Friday 2 October CLERGY STRUGGLE TO COPE WITH RUSSIA'S ECONOMIC CRISIS by Tatiana Titova, Keston News Service The collapse of Russia's banking system has affected everyone, both Russians and foreigners residing in Russia - but it has affected them in various ways. Ironically, the organisations which turn out to have been best-prepared are those which in the past expected nothing but oppression from the Russian system. The least well-prepared are the organisations which had long since reached understandings with the authorities for mutual cooperation and which had thus come to trust the state. A special category - those religious organisations which exist on the basis of western support - have not suffered at all. As compared with most secular institutions, religious bodies have turned out to be better prepared because of their long- established tradition of not exposing their income to public scrutiny. Their expenses have likewise been met not by means of easily traced bank transfers, but by quiet payments in cash. During the years of the Soviet regime this tradition, for obvious reasons, only grew stronger. The newer religious bodies which have appeared during the last decade had to show their bank account numbers when they applied for state registration--but they usually kept only the tiniest sums in those accounts since people made fearful by many years of religious persecution conducted all payments in cash. True, some 'prudent' heads of religious organisations decided to keep their money in private bank accounts - in retrospect, a huge mistake. Representative bodies of foreign religious organisations, as Keston learned from an employee of a large American religious organisation, acted quickly to withdraw all the money in their accounts, down to the last kopeck. 'We are in good shape', he said, 'we even have hired new staff'. Of course, many religious organisations now rely on secular sponsors-but these too come in various forms. Many of the Russian banks and firms which were providing money for the construction of churches, chapels or rectories suddenly no longer exist - unlike foreign sponsors. So what can we expect? Banking specialists from one of the few banks to have survived the recent avalanche told Keston that they expect a return to the old system of the Soviet period, when individuals were not legally allowed to exchange roubles for hard currency. Of course a full such return, including formal criminal penalties, is impossible. A firm exchange rate will be established for converting dollars which have been deposited into bank accounts and which are to be sold to the state. Whether or not this measure improves the health of the economy, it will shrink the flow of dollars from the West to Russian religious organisations. It will become possible to monitor every dollar in these flows, and this will be unwelcome to many. This measure will immediately give birth to a black market in hard currency, including the earnings of the corrupt structures which play no small part in the economy of today's Russia. Yet another problem made more acute by the banking crisis is that of relations between the centre and the regions. One result of the crisis is that some regions have taken an unprecedented decision to conduct their financial operations completely outside the official banking system. On 17 September the governor of Krasnoyarsk province, ALEKSANDR LEBED, had a meeting with PRIME MINISTER PRIMAKOV in order to discuss the future demarcation of powers between the centre and the regions. If in the past the local authorities always had to take the centre into account because of their financial dependence on Moscow, now the collapse of the banking system has made the powers of local leaders almost unlimited. What basic problems now face the church in this crisis? FR ANTONI GEI, pastor of the Roman Catholic parish of Ss Peter and Paul, says 'the fundamental problem is poor people. They are flooding into the church to beg for help. We could collect clothing and food for these people, but we don't have a place to store such things and from which to distribute them. Immediately the problem of repairs would arise-nobody wants to do anything, builders refuse to work because nobody has any idea how much a construction project would cost.' Moscow's Roman Catholics have only the small, dilapidated Church of St Louis and the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was used as a factory during the Soviet period and which is now being restored. The cathedral church of Ss Peter and Paul has still not been returned to believers. Orthodox priest GEORGI EDELSHTEIN told Keston that 'The crisis doesn't affect me-I don't have any money at present because I managed to spend it all on repairing my church and on the nine ex-convicts who live with me. There's always something to spend money on.' Duma aid LEV LEVINSON gave Keston a political forecast: 'Politically things will not get worse, but economically it depends on the situation in the banking sphere. As for religious organisations, the Primakov government will be neutral toward the Patriarchate.' Asked by Keston to comment on the appointment of the communist MASLYUKOV as first vice-premier, Levinson replied, 'As distinct from CHERNOMYRDIN, the government of Maslyukov will not lobby for the interests of the Patriarchate. Things were quite different with the previous government: whenever they engaged in robbery, the Moscow Patriarchate stood first in line. The Russian Communist Party has cold relations with the Patriarchate. Of course the nationalistically inclined ZYUGANOV has connections with certain forces within the Moscow Patriarchate, but as a whole they are not allies.' (END)