cee story from the mission field
Baptists in Georgia Deny Burning Own Church
July 19, 2003
Baptists have rejected suggestions made by the governor of the district in eastern Georgia, where a Baptist church was destroyed on 15 June, that they set fire to their own church.
"Some people are saying the Baptists did it themselves because they wanted a much nicer church," Timur Berianidze, governor of the Kvareli district, told Forum 18 News Service on 3 July. He described as "a lie" the widely-held view that the local Orthodox priest Bessarion Zurabashvili was involved. Berianidze denied reports from Baptists in the village of Akhalsopeli that they were still facing threats.
"That is false information. There is no pressure," he said.
Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, head of the Baptist Union who visited Akhalsopeli again on 3 July, described accusations that the Baptists burnt down their own church as "silly". He said Fr Bessarion keeps visiting families and "stirs them up against our people". Villagers have threatened the Baptists that they will never be allowed to rebuild their church and if they do so, they warn that it will be burnt down again.
"It is clear to everyone that this was done at the instigation of the Orthodox priest and even with his direct participation," said Songulashvili.
The governor told Forum 18 there was "nothing new" in the investigation. "No-one has been arrested, but the district police are continuing to investigate," Berianidze reported. He said it was impossible to say when any arrests in the case might be made.
Givi Berashvili, police chief for Kvareli district, was less forthcoming. "Everything is normal there," he told Forum 18 on 3 July. "There was a fire, that's all." Asked about speculation that Fr Bessarion was involved, he denied it vigorously, then put the phone down.
A high-profile delegation from Tbilisi, led by Bishop Songulashvili, visited the burnt-out church for a Eucharist service on 22 June. Joining the delegation were the Secretary of Security Council Tedo Japaridze, Deputy Secretary Rusudan Beridze, Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili, US Ambassador Richard Miles, German ambassador Uwe Shramm and an Orthodox Archpriest Basil Kobakhidze. The delegation was accompanied to the village by the governor of Kakheti, Bidzina Songulashvili (no relation to the bishop), and other local police and security chiefs.
"You do not need to have a roof to worship God," Ambassador Miles told the congregation at the end of the service.
"The service was an enormous encouragement for the local congregation and ministers," said Songulashvili, "but it also was a powerful message for the local regional and district authorities. They had never expected that burning of a Baptist church would have caused such attention from ambassadors and the national government in Tbilisi."
However, Akhalsopeli's Baptists remain highly concerned about continuing pressure on the community, even after the fire. Marika Tskhadadze reported from Akhalsopeli on 29 June that after the 22 June service relations between the Baptists and "some local people" became tense.
"They are warning us that they will not let us have a church in this village," she declared. "They say 'we do not need foreign religions here'. They sent somebody to tell us that they will stone us if we still keep attending the burnt-out church."
After a further service at the burnt-out church, threats were made "even more vigorously," she said. "The priest has been particularly threatening me in person, saying he will not forgive me for those interrogations he had to undergo at the procuracy." She added that local criminals have threatened to pull down any new church the Baptists build to replace the old. However, Tskhadadze insisted the Baptists "are not scared of anything".
Bishop Songulashvili told Forum 18 he had hoped the 22 June service would mark the end of their problems. "It was our hope that the situation would improve immediately," he declared, "but it seems there are some forces that are interested in stirring up Orthodox people against non-Orthodox."
The congregation believes that only pressure from the district governor, whose brother is said to be a friend of Fr Bessarion, will put an end to the harassment of the Baptists. "If the priest stops the people will also be pacified," Tskhadadze argued.
Berianidze insists that the Baptists can continue to live and meet for worship in Akhalsopeli. "They can build a new church," he pledged.
Todd Dickerson
IMB Correspondent to the European Baptist Federation
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