|
News
|
 |
|
17 August 2012, 20:40Church asks state to show mercy to convicted Pussy Riot members (updated)
Moscow, August 17, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church has asked the Russian authorities "to show mercy within the law towards the convicted" Pussy Riot members in the hope that they will renounce a repeat of blasphemous actions, the Supreme Church Council said in a statement issued in Moscow on Friday.
"The Church thanks everyone who supported it, condemned the sacrilege and expressed a peaceful protest against it. We also consider it natural to express a pity for the arrested, which was coming both from the children of the Church and from secular people. One should separate the sin from the sinner, condemning the former and hoping for the latter's repentance. God always seeks the redemption of sinners and calls on them to repent. Likewise, the Church seeks reconciliation and healing of the wounds inflicted by manifestations of sacrilege and animosity," the document said.
The people whose religious and national feelings were deeply offended both by this act of blasphemy and the subsequent propaganda campaign, should "refrain from any attempts to avenge, any illegal, let alone violent acts, while blessing peaceful civil actions aimed at protecting the Orthodox people and its shrines from enmity and blasphemy," the Church said.
"We ask all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church to preserve the peaceful spirit and continue praying to God," the Supreme Church Council said.
|
