reported by Russian and international media.
The overall opinion of Russian media was skeptical and negative. Unfortunately, the deacon cancelled the action in a very strange way: he did not publish even one word in the press, he merely asked one of his friends to post a very short message, "the picket is cancelled", on the same webpage where the invitation to join the demonstration had been published. The picket was meant to be "in defense of the Russian Christmas" outside the Catholic cathedral of Moscow.
There were no explanations and no comments about the decision. And there was no answer to the question posted by one of the visitors to the site: "Honoured Fr Andrej, is there a blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy for this picket?"
In the absence of answers, many Catholics of Moscow are very concerned. Cathedral parishioners are still afraid of possible confrontation during the Christmas vigil. One of them said: "I am not sure that deacon Kuraev, who personally launched such a dangerous initiative, which was widely published in media, is able to stop it now. He did not even make a public to cancel the event: thousands of people know about the picket and only a few of them, who visited his website, know that he changed his mind".
Some Orthodox people still want to protest near the Catholic Cathedral although the picket has been called off. One of the concerns – perhaps the most important – concerns the youth movement “Nashi” (Our people), well known in Russia to be an active and ultranationalist group. Nashi had promised the Orthodox “juridical and organization support” and showed great interest in the event. If this interest is strong enough, its members may still go to the Cathedral even without the Orthodox followers, as they have already done on other public occasions.
One very important thing that has not been picked up by journalists, but which has been brought up by law experts, is the "picket case". According to Russian Federation law, it is strictly prohibited to organize any actions, pickets, demonstrations near churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious buildings. This makes the initiative of deacon Kuraev an attempt to provoke people to take part in illegal action.
At the moment, the theologian is not in Moscow, so it is impossible to ask him if he knew about the juridical aspect of the matter. In any case, should the picket take place, Kuraev, as instigator of the event, could find himself with a problem on his hands. Some experts say this is precisely the reason why he called it off.
The Catholic Church, with the Gregorian calendar reform, celebrates Christmas on December 25. The Russian Orthodox Church, which still follows the Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on January 7. The picket was intended to “defend the Russian Christmas”.
