In response to the death on Christmas Day of Fr. Gleb Yakunin, a Russian Orthodox priest and human rights activist for 50 years, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) released the following statement:
“Fr. Gleb was a courageous man – in the Soviet years, as one of the leaders of the brave and beleaguered Russian human rights movement, he risked his life in order to speak the truth. I am happy to have had him as a friend. I remember long hours spent in his apartment in Moscow, learning about the scope and methods of religious persecution in Russia – and how he was countering it and how we could support him. The last time I saw him was in Moscow in 2007–despite everything he had endured, he was cheerful and unbowed.
“Fr. Gleb cared passionately about human rights, justice, and the inviolability of conscience. This passion grew out of his profound faith. Ordained to the priesthood in 1962, already in 1965 Fr. Gleb and another priest sent an open letter to the Patriarch of Moscow, documenting the massive ongoing religious persecution in the Soviet Union, and pressing the Church to resist state control. In the 1970s he published several hundred articles and documents on religious persecution in the USSR. For this he was imprisoned, then sent to Perm Camp 37, a neighbor of Perm Camp 35, which retired Rep. Frank Wolf and I visited in 1989. Finally they sent him to a remote settlement in northern Siberia. His life changed with perestroika. From 1990-1995 he was a member of the Russian Duma, where he played a leading role in legislation promoting religious freedom. A man of profound Orthodox faith, Fr. Gleb fought for the religious freedom of Christians of all denominations, as well as for Jews and Muslims in Russia. He did not hesitate to denounce the collusion of Christians in the communist persecution. As a result of his insistence that collusion had to be exposed and repented, he was at odds with some bishops of his own church.
“I offer my condolences to his family and friends, especially to his wife, Iraida, and their three children. I hope that his example of courage and love of justice will inspire the younger generation of Russians.”
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