c. 1997 Religion News Service
Orthodox patriarch leads first Serbian religious march in 50 years
(RNS) In a show of solidarity with pro-democracy demonstrators, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church led more than 100,000 marchers through Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Monday (Jan. 27), in the city’s largest religious procession since World War II.
Patriarch Pavle, head of the church, led the peaceful march of dozens of chanting priests and a multitude of silent marchers to mark the feast of St. Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Pavle has given verbal support to the pro-democracy demonstrations of the past 10 weeks against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, whose government sparked the protests by annulling local opposition victories last November. He called Monday’s march, in part, to test if he could pass through a police cordon that had earlier blocked student protesters from marching in the city center, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier, riot police withdrew from the area, permitting the students to demonstrate, followed four hours later by Pavle and his procession.”Today, eyes are watching us from the sky and ground and telling us to endure on the holy and righteous road,”the patriarch said.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have spread to nearly 50 towns across Serbia. Although refusing to give up Belgrade and seven other towns, Milosevic has conceded to opposition victories in Nis and five other jurisdictions.
In Nis, Serbia’s second-largest city, the opposition took power Monday, the first non-communist regime there in more than 50 years.”God Give Us Justice,”a traditional Serb anthem that had never been played under communist rule, opened ceremonies marking the transition of power.
Zoran Djindjic, an opposition leader, said Nis has become a symbol of the struggle for democracy in Serbia.”But problems will deepen elsewhere in Serbia, especially in Belgrade, because this government has cornered itself,”said Djindjic.”Either it will impose total dictatorship, or it will climb down from power. I hope the latter happens.” Many of Monday’s religious marchers regarded the St. Sava procession as a way to express national unity.”These are difficult times,”said marcher Mirjana Baltic.”And this is where we can find spiritual strength.”
Justice Department no longer supports Christian Science medical payments
(RNS) The U.S. Justice Department no longer plans to defend in court a federal law that allows Medicare and Medicaid payments to Christian Science caregivers.
Last August, a Minnesota federal judge ruled that such payments violate the separation of church and state. The payments had been permitted since the mid-1960s, when the two welfare programs aiding the elderly and the poor were started.
Attorney General Janet Reno sent a letter to the Senate legal counsel Thursday (Jan. 23) in which she said current legal precedent does not permit the government to provide”special benefits”to members of one religious group and the government will not defend the program, The Washington Post reported.
Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, a Sioux City, Iowa-based group, had challenged the payments in court.”The taxpayers’ money should not be given to unlicensed, untrained providers whose services are designed to promote a particular church theology,”said Rita Swan, the group’s president and a former Christian Scientist. Her 16-month-old son died of meningitis in 1977 after being treated solely with prayer, in accordance with church practice.
The church said it was”disappointed that the Justice Department has chosen not only to abandon its defense of congressional purpose, but to take a position in opposition to some of the very points upon which it prevailed in District Court.” Congress intended Medicaid and Medicare to benefit”virtually every poor and senior American,”the church said, and Christian Science nursing care was included”to enable Christian Scientists to avail themselves of the programs without having to abandon their religious practices.” Reno said the Justice Department is willing to help if lawmakers want to propose a new measure addressing the needs of Christian Scientists and members of other religious groups without violating the Constitution.
Although not unprecedented, it is unusual for the Justice Department to decline to defend the constitutionality of a federal law.
Welsh churches consider an”ecumenical bishop” (RNS) Five non-Roman Catholic churches in Wales are considering a proposal that they join in appointing the world’s first ecumenical bishop _ a prelate who would belong to each of the five denominations.
The proposal was made in a report issued Wednesday (Jan. 22) by a panel from the (Anglican) Church in Wales, the Presbyterian Church in Wales, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, and the Covenanted Baptist Churches of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
Under the plan, the five churches will vote on the proposal next year and, if approved, the ecumenical bishop would be appointed in 1999.
According to the proposal, the ecumenical bishop would belong fully to each of the five churches, a major change for four of the five denominations. The Anglican body, the Church of Wales, is the only one of the five that has a structure that includes bishops.
In the Church of Wales, the ecumenical bishop would be an assistant bishop with responsibility for oversight and pastoral care in the area of ecumenical cooperation.
For Methodists, the bishop would have the power of oversight, operating something like a district superintendent, while for the United Reform Church, he would have the oversight and representational functions of a provincial moderator. For the Baptist church, the bishop would have oversight responsibilities and work with the local general superintendent, and for Presbyterians he would offer pastoral care to ministers and churches in consultations with presbyteries and local associations.
The bishop could be appointed from any of the five participating churches and would be consecrated at an ecumenical service.
Around the world, a number of so-called”uniting churches”_ churches moving toward eventual merger _ have bishops, but there are no other known examples of churches that have a common bishop yet intend to remain separate.
The ecumenical bishop’s diocese would be the eastern half of the city of Cardiff, an area that includes some 50,000 people and where there are already well-established local ecumenical partnerships.
Update: Abducted church employees in Chechnya rescued
(RNS) A leading Russian Orthodox priest and his assistant, kidnapped two weeks ago by unknown gunmen in the rebellious republic of Chechnya, have been rescued by Chechen police.
The two _ Father Yefimi, dean of the Russian Orthodox Church in Grozny, and his aide, Alexei Ravilov _ were rescued as they were being transported by the gunmen from one village to another, according to Interfax, the Russian news agency. Both men were reported”in good shape,”according to Interfax.
According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, the rescue of the two men took place Jan. 24, just days before Monday’s (Jan. 27) presidential and parliamentary elections.
Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim republic and the leading candidates in the election have declared their intention to create an official Islamic state there.
Chechen rebels have been fighting for independence from Russia since 1994. Last August, in an effort to bring about an end to the war, the rebels and the Russian government signed an accord putting off for five years any decision on whether the republic will remain part of the Russian federation or become an independent state.
Quote of the day: scholar Helmut Koester
(RNS) Biblical scholar Helmut Koester, writing in the current issue of the magazine Bible Review, examines the Bible’s texts that are used to accompany Lent, the 40-day fasting period leading up to Easter. He is dismayed by conventional Lenten practices:”Modern American Christianity tends to leap from a cross of ashes, casually borne on one’s forehead on Ash Wednesday, right into the glory of Easter. Even Good Friday is barely observed. … The Gospel readings for the Lenten season speak a different language. … Lent is not meant to provide comfort for the feelings of sinfulness of those who are comfortable. Rather, the Gospel texts for Lent raise suspicion against the wielding of power in this world as a means of salvation.”
MJP END RNS
