Recently, Moscow hosted the 32nd International Christmas Educational Readings. These Christmas meetings are not a theological conference, but a full-fledged church forum, like an economic one, held annually by the Russian Orthodox Church. This time it gathered several thousand participants, among whom were bishops, clergy, and laity from all over Russia. The event, including its plenary session, took place on January 24 in the State Kremlin Palace. The topic of this year’s readings is “Orthodoxy and national culture: losses and gains of the past, image of the future.”
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Gundyaev, delivered the main speech at the plenary session. The lion’s share of his address was devoted to state-church relations, in particular the support of the ROC of the Russian state, starting from the times of Kyivan Rus, Reverend Sergy of Radonezh, Minin and Pozharsky, and ending with the present time.
In his report, Gundyaev focused attention on paternalism and dissidence. As it becomes clear from the report, it is precisely between these two extremes that the Russian people have lived throughout their history. That is, between the time when the top leaders decide everything for them, and the dissidence that Gundyaev sees in criticism and complaints against these top leaders. “For centuries, Russian society has, as it were, balanced between the extremes of excessive paternalism, i.e. the patronage of the elders and the management of the elders, and stubborn dissidence, which is a reverse movement,” Kirill said.
In his opinion, the hope that a strong hand will restore order will lead to negative consequences. “Excessive paternalism with a longing for a strong state hand that will bring order to everything by itself, and the philosophy of “my house is the farthest” inevitably lead not only to the phenomena of extreme totalitarianism and the cult of personality, which are harmful to people’s lives, but also to socio-political and spiritual moral crisis,” Kirill explained. Gundyaev sees a way out of this crisis in “the revival of national self-awareness, a return to the understanding that the well-being of the country and people depends on the coordinated actions of each person.”
Later, Kirill criticized all those who disagreed with the policy of the top management both in the state and in the Church. In his opinion, such criticism is a manifestation of “passive paternalism”. Gundyaev believes that the “dissident phenomenon” arose “on the one hand, as a response to excessive paternalism in Russian public consciousness, and on the other hand, as a result of the undeniable influence of European liberal ideas” from the time of Peter I.
In general, Kirill sees these European ideas and values as a terrible threat to Russians, and he sees them as the cause of all their troubles in the past, such as the Bolshevik coup at the beginning of the 20th century. In confirmation of his words, Gundyaev cited a quote from Dostoevsky: “A Russian who has become a real European cannot help but become a real enemy of Russia at the same time.”
Gundyaev believes that “the spirit of struggle and rebellion characteristic of many lovers of European culture and Western values” is now active in those who try to “oppose themselves to public opinion, spiritual values and Orthodox tradition, to any – even the most balanced and well-founded – position of the state or church authority”.
Next, Kirill appealed to his followers not to criticize the Russian government. “As the Primate of the Russian Church, I appeal to all its faithful children: while maintaining the ability to objectively assess what is happening in our country, do not get involved in a false circle of criticism, which arose not because of real concern for the well-being of the Motherland and its citizens, but because of political ambitions of individual politicians or external influence,” the head of the Moscow Patriarchate urged.
All that the “faithful Russian Orthodox Church” should do is to work hard and pray for the government to make the right decisions. “One must perform one’s service with dignity, not forgetting to pray that the Lord gives more strength and wisdom to those who make important decisions,” explained Gundyaev.
Summarizing this part of the report, Kirill defined the main task for Russians and, in particular, the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, in his opinion, consists in preserving “loyalty to the native country, the desire to work for the benefit of the Motherland”… It is noteworthy that Kirill calls to maintain loyalty to Russia, and not to the Lord Jesus Christ, and not even the Holy Church. Agree, quite ironically, this comes from the mouths of those who accuse Ukraine and its Church of nationalism and the like.
It is not difficult to guess what is behind such a religious-political speech. All these extensive thoughts voiced by Kirill can be explained in just a few sentences: the people who never do anything good for their country, and are used to relying only on the tsar-father, are always to blame for all the troubles of Russia. That tsar-father and patriarch cannot be criticized for anything. If you criticize them, or want to live better, then you automatically become a public enemy, that is, a “foreign agent”, as it is now customary to say in Russia.
Gundyaev’s speech falls into the general logic. After all, the level of discontent with the current Kremlin policy is growing in Russia. A similar process is taking place in the Church, in which the number of opponents of its policies is also growing.
The war against Ukraine, which was unleashed by the Kremlin regime and blessed by the Russian Church, will sooner or later lead to an uprising both in the society and in the Church. Therefore, until this happened, Kirill took upon himself the responsibility of “cutting it down at the root.” However, Russian propaganda, which has been brainwashing Russians for so many years and turning them into zombie patriots, will do otherwise.
It is also noteworthy that such statements are being made on the eve of the upcoming presidential elections. In fact, Kirill contributed to the political campaign. It is quite easy and obvious who the agent Gundyaev was campaigning for. All the listeners of this political sermon will go home and “work hard” and pray for the tsar, randomly putting a candle for him, or a tick on the ballot.
Later in his report, Kirill called on his subordinates to work for the reduction of abortions, and also advised to prohibit the adoption of orphans from Russia by families from “unfriendly countries.” However, Gundyaev did not explain to which friendly countries such children could be sent. It is obvious that most of the countries that are friendly to Russia are those with a rather low standard of living or in which totalitarianism reigns. But will it be good for Russian children to live and grow up in such countries? The answer is obvious.
Later, Kirill complained about Europe a little more, and of course praised Russia. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the celebration of Valentine’s Day and Halloween in Russia. In addition, he asked the Ministry of Culture to show “good movies” that are screened at Christian film festivals. Kirill asked the Ministry of Education to vet textbooks for images incompatible with moral values.
Wrapping up his speech, Kirill complained about the current style of icon painting in Russia, according to which, “the images of the saints are more like anime characters than the saints of God, whose feat we honor and glorify in prayer.” In conclusion, Gundyaev wished that the “Voice of the Church would be a guide for everyone who considers themselves to be part of the great Russian culture, the source of which was and remains Orthodoxy.”
Source: Spiritual Front of Ukraine
