Mustn’t Diss the Russian Orthodox Church

Interesting report out of Estonia:

Officials are remaining mum for now on a report from the Russian human rights organization Agora that a Karelia-based blogger, Maksim Jefimov, has asked for political asylum in Estonia.

Jefimov is facing criminal prosecution for inciting hatred in writings on the Russian Orthodox Church, earning him comparisons to the jailed punk band Pussy Riot.

“Jefimov contacted the Estonian Police and Border Guard asking for temporary political asylum. He notified us today,” an Agora representative was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The Police and Border Guard did not comment on the case. “The Police and Border Guard do not disclose information on asylum seekers as these are delicate personal data and we are not allowed to do so under legislation on granting asylum to foreign nationals,” Ellen Lebedeva of the Police and Border Guard’s status determination office told uudised.err.ee.

This entry was posted in Church & State and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Mustn’t Diss the Russian Orthodox Church

  1. cynthia curran says:

    Scholars have noted that there was still organized Byzantine Pagan resistance to persecution during the reign of Maurice Tiberius in 602 AD, and that at that time much of the Byzantine population was still Pagan. John Zonaras, a Byzantine chronicler who held the position of Head Justice under Alexious I Komnenos in 1118 AD wrote that the religious practices of the Hellenes were still common even in that late time! It is known that the Neoplatonist philosopher Gemistus Pletho was openly advocating a return to the ancient faiths in 1450, and that his students were publicly praying to the Pagan deities in the Byzantine city of Mystras (the “second capital of Byzantium”) in 1453 – the year Constantinople fell.This is interesting while people here are not neo-pagans this discussed about persecution of the Orthodox Church toward pagans. Many in the west are familiar with Roman Catholics and Protestants have are familiar with actions do by the orthodox church against religious minorities. Granted, modern orthodox are not wanting to put to death pagans or others. A lot of evangelicals in the west wanted to convert to Orthodoxy since its old and most are already turn off from Rome but Orthodoxy has its history too if one reads the article. Now I here some Orthodox complain about Protestants and Roman Catholics wanting a theocracy.

  2. cynthia curran says:

    protestants and Roman Catholics have done to religious minorities I mean but not the Orthodox Church since we are taught western history and not eastern history.

Comments are closed.