RFE/RL - 02.05.2002

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Orthodox Patriarch Again Insists on Religious Studies in State Schools

The Russian Orthodox Church continues to lobby for the
introduction of a course on the "foundations of Russian Orthodox
culture" in secondary schools (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 January 2002), "Novaya gazeta" reported on 4 February.

According to the daily, Patriarch Aleksii II said in Moscow on 1 February that all Russian "compatriots should know the national culture."

However, his comments received a strong rebuttal from Duma speaker Gennadii Seleznev, who said that "according to the constitution, [no organization], including the Russian Orthodox Church, can assign itself the status of a state religion." VY