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R 021629Z JAN 91
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9846
INFO RUEHLN/AMCONSUL LENINGRAD
MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 00146
AMEMBASSY ROME PLEASE PASS TO VATICAN
E.O. 12356: DECL:OADR
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS UR
SUBJECT: ROLL OVER LENIN: KAZAN CATHEDRAL TO BE
REBUILT ON RED SQUARE
REFS: A) 90 MOSCOW 20019 B) 90 MOSCOW 41463
¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT
SUMMARY
------
¶2. RED SQUARE'S KAZAN CATHEDRAL, A POWERFUL RUSSIAN
PATRIOTIC SYMBOL BLOWN UP BY STALIN, IS TO BE
REBUILT. CONSERVATVE RUSSIENS CHEER WHILE LIBERAL
ORTHODOX BELIEVERS FRET THAT THE REBUILDING MAY PLAY
INTO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO USE THE
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (ROC) FOR RUSSIAN NATIONALIST
AS OPPOSED TO SPIRITUAL ENDS. THE ROC'S FOREIGN
MINISTER UNDERSTANDS THESE CONCERNS; NEVERTHELESS, HE
IS GAMBLING THAT CONSERVATIVES' INTEREST IN THE
REBUILDING WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD THEM TO BELIEVE IN
THE ROC INSTEAD OF SIMPLY WANTING TO USE IT. END
SUMMARY.
¶3. THE KAZAN CATHEDRAL ON MOSCOW'S RED SQUARE USED
TO BE ONE OF RUSSIA'S MOST REVERED RELIGIOUS AND
HISTORIC SHRINES. IT WAS BUILT DURING THE REIGN OF
THE FIRST ROMANOV TSAR. PTER THE GREAT LATER
INSPECTED TROOPS UPON THEIR RETURN FROM THE POLTAVA
BATTLE IN FRONT OF IT AND CELEBRATIONS WERE HELD
THERE AFTER NAPOLEON'S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW. AFTER
1917, THE CATHEDRAL WAS FORCEFULLY TAKEN AWAY FROM
THE ROC AND FELL INTO DISREPAIR. TOUSANDS OF RUBLES
WERE SPENT RESTORING IT IN THE 1920S -- UNTIL ITS
CHIEF RESTORER WAS PACKED OFF TO SIBERIA AND THE
CATHEDRAL WAS BLOWN UP BY STALIN. THE CATHEDRAL'S
FOUNDATIONS WERE LATER GRACED FOR A TIME BY PUBLIC
TOILETS AND NOW STAND EMPTY.
¶4. ON JUNE 5, 1990 THE NEW MOSCOW CITY GOVERNMENT
ANNOUNCED THAT THE CATHEDRAL WOULD BE REBUILT ON ITS
ORIGINAL FOUNDATIONS BY THE MOSCOW DIVISION OF THE
ALL-RUSSIA SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL
MONUMENTS AND CULTURE (SEE REF A). THE COST IS
EXPECTED TO TOTAL ONE MILLION RUBLES. MONEY FOR THE
REBUILDING IS ALREADY BEING COLLECTED FROM PRIVATE
INDIVIDUALS. THE CATHEDRAL IS SCHEDULED TO BE READY
IN TIME FOR MOSCOW'S 850TH ANNIVERSARY IN 1995.
¶5. THIS DEVELOPMENT OBVIOUSLY DID NOT ESCAPE THE
NOTICE OF THE ROC'S NEWLY-ELECTED PATRIARCH, ALEXEI
II, WHO RECENTLY WEIGHED IN IN SUPPORT OF THIS
INITIATIVE. ON NOVEMBER 4, ALEXEI II ORGANIZED A
TRIUMPHAL MARCH FROM THE KREMLIN'S USPENSKIY
CATHEDRAL (RECENTLY RECLAIMED FOR OCCASIONAL ROC
RELIGIOUS SERVICES) TO THE KAZAN CATHEDRAL'S EMPTY
LOT, WHERE HE LED RELIGIOUS SERVICES, BLESSED THE
REBUILDING'S FIRST STONE, AND ADDRESSED THE ATTENDING
FAITHFUL, FOLLOWED BY A SPEECH BY MOSCOW MAYOR
GAVRIIL POPOV.
¶6. VISITING AMERICAN SCHOLARS WHO ATTENDED THE
CEREMONY TOLD POLOFF LATER THAT FIVE TO SIX THOUSAND
MUSCOVITES WERE ALSO PRESENT. THEIR IMPRESSION WAS
THAT ALEXEI II HAD EXCELLENT CONTACT WITH THE CROWD,
WHO LISTENED ATTENTIVELY TO HIS ADDRESS. HEARING HIM
WAS NOT A PROBLEM, AS AN "AMERICAN QUALITY" SOUND
SYSTEM BOOMED HIS WORDS, THE RELIGIOUS SERVICE AND
ACCOMPANYING BELL CHIMES ALL OVER RED SQUARE. THE
AMERICANS' COMMENT: "LENIN MUST HAVE BEEN ROLLING
OVER IN HIS GLASS BOX A FEW FEET AWAY."
¶7. DISCUSSIONS AMONG VARIOUS ROC ACTIVISTS AND OTHER
OPINION LEADERS HAVE RESULTED IN A CONSENSUS THAT THE
KAZAN CATHEDRAL WILL INDEED BE REBUILT IN SOME FORM
BUT MIXED FEELINGS AS TO THE USEFULNESS OF THIS
ENDEAVOR. STRONGLY IN THE PRO-REBUILDING CAMP ARE A
NUMBER OF CONSERVATIVE AND RUSSIAN NATIONALIST
FIGURES, SUCH AS "LITERATURNAYA ROSSIYA" JOURNALISTS
AND "NASH SOVREMENNIK" EDITOR AND WRITER STANISLAV
KUNYAYEV (SEE REF B). THE FACT THAT SOME OF THESE
FIGURES ARE AGNOSTICS OR ATHEISTS DOES NOT AFFECT
THEIR SUPPORT, WHICH IS BASED ON THE DESIRE TO REVIVE
RUSSIA'S GLORIOUS PAST (SYMBOLIZED BY THE CATHEDRAL),
REGARDLESS OF HOW THIS AFFECTS THE FORTUNES OF THE
ROC.
¶8. IN THE OTHER CAMP, LIBERAL ROC LEADERS SUCH AS
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST VIKTOR POPKOV STRONGLY OPPOSE
THE REBUILDING. ONE OF THEIR REASONS IS PRECISELY
THAT THE KAZAN CATHEDRAL HAS BECOME MORE OF A
NATIONALISTIC THAN A RELIGIOUS SYMBOL. THEY ARE
CONVINCED THAT ITS REBUILDING WOULD ENCOURAGE THE
TENDENCY TO HAVE ORTHODOXY SERVE NATIONALIST AS
OPPOSED TO MORAL ENDS. POPKOV SPOKE FOR MANY LIBERAL
ROC BELIEVERS WHEN HE TOLD POLOFF: "THE ORTHODOX
CHURCH SPENT ENOUGH TIME SERVING THE STATE UNDER THE
TSARS. IF ANY GOOD AT ALL COULD STILL COME OUT OF
THE REVOLUTION IT WOULD BE TO CREATE A TRUE DIVISION
BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE IN THIS COUNTRY." ANOTHER
REASON IS MORE PROSAIC. WITH THOUSANDS OF BADLY
DILAPIDATED CHURCHES NOW BEING HANDED OVER TO THE ROC
ALL OVER THE USSR, LIBERALS BELIEVE THAT ONE MILLION
RUBLES COULD BE MUCH BETTER SPENT REVIVING WORSHIP
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY INSTEAD OF TYING IT UP IN ONE
MORE CHURCH IN MOSCOW.
¶9. AS HAS BECOME HIS CUSTOM, ROC FOREIGN MINISTER
ARCHBISHOP KIRILL -- REPUTED TO BE THE SMARTEST MAN
IN THE ROC -- HAS STAKED OUT A POSITION SOMEWHERE IN
THE MIDDLE. HE RECENTLY TOLD POLOFF THAT HE WAS WELL
AWARE OF THE VARIOUS CONCERNS SURROUNDING PROPOSALS
TO REBUILD THE KAZAN CATHEDRAL (AND THE SIMILAR
SITUATION OF THE CHRIST THE SAVIOR CATHEDRAL, BLOWN
UP AND REPLACED BY AN OUTDOOR PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL). �
A;HE ADDED THAT HE TOOK THESE CONCERNS SO SERIOUSLY
THAT HE HAD DELAYED RECOMMENDING OPEN SUPPORT FOR THE
REBUILDINGS TO PATRIARCH ALEXEI II WHILE HE MET WITH
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON THE SUBJECT AND WEIGHED THE
PROS AND CONS.
¶10. ARCHBISHOP KIRILL EXPLAINED WHY HE HAD
EVENTUALLY COME OUT IN FAVOR OF ROC SUPPORT FOR THE
ENDEAVORS. FINANCIALLY, HE REALIZED IT MADE SENSE.
AFTER CANVASSING WOULD-BE DONORS, HE BECAME CONVINCED
THAT IF THIS OPTION WERE NOT AVAILABLE THEY WOULD
SIMPLY NOT GIVE ANY MONEY AT ALL TO THE ROC: "WE'RE
NOT TAKING ONE MILLION RUBLES AWAY FROM STARVING
PARISHES; WE'RE EITHER ACCEPTING OR REJECTING ONE
MILLION RUBLES." AS FOR THE MORE DELICATE
NATIONALISM ASPECT, THE ARCHBISHOP SAID THAT HE HAD
COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT WAS STILL AN OPEN
QUESTION OF WHO WOULD INFLUENCE WHOM: "IGNORING THEM
(CONSERVATIVES AND NATIONALISTS) IS NOT THE ANSWER --
BY GETTING INVOLVED, THEY MAY COME TO BELIEVE IN US
INSTEAD OF WANTING TO USE US."
¶11. LENINGRAD MINIMIZE CONSIDERED.
MATLOCK
NNNN
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