This letter is to inform you about a very difficult situation in the Moscow Study Group, Russia with which we ask for your help. We want to give you a forewarning of the serious negative consequences of the actions that the Moscow Board is about to make under intense pressure from Peter Duffy, who is the representative of Headquarters for Russia. First, we would like to provide you with some background information which we hope, will assist you in finding the right solution in this situation.

     In October 1997 a new law about religious organizations took effect in Russia. Amongst other restrictions the law stated that:

"the religious organizations that have not been legally registered for 15 years have no rights to:

- produce, buy, export, import and distribute religious literature, audio, video materials and other religious items;

- they cannot establish organizations that publish religious literature; - they cannot invite foreigners to conduct professional religious activity."

     To that point in time the Moscow Study Group had already published a few SU Press titles and registered in July 1997, the religious organization, "Lighthouse." In order to continue publishing the materials, conducting services and conducting teaching classes we had to close our newly born religious organization, "Lighthouse" and seek legal status to conduct our activities under a non-religious umbrella.

     Currently we have two organizations that achieve this aim of working within Russian law: 1) The commercial publishing house, "Longfellow" that has already published 35 titles of SU Press. 2) "The Center of the Spoken Word" that allows us to practice the Science of the Spoken Word (decree services) and conduct lectures and teaching classes. What we cannot do with these organizations is undertake any obviously religious activity that would indicate we are in fact, a religious organization hiding under a non-religious status. As soon as we will be labeled as a religious organization and therefore automatically considered under the 1997 religious law, then we will not be able to further publish and practice the Teachings which is the mission of the Summit Lighthouse Study Group of Moscow.

     Even with these two legal organizations in place, the Board of the Moscow Study Group has struggled through all the years of its existence to convince people that we are not religious. As soon as the people were sensing something religious about our activities we were getting attack.

1/ We have regularly been denied the opportunity to rent a venue for our activities. We can hardly find a venue to rent for 100 people to conduct our "loud" Saturday services. Each year the possible number of venues decrease to our current situation of almost zero. And when by a miracle we do find a venue, we are regularly kicked out because of the "religious smell" of our activities, even if they cannot prove that we are religious. Last year we were kicked out from a venue, with only 24 hours notice, even when we had prepaid for services one month in advance. Also last year, we were ejected from our publishing house office because they "smelled" the religious content of our publications.

2/ We been have been treated as a dangerous foreign religious cult whose intent is to "brainwash the people", "take their money to send it abroad" and\or "take people from the Russian Orthodox Church" that is the main official religion in Russia. The majority of Russians are still atheists. Most of the rest are members of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has an open policy of persecuting all other religions including Christians (and this is supported at the state level.) You may be surprised to know, but the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexy the Second, together with the state authorities, are currently not allowing even the Pope to enter Russia, or the Dalai Lama. What to say about other religious figures and activities? All of them are publicly proclaimed as anathema, including our beloved El Morya.

     You may well say, "What is the difference between Russia and USA? There are also plenty of people in America, who do not accept Morya and the Masters. Mother and CUT have also been through a lot of persecution". The difference is that we do not have the freedoms you have in USA. Unfortunately the Russian law will not defend us, it is against us (please refer to the attached copy of the U.S. State Department's 2002 summary of religious freedom in Russia for more details).

     If and when the authorities will find evidence that the activity of our two legal organizations (that are used as a cover for the Moscow Group) are tied to the foreign church (CUT), some people will be sitting in jail for breaking the laws of the country. These "some" are surely not many just the few people that are the heads of these organizations the key people and the most active people through whom God has worked all these years to build TSL in Moscow and Russia.

     The other consequence is that all of the operations of the Moscow Group will be closed no books, no services, no lectures and Teaching Classes, no KOF Fraternity. The members of the Board and the core active people of our group have had many personal experiences during the years the Moscow Group has been in existence (started in 1995, being chartered in December 1996), when we avoided destruction by the grace of God and by the ability to quickly learn the lessons about how to survive in an unfriendly environment.

     The destruction that we will face would not be just in the Moscow Group. It will affect all the Russian- speaking lands (the 15 former Soviet Republics that are now independent countries), because the people there receive books, KOF lessons and materials through their only available source: the Moscow Group. The Moscow Group is also the regional center where thousands of lightbearers in Russia and the former Soviet Republics have learned about the Teachings of the Ascended Masters, KOF Fraternity, received books, pictures, audio\video tapes, KOF lessons and other materials translated and produced in Moscow.

     They have also come to Moscow to learn how to decree, how to make an altar, how to form an unchartered and then a chartered Study Group. The Moscow Group is currently the headquarters where almost all the Russian-speaking Keepers and Study groups are getting answers to their questions on the Teachings, as well as counselling, when they have personal or group problems. We believe all of these activities that the Moscow Study Group is currently undertaking will be totally closed, if the worst case scenario occurs.

     Here are some clues on how we have managed to survive and successfully grow in Russia:

- We have founded the two above mentioned organizations that allow us to legally function under the current law to publish the Teachings and practice the Teachings;

- While speaking with officials we deny any tie to a church, including officials whom we rent venues from;

- We do not speak about the Church on our services, lectures, Teaching Classes. We tend even not to use the words CUT, sermon, tithing, service and other words that can make us sound as a religious organization. Instead we speak about the "Teachings", "Study Group", the "Science", the "Cosmic Laws", "decree session", "our organization" etc.

- We do not have tithing and dues

- We hardly advertise our activities (i.e. decree sessions, lectures, teaching classes).

     We want to state that each service that we have here in Moscow is a gift from God, a blessing from God and a miracle from God. The miracle is that it is happening - happening despite the Russian laws. And we are eternally grateful for every single service that we are able to have here, as we understand that we can lose this opportunity at any day. The same can be said about each lecture, each Teaching Class, each book etc.

     We have to fight for the physical survival of the Moscow group every day. Why? Because we are on the edge of breaking our country's laws, by the very fact of our existence here in Russia.

     Along the years, we have many times reported to RHQ about the situation we have described in this letter. We understand that Americans have very little understanding about life in our country, which is so different from their land of freedom. Our country is one that has recently spent 70 years under the communists, who are still the biggest political party in the Russian State Duma and thus influence the Russian Law system and consciousness of people. There are also many ex-KGB leaders who are now running the country, including the President. On most occasions we have received understanding and support from RHQ that we are very grateful for.

     The situation is somewhat different with Peter Duffy, who volunteered to be a representative of headquarters for Russia in 2001. On many occasions after getting the information from the President or the Board of the Moscow Group, he thanks us for the explanation, expresses his understanding of the issues we are speaking about and then without any further comment demands the Group to undertake actions that could potentially lead to its destruction.

     Here are the facts of what has happened, just in this year.

     In February, the President of the Moscow Group, Ketino L. visited the Ranch. She met with Peter Duffy and explained in details the current situation, mentioning that we had been kicked out of our venues on three occasions during 2002 and explained why the Group is not able to invite Peter Duffy or any other ministers to the Teaching Classes or any other events.

     On March 12, 2003 Peter Duffy wrote to the Moscow Study Group Board an e-mail informing us about the SU Classes that he and Neroli Duffy were planning to hold in Southern Russia (Tuapse) and Ukraine. He also wrote: "Since Ketino during her recent visit here said that you would not be able to invite any ministers to visit Moscow, we have not scheduled any time in Moscow on this trip. We do understand the issues you are dealing with, and we hope that this will change in the future. We are praying for the divine solution for this entire situation." He said that they plan to arrive in Moscow on September 1 and travel to Tuapse the same day:

"The schedule we have for this at present is:

- August 30 - Travel from Bozeman to Moscow
- September 1 - Arrive Moscow, travel to Tuapse
- Sept 2 - Setup"

     On July 12 he sent the Board another e-mail, stating that "as well as Neroli and myself, Kate Gordon, Linda Worobec, Benuard Krupnik and possibly Tina Storti will also be coming for this visit" and he added that, "We also look forward to meeting briefly with you and the Moscow group on our way through Moscow to Tuapse."

     On July 20 he wrote to the Board saying, "We will be arriving in Moscow on August 28 and leaving for Tuapse on September 1." So you can see that the plans of the SU team were changed to a 4-day visit in apparent contradiction with his previous statement made on March 12, "We have not scheduled any time in Moscow on this trip. We do understand the issues you are dealing with."

     On July 21 our Board responded to this new situation. We wrote to Peter saying:

"We are a little bit surprised that you plan to stay in Moscow for 4 days. There are some things we feel are important for you to consider in finalizing your plans and we think our initial letter requires some more detail in light of your extended stay.

First of all we want to reaffirm that our board is happy to meet with you here in Moscow on your way to Tuapse. But we will have to contemplate many things if a wider group of people were to meet you.

As you know, we are functioning here as an "underground" organization. In order for us to rent a venue for our events we must present ourselves as a non-religious organization. We have official status as a "Center of the Spoken Word" which legally allows us to practice and study the science of the spoken word, and to give lectures on different teachings. What it does not allow us to do is to speak on or promote the Summit Lighthouse, Keepers of the Flame Fraternity, Church Universal and Triumphant or anything that gives an impression of a foreign religious cult. We even avoid saying such names during our events. This approach has proved to be the only way for our group to function and to grow through the years. Even with such cautiousness we are barely able to hold the balance for the group and it's activities.

We rent, for a few hours a week, a big room that can seat up to 200 people. Our doors are open to anyone who wishes to attend, and every week we see amongst our large audience some new faces that we don't know. It has proved impossible for us to check the people coming. On the other hand, it is enough for us to have one single person in the audience with evil intent, to compromise our security. For example, any family member of our Keepers who are unhappy with our activity or with their spouse's attendance could be such a person.

The bigger we grow, the more books we publish, the more materials produced, the more difficult it is to hold the balance. Last year we lost our main venue twice and also our customer service office. We had not done anything particularly religious but we still gave an impression of religion. The directors of the venues were frightened that the authorities would come and view us as a dangerous foreign religious cult and cause problems not just for our Group, but also for themselves.

As an example, the director of our current venue was personally threatened by a group of people who saw our services and didn't like them. Last October, Marina F., President of the group at the time, was summoned to a meeting with the director of the club and the lawyers who represented that group of people. These lawyers threatened both Marina and the director, saying they "would watch our activities and at the most inappropriate moment the authorities would come, and would even find on the premises drugs and guns". We would have to prove then, that we were not a "dangerous religious cult allied to terrorist and criminal activities". This is a practice we are aware has manifested on regular occasions to other so-called "undesirable" organizations. The lawyers also made it clear that it would be easy for them to record our activities to prove that we were a "totalitarian religious cult". Unfortunately Russian law does not defend us. Following this attack we have had to become even more cautious than previously.

We believe that the biggest risk we can face is when it is plainly obvious that we are performing a religious function, or religious representatives from a foreign church are present at our venue. If a serious incident happens at an event, or any speeches pertaining to church activities will be recorded, this can be used as the means to totally shut down the whole operation of the Moscow Group, including the publishing and distribution of books, materials and Keepers of the Flame lessons, as well as regular services, conferences and teaching classes.

We would therefore like to suggest some possibilities if you would like to meet with not just the Board members but also other Keepers. For example you could meet people from our group in the relative safety of a park or forest, or speak to people while sightseeing or visit people in their homes, or have them visit you in your hotel.

We would appreciate it if you would take into consideration our difficult situation here in Moscow, when making your plans.

God bless you and thank you for your charitable understanding!"

     In a letter to the Board on July 22, Peter wrote: "Thank you for this explanation. We will certainly take this into account in planning our time in Moscow. It is good for us to understand your situation."

     In his next letter on August 8 he gave us the schedule of the meetings that the SU team plan for Moscow. This includes two meetings with the Board, "We would like to meet with you as the Moscow Board on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning from 10-1." It also includes three meetings with the Moscow Keepers of the Flame:

" - Friday evening, August 29th, 6-9pm - Community Meeting for Keepers of the Flame from Moscow

- Saturday afternoon, August 30th, 3:30-6:30pm - Saint Germain Service, led by decree leaders from Montana

- Meeting on Sunday, time to be announced."

     He also mentioned that "the only time when sacraments could be fit in the schedule would be on Sunday", but also said, "We are not planning to hold any sacraments at these meetings unless you are in agreement that it would be safe to do so." We cannot honestly believe that Peter would keep his word about refraining from holding sacraments as his word has been so devalued by the changes in plan that he has announced in all the previous letters. He further wrote: "We definitely want to hold these meetings as scheduled, and we are asking you to make the necessary arrangements for the venues. If you are unable or unwilling to make the arrangements, then we will work with others in the community to arrange venues and other details." This does not look like the attitude of a person who wishes to listen to the opinion of the Board of the Moscow Group and take into consideration their genuine concerns.

     In this letter, received on Friday afternoon Moscow time, Peter asked us to announce these meetings the next day, "We are asking you to also make this announcement at your services this weekend." When we responded that we needed a Board meeting to discuss this, Peter replied on Saturday morning, "Please make the announcement in any case at the services this weekend." On Saturday, one Keeper of the Flame in Moscow, not on the Board, distributed the Invitation amongst some of the Keepers of the Flame at our services.

     It is totally clear to us that Peter Duffy wants these meetings with the Moscow Keepers of the Flame regardless of ANY objections by the Moscow Study Group Board and is prepared to involve Keepers of the Flame not on the Board, in order to manifest these plans even if these plans cause considerable harm to the current leaders of the Group, or the activities of the Moscow Group as a whole.

     We can guess that Peter Duffy had communicated with some Keepers in the Moscow group who assured him that there is not any harm in inviting the ministers to the Moscow group. Why are there some people, who have so different opinions from the one you hear from the Board?

     We firmly believe that it is because the people Peter spoke to are IGNORANT. They come to services, lectures, Teaching Classes, receive books, KOF lessons and other materials and everything is there for them, prepared by the Board members and other Group members who are actively involved in the group's activities. All of this is taken for granted by many Keepers, who have chosen not to be involved in the process of making things happen in the Group and it is very easy for them to believe that all of God's gifts come easily.

     The people we believe Peter has chosen to listen to are those, who have not actively negotiated a rental agreement for a venue, even for one single decree service of the Moscow Study Group and just do not know what it takes to do this. They do not know what it really takes to hold the balance for the Group's activities, to run the publishing, to hold teaching classes. They just speak a lot about their "beautiful rosy ideas", which are so far from the reality we are facing.

     We are well aware that there are people in the group that are "blinded by their desire" to have "everything, like in Montana", including the Church, the permanent building for the Church, the property with people living in a community, etc. It is quite possible that a manifestation of such desires today would be an outplaying of the one of the strategies of the fallen ones: to take an idea that is actually a good one and that is dear to the hearts of lightbearers, and to push them to manifest it at the wrong time and in a wrong place. The dark forces whisper into their ear, playing on their pride: "Do you have fear to create what is good, here and now? God will surely save you, go and do it".

     We can only remind Peter and any person, who does not want to look at the current reality of time and space, that three of the most powerful souls, when they were in embodiment together Mother Mary, Saint Germain and Jesus did not proclaim that they "fear nothing". And though the whole Hierarchy was standing behind them, they did not IGNORE the situation of that particular time and space, and instead fled to Egypt and thus saved Jesus for his mission. The Board also feels the responsibility to save the Moscow Group for its mission and not take steps that are untimely by IGNORING the current laws of the country.

     You may well ask: "What is the difference between Moscow and Tuapse? Why is it possible to hold the SU Class in Tuapse and not possible to have the same in Moscow?" The answer is very simple. There is very little to lose in Tuapse, if the event will not be successful. There is a very small group of about five Keepers in this city. They don't run an official organization, they don't conduct publishing etc. In a worst case scenario, if the officials will find out about the religious content of the event, then the SU Class (or a part of it) will be cancelled, the people will go to the beach and have their vacation and the ministers can potentially be deported from the country. Those who organize the event will probably deny the existence of any legal organization, group or structure which is very easy to say when you don't have one. When we speak about the Moscow Group with it's huge legal operation, which we can neither hide nor deny, the situation is very different. And those who run this legal operation, fulfilling the needs of Moscow Group and the Russian-speaking lands, will be the main ones who will be persecuted for not fulfilling the laws of the country.

     Here are the possible scenarios and probable consequences of the actions that we could make under the pressure of Peter Duffy:

Scenario 1: We arrange the meetings with the group that Peter Duffy has requested.

In this case there is the definite risk that at least one of the 150 people who will attend the meeting will have an evil intent and make a recording of the "most interesting" parts of the meeting: when four ministers of the foreign church present their plans, when the people ask the ministers questions on religious topics, when the people ask the ministers for (if not demand) baptisms, weddings, blessings etc. We have no doubt that it will be impossible to control the situation and close the mouths of so many people, when many of them have a strong desire to receive a blessing, or be baptized (or for their family members not in the teachings to be baptized) or receive from the minister an answer on religious issues.

We have already described the probable end in this case: the questioning of the leadership of the Moscow Study Group, the pronouncement that we are an illegal religious organization, the total liquidation of the Moscow Group and its activities, plus potentially a few people sitting in jail.

The Board has discussed this scenario and is saying: We are not "suicidal!" We are not going to commit "suicide" because of the IGNORANCE of Peter Duffy, who is IGNORING the Laws of our country himself and is demanding us to do the same. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The Board would like to see the article in the Bylaws of the Summit Lighthouse that says that THE BOARD HAS TO FULFILL THE REQUESTS OF HEADQUARTERS, EVEN IF THIS MEANS BREAKING THE LAWS OF THE LAND.

Scenario 2: We announce the meetings but do not arrange them.

We announce the meetings with the Ministers of the Church that Peter Duffy has requested. We actually have no ability to avoid speaking about it, as Peter has already sent an announcement to Keepers in the Moscow Group.

We will also explain why the Board has no desire to commit "suicide" and thus will not be organizing the scheduled meetings. We will say that, the people who want the meeting to take place are free to organize it themselves.

This announcement of a meeting, not organized by the Moscow Study Group Board, will cause the DIVISION of the Moscow Group right away. One part of the group will follow their desires, the others will follow what we strongly affirm is common sense.

We can easily imagine that Peter Duffy will soon advise the Summit Lighthouse leadership to change the Board of the Moscow Group as a "disobedient board". We expect that the new "obedient" Board will make mistakes that will further lead to the final DESTRUCTION of what is the Moscow Group and its activities today.

Why are we so sure of that? Because we have not found a SINGLE PERSON, who is an active member of the Group, who has had personal experience of searching for venues, speaking with authorities, organizing and manifesting the group's activities, who is willing to follow the request outlined by Peter. Therefore only those people whom we believe have LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE in running the Moscow Group's activities and manifesting their ideas into physical reality will form that "obedient" Board. Guess what will happen with the huge operation (almost as big as what you have at headquarters in terms of publishing, services, conferences and teaching classes) if the DOERS are taken away in an hour and everything is given to the new and inexperienced people?

If the leadership of this organization along with Peter Duffy, does not believe the warnings in this letter, there is a good way to be quickly illumined about the situation in Russia. We propose the members of SU team coming to Russia, experience first hand what it means for a religious figure to have to deal with Russian authorities. You may wish to say the truth about your status as ministers of the Church and your planned activities, when you enter Russia at Moscow Airport. You will see the results for yourselves.

We understand that you have not said the truth while filling in your visa papers, as you knew that you would be denied a visa if you declared the truth. You hope to further keep in secret your true status and intents as ministers in Russia. We have much less hope here, when we speak about the huge legal operation of the Moscow Group, with hundreds of people in attendance at our events. You do have a place to return to you will be deported back to your "freedom land." What about the people, who serve El Morya here in Russia? Where will they go? Please consider this.

     As you can see, both scenario 1 and 2 have a big potential of leading to division and destruction of the group. We ask you to consider scenario 3, which respects the decision of the Moscow Board to not be involved in activities that encourage the breaking of Russian laws, causes the division of our group, the potential prosecution of our leaders and liquidation of our group by Russian authorities.

Scenario 3: Cancellation of all meetings involving the entire Moscow Study Group.

The leadership of our organization cancels the plans for meeting the entire Moscow group previously stated in Peter Duffy's letters. This will prevent the physical dividing of the group. A constructive dialogue with the Board could begin, showing respect for the concerns we have aired. If the SU team wishes to talk to Moscow people then small-scale meetings could be arranged that do not involve the entire group coming together as a whole, and putting our whole operation at risk. Can we not find a solution together that both the Moscow Board and the SU team are happy with? You will also have a chance to speak to Moscow Keepers in Tuapse.

     If the SU leadership, together with people who hold different opinions than ours on security issues, are planning to create a Church in Russia with the presence of ministers, sacraments etc, then we would like to propose that they TRY to manifest their ideas ON THEIR OWN without involving the Moscow Study Group and it's Board, and putting the whole operation at risk. In this case, if mistakes are made then there is some possibility it will not destroy what is already functioning successfully under Longfellow and the Centre of the Spoken Word. This will allow both approaches to be tested. We have already shown by our fruits that our approach is successful for achieving the purpose of publishing and practising the teachings, which is the mission of our Study Group. Our experience has showed that if we add the goal of creating a church we will not be able to publish and practise the teachings.

     We would like to propose that those who think differently, PROVE that they can survive and prosper. If such an organization will be able to survive and show by their FRUITS (not by WORDS only) their success, then the Moscow Group will happily join them later. We reaffirm that we support the presence of Summit University in Tuapse and Dnepropetrovsk and have been giving these events logistical and prayer support in our group.

     We are not aware if the information that Peter has presented to other members of the SU team coming to Russia, contains our concerns. Now we hope, that all members of the SU team, as well as the whole leadership of our organization, can make a decision about the next steps to be taken in Russia.

     The Board of the Group feels that the current deeds of Peter Duffy, in not wishing to hold constructive dialogue with our Board, serve neither the Moscow Group, nor the cause or plans of the Brotherhood in Russia. We do not think he can serve any more as the Representative of Headquarters for Russia. "Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does."

     We would like to bring some comfort and hope. Before the early nineties it was not even possible to print a booklet on religious themes here. We would be sitting in prison somewhere in Siberia for such a thing. Now, just ten years later, we have about 35 SU Press titles published, KOF Fraternity, thousands of people studying the Teachings of Ascended Masters, dozens of study groups all over the Russian speaking lands. We are praying for further legislative changes in Russia that will enable us in future to have ministers here without risk for the group's activities.

     We look forward to hearing the response from you on the urgent issues raised in this letter, because on this Saturday, 16 August, an announcement will have to be made to our Group concerning Peter Duffy's requests.

Servants of El Morya,

The Board of the Summit Lighthouse Study Group of Moscow, Russia.

(In favour of sending this letter: Ketino L, Margarita D, Sergey S, Nina K, Stuart M. Against: Konstantin A.)

"I send mighty and direct light waves to the heart of Moscow, to the heart of every city where Keepers of the Flame are truly keeping the flame. I am your Mother and I promise you that as you work with me week after week and month after month you will see change in your life and in your country. You will see change in the former Soviet Union. And when you see that change, you will know that in part you have been the instrument of that change. But be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Be wise, beloved ones, be wise. For you never know who is looking over your shoulder."

Quote from Mother Mary;
Pearls of Wisdom Vol. 40 No. 26 June 29, 1997 (Dictation given August, 17, 1997)