A fire that destroyed a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the city of Saransk, Republic of Mordovia, east of Moscow, may have been started for reasons of religious prejudice, according to church sources in Moscow.
A fire that destroyed a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the city of Saransk, Republic of Mordovia, east of Moscow, may have been started for reasons of religious prejudice, according to church sources in Moscow.
On the evening of Feb. 4, Mordovia’s evening television news channel described Adventists as an untraditional sect. It was suggested that Adventists had received multiple warnings for fire safety violations in the past. Local Adventist leaders say no such warnings were ever received by the church.
Now the building is destroyed beyond repair, and members of the congregation are asking the fire truck took so long to arrive at the scene. Authorities say arson was the most likely cause of the fire (see ANN Feb. 4).
A night watchman at the church noticed the flames at 1 a.m. on Feb. 4. He escaped through a window and called the fire department, but the wooden roof had already collapsed in the blaze. After an initial inspection of the site, authorities concluded that arson was the most likely cause.
The Saransk church had been slightly damaged in another suspected arson attack in December. At that time, bottles containing flammable chemicals were thrown through several windows.
Adventist leaders in the region say they are concerned about the increasing violence directed against members of minority religions. In November the son of an Adventist pastor was knifed in the city of Nizhnekamsk, and in December a night guard was killed at an Adventist church in Cheboksary.
