Almost the only article I have found on the Internet that adequately evaluates (in my opinion, of course) all the versatility of the image and the many “dignities” of this scandalous, although far from stupid, person who calls herself “nun Ksenia.”
However, the couple’s activities concern not only Moscow. The above-mentioned Gennady Belovolov, with whom in 2009 they organized a “creative evening in memory of the Patriarch” with the participation of the “boys’ choir of the Pioneria studio” and other young talents, had in Lately obvious problems with the diocesan authorities. On January 17 of this year, under a plausible pretext, he was removed from the post of rector of the “revived” metochion. He (as well as most similar priests) assessed the property under his control as personal: “When I read the document, I realized that now all my churches and parishes are not mine, that now I cannot serve in them. I remember the feeling that visited me: Now I am no one and no one, a shepherd without a flock, a captain without a ship, a father without a family.” At the same time, it turned out that Belovolov, who organized the apartment-museum of St. John of Kronstadt, important for the modern Russian Orthodox Church, registered it in private ownership - either for himself or for dummies.
Where do you think a sympathetic church community would like to move a thrifty and intelligent pastor who is capable of creating a museum and knows something about restoration? Of course, to Isaac, in the place of the keymaster - the main manager of property! It would seem that what does Chernega have to do with it, who is in charge of the legal aspects of the transfer of such a huge object? state property? Formally, of course, nothing to do with it. And it is not a fact that this appointment will take place. It is not a fact that now the cathedral will fully go to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Interview with the abbess of the Alekseevsky stauropegial convent Moscow, head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Ksenia (Chernega).
- Mother, bless! Since 2010, you have been the head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate. Since 2014 - abbess of the Alekseevsky stauropegic convent. Both of these obediences require full effort and involve a lot of workload. And yet the most important thing for a monk should remain prayer. Please share your experience of how you manage to manage your time so that you have enough time for everything you are called to do.
— Even in my youth, I understood the benefits of a “daily routine.” IN school years I learned to plan my time, and as a student, I acquired the skill of making every effort to accomplish what was planned for the day.
Now this skill helps me a lot, although more and more often I come to the conclusion that, due to obedience, I no longer “belong to myself,” that is, I cannot “arrange” my day the way I would like. Communication with people - spiritual or business - requires dedication, effort, and, as a result, reshaping your own plans.
Since the obediences I carry out are focused mainly on active service to others, I am forced to primarily devote my day to this. As a result, I attend the nursing rule in the evening. I try to pray at the Midnight Office, but I don’t always find the strength to get up at such a time. early time. I am not able to attend the Liturgy every day. I hope for God’s mercy, as well as for the prayers of the sisters and those who remember me. By the way, my sisters and I really appreciate night services, where we pray without the participation of parishioners. These services give the nun a lot, instilling cheerfulness, joy and special feeling unity with those who labored in the monastery before us. At such services it seems to me that the temple is full of invisible prayer books. It's an amazing feeling.
I must say that I value my reverent attitude towards the temple and worship. I am internally disgusted by discussing everyday issues in church, reading extraneous texts, telephone conversations. Alas, more and more often we have to deal with people, including priests, who are immersed in earthly affairs during divine services. In our fast-paced age, of course, we want to be able to do everything: to pray and resolve everyday issues. Some believe that the grace of worship covers everything, and that at the Liturgy or during the monastic rule it is even more convenient to resolve many everyday issues, since the mind is enlightened and the necessary solutions are found that would not have been reached at any other time.
But for many years I have followed a different rule for distributing my time. If urgent negotiations, reviewing documents, etc. are required of me, I stay late and, accordingly, am late for the service, so as not to overshadow it with vanity, which deprives the soul of a reverent attitude towards the temple. Mobile phone In the temple I move away, completely turning off the sound. If for some reason I have to act differently, I feel empty inside. In addition, the abbess’s vain behavior in the church is transmitted to the sisters and clergy.
— In one of the interviews you said that you read The royal family and, when you have to defend the interests of the Church, you feel the invisible help of the Royal Martyrs. Surprisingly, in our society, ideas about “ weak king"and the need to change the formation that arose at the beginning of the twentieth century. Could you tell us a little more about what kind of help you received? In what cases exactly?
— My attitude towards the Royal Family was formed in my youth. I was not thirty years old then. I remember that when I first learned about the details of the death of the last Tsar, I experienced a strong shock, coupled with bewilderment and annoyance that I did not know about this before, because neither Soviet history textbooks nor other publicly available literature contained this information.
I also remember that I could not resist tears while reading N. Sokolov’s book “Murder Royal family" And then I re-read it several times. Then I began to buy and collect books about the Royal Family, carefully reading and rereading them. Still in free time, which is extremely rare for me, I read literature dating back to the reign of the last Tsar.
Actually, this constant updating of the memory of pre-revolutionary events and the subsequent revolution helps me, first of all, to calmly, without unnecessary emotional outbursts, experience the failures, troubles and sorrows of our days. This applies, by the way, to all temptations associated with carrying out legal and abbot obediences. IN modern life I have to see a lot of negative things. And the more responsible the obedience, the more clearly the person (patiently bearing this cross) sees the obstacles that stand in the way of goodness and truth, the more prominent the “mystery of lawlessness” becomes for him. It is necessary to find an “antidote” from the surrounding negativity in order not to “break down”, not to “burn out”, to preserve inner world and a clear conscience. For me, such an “antidote,” in addition to prayer, is the memory of the feat of the Royal Family, first of all, the Sovereign.
Indeed, they say that he was a “weak Tsar.” This is due to the numerous memoirs of his ill-wishers. In my opinion, he was simply a soft, delicate person, which can hardly be considered as a flaw. By the way, this is what makes the Emperor close to me, since I personally am a gentle person by nature, and the obediences entrusted to me require firmness and endurance. Invalid female emotional outbursts, tears, heart-to-heart conversations. I know from experience that excessive frankness with people (and sometimes you really want to be a sincere and easy-to-communicate person) can harm your business and create unexpected obstacles in your obedience.
And I think how difficult it was for the Emperor - a gentle, simple-minded man - to bear the colossal administrative burden of managing the state and the people. The fact is that management requires firmness, steadfastness, confidence in the rightness decisions taken, and soft people tend to change their decisions, doubt, hesitate - most often out of pity for the person and delicacy. Hence the inevitable trail of ridicule, whispers, slander... For the Tsar and his Family, all this turned into Golgotha.
It was not a change of “formation” that occurred in Russia at the beginning of the last century, but the vile murder of a man who, having individual characteristics, characteristic of any personality and, perhaps, not appealing to someone - he was not just the ruler of the country and commander-in-chief, but the Anointed One of God, the “Holder.” I am sure that the Lord punished us with many sorrows for this treacherous murder of the Tsar.
— Your service to the Church is inextricably linked with your qualifications, your education. You have repeatedly participated in the preparation of bills that help Orthodox believers in our country protect their rights. In liberal-minded means mass media we often read and hear about the “merging of Church and state.” How, from a legal point of view, can one assess the position of the Church and Orthodox Christian in our society?
— The merging of the Church and the state is abstract reasoning for me. Russia is not the Vatican. The basic law of the country, the Constitution of Russia, declares the separation of religious associations from the state. That's why state law does not contain any norms defining the hierarchical structure of confessions and concerning the rules of management of religious organizations.
The fact that the state meets the Russian Church halfway and supports some of our initiatives is only naive people or outright ill-wishers may see the “merging” of the Church with the state. The law, by the way, allows such interaction. Moreover, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” provides for the possibility of providing religious organizations with tax and other benefits, providing financial, material and other assistance to religious organizations in the restoration, maintenance and protection of buildings and objects that are historical and cultural monuments, and also in carrying out charitable activities, ensuring the teaching of general education disciplines in educational organizations created by religious organizations in accordance with the law Russian Federation about education.
Thus, the interaction of the Church with government bodies is carried out within the framework of the existing legal field and the Church does not assume any state functions. The state took control of all the attributes of “merging”—in particular, registration of marriages, births, and deaths—at the beginning of the last century. I note that along with these functions that the Church performed before the revolution, the state also seized church movable and real estate and, despite all the idle talk about “merging” with the Church, he is not very willing to return these objects to us. Observing the process of transferring property for religious purposes, I can say that we are very far from “merging” with the state in this area.
The Russian Church has been and remains the leading confession in Russia, the main spiritual and moral stronghold. Of course, you will not find these formulations in the law. Preamble Federal Law“On freedom of conscience and religious associations” speaks of the leading role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia, in the formation and development of its spirituality and culture. However, there are no norms in the legislation that guarantee or at least specify this leading role of Orthodoxy. In many ways, the proper consolidation of such a leading role is hampered by the principle of equality of religious organizations before the law, as provided for by the Constitution of Russia. Although legal scholars have long noted the fallacy of the literal interpretation of this principle, which equates equality with equal rights. For example, the Constitution guarantees the equality of citizens, but, as is known, the scope of the rights of a particular citizen largely depends on what social group he belongs: whether he is a pensioner, has many children, a civil servant or a military serviceman. Therefore, “equality” - in the legal sense of the word - does not imply equality at all. Essentially we're talking about on equality before the law, that is, the obligation of everyone, without exception, to comply with state law. Accordingly, the equality of religious organizations before the law declared by the Constitution of Russia means their obligation to comply with the norms of the law, which may also provide for a differentiated approach to determining the status of religious associations. Therefore, periodically in State Duma initiatives of deputies are renewed to supplement the legislation with norms classifying religious organizations into “traditional” and “non-traditional”.
— Please tell us about what exactly you are currently doing? What was particularly significant was done during Last year Legal service of the Moscow Patriarchate?
— I don’t know whether the reader will be interested in a report on the work of the US MP. We are involved in many different areas: legislative work, negotiations with government bodies on the development and amendment of both laws and regulations, state registration religious organizations, as well as transactions with property in Moscow, maintaining the internal church register of church property in the city of Moscow, participation in the process of transferring property for religious purposes to religious organizations, maintaining trials. The document flow of US MP is quite large, but feasible for us.
In addition to fulfilling the instructions of His Holiness the Patriarch, formalized in the form of his resolutions, we maintain relationships with dioceses, synodal departments, parishes and monasteries, providing advice on various legal issues. This year, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the US MP will hold on-site legal seminars in all metropolises. His Holiness also expanded the team of the US MP to include lawyers from the Moscow vicariates, who now have one full-time working day at the US MP.
I believe that our main purpose is to help resolve complex legal issues. It is for the purpose of assisting church structures that the Legal Service of the Patriarchate was created. We try to justify this purpose.
Those interested can familiarize themselves with the results of legislative work over the past year by reading the attached Certificate.
- IN last days On September 2015, the International Theological Scientific and Practical Conference “Monasticism of Holy Rus': from Origins to the Present” was held at the Intercession Monastery in Moscow. The report of Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany was devoted to the topic of the relationship modern technologies and renunciation of the world in the conditions of a monastery. Bishop Mark spoke in some detail about how the brethren of the monastery entrusted to His Eminence, while fulfilling the necessary obediences, try not to lose their prayerful attitude. In speeches at other monastic forums, I have repeatedly heard the following words: the more things we have to do, the more we need to pray. This is true, but there are objective limitations physical capabilities person and the number of hours in a day. How to manage everything and not lose your monastic spirit, “not burn out,” as they say now?
- Yes, you need to “burn, but not burn out.” To do this, you should adhere to the “golden mean” in everything, even in small things, and not take on anything that clearly exceeds your strength, since the consequences of overestimating your capabilities can be catastrophic. We must avoid the state of “woundness” and, when it occurs, retire for rest and prayer.
In general, you need to control your internal state. It's not about the number of deeds and prayers, but how it all affects your life. inner life. Everyone has their own measure. I think this should be remembered by everyone who is assigned to leadership positions. Personally, I am against five-year plans and shock labor, because we are weak and often heavy loads end in failures. "The quieter you go, the further you'll get". I believe, for example, that nuns should have one day a week for relative “reclusion” and detachment from ordinary affairs. At our monastery, located, by the way, in a noisy and environmentally friendly unfavorable place(near the third ring, in the immediate vicinity of Auchan), there is a blessed “outlet” - a monastery in a secluded corner of Sokolniki Park, where additional cells for sisters are equipped. We try to go there every week, two at a time - at least for half a day, for walks in the open air, spiritual reading and solitary prayer.
I am guided by a similar rule about providing employees with the necessary rest in the Legal Service, for fear of “busting” people and thereby discouraging their taste for work.
— Mother, please tell us about your monastery and how you became a nun. After all, you knew that you would have to continue to engage in legal activities and in the priesthood, too, and yet you accepted monasticism.
— The Alekseevsky Monastery is the oldest monastery in the capital, founded in the 14th century on the initiative of the sisters of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow - the Venerables Juliania and Eupraxia, who, according to researchers, labored in our monastery. Initially, the monastery was located on Ostozhenka, in the very place where the Conception Monastery is now located.
IN late XVI century, the Alekseevsky Monastery, after a devastating fire, was moved closer to the Kremlin, to Chertolye. At the same time, some of the sisters remained in the fire and formed the Conception Convent.
In 1832, the place occupied by the Alekseevsky monastery was chosen by the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas I to house the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, was looking for a new location for the ancient monastery. For these purposes, he sent Archimandrite Gabriel of the Danilov Monastery “to the Tikhvin Church, to inspect the area, whether it is convenient for a convent.” The Metropolitan had in mind the Tikhvin Church in Sushchev, and the archimandrite suggested that the Bishop was sending him to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, in Krasnoye Selo, popularly known as the Tikhvin Church because of the miraculous image located in it. Father Archimandrite went to Krasnoe Selo and, after examining the area near the church, came to the conclusion that it was suitable for housing a convent. Having reported to the Metropolitan on the results of the inspection, Archimandrite Gabriel added that the nuns will be able to use the “knots” of the neighboring grove to fire the monastery stoves. The mention of the grove surprised the bishop. Then it turned out that the archimandrite examined a completely different place than the metropolitan had in mind. However, Saint Philaret reasoned that “the Queen of Heaven would like to move the monastery to this church.” So it was decided to move our monastery to Krasnoe Selo, to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, in which the miraculous Tikhvin image of the Virgin Mary was located. This intention was realized in 1837.
It was difficult for the sisters of the monastery to part with their native walls. There is a legend that Abbess Claudia, the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery at that difficult time for the monastery, predicted the death of the future temple, which happened already in the Soviet period. Now the Cathedral of Christ the Savior has been restored. In the basement of the temple building, in the very niche where the Moscow swimming pool was once located, on the initiative of the late Patriarch Alexy, the lower Transfiguration Church with the chapel of St. Alexy, the man of God, was founded. The said temple was founded in memory of the Transfiguration Church of the Alekseevsky Monastery, which once stood on this site.
So, in October 1837, the sisters of the monastery procession, in which pilgrims also participated, moved to a new place, to Krasnoye Selo, which at that time was practically uninhabited and deserted. They carried with them the shrines of the monastery - in particular, ancient icons Mother of God“Georgian” and “Healer”. After the revolution, these icons were transferred to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki, where they remain to this day.
The monastery reached its heyday in the second half of the 19th century under Abbess Antonia (Troilina), who began her monastic career in the Borodino Convent, where the future Abbess was the cell attendant of the original founder of the monastery, Abbess Maria (Tuchkova). It was Abbess Antonia, appointed abbess of our monastery at the age of fifty, who introduced the beginnings of a dormitory in the monastery, built a refectory building, and laid new building under the monastery almshouse and hospital with a house church in the name of the Archangel Michael of God. She conceived and carried out the construction of the Church of All Saints, with the restoration of which in 1991 the revival began church life in this place.
It is worth noting that Abbess Antonia was a spiritual friend of the famous publicist M. Katkov, who was hated by the liberal public of that time for his patriotic views. A staunch patriot of her Fatherland, Mother conducted extensive charitable activities by transferring funds to social projects. And this despite the fact that the monastery itself bore a significant social burden. For example, at the monastery there was a school for South Slavic girls to train folk teachers for the Slavic lands. In addition to the mentioned school, a school was created at the monastery for girls from poor clergy families, where the pupils lived and studied. Mother was an honorary member of the Ladies' Branch of the Slavic Charitable Committee. Abbess Antonia was a strong and interesting person. In 2017, we will celebrate the 120th anniversary of Mother’s death and are preparing a short book about her life.
In the 30s of the last century, the monastery was closed; most of the sisters were exiled to Kazakhstan and the North. Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church The novices of the Alekseevsky monastery Anna and Matrona (Makandin), who were shot on March 14, 1937 at the Butovo training ground, as well as the novice Euphrosyne (Timofeeva), who died in custody on November 5, 1942, were glorified as saints. The novice Anna (Makandina) is depicted on the icon of the Butovo New Martyrs.
…The Lord knows why I became a nun, and I think that’s enough. I can only say that I was guided by love for Christ, and not by external life circumstances. In 2008, I asked the deceased for a blessing for tonsure. To His Holiness the Patriarch Alexy, and he expressed his intention to tonsure himself during the Nativity Fast of the same year. At that time, I had already been working for the Patriarchate for four years as a legal adviser. At the beginning of Lent, His Holiness Alexy died and did not have time to tonsure me. At the same time, with his blessing, the monastic clothes were ready.
By the Providence of God, my monastic, and subsequently monastic, tonsure was performed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. I remember that His Holiness was surprised by the Patriarchal lawyer’s intention to become a nun and immediately warned me that tonsure would not free me from the obedience required. However, in this warning from the Patriarch I did not see an obstacle to the fulfillment of my long-standing desire.
In general, I consider it a great shortcoming in a believer to dream about oneself and avoid the desired feat with reference to life circumstances, including profession. This is especially sad for single persons, not burdened with family responsibilities, who, having the desire or blessing to marry Christ, are not going to get married, and are not in a hurry to enter the monastery, delighting themselves with the thought: “if only these or those circumstances had not happened, and I, of course, I would already be in the monastery.” Meanwhile time is running, and with it the strength that you could spend on a holy feat goes away, and the firmness of intention to devote yourself to Christ goes away. “Son, give Me your heart...” - and it doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer, an engineer or a dentist. The Lord will determine what kind of obedience you will bear after tonsure. But we must remember that monasticism is a special calling.
— The Church, like any community, of course, always has a need for highly qualified specialists. However, when a person enters a monastery, often his path as a worker, novice, or monk begins with simple work that do not require special education or special skills. And even if in the world a person was a highly qualified specialist in his field, in the monastery he does not always do what his previous life was dedicated to. Bishop Mark even said in his speech at the conference that if a person’s work in the world was connected with IT technologies, then in the monastery it is better to free him from the computer completely. What do you think about it?
— I admit, I am not close to such reasoning. If the nun is a lawyer or accountant, then why not involve her in working in the monastery in her specialty, because otherwise the monastery will have to hire a worker for money, and in the complete absence of guarantees of his integrity and responsibility. Our monastery is neither rich nor numerous. Therefore, I cannot allow myself to assign a sister who had the required specialty in the world to obedience unrelated to her profession.
Let me give you an example. At the monastery, one of the novices is a professional cook, who at one time was in charge of the dining room. Nowadays it is very difficult to find good cooks for a reasonable salary. It is clear that I left my sister in the refectory obedience, which she willingly performs, especially since I have to feed not only the sisters, but also the old nuns of the almshouse, workers and children secondary school at the monastery.
I think that when distributing sisterly obediences, one must take into account the circumstances in which the monastery is placed. At the same time, of course, it is important not to “put pressure” on the sister if, say, she refuses to bear obedience corresponding to her worldly profession or qualifications. By “pressuring” a person and getting your way, you can achieve the completely opposite result - a secret or open protest from the sister in the form of indifferent passivity or, on the contrary, murmur. It’s worse when a sister gets sick due to mental or physical stress. All this, as a rule, is followed by the sister’s alienation from the mother and fear of her, which is fraught with serious misunderstandings, because the sisters should see the abbess as a mother, and not as a commander of a military unit. However, great insight is also needed so that careless souls do not take advantage of your condescension and kindness.
— Our website is read not only by monastics, but also by lay people. Many of them believe that it is difficult for a Christian to be a lawyer. Is it so? I know parents who were against their children receiving legal education, because they believe that lawyers often have to dissemble, tell lies, etc.
— A true Christian should not be afraid of difficulties. Through overcoming obstacles, very valuable spiritual qualities are developed - willpower, prudence, patience, the ability not to become discouraged and not to despair even in the most difficult circumstances. That’s why I don’t regret at all that I received a legal education and continue to practice professional activity, which presupposes the protection of the rights of believers, and therefore the work and experiences associated with this. All this tempers and makes the soul wise. I perceive my ministry as given to me by God. It is His will to continue this ministry.
As for the cunning and cunning of jurists, let me tell you about one conversation with a clergyman, white-haired. I had this conversation with him when I was young, but I remember it for the rest of my life. “Are you a lawyer?” - the interlocutor asked me. “Yes,” I answered. “Don’t lie,” I was told, “but don’t tell the truth either.” Indeed, prudence and caution in words and actions are very important for a lawyer. Having knowledge of any circumstances related to professional activity, it is important not to condemn the innocent, that is, not to lie or slander. On the other hand, you shouldn’t “cut the truth” in a society where this truth won’t be believed anyway. And another “truth” can seriously hurt a person. Finding the “golden mean” is, of course, an art that one learns throughout one’s life...
Interviewed by Ekaterina Orlova
***
Information on the main changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation for 2015.
Last year the following changes took place in legislation.
Federal Law No. 80-FZ dated April 6, 2015 introduced important changes to Civil Code of the Russian Federation in order to remove religious organizations from the scope of a number of articles of the said code that do not correspond to the internal regulations of the leading Russian confessions. At the same time, amendments were made to the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, according to which issues of participation of founders and other legal or individuals in the activities of religious organizations are determined by the charter and (or) internal regulations of religious organizations.
Federal Law No. 103-FZ of April 20, 2015 introduced amendments to the penal legislation aimed at legally consolidating the mechanism of interaction between the FSIN bodies and leading Russian denominations, regulating the status of house churches in prison and other FSIN institutions, ensuring access for clergy to prisoners in for the purpose of performing the necessary church sacraments, as well as regulating the transfer of religious objects located on the territory of FSIN institutions to religious organizations.
Law No. 261-FZ of July 13, 2015 amended the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, according to which teaching religion and religious education are not educational activities and are therefore not subject to licensing. With the adoption of this amendment, prosecutorial authorities and other government bodies Sunday schools will not be required to obtain licenses to carry out educational activities.
Also, Federal Law No. 314-FZ of November 23, 2015 introduced changes to the legislation on countering extremist activities, establishing a ban on classifying the Bible as extremist materials.
Finally, Federal Law No. 341-FZ dated November 28, 2015 was adopted, removing religious organizations from the scope of a number of provisions of the Federal Law “On non-profit organizations", regulating the issues of control over the activities of NPOs and their reporting. In turn, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” has been supplemented with provisions according to which only those religious organizations that are financed from foreign sources will submit reports to the justice authorities. The remaining religious organizations will send a statement to the justice authorities indicating the lack of foreign sources of funding. Besides, new law significantly limits the ability of judicial authorities to inspect the financial and economic activities of religious organizations. Such an inspection will be carried out only if the religious organization is financed from foreign sources and (or) if there is information about the religious organization violating the legislation of the Russian Federation.
In conclusion, I would like to note the Law of Moscow dated June 24, 2015 No. 29, which provides for the exemption of religious organizations from paying trade tax in relation to trade carried out in religious buildings and structures and on land plots related to them.
Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism/Patriarchia.ru
RIA Novosti published material today ““No gray envelopes.” Priests may be given “labor concessions”.” dedicated to the stated topic - labor relations in the church.
The most interesting thing in the text was the comment of the chief lawyer of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Ksenia (Chernega):
“People who are not employees, that is, they do not enter into employment contracts, are considered as volunteers. Often they perform certain functions in the church free of charge or for some symbolic payment. Their the main objective- to help the temple and serve God.”
Chernega knows the law “On Charity Activities and Volunteering” and agrees that a special agreement must be concluded with a volunteer, defining the specifics of his work:
“This norm,” the lawyer emphasized, is also provided for by the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations.”
“We don’t have gray envelopes. When we accept volunteers, we make payments to them as required by law. We do not circumvent the law, we do not make any illegal payments. Because a volunteer is someone who works for the benefit of a particular organization not according to the norms of labor legislation (that is, he does not sell his labor), but selflessly.
The volunteer either receives nothing or receives some symbolic payment. But based on employment contract, and people consciously go for it, which, by the way, is evidenced by the absence of any judicial disputes on this matter.”
It’s a shame to lie, Mother Ksenia, thousands of priests, thousands of church workers will tell you about this. Locally, in the provinces (I don’t know how it is in Moscow, people will say) practically nowhere (maybe with very rare exceptions) no contracts are concluded with “volunteers”; the vast majority work in the church purely for a “gray envelope”, because there are few what kind of abbot wants to pay taxes for employees and strain with accounting. And the employee would more often prefer to get his measly pennies without tax deductions, which are of no use to him. Moreover, there is a widespread practice among the clergy: even if you, a priest, have a work book, you often sign on the payroll for the “minimum wage” so that the parish avoids unnecessary deductions, and gets the rest “in hand.” Or even the priest serves without any work book and any contract. And this is not a secret behind seven seals, which you, mother, want to hide - this is a well-known fact.
And about “judicial feuds” - so : Now is your time, you have a symphony with the state, so people would prefer to spit and grind. By blessing.
Photo: Abbess Ksenia (Chernega)
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Date of Birth: May 1, 1971 A country: Russia Biography:Born in 1971 in Moscow.
In 1993 she graduated from the Moscow State Law Academy with a degree in Jurisprudence.
In 1998, she completed her postgraduate studies at the Moscow State Law Academy. In the same year, she defended her PhD thesis on the topic “Legal model of charity and charitable organizations: civil and sociological aspects.”
In 1993-1997 - lawyer of the religious organization "Legal Service".
In 1997-1998 — Lecturer at the Department of Civil Law Disciplines at the Institute for the Protection of Entrepreneurs.
In 1998-2003 - senior lecturer of the department civil law Moscow State Law Academy.
In 2003-2010 - Professor of the Department of Civil Law and Process, Faculty of Law, Academy of Labor and Social Relations.
Since 2010 - Professor at the Department of Civil Law Disciplines of the Moscow Academy of Economics and Law.
In 2004-2010 - Legal Adviser of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Since 2010 - Head of the Legal Service (from 10/06/18 -).
On August 26, 2009, she was tonsured into monasticism with the name Ksenia in honor of the Holy Blessed Princess Ksenia of Tverskaya (Memorial Day - the first Sunday after the celebration of the memory of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul). Appointed as the senior sister of the monastic community at the parish of the Church of All Saints of the former Novo-Alekseevsky Monastery in Moscow.
By decision Holy Synod dated July 16, 2013 () appointed abbess of the revived city of Moscow.
On December 23, 2013, in the house church of the Patriarchal residence in His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill became a monk with the name Xenia in honor of the Holy Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.
Education:1993 - Moscow State Law Academy.
1998 - postgraduate studies at the Moscow State Law Academy.
In 1998, by decision of the dissertation council, Moscow State Law Academy was awarded academic degree candidate of legal sciences.
Place of work: Alekseevsky Stavropegial Convent (Abbess) Place of work: Moscow Patriarchate (Head Legal Department) Awards:Church:
- 2016 - Order of St. equal to book Olga;
- 2019 - St. equal to book Olga.
Publications on the portal Patriarchia.ru
On the draft federal law amending the procedure for supervision in the field of protection of cultural heritage sites [Documents]
Abbess Ksenia (Chernega): “I do not regret that I continue to engage in professional activities” [Interview]
- Mother, bless! Since 2010, you have been the head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate. Since 2014 - abbess of the Alekseevsky stauropegial convent. Both of these obediences require full effort and involve a lot of workload. And yet the most important thing for a monk should remain prayer. Please share your experience of how you manage to manage your time so that you have enough time for everything you are called to do.Even in my youth, I understood the benefits of a “daily routine”. During my school years, I learned to plan my time, and as a student, I acquired the skill of making every effort to accomplish what was planned for the day.
Now this skill helps me a lot, although more and more often I come to the conclusion that, due to obedience, I no longer “belong to myself,” that is, I cannot “arrange” my day the way I would like. Communication with people - spiritual or business - requires dedication, effort, and, as a result, reshaping your own plans.
Since the obediences I carry out are focused mainly on active service to others, I am forced to primarily devote my day to this. As a result, I attend the nursing rule in the evening. I try to pray at the Midnight Office, but I don’t always find the strength to get up so early. I am not able to attend the Liturgy every day. I hope for God’s mercy, as well as for the prayers of the sisters and those who remember me. By the way, my sisters and I really appreciate night services, where we pray without the participation of parishioners. These services give a lot to the nun, instilling in the soul vigor, joy and a special feeling of unity with those who labored in the monastery before us. At such services it seems to me that the temple is full of invisible prayer books. It's an amazing feeling.
I must say that I value my reverent attitude towards the temple and worship. I am internally disgusted by discussing everyday issues in church, reading extraneous texts, and telephone conversations. Alas, more and more often we have to deal with people, including priests, who are immersed in earthly affairs during divine services. In our fast-paced age, of course, we want to be able to do everything: to pray and resolve everyday issues. Some believe that the grace of worship covers everything, and that at the Liturgy or during the monastic rule it is even more convenient to resolve many everyday issues, since the mind is enlightened and the necessary solutions are found that would not have been reached at any other time.
But for many years I have followed a different rule for distributing my time. If urgent negotiations, reviewing documents, etc. are required of me, I stay late and, accordingly, am late for the service, so as not to overshadow it with vanity, which deprives the soul of a reverent attitude towards the temple. I put my mobile phone away in the temple, completely turning off the sound. If for some reason I have to act differently, I feel empty inside. In addition, the abbess’s vain behavior in the church is transmitted to the sisters and clergy.
In one of your interviews, you said that you revere the Royal Family and, when you have to defend the interests of the Church, you feel the invisible help of the Royal Martyrs. Surprisingly, in our society, the ideas of a “weak tsar” imposed by Soviet ideology and the need to change the formation that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century still live. Could you tell us a little more about what kind of help you received? In what cases exactly?
My attitude towards the Royal Family was formed in my youth. I was not thirty years old then. I remember that when I first learned about the details of the death of the last Tsar, I experienced a strong shock, coupled with bewilderment and annoyance that I did not know about this before, because neither Soviet history textbooks nor other publicly available literature contained this information.
I also remember that I could not help but cry while reading N. Sokolov’s book “The Murder of the Royal Family.” And then I re-read it several times. Then I began to buy and collect books about the Royal Family, carefully reading and rereading them. Until now, in my free time, which I rarely have, I read literature dating back to the reign of the last Tsar.
Actually, this constant updating of the memory of pre-revolutionary events and the subsequent revolution helps me, first of all, to calmly, without unnecessary emotional outbursts, experience the failures, troubles and sorrows of our days. This applies, by the way, to all temptations associated with carrying out legal and abbot obediences. In modern life we have to see a lot of negative things. And the more responsible the obedience, the more clearly the person (patiently bearing this cross) sees the obstacles that stand in the way of goodness and truth, the more prominent the “mystery of lawlessness” becomes for him. It is necessary to find an “antidote” to the surrounding negativity in order not to “break down”, not to “burn out”, to maintain inner peace and a clear conscience. For me, such an “antidote,” in addition to prayer, is the memory of the feat of the Royal Family, first of all, the Sovereign.
Indeed, they say that he was a “weak Tsar.” This is due to the numerous memoirs of his ill-wishers. In my opinion, he was simply a soft, delicate person, which can hardly be considered as a flaw. By the way, this is what makes the Emperor close to me, since I personally am a gentle person by nature, and the obediences entrusted to me require firmness and endurance. Emotional outbursts, tears, and heart-to-heart conversations typical of the female sex are unacceptable. I know from experience that excessive frankness with people (and sometimes you really want to be a sincere and easy-to-communicate person) can harm your business and create unexpected obstacles in your obedience.
And I think how difficult it was for the Emperor - a gentle, simple-minded man - to bear the colossal administrative burden of managing the state and the people. The fact is that management requires firmness, unshakability, confidence in the correctness of the decisions made, and soft people tend to change their decisions, doubt, hesitate - most often out of pity for the person and delicacy. Hence the inevitable trail of ridicule, whispers, slander... For the Tsar and his Family, all this turned into Golgotha.
It was not a change of “formation” that occurred in Russia at the beginning of the last century, but the vile murder of a man who, having individual characteristics characteristic of any personality and, perhaps, not appealing to someone, was not just the ruler of the country and commander-in-chief, but the Anointed of God , "Holding". I am sure that the Lord punished us with many sorrows for this treacherous murder of the Tsar.
Your service to the Church is inextricably linked with your qualifications, your education. You have repeatedly participated in the preparation of bills that help Orthodox believers in our country protect their rights. In liberal-minded media we often read and hear about the “merging of Church and state.” From a legal point of view, how can one assess the position of the Church and the Orthodox Christian in our society?
The merging of the Church and the state is an abstract consideration for me. Russia is not the Vatican. The basic law of the country, the Constitution of Russia, declares the separation of religious associations from the state. Therefore, the state law does not contain any rules defining the hierarchical structure of confessions and relating to the rules of management of religious organizations.
In the fact that the state is meeting the Russian Church halfway and supporting some of our initiatives, only naive people or outright ill-wishers can see the “merging” of the Church with the state. The law, by the way, allows such interaction. Moreover, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” provides for the possibility of providing religious organizations with tax and other benefits, providing financial, material and other assistance to religious organizations in the restoration, maintenance and protection of buildings and objects that are historical and cultural monuments, and also in carrying out charitable activities, ensuring the teaching of general education disciplines in educational organizations created by religious organizations in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on education.
Thus, the interaction of the Church with government bodies is carried out within the existing legal framework and the Church does not assume any government functions. The state took control of all the attributes of “merging” - in particular, registration of marriages, births, deaths - at the beginning of the last century. I note that along with these functions that the Church performed before the revolution, the state also seized church movable and immovable property and, despite all the idle talk about “merging” with the Church, it is not very willing to return these objects to us. Observing the process of transferring property for religious purposes, I can say that we are very far from “merging” with the state in this area.
The Russian Church has been and remains the leading confession in Russia, the main spiritual and moral stronghold. Of course, you will not find these formulations in the law. The preamble of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” speaks of the leading role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia, in the formation and development of its spirituality and culture. However, there are no norms in the legislation that guarantee or at least specify this leading role of Orthodoxy. In many ways, the proper consolidation of such a leading role is hampered by the principle of equality of religious organizations before the law, as provided for by the Constitution of Russia. Although legal scholars have long noted the fallacy of the literal interpretation of this principle, which equates equality with equal rights. For example, the Constitution guarantees the equality of citizens, but, as is known, the scope of the rights of a particular citizen largely depends on what social group he belongs to: whether he is a pensioner, a person with many children, a civil servant or a military serviceman. Therefore, “equality” - in the legal sense of the word - does not imply equality at all. Essentially, we are talking about equality before the law, that is, the obligation of everyone, without exception, to comply with state law. Accordingly, the equality of religious organizations before the law declared by the Constitution of Russia means their obligation to comply with the norms of the law, which may also provide for a differentiated approach to determining the status of religious associations. Therefore, the State Duma periodically resumes initiatives from deputies to supplement legislation with norms classifying religious organizations into “traditional” and “non-traditional.”
Please tell us about what exactly you are currently doing? What has been particularly significant done by the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate over the past year?
I don’t know whether the reader will be interested in a report on the work of the US MP. We are involved in many different areas: legislative work, negotiations with government bodies on the development and amendment of both laws and regulations, state registration of religious organizations, as well as property transactions in Moscow, maintaining an internal church register of church property in the city of Moscow, participation in the process transfer of religious property to religious organizations, conduct of litigation. The document flow of US MP is quite large, but feasible for us.
In addition to fulfilling the instructions of His Holiness the Patriarch, formalized in the form of his resolutions, we maintain relationships with dioceses, synodal departments, parishes and monasteries, providing advice on various legal issues. This year, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the US MP will hold on-site legal seminars in all metropolises. His Holiness also expanded the team of the US MP to include lawyers from the Moscow vicariates, who now have one full-time working day at the US MP.
I believe that our main purpose is to help resolve complex legal issues. It is for the purpose of assisting church structures that the Legal Service of the Patriarchate was created. We try to justify this purpose.
Those interested can familiarize themselves with the results of legislative work over the past year by reading the attached Certificate.
In late September 2015, the International Theological Scientific and Practical Conference “Monasticism of Holy Rus': from Origins to the Present” was held at the Intercession Monastery in Moscow. The report of Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany was devoted to the topic of the relationship between modern technology and renunciation of the world in a monastery. Bishop Mark spoke in some detail about how the brethren of the monastery entrusted to His Eminence, while fulfilling the necessary obediences, try not to lose their prayerful attitude. In speeches at other monastic forums, I have repeatedly heard the following words: the more things we have to do, the more we need to pray. This is true, but there are objective limitations on a person’s physical capabilities and the number of hours in a day. How to manage everything and not lose your monastic spirit, “not burn out,” as they say now?
Yes, you need to “burn, but not burn out.” To do this, you should adhere to the “golden mean” in everything, even in small things, and not take on anything that clearly exceeds your strength, since the consequences of overestimating your capabilities can be catastrophic. We must avoid the state of “woundness” and, when it occurs, retire for rest and prayer.
In general, you need to control your internal state. It's not about the number of deeds and prayers, but how it all affects your inner life. Everyone has their own measure. I think everyone who is placed in a leadership position should remember this. Personally, I am against five-year plans and shock work, because we are weak and often heavy loads result in breakdowns. "The quieter you go, the further you'll get". I believe, for example, that nuns should have one day a week for relative “reclusion” and detachment from ordinary affairs. Our monastery, located, by the way, in a noisy and environmentally unfavorable place (near the third ring, in the immediate vicinity of Auchan), has a blessed “outlet” - a monastery in a secluded corner of Sokolniki Park, where additional cells for sisters are equipped. We try to go there every week, two at a time - at least for half a day, for walks in the open air, spiritual reading and solitary prayer.
I am guided by a similar rule about providing employees with the necessary rest in the Legal Service, for fear of “busting” people and thereby discouraging their taste for work.
Mother, please tell us about your monastery and how you became a nun. After all, you knew that you would have to continue to engage in legal activities and in the priesthood, too, and yet you accepted monasticism.
Alekseevsky Monastery is the oldest monastery in the capital, founded in the 14th century at the initiative of the sisters of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow - the Venerables Juliania and Eupraxia, who, according to researchers, labored in our monastery. Initially, the monastery was located on Ostozhenka, in the very place where the Conception Monastery is now located.
At the end of the 16th century, after a devastating fire, the Alekseevsky Monastery was moved closer to the Kremlin, to Chertolye. At the same time, some of the sisters remained in the fire and formed the Conception Convent.
In 1832, the place occupied by the Alekseevsky monastery was chosen by the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas I to house the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, was looking for a new location for the ancient monastery. For these purposes, he sent Archimandrite Gabriel of the Danilov Monastery “to the Tikhvin Church, to inspect the area, whether it is convenient for a convent.” The Metropolitan had in mind the Tikhvin Church in Sushchev, and the archimandrite suggested that the Bishop was sending him to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, in Krasnoye Selo, popularly known as the Tikhvin Church because of the miraculous image located in it. Father Archimandrite went to Krasnoe Selo and, after examining the area near the church, came to the conclusion that it was suitable for housing a convent. Having reported to the Metropolitan on the results of the inspection, Archimandrite Gabriel added that the nuns will be able to use the “knots” of the neighboring grove to fire the monastery stoves. The mention of the grove surprised the bishop. Then it turned out that the archimandrite examined a completely different place than the metropolitan had in mind. However, Saint Philaret reasoned that “the Queen of Heaven would like to move the monastery to this church.” So it was decided to move our monastery to Krasnoe Selo, to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, in which the miraculous Tikhvin image of the Virgin Mary was located. This intention was realized in 1837.
It was difficult for the sisters of the monastery to part with their native walls. There is a legend that Abbess Claudia, the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery at that difficult time for the monastery, predicted the death of the future temple, which happened already in the Soviet period. Now the Cathedral of Christ the Savior has been restored. In the basement of the temple building, in the very niche where the Moscow swimming pool was once located, on the initiative of the late Patriarch Alexy, the lower Transfiguration Church with the chapel of St. Alexy, the man of God, was founded. The said temple was founded in memory of the Transfiguration Church of the Alekseevsky Monastery, which once stood on this site.
So, in October 1837, the sisters of the monastery, in a religious procession, in which pilgrims also participated, moved to a new place, to Krasnoe Selo, which at that time was practically uninhabited and deserted. They carried with them the shrines of the monastery - in particular, the ancient icons of the Mother of God “Georgian” and “Healer”. After the revolution, these icons were transferred to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki, where they remain to this day.
The monastery reached its heyday in the second half of the 19th century under Abbess Anthony (Troilina), who began her monastic career in the Borodino Convent, where the future Abbess was the cell attendant of the founder of the monastery, Abbess Maria (Tuchkova). It was Abbess Antonia, appointed abbess of our monastery at the age of fifty, who introduced the beginnings of a hostel in the monastery, built a refectory building, laid out a new building for the monastery almshouse and hospital with a house church in the name of the Archangel of God Michael. She also conceived and carried out the construction of the Church of All Saints, with the restoration of which in 1991 the revival of church life in this place began.
It is worth noting that Abbess Antonia was a spiritual friend of the famous publicist M. Katkov, who was hated by the liberal public of that time for his patriotic views. A staunch patriot of her Fatherland, Mother conducted extensive charitable activities by transferring funds to social projects. And this despite the fact that the monastery itself bore a significant social burden. For example, at the monastery there was a school for South Slavic girls to train folk teachers for the Slavic lands. In addition to the mentioned school, a school was created at the monastery for girls from poor clergy families, where the pupils lived and studied. Mother was an honorary member of the Ladies' Branch of the Slavic Charitable Committee. Abbess Antonia was a strong and interesting person. In 2017, we will celebrate the 120th anniversary of Mother’s death and are preparing a short book about her life.
In the 30s of the last century, the monastery was closed; most of the sisters were exiled to Kazakhstan and the North. The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified as saints the novices of the Alekseevsky monastery Anna and Matrona (Makandin), who were shot on March 14, 1937 at the Butovo training ground, as well as the novice Euphrosyne (Timofeeva), who died in custody on November 5, 1942. The novice Anna (Makandina) is depicted on the icon of the Butovo New Martyrs.
The Lord knows why I became a nun, and I think that’s enough. I can only say that I was guided by love for Christ, and not by external life circumstances. In 2008, I asked the late Patriarch Alexy for a blessing for tonsure, and he expressed his intention to tonsure himself during the Nativity Fast of the same year. At that time, I had already been working for the Patriarchate for four years as a legal adviser. At the beginning of Lent, His Holiness Alexy died and did not have time to tonsure me. At the same time, with his blessing, the monastic clothes were ready.
By the Providence of God, my monastic, and subsequently monastic, tonsure was performed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. I remember that His Holiness was surprised by the Patriarchal lawyer’s intention to become a nun and immediately warned me that tonsure would not free me from the obedience required. However, in this warning from the Patriarch I did not see an obstacle to the fulfillment of my long-standing desire.
In general, I consider it a great shortcoming in a believer to dream about oneself and avoid the desired feat with reference to life circumstances, including profession. This is especially sad for single persons, not burdened with family responsibilities, who, having the desire or blessing to marry Christ, are not going to get married, and are not in a hurry to enter the monastery, delighting themselves with the thought: “if only these or those circumstances had not happened, and I, of course, I would already be in the monastery.” Meanwhile, time passes, and with it the strength that you could spend on a holy feat goes away, and the firmness of intention to devote yourself to Christ goes away. “Son, give Me your heart...” - and it doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer, an engineer or a dentist. The Lord will determine what kind of obedience you will bear after tonsure. But we must remember that monasticism is a special calling.
The Church, like any community, of course, always has a need for highly qualified specialists. However, when a person enters a monastery, often his path as a worker, novice, or monk begins with simple work that does not require special education or special skills. And even if in the world a person was a highly qualified specialist in his field, in the monastery he does not always do what his previous life was dedicated to. Bishop Mark even said in his speech at the conference that if a person’s work in the world was connected with IT technologies, then in the monastery it is better to free him from the computer completely. What do you think about it?
I confess that I am not close to such reasoning. If the nun is a lawyer or accountant, then why not attract her to work in the monastery in her specialty, because otherwise the monastery will have to hire a worker for money, and in the complete absence of guarantees of his integrity and responsibility. Our monastery is neither rich nor numerous. Therefore, I cannot allow myself to assign a sister who had the required specialty in the world to obedience unrelated to her profession.
Let me give you an example. At the monastery, one of the novices is a professional cook, who at one time was in charge of the dining room. Nowadays it is very difficult to find good cooks for a reasonable salary. It is clear that I left my sister in the refectory obedience, which she willingly fulfills, especially since I have to feed not only the sisters, but also the elderly nuns of the almshouse, workers and children of the comprehensive school at the monastery.
I think that when distributing sisterly obediences, one must take into account the circumstances in which the monastery is placed. At the same time, of course, it is important not to “put pressure” on the sister if, say, she refuses to bear obedience corresponding to her worldly profession or qualifications. By “pressuring” a person and getting your way, you can achieve the completely opposite result - a secret or open protest from the sister in the form of indifferent passivity or, on the contrary, murmur. It’s worse when a sister gets sick due to mental or physical stress. All this, as a rule, is followed by the sister’s alienation from the mother and fear of her, which is fraught with serious misunderstandings, because the sisters should see the abbess as a mother, and not as a commander of a military unit. However, great insight is also needed so that careless souls do not take advantage of your condescension and kindness.
Our site is read not only by monastics, but also by lay people. Many of them believe that it is difficult for a Christian to be a lawyer. Is it so? I know parents who were against their children receiving a legal education, because they believe that lawyers often have to dissemble, tell lies, and so on.
A true Christian does not need to be afraid of difficulties. Through overcoming obstacles, very valuable spiritual qualities are developed - willpower, prudence, patience, the ability not to become discouraged and not to despair even in the most difficult circumstances. And therefore, I do not regret at all that I received a legal education and continue to engage in professional activities that involve protecting the rights of believers, and therefore the work and experiences associated with this. All this tempers and makes the soul wise. I perceive my ministry as given to me by God. It is His will to continue this ministry.
As for the cunning and cunning of jurists, let me tell you about one conversation with a clergyman, white-haired. I had this conversation with him when I was young, but I remember it for the rest of my life. “Are you a lawyer?” - the interlocutor asked me. “Yes,” I answered. “Don’t lie,” I was told, “but don’t tell the truth either.” Indeed, prudence and caution in words and actions are very important for a lawyer. Having knowledge of any circumstances related to professional activity, it is important not to condemn the innocent, that is, not to lie or slander. On the other hand, you shouldn’t “cut the truth” in a society where this truth won’t be believed anyway. And another “truth” can seriously hurt a person. Finding the “golden mean” is, of course, an art that one learns throughout one’s life...
Interviewed by Ekaterina Orlova
Information on the main changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation for 2015.
Last year the following changes took place in legislation.
Federal Law No. 80-FZ dated April 6, 2015 introduced important changes to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in order to remove religious organizations from the scope of a number of articles of the said code that do not correspond to the internal regulations of the leading Russian denominations. At the same time, amendments were made to the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, according to which issues of participation of founders and other legal entities or individuals in the activities of religious organizations are determined by the charter and (or) internal regulations of religious organizations.
Federal Law No. 103-FZ of April 20, 2015 introduced amendments to the penal legislation aimed at legally consolidating the mechanism of interaction between the FSIN bodies and leading Russian denominations, regulating the status of house churches in prison and other FSIN institutions, ensuring access for clergy to prisoners in for the purpose of performing the necessary church sacraments, as well as regulating the transfer of religious objects located on the territory of FSIN institutions to religious organizations.
Law dated July 13, 2015 No. 261-FZ amended the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, according to which teaching religion and religious education are not educational activities and therefore are not subject to licensing. With the adoption of this amendment, prosecutors and other government bodies will not require Sunday schools to obtain licenses to carry out educational activities.
Also, Federal Law No. 314-FZ of November 23, 2015 introduced changes to the legislation on countering extremist activities, establishing a ban on classifying the Bible as extremist materials.
Finally, Federal Law No. 341-FZ dated November 28, 2015 was adopted, exempting religious organizations from a number of provisions of the Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations” governing issues of control over the activities of NPOs and their reporting. In turn, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” has been supplemented with provisions according to which only those religious organizations that are financed from foreign sources will submit reports to the justice authorities. The remaining religious organizations will send a statement to the justice authorities indicating the lack of foreign sources of funding. In addition, the new law significantly limits the ability of judicial authorities to inspect the financial and economic activities of religious organizations. Such an inspection will be carried out only if the religious organization is financed from foreign sources and (or) if there is information about the religious organization violating the legislation of the Russian Federation.
In conclusion, I would like to note the Law of Moscow dated June 24, 2015 No. 29, which provides for the exemption of religious organizations from paying trade taxes in relation to trade carried out in religious buildings and structures and on land plots related to them.
