Patriarch Alexy, a powerful Russian

Economist.com Saturday May 11th 2002

 

Words and phrases

 

cosy ties – удобные связи

to disapprove – осуждать, не одобрять

uncompetitive industries – сферы промышленности вне конкуренции

bureaucratic fiefs – бюрократические вотчины

creaky and mismanaged outfit – скрипучее учреждение, полное злоупотреблений

the Russian Orthodox Church – Русская Православная Церковь

to favour – играть на руку

to handicap – ставить в трудное положение, чинить препятствия

hierarchy [,haiə’ra:ki] – иерархия

to work hand in glove – работать аккуратно и настойчиво

to do down – подавлять

paramilitary organization – полувоенная организация

the latest fracas – последний инцидент

visas cancelled – истекшая виза

crumple – смять

monk – монах

icy – ледяной

unfriendly behavior - недружественное поведение

outrage – грубое нарушение прав

background tension – фоновое, общее напряжение

hard-pressed worshipper – тяжело угнетаемые верующие

state-sponsored atheism – государственный атеизм

to condemn the harassment – осудить гонения

the pope – папа римский

obscurantist – мракобес

freedom of movement and religion – свобода передвижения и вероисповедания

worthy and predictable partner – достойный и предсказуемый партнер

fair treatment – честное отношение

to suit powerful insiders – угодить могучим властителям внутри страны

to be deeply rooted – быть глубоко укорененным

xenophobia – ксенофобия, боязнь пришельцев

 

 

Will the president tell Russia's top churchman to be nicer to other

churches?

 

A BIG institution, shaped by the Soviet Union, uses cosy ties with the state to win dubious privileges that help it keep a comfortable near-monopoly. There is an unsavoury whiff, particularly near the top. President Vladimir Putin disapproves, but does little. The description fits much of today's Russia. But this time it is not uncompetitive industries or bureaucratic fiefs that are in the headlines, but another creaky and mismanaged outfit: the Russian Orthodox church, and its head, Patriarch Alexy.

According to Russia's constitution, church and state are separate. Not so in practice. A law on religion favours the Orthodox church and handicaps its competitors. Interpretation is even harsher, with the bureaucracy and the Orthodox hierarchy often working hand in glove to do down the newcomers. Other denominations, respectable and wacky alike, find Russia a hard place to work. The Salvation Army, for example, was hassled for years on the ground that it was a paramilitary organisation.

The latest fracas concerns the Roman Catholic church no better than extremist Islam, to some Orthodox cheerleaders. This month two top foreign Catholics, both of whom have lived in Russia for years, have had their visas cancelled: an Italian priest and theologian, Stefano Caprio, and the bishop of Irkutsk, Jerzy Mazur, a Pole. Roman Catholic parishes in the provinces have faced unprecedented bureaucratic harassment, such as refusal of building permits for churches. Catholic bishops complain of an organised campaign against their church. In the latest incident, on April 22nd, a police patrol in Moscow crumpled and threw away the passport of a visiting Polish monk when they learnt he was a Catholic. All this at a time when relations between the Moscow patriarchate and the Vatican are icy.

The patriarchate's concern about competition is understandable. What looks like a strong franchise is proving very wobbly in practice. The church has lots of money, from commercial ventures as well as hard-pressed worshippers, and has built many churches, but finds it hard to fill them. Some 60% of Russians say they support it, but only 6% claim to attend its services even once a month. The main reason is the lasting damage done by 70 years of persecution and state-sponsored atheism. Most Russians care little for religion. Orthodox priests' training often leaves much to be desired; some are saintly, some lazy and corrupt. Many senior ones collaborated with the KGB.

By contrast, foreign missionaries are well trained and energetic. Their message is often more appealing, their congregations livelier. They get involved in social work more readily than their Orthodox competitors. In the past ten years polls show the Orthodox church's standing to have fallen sharply. Other churches, particularly the Roman Catholics, are flourishing.

The patriarchate sees this as unfriendly behaviour from a sister church that should stick to its own patch, not take advantage of another's weakness. The result is extreme Orthodox twitchiness. The Vatican, for example, recently announced a reorganisation of its structure inside Russia into full dioceses. The presentation of the move could have been better but the outrage it caused among the Orthodox hierarchy was remarkable.

 

President versus patriarch?

 

Just how the cancellation of the two Catholics' visas is linked to this background tension is unclear. Patriarch Alexy insists that it is not his doing. And indeed in private he seems more reasonable than some of the clericocrats around him. But the 73-year-old Orthodox leader has not condemned the harassment of the Catholics. That is in line with his general stance: he is notably unwilling to offend the powerful obscurantist wing of his church, for instance by condemning anti-Semitic statements or taking any but timid steps towards other churches. He has vehemently, and so far successfully, objected to a papal visit to Russia.

There are signs that Mr Putin, a regular churchgoer, is fed up with this. He makes a point of praising Orthodox faith and tradition, rather than the hierarchy. The Kremlin's own relations with the Vatican are quite friendly. Mr Putin has made it clear that he would welcome the pope, if only the patriarch would.

And this time the obscurantists may have gone too far. Having someone barred from Russia is not difficult, if you have friends in the right places. An embassy may protest, but usually to little effect. Now, however, the result is a very public diplomatic row. Russia is formally committed to freedom of movement and religion, both by its constitution and through memberships of bodies such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Poland, the Vatican and others have all made strong protests. In the run-up to next month's summit with George Bush, this is just what Mr Putin does not want. As he tries to portray a new image of Russia as a worthy and predictable partner for the West, it behaves in a secretive and arbitrary style reminiscent of the Soviet Union.

Officialdom's reaction has so far been mixed. There has been no response to the diplomatic protests. The foreign ministry said there had been strong complaints about the Polish bishop. Anonymous security sources said the Italian priest had been spying. A government minister, also anonymously, said if the church was behind the ban, it showed medieval obscurantism. The Kremlin has maintained a studious silence. Some think Mr Putin will seize the chance to look good and speak out strongly in favour of fair treatment for the Catholics, and maybe even encourage the patriarch to think of retirement. The problem as with much of the president's nice-sounding policies, domestic or foreign is that many of the people who run the country think very differently. Xenophobia, disrespect for the law, and readiness to make decisions that suit powerful insiders are all deeply rooted in Russia's bureaucracy. There is no strong lobby for religious freedom to help change that least of all, it seems, the head of the country's largest church.

From The Economist print edition

 

 

Задания к тексту

 

1. Проработайте лексику, данную перед текстом. Прочитайте текст, не пользуясь «Англо-русским словарем».

 

2. Найдите, где в тексте говорится о следующем:

- президенту Путину не нравится сложившееся положение;

- закон о религии в России играет на руку православной церкви;

- российская бюрократия и церковь работают тонко, чтобы задавить пришельцев;

- католикам в России очень трудно добиться разрешения на строительство своих храмов;

- у православной церкви в России много денег, а прихожан мало;

- прихожане подвергаются поборам;

- православные священники часто сотрудничают с тайной полицией;

- патриарх Алексий избегает конфликтовать с «мракобесами»;

- анонимные источники утверждают, что иностранные священники – шпионы;

- неуважение к закону глубоко укоренено в российской бюрократии.

 

3. Переведите на русский язык некоторые, по-вашему, интересные тезисы в разных частях текста. Попросите одногруппника найти их в тексте по-английски.

4. Выпишите необходимый набор лексики для кратчайшего тезисного изложения текста.

UNIT 9

 

Тематика: гражданство, иммиграция

 

Текст: Ужасный груз зернового контейнера

 

<NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Skeletons in Iowa Rail Car Tell Tale of Immigrants' Gamble

</NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0"> By JOHN W. FOUNTAIN with JIM YARDLEY, October 16, 2002

Words and phrases

death-defying gamble – игра со смертельной ставкой

grain-hopper – железнодорожный зерновой контейнер (амер.)

tightly sealed – плотно закрыт

hatch – люк

to smuggle – провозить контрабандно

stifling darkness – удушливая темнота

suffocate – задохнуться

authorities – власти

routine inspection – обычная проверка

near-skeleton remains – останки

to determine one’s identities – установить личность

corpse [‘ko:ps] – тела, трупы

state of decomposition – стадия разложения

assumption – предположение

long-term storage – долгосрочное хранение

only from outside – только снаружи

organized smuggling rings – сферы организованной контрабанды

northbound – отправляющийся на север

canines = dogs

DE</NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>DENISON, Iowa, Oct. 15 — About four months ago somewhere along a stretch of railroad tracks in Texas, perhaps, or Mexico, 11 people took a death-defying gamble.

They climbed into an empty grain hopper, a rail car that can be tightly sealed to keep its contents clean and dry. The hatch was shut and locked from the outside, leaving the stowaways, presumably immigrants being smuggled from Mexico or Central America, trapped in stifling darkness.

Then they died. Whether they suffocated, starved or succumbed to the heat, the authorities do not know, only that they died horribly, and unnoticed.

The <ORG value="UNP" idsrc="NYSE">Union Pacific</ORG> hopper ended up in Oklahoma, where it sat unopened in long-term storage all summer and into the fall. On Sunday, it traveled to this small farm town 60 miles northeast of Omaha, where a worker at a grain elevator opening grain hoppers for routine inspection found the near-skeletal remains, Sheriff Tom Hogan of Crawford County said at a news conference here this morning.

Sheriff Hogan described the sight as heartbreaking. "Our thoughts go to those people that found themselves for whatever reason trapped inside that rail car," he said. "It had to be frightening."

Hours after the discovery, the hopper was taken to Des Moines, where the bodies were removed and police investigators began trying to determine their identities.

Sheriff Hogan said the authorities had not determined the immigrants' sex, age or nationality. He said he did not know how long the corpses had been trapped, but suggested that because of the state of decomposition, it was at least "weeks ago, as opposed to days ago."

Jerry Heinauer, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for the Omaha District, which includes Nebraska and Iowa, said the hopper left Matamoros, Mexico, four months ago and had been parked in Oklahoma from mid-June until Oct. 10, before arriving here.

José Luis Cuevas, the Mexican consul for Nebraska, Iowa and South and North Dakota, said he was working under the assumption that the immigrants were Mexicans.

John Bromley, a spokesman for Union Pacific in Omaha, said the dead had been found in a grain hopper at the Farm Service Co-op and <ORG value="ADM" idsrc="NYSE">Archer Daniels Midland</ORG> elevators in Denison, but declined further comment.

A spokeswoman for Archer Daniels Midland, Karla Miller, said the hopper had been in long-term storage until the company recently ordered a group of hoppers to transport grain.

Sheriff Hogan said the hatch of the hopper could be opened only from outside. He said that the immigrants wore "warm weather" clothing and that there was no grain in the hopper.

The authorities said this morning that they had received telephone calls from as far as New York from people trying to find out whether the immigrants were their relatives.

Many residents were stunned in this farming town of 7,339 with a growing Hispanic population.

Mayor Ken Livingston of Denison said he had spoken with religious and community leaders to help with managing grief if the immigrants had family members here.

"If what's alleged is that this is a smuggling operation," Mr. Livingston asked, "who's going to come forward?"

Along the Texas-Mexico border, where the Union Pacific freight crossed from Matamoros to Brownsville, Tex., Border Patrol officials doubted that the immigrants had boarded in Mexico.

The Border Patrol, the Customs Service and the private security force of the railroad routinely inspect trains at crossings with dogs that can sniff out drugs and people.

Typically, officials said, illegal immigrants cross the Rio Grande alone or in small groups led by a smuggler known as a coyote.

Harry Beall, an assistant chief of the Border Patrol in the McAllen, Tex., sector, said several organized smuggling rings in that region specialized in placing illegal immigrants in northbound boxcars.

Chief Beall added that his office kept a database of names and telephone numbers of smugglers. He said his office had contacted officials in Iowa to determine whether any telephone numbers or names had been found in the pockets of the immigrants.

Chief Beall said trains were typically inspected first at crossings and again at railyards and border patrol checkpoints in Texas as far north as Corpus Christi, 125 miles north of Brownsville.

"We walk the train, and we have canines that are trained to alert to human cargo or contraband," he said. "If it's a grain hopper, we bang the side with our fist. The empty ones sound like a big drum. The empty ones we look in."

The McAllen office caught 2,095 illegal immigrants in freight cars in the 2002 fiscal year, including 26 people found on a train in June. In that case, the immigrants were found by a trained dog in a grain hopper filled with soda ash, the same sort of hopper with the bodies in Iowa.

In 1987, border agents found 18 dead illegal immigrants in a freight train that had stopped in Sierra Blanca, Tex., on a boiling summer day. One man survived by using a railroad spike to cut an air hole in the freight car.

Often, officials say, immigrants are locked in a car by the coyote. Sometimes the car is accidentally locked. Many times, immigrants, realizing that they are trapped, bang against the sides of freight cars, desperately trying to call the attention of someone outside.

Chief Beall assumed that the dead immigrants in Iowa had most likely tried at some point to call attention.

Today in Denison, residents voiced dismay at news of the deaths.

"I can't imagine people being so desperate to come to the United States and be willing to do that," Lori Schmeckpeper, a secretary at the Denison Baptist Church said.

Ms. Schmeckpeper noted that the town had seen an influx in recent years of Hispanic immigrants drawn by work at two meatpacking plants.

"I wonder if they even realized that once you get in one of those cars that you can't get out if it's shut from the outside," she said. "I feel really bad for possibly the families that are still in Mexico and maybe the families that are over here that might have been waiting for them. It's such a horrible thing."

Copyright The New York Times Company</NYT_TEXT>

<NYT_COPYRIGHT><!-- context ad reference Bottom7 -->

Задания к тексту

 

1. Проработайте лексику, данную перед текстом. Прочитайте текст, не пользуясь «Англо-русским словарем».

 

2. Найдите, где в тексте говорится о следующем:

- эмигранты-нелегалы спрятались в зерновом контейнере;

- их смерть была мучительна;

- контейнер стоял в тупике до осени;

- тела разложились до невозможности опознания;

- невозможно определить даже пол пострадавших;

- предпринимаются попытки определить маршрут контейнера и время пути и стоянок;

- контейнер мог быть открыт только снаружи;

- контейнеры регулярно проверяются с помощью собак;

- ранее в подобной ситуации один иммигрант спасся, проковыряв отверстие, чтобы дышать;

- часто, попав в ловушку, люди стучат изнутри, чтобы их услышали.

 

3. Переведите на русский язык некоторые, по-вашему, интересные тезисы в разных частях текста. Попросите одногруппника найти их в тексте по-английски.

 

4. Выпишите необходимый набор лексики для кратчайшего тезисного изложения текста.

 

UNIT 10

 

Тематика: международное право, экономика.

 

Текст: Прибалтика на пороге Евросоюза