Documents

02 Apr 2012,
29/03/2012: Letter from Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the arrested women

29 March
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34).

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28 Mar 2012,
Pussy Riot : Statement in Response to Patriarch's Speech on 24/03/2012

26/03/2012

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Your Holiness, Patriarch-

A fervent and sincere prayer can never be a mockery, no matter in what form it occurs, therefore it cannot be said that we jeered at, or mocked, the shrine.

We are plagued by the thought that the very shrine, which you consider so defiled, is inseparably linked to Putin, who in very words, brought it back to the Church. And because the of our prayer, asking our Holy Mother to drive out those who defile the brightest ideals of human life in Russia and all possible precepts of the Orthodox Faith, you are perceived as a mockery of the sacred.

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27 Mar 2012,
Patriarch Kiril's Speech : There will be no future for us if we begin to desecrate that which is most sacrosanct

24/03/2012 "I think that all of you know about what happened recently at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. So let us bring to mind the fact that in this very place where we are standing, our devout ancestors, who had assumed the basis Russia’s prosperity as a great state, laid the foundation of this cathedral only for the sake of encountering the sacred. Whereas their distant progeny, in the XXI century, desecrated that which is most sacred within the walls of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior…

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24 Mar 2012,
Union of Orthodox Women under ROC Statement against Feminism

22 March 2012
Union of Orthodox Women (under ROC) has made a statement on the blasphemous act in the catherdal of Christ the Savior

Today the society is passing through difficult times. The spiritual-moral crisis has affected every single aspect of human life. Some are trying to find answers to this in the field of economics, even though in substance the economic crisis is only the result of the crisis of values of civilization.

In the circumstances, when the problems of preserving moral foundations of society, restoration of spiritual-moral foundations of family and upbringing of new generations, are especially acute, the question of the special role of women, opposed to the crisis of values, becomes particularly relevant.

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23 Mar 2012,
Translated letter of Maria Alyekhina from prison

This letter was given to Masha's friends by one of her lawyers, Nikolay Polozov. It was written back when she didn't have an opportunity to pass letters to anyone. She was transferred to a more desnely-populated prison cell after.

March 12, 2012
Second day of pre-trial detention.

My only cell-mate Nina and I sleep on metal beds in outdoor clothes. She sleeps in a fur coat, I sleep in a coat.
It's so cold in the cell our noses get red and our feet are ice cold, but we are not allowed to get into bed under the covers before the bedtime bell. The holes in the window frames are stuffed in with hygiene pads and bread crumbs, the sky is all orange from the street lamps at night.

I've officially stopped my hunger strike so I now drink warm coloured water (tea) and eat dry bread three times a day. The metal bed tables are terrifying, it seems it's easy to smash your head against the edges.

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23 Mar 2012,
Pussy Riot Statement

Pussy Riot : Art or Politics?

" Our performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was a political gesture, which concerns the problem of merging of Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Putin government. Patriarch Kirill has repeatedly spoken about of clearly not the holy figure of Putin and urged his parishioners not to participate in protest rallies. A political action carried out by the authorities and the Orthodox Church before the elections to the Duma, called "Wait two days to the belt of the Virgin" was aimed at creating a picture of apolitical Orthodox citizens. We are outraged with that no less than with the violation of the elections to the Duma. Therefore, we have introduced an new element in our performance - a prayer - and called our performance punk public prayer "Virgin Mary, Drive Putin Away." Here, we return the political activity of the faithful, overcoming attempts of "Gundai" patriarch who speaks on behalf of all believers, to distort the situation.

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