Concern mounts concerning the growing buy of properties by the Russian Orthodox Church close to army websites in Norway, which poses safety points.
In recent times, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Norway has acquired properties subsequent to army bases, which has been a supply of concern for the reason that starting of Putin’s warfare on Ukraine.
Greater than 700 spiritual communities obtain state grants in Norway, together with Orthodox parishes subordinated to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus’ who blessed Russia’s warfare on Ukraine.
Buy of properties
In 2017-2021, a variety of properties had been bought by the ROC within the coastal space of Rogalan.
In accordance with cadastral knowledge, the ROC purchased in 2017 a constructing within the city of Sherrey (Bergen group), situated on a hill three kilometers away from Haakonsvern, which gives a view onto the primary base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the biggest naval base within the Nordic space. Earlier than the acquisition of this home, the spiritual group was situated within the metropolis middle. The Orthodox priest in Bergen, Dimitry Ostanin, is Ukrainian and was appointed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ in 2008 when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was absolutely subordinated to him. Earlier than that, he had served in Kaliningrad and Smolensk (Russia).
Within the city of Stavanger, the previous priest of the local people of the Russian Orthodox Church has a property close to the NATO Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Jatta, based on Dagbladet. It’s situated only one kilometer away from an vital army constructing, about fifteen minutes’ stroll. That NATO Centre celebrated its twentieth anniversary throughout a proper ceremony on 26 October 2023. Over the past 20 years, the JWC has deliberate and delivered greater than 100 workouts and coaching occasions and be sure that NATO’s commanders and their staffs are well-prepared and prepared to reply to any mission, each time and wherever the decision could come.
The Russian Orthodox Church additionally has a parish in Trondheim. On 21 March 2021, the primary Orthodox service within the metropolis was celebrated for nearly a thousand years as a part of the celebrations of the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy on the parish of the Holy Princess Anna of Novgorod, in Russia. Information of this vital occasion within the lifetime of Orthodox Christians in Norway was proven on the Russian The Saviour and Unity TV channels.
In 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church additionally purchased a property in Kirkenes (Finnmark county) within the far north-east of Norway, on the border with Russia.
As well as, the Moscow Patriarchate sponsors work in Tromsø in northern Norway and in Svalbard, also called Spitzbergen.
In 1996, the Moscow Patriarchate established a parish in Oslo. Amongst all Orthodox Church buildings in Norway, the parish of St. Olga in Oslo, is at present the biggest one; one other parish beneath the Moscow Patriarchate within the capital metropolis is Saint Hallvard.
The presence of Orthodox Church buildings subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate in EU international locations has additionally raised nationwide safety considerations as a result of in a variety of circumstances they had been suspected or accused of serving as relays for Putin’s propaganda or Russia’s spying actions. Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden and Ukraine have taken varied measures to anticipate or deal with safety dangers, together with with the help of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In Norway, an Orthodox parish devoted to St. Nicholas beneath the Patriarchate of Constantinople was based in Oslo in 1931 by a small group of Russian refugees who fled the Bolshevik Revolution. In gentle of safety threats attributed to the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate in a number of European international locations, the ROC in Norway stays registered and surprisingly continues to obtain state grants. One can surprise why Norway is so laxist with this safety challenge. Voluntary blindness or lack of political will or each?
