CONTACT: Linda Bloom (Release #393)
New York (212) 870-3803
A proposed Russian law which would severely restrict the activities of minority religious groups helped contribute to the tensions between Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics at recent European ecumenical meetings.
As the Orthodox launched accusations of proselytism, it was "very, very difficult" to discuss the issue with them, according to Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, United Methodist bishop for Central and Southern Europe.
During the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz, Austria, a Russian woman who serves as a government liaison with Protestant groups there told Bolleter that United Methodists are "the greatest aggressors in Russia" after the Roman Catholics.
"When I tried to explain to her that we were there 70 years ago or more in Russia, that we have a history . . . she said very straight, into my face, 'This is a historical lie, this is not true,'" he said.
Bolleter added that the woman was not interested in his further attempt to offer facts about Methodism in Russia, which dated from the late 1800s and continued to the Bolshevik revolution. During the Soviet period, the Methodist presence continued in Estonia.
When the Conference of European Churches met following the assembly, United Methodists attempted to schedule a discussion of the proposed Russian law during a plenary session.
But the conference's general secretary "was almost going on his knees and asking us not to do that," Bolleter said, because he feared a split would emerge between Orthodox and Protestant members.
However, the group's new general secretary -- a Baptist from Great Britain -- has promised to go to Moscow and raise the issue, according to Bolleter. The European Methodist Council also is writing a letter to the conference.
July 9, 1997
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