RUSSIAS HOLY WAR
October 2002 1902
Colgan: The ancient fortress city of Pskov on Russias far western border for centuries, a buttress against foreign invaders.This is the day Pskov dedicates to those Russian soldiers who saved their city from Hitlers Nazi troops nearly 60 yrs ago.
Today, many here believe a new invasion is underway. The foe - the Catholic Church - religious intruders out to steal their immortal souls.
Ultra-Nationalists: Russia for Russia! Pskov for Pskovitans!This is how every Catholic in our land will end up.
Nationalist spokesman: I cant even call this a church -- a church is where people come to communicate with God a-- and this is going to be like a brothel. They want to make it the highest building in town. Imagine their church will be higher than our Trinity Cathedral!
Colgan: Leading the attack on the Catholics, fellow Christians from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Krotov: The Russian Orthodox Church wants to keep Russia for Russians.
Music
FX: Church bells/singing
Colgan: The Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexei the Second. Second only in influence to the Russian President.
The Patriarch is moral leader to Russias 100 million Orthodox followers. Yet, under his reign and with his guidance, the Russian Government has vigorously pursued a policy of religious discrimination removing all rivals to the Orthodox Church.
One of Russias leading theological commentators - Yakov Krotov.
Krotov: Power corrupts and the power of the Patriarch of Moscow also corrupts.
He doesnt want any competition, and he prefers to return to the Soviet past, back to the USSR when life was very quiet and predictable.
Singing
Colgan: The Orthodox Church considers Catholics like the Nedov family, a dangerous challenge to its spiritual hold on Russia.
Volodya Nedov is a recent convert to Catholicism.
Volodya: No-one has ever tried to force me into the Catholic Church. Thats what influenced me most. I decided for myself, about choosing my way to God.
Colgan: But the Orthodox Church claims Catholic priests are actively trying to convert Russians like Volodya -- and it fears losing more souls like his.
Out of a population of 150 million people, just half a million Russians are Catholics. For a church wracked by crises in the West, Russia presents a vast new market.
Kondrusiewicz: Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, you see before you a metropolitan. The first metropolitan in eighty years.
Colgan: This mass is a celebration of a milestone the creation by the Vatican of four new Catholic diocese in Russia. For the head of the Catholic Church here, its simply a natural step forward.
Kondrusiewicz: We here in Russia -- bishops and our priests, religious and our faithful -- we see that the time has come.
Colgan: But, to the Orthodox Church, to its leader, Patriarch Alexei and to his right hand man, Metropolitan Kirill, the creation of the Catholic diocese amounts to a declaration of territorial war.
Kirill: I think it is to acquire as many souls as possible, to convert Orthodox people to Catholicism
Colgan: Like the vast majority of Russians Volodya Nedov grew up in a world with no God.
Volodya: I was baptised in childhood, when I was little. My mother did it without telling my father. He was a committed Communist.
Colgan: For seventy years, all Russians were forced to hide or abandon their beliefs. All denominations suffered. Priests were executed, churches destroyed and religious artefacts, desecrated.
But long before the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russian Orthodox Church began collaborating with the Communist regime.
Patriarch Alexei the Second is accused of being among those with direct dealings with the feared secret police, the KGB.
Krotov: By chance, some evidence has preserved in the archives in the KGB in Estonia, a very definite proof of the fact he collaborated with the KGB on an official level in order to make his career to become a bishop.
Music
Colgan: When the Communists fell, religions of every kind mushroomed but not for long. Though Russia adopted a policy of religious freedom, all denominations have bowed to the Orthodox Church, backed by the power of the state.
Krotov: Moonies, Krishnas, Scientologists, Mormons. Then
in second half of 90s, weve struggled with Baptists, Pentecostals, and different missions from South Korea and from States. And we have conquered them, so its sort of a very sad victory. So the last enemy is the Rome. The Roman Catholic Church.
Volodya: There is unhappiness again. I dont want to use this term but there is a national fascism and it seems to be religious fascism. This is even more terrifying.
Colgan: For months the Russian Patriarch has watched, furious, as Pope John Paul 11 has drawn closer to Russia visiting Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. He knows the Pontiff has one great desire -- to set foot on Russian soil before he dies. But with the two churches pitted against one another, Russia is now enemy territory.
Kirill: There is a crusade going on. It is unacceptable. When a war breaks out, the head of one state doesnt visit the other.
Colgan: Anti-Catholic sentiment is running at an all-time high with thousands of Russians joining rallies around the country. Yet the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches are sister churches, almost identical in theological beliefs and practices once, they were the one church.
The one church was torn asunder nearly a full millennium ago the Year 1054. In the centuries since, bitterness and rivalry have kept the two churches apart. Up until this point there has been at least dialogue keeping alive the hopes of a reconciliation. But now the Russian Orthodox Church has announced a total collapse in relations, accusing the Vatican of invading territory that rightly belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kirill: It is an invasion of our culture -- destruction of our cultural identity.
Singing
Colgan: The Orthodox Churchs Metropolitan Kirill accuses his Catholic brothers of betrayal by revealing nothing of their plans for change.
Singing
Kirill: I felt like I had simply been cheated. They open their arms to you and say we are brothers, but dont act like brothers at all -- not even as neighbours or acquaintances.
Colgan: The Russian Orthodox Church is now using its powerful political influence to punish the Catholic clergy. Among them, Bishop Jerzy Mazur.
Expelled to his Polish homeland, the Catholic Bishop now waits in exile for news of his future.
Mazur: They told me that I cant enter the territory of Russia, of Russian Federation.
Music
Colgan: The Vatican had just appointed him to head the largest of the four new diocese in Russia, including the far-flung parts of Siberia. The Russian Government has refused to explain why he was expelled, but the Orthodox Church has accused him of proselytising, actively converting Russians.
Mazur: I now see it is the Orthodox Church who is behind this, accusing me of proselytism, and the whole church.
Kirill: This is lies, we had nothing to do with this incident and I still dont know why it happened.
Colgan: Bishop Mazur is one of five priests to be deported - more are expected to follow.
Enter Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pope John Paul has appealed to the Russian President to stop the expulsion of Catholic priests Mr Putin has done nothing. State and Church have colluded, says Yakov Krotov.
Krotov: President Putin has the decisive role in the attack on the Roman Catholics because it was secular power who expelled Bishop Jerzy Mazur.
Colgan: The Patriarch and the President. The alleged KGB collaborator and the former KGB agent - power and influence entwined.
President Putin has worked hard to be seen as pro-Western. But the policy of religious discrimination carried out by his government makes a mockery of Russian democracy.
Krotov: As a Christian, I must remind about the importance of looking inside the man and not to look on the face and Putin is certainly more western in his habits, manners, language.
Still inside, he is less western than Mikhail Gorbachov or Boris Yeltsin, much less. And his pro-western politics is more a myth. It is the invention of Putin to make a good face in dealing with the west, to receive money from the west.
Colgan: The historic Moscow summit between President Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush seemed harmonious. But behind the scenes, President Bush arranged a private meeting with the Head of the Catholic Church.
Kondrusiewicz: So he came in and the first words he said were you are in trouble. So he was informed. We spoke for ten minutes I would say, and once more he underlined that everybody must have a free right to choose his religion, separation of church and state and he promised to speak with President Putin.
FX: Church bells
Colgan: So far, the Russian President has refused to intervene. Even here, where the rivalry and hatred is stripped bare the provinces, where religious intolerance is encouraged. Leading the procession, Archbishop Yevsevy of Pskov, who has appealed to the President to rid his region of all Catholics.
Kondrusiewicz: Archbishop Yevsevy has sent two letters,
one to the President Putin and the second to local governor, asking to expel all Catholics from his territory. He says hey, no place for Catholics here.
Old man: The Christian faith is Orthodox, weve known it for centuries, from our fathers and forefathers. We dont recognise Catholics.
Old woman: No, they want to destroy the Christian faith, get rid of them. Its a horrible invasion, an invasion by foreign people.
Colgan: Nowhere is the feeling stronger than in the Orthodox parish right next door to where the Catholics are building a huge church.
After the letters from Archbishop Yevsevy, local authorities halted construction on the Church: thereve been calls to tear it down.
Ultra-Nationalists: Catholicism is shit! Victory will be ours! Catholics get lost, Russia for Russians, Pskov for Pskovitans!
Colgan: Right after mass, a band of Ultra-nationalists protested outside the church.
Pavlov: This is stupid. Our religion, our faith is a lot older than their faith and by doing this, they commit a crime against our society. Thats why were protesting against the lechery happening here.Kondrusiewicz: Freedom of religion is based on the recognition of dignity of human being,
and everybody has the right to be a Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jew, believer or non-believer.
Music
Colgan: In this tiny, converted garage in Pskov where the Catholics hold mass until their new church is finished, the congregation grows.
Priest: Matthew, I baptise you in the name of the father, son and the holy spirit, Amen.
Singing
Colgan: Neither the Catholic Church nor the Russian Orthodox Church is showing any sign of retreat both are firm in the belief: God is on THEIR side.
RUSSIAS HOLY WAR (aka Crusades)
Reporter: Jill Colgan
Camera: Mark Slade
Editor: Simon Brynjolffssen
Research: Slava Zelenin
Producer: Ian Altschwager
October 2002 1902
Colgan: The ancient fortress city of Pskov on Russias far western border for centuries, a buttress against foreign invaders.This is the day Pskov dedicates to those Russian soldiers who saved their city from Hitlers Nazi troops nearly 60 yrs ago.
Today, many here believe a new invasion is underway. The foe - the Catholic Church - religious intruders out to steal their immortal souls.
Ultra-Nationalists: Russia for Russia! Pskov for Pskovitans!This is how every Catholic in our land will end up.
Nationalist spokesman: I cant even call this a church -- a church is where people come to communicate with God a-- and this is going to be like a brothel. They want to make it the highest building in town. Imagine their church will be higher than our Trinity Cathedral!
Colgan: Leading the attack on the Catholics, fellow Christians from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Krotov: The Russian Orthodox Church wants to keep Russia for Russians.
Music
FX: Church bells/singing
Colgan: The Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexei the Second. Second only in influence to the Russian President.
The Patriarch is moral leader to Russias 100 million Orthodox followers. Yet, under his reign and with his guidance, the Russian Government has vigorously pursued a policy of religious discrimination removing all rivals to the Orthodox Church.
One of Russias leading theological commentators - Yakov Krotov.
Krotov: Power corrupts and the power of the Patriarch of Moscow also corrupts.
He doesnt want any competition, and he prefers to return to the Soviet past, back to the USSR when life was very quiet and predictable.
Singing
Colgan: The Orthodox Church considers Catholics like the Nedov family, a dangerous challenge to its spiritual hold on Russia.
Volodya Nedov is a recent convert to Catholicism.
Volodya: No-one has ever tried to force me into the Catholic Church. Thats what influenced me most. I decided for myself, about choosing my way to God.
Colgan: But the Orthodox Church claims Catholic priests are actively trying to convert Russians like Volodya -- and it fears losing more souls like his.
Out of a population of 150 million people, just half a million Russians are Catholics. For a church wracked by crises in the West, Russia presents a vast new market.
Kondrusiewicz: Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, you see before you a metropolitan. The first metropolitan in eighty years.
Colgan: This mass is a celebration of a milestone the creation by the Vatican of four new Catholic diocese in Russia. For the head of the Catholic Church here, its simply a natural step forward.
Kondrusiewicz: We here in Russia -- bishops and our priests, religious and our faithful -- we see that the time has come.
Colgan: But, to the Orthodox Church, to its leader, Patriarch Alexei and to his right hand man, Metropolitan Kirill, the creation of the Catholic diocese amounts to a declaration of territorial war.
Kirill: I think it is to acquire as many souls as possible, to convert Orthodox people to Catholicism
Colgan: Like the vast majority of Russians Volodya Nedov grew up in a world with no God.
Volodya: I was baptised in childhood, when I was little. My mother did it without telling my father. He was a committed Communist.
Colgan: For seventy years, all Russians were forced to hide or abandon their beliefs. All denominations suffered. Priests were executed, churches destroyed and religious artefacts, desecrated.
But long before the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russian Orthodox Church began collaborating with the Communist regime.
Patriarch Alexei the Second is accused of being among those with direct dealings with the feared secret police, the KGB.
Krotov: By chance, some evidence has preserved in the archives in the KGB in Estonia, a very definite proof of the fact he collaborated with the KGB on an official level in order to make his career to become a bishop.
Music
Colgan: When the Communists fell, religions of every kind mushroomed but not for long. Though Russia adopted a policy of religious freedom, all denominations have bowed to the Orthodox Church, backed by the power of the state.
Krotov: Moonies, Krishnas, Scientologists, Mormons. Then
in second half of 90s, weve struggled with Baptists, Pentecostals, and different missions from South Korea and from States. And we have conquered them, so its sort of a very sad victory. So the last enemy is the Rome. The Roman Catholic Church.
Volodya: There is unhappiness again. I dont want to use this term but there is a national fascism and it seems to be religious fascism. This is even more terrifying.
Colgan: For months the Russian Patriarch has watched, furious, as Pope John Paul 11 has drawn closer to Russia visiting Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. He knows the Pontiff has one great desire -- to set foot on Russian soil before he dies. But with the two churches pitted against one another, Russia is now enemy territory.
Kirill: There is a crusade going on. It is unacceptable. When a war breaks out, the head of one state doesnt visit the other.
Colgan: Anti-Catholic sentiment is running at an all-time high with thousands of Russians joining rallies around the country. Yet the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches are sister churches, almost identical in theological beliefs and practices once, they were the one church.
The one church was torn asunder nearly a full millennium ago the Year 1054. In the centuries since, bitterness and rivalry have kept the two churches apart. Up until this point there has been at least dialogue keeping alive the hopes of a reconciliation. But now the Russian Orthodox Church has announced a total collapse in relations, accusing the Vatican of invading territory that rightly belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kirill: It is an invasion of our culture -- destruction of our cultural identity.
Singing
Colgan: The Orthodox Churchs Metropolitan Kirill accuses his Catholic brothers of betrayal by revealing nothing of their plans for change.
Singing
Kirill: I felt like I had simply been cheated. They open their arms to you and say we are brothers, but dont act like brothers at all -- not even as neighbours or acquaintances.
Colgan: The Russian Orthodox Church is now using its powerful political influence to punish the Catholic clergy. Among them, Bishop Jerzy Mazur.
Expelled to his Polish homeland, the Catholic Bishop now waits in exile for news of his future.
Mazur: They told me that I cant enter the territory of Russia, of Russian Federation.
Music
Colgan: The Vatican had just appointed him to head the largest of the four new diocese in Russia, including the far-flung parts of Siberia. The Russian Government has refused to explain why he was expelled, but the Orthodox Church has accused him of proselytising, actively converting Russians.
Mazur: I now see it is the Orthodox Church who is behind this, accusing me of proselytism, and the whole church.
Kirill: This is lies, we had nothing to do with this incident and I still dont know why it happened.
Colgan: Bishop Mazur is one of five priests to be deported - more are expected to follow.
Enter Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pope John Paul has appealed to the Russian President to stop the expulsion of Catholic priests Mr Putin has done nothing. State and Church have colluded, says Yakov Krotov.
Krotov: President Putin has the decisive role in the attack on the Roman Catholics because it was secular power who expelled Bishop Jerzy Mazur.
Colgan: The Patriarch and the President. The alleged KGB collaborator and the former KGB agent - power and influence entwined.
President Putin has worked hard to be seen as pro-Western. But the policy of religious discrimination carried out by his government makes a mockery of Russian democracy.
Krotov: As a Christian, I must remind about the importance of looking inside the man and not to look on the face and Putin is certainly more western in his habits, manners, language.
Still inside, he is less western than Mikhail Gorbachov or Boris Yeltsin, much less. And his pro-western politics is more a myth. It is the invention of Putin to make a good face in dealing with the west, to receive money from the west.
Colgan: The historic Moscow summit between President Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush seemed harmonious. But behind the scenes, President Bush arranged a private meeting with the Head of the Catholic Church.
Kondrusiewicz: So he came in and the first words he said were you are in trouble. So he was informed. We spoke for ten minutes I would say, and once more he underlined that everybody must have a free right to choose his religion, separation of church and state and he promised to speak with President Putin.
FX: Church bells
Colgan: So far, the Russian President has refused to intervene. Even here, where the rivalry and hatred is stripped bare the provinces, where religious intolerance is encouraged. Leading the procession, Archbishop Yevsevy of Pskov, who has appealed to the President to rid his region of all Catholics.
Kondrusiewicz: Archbishop Yevsevy has sent two letters,
one to the President Putin and the second to local governor, asking to expel all Catholics from his territory. He says hey, no place for Catholics here.
Old man: The Christian faith is Orthodox, weve known it for centuries, from our fathers and forefathers. We dont recognise Catholics.
Old woman: No, they want to destroy the Christian faith, get rid of them. Its a horrible invasion, an invasion by foreign people.
Colgan: Nowhere is the feeling stronger than in the Orthodox parish right next door to where the Catholics are building a huge church.
After the letters from Archbishop Yevsevy, local authorities halted construction on the Church: thereve been calls to tear it down.
Ultra-Nationalists: Catholicism is shit! Victory will be ours! Catholics get lost, Russia for Russians, Pskov for Pskovitans!
Colgan: Right after mass, a band of Ultra-nationalists protested outside the church.
Pavlov: This is stupid. Our religion, our faith is a lot older than their faith and by doing this, they commit a crime against our society. Thats why were protesting against the lechery happening here.Kondrusiewicz: Freedom of religion is based on the recognition of dignity of human being,
and everybody has the right to be a Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jew, believer or non-believer.
Music
Colgan: In this tiny, converted garage in Pskov where the Catholics hold mass until their new church is finished, the congregation grows.
Priest: Matthew, I baptise you in the name of the father, son and the holy spirit, Amen.
Singing
Colgan: Neither the Catholic Church nor the Russian Orthodox Church is showing any sign of retreat both are firm in the belief: God is on THEIR side.
RUSSIAS HOLY WAR (aka Crusades)
Reporter: Jill Colgan
Camera: Mark Slade
Editor: Simon Brynjolffssen
Research: Slava Zelenin
Producer: Ian Altschwager