Orthodox Persecution | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

Documentary disinformation

PERSECUTION: Russia's Orthodox Church spearheads a televised, nationwide smear campaign

KRASNODAR, Russia -- When graduate student Dima Belozyorov took a late-night study break from his Russian literature assignment and turned on the television in his Krasnodar apartment, he was aghast to see a documentary disparaging evangelicals.

The television program that aired in Russia's southwestern agricultural region is part of a yearlong, nationwide media campaign sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Church. The pseudo-documentaries are designed to persuade the Russian people that evangelicals are crazed members of heretical "sects." According to Mr. Belozyorov, "Another episode depicted Christians as demented cult members convulsing on the floor and frothing at the mouth."

Designed to sway public opinion against the evangelical community, the television programs are making an impact. Local officials evicted GraceCommunityChurch, with 40 members, from a cultural center building where they had worshipped for years. Church leaders say they have been unable to rent facilities anywhere in Krasnodar for Sunday worship services since the documentaries.

The half-hour television messages broadcast throughout Russia are the latest attempt by the Russian Orthodox Church to create fear and disgust toward evangelicals. "What began as a campaign of disinformation has grown into full-fledged harassment and persecution," said Mr. Blinkov. The media crusade prompted authorities in the Krasnodar region to deny Protestant churches access to hospitals, prisons, orphanages, and army units for meetings -- all places where they were previously welcomed.

The Russian Orthodox Church considers all alternative forms of Christianity a threat to its religious authority and to its claim as "state church." Encroachment into Russia by other Christian denominations is a particularly sensitive subject for leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church since coming out of its own period of persecution. These leaders also recite the mantra that evangelicals are a distasteful and perverted form of "Western" religion.

"The Orthodox Church is exercising 'religious might' and staking out their territory," said retired military officer Vladimir Gagaryshev. "We Russians must learn how to exercise our new freedoms. Nothing can change if evangelicals cower like dogs." (Dabel, World, 9/3/05).