Statement made by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia on May 14, 1998

STATEMENT MADE BY HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA ON MAY 14, 1998

I am profoundly concerned for and indignant at the terrorist action committed near one of the synagogues in Moscow. Regrettably, it is far from being the first instance of criminal attack on a place of worship, endangering the lives and health of people. As recent as this January, arsonists did a serious damage to St. Nicholas’s church near Sharya in the Kostroma region and burnt down again the church of St. Nicholas at Sharya proper, leaving the town without a single Orthodox church.

Those who commit such actions should realize that what they do is sin and crime. They can use anything to justify their actions, but they cannot be justified. The clergy and faithful of various religions and other decent people seek today to build together peace and accord in the country. These efforts, however, have increasingly encountered the ill will aiming to fan up inter-ethnic and political enmity, to instill moral nihilism in people, to perpetrate blasphemy and sacrilege, violence and even murder. Society should very resolutely oppose this, using both the power of law and warming up the positive moral ideal in people’s souls.

Expressing sympathy for the Moscow Jewish diaspora and remembering with pain all the incidents of terror against the faithful, I hope that such incidents will compel the authorities and the citizens of Russia to think very seriously of what is going on.