Luxury against the backdrop of poverty and self-interest instead of spirituality: what Patriarch Kirill turned the Russian Orthodox Church into
Who owns the vast property of the Orthodox Church? How much does an ordinary parish priest regularly unfasten to the top and for what do you have to pay extra? What is the ratio of honest clergy to money-grubbers? How does a business solve problems with criminals and law enforcement officers with the help of donations? What unpleasant secrets is the church forced to hide through strict censorship? The current rector of one of the Orthodox churches spoke in an interview with PASM about how the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill became an appendage of the state, copying all its vices from the secular government.
Church censorship and scandalous revelations
What's happening to the church?
We have an internal directive. If I, or someone else, throws something into space now, they will be banned from serving. Once - for a year, the second - for a period of three years, the third time - forever. That's how Father Sergius Romanov . There is such a directive - right on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate. Resolution of the Holy Synod signed by the Patriarch. Although this innovation is illegal - against church rules.
Almost like the press service for officials - a ban on commenting without approval?
Yes, but this is even worse. I am a priest who is obliged to preach something to the people from the pulpit. And from this pulpit I can only say what I am blessed to say, and I have no right to give any insights into the public or media space...
What could be the reason for this ban?
His Holiness was completely defeated in the media space by throwing out such church documents and circulars; he is trying to impose censorship so that there is no internal discrediting of the church, although this is contrary to church canons. These scandals make him nervous.
What were the biggest scandals?
The famous watch on the patriarch’s hand, airplanes, the Pallada yacht, Mercedes Pullman, an apartment from Luzhkov in the House on the Embankment, at Serafimovicha, 2, where the sisters live. This speaks of a desire for a luxurious life, which in my opinion is unacceptable, since Jesus himself rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and not on a stallion.
Kuraev Andrey is a protodeacon who prepared analytics and documents for the speech of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy . He has his own blog, LiveJournal. And he’s there about pederasty in the church, pulling out all these circulars. He has now been banned from ministry and is threatened with excommunication.
Vsevolod Chaplin in our press service , who literally said all these things - “The Best Muslim Woman.” He had already died, but when he was removed from this position, he began to spread inside information about His Holiness.
Was he telling the truth? Or discredited, took revenge?
Kuraev has excesses in LiveJournal, like any normal person. It is a little subjective, but there is enough objectivity. This is how they position themselves - as fighters against evil, but there are such things when, I think, they have completely gone too far.
For example, we have one extreme - anti-INNs, who believe so much that they refuse the orders that are actively imposed by the church and secular administration, deny measures to prevent covid. They are also called anti-globalists, but this is a mild form. All these church-money relations, affiliation with politics, with secular power led them to the conclusion that if you are just a priest, then you are already in complete denial. Just like if you are an official, therefore you are a corrupt official, a bribe-taker, and there is also complete negativity towards you. The church, having merged with secular power, has become, in fact, a real department of religious purposes...
Secular billions and extortions from the poor
So, in essence, the church has now merged with the state?
Yes, church dash state. This is all government assistance, church petitions. You won’t discover anything new, because everything is written and criticized everywhere. For example, state structures allocate billions to His Holiness for the maintenance of his personal residences, for example, in Peredelkino, in Divnogorsk, in St. Petersburg they are building, in Chisty Lane, not only for the restoration of churches, but for some other projects. For example, Vladimir Vladimirovich at least 10 yards (I don’t remember exactly, I need to clarify the figure) to Tikhon Shevkunov for his project “Russia is my history,” a huge pavilion with a historical panorama at VDNKh. Tikhon Shevkunov is the Metropolitan of Pskov, he is considered the confessor of Vladimir Vladimirovich, Vladimir Vladimirovich is friends with him, goes to see him.
But it’s good when money is allocated on faith. The question is - how is it all spent?
Look how interesting everything turns out. For example: the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller , met with His Holiness, talked and immediately found or appointed a fund, and taxpayers’ money began flowing in for reconstruction, construction, maintenance of a residence in Peredelkino or another, and there, as a rule, everything has already been done a long time ago.
Dmitry Anatolyevich talked with His Holiness - the residence in Peredelkino has been cut up with additional land, I don’t know how many hectares, but there’s a lot of it and they’ve made a secret monastery - the monastery of Alexander Nevsky. He’s sitting there now, hiding from Covid. An apartment in the “house on the embankment”, where there was nanodust, there was a very famous scandal, was also allocated to him by the Moscow government, instead of or in addition to the house in Serebryany Bor, when he was still a metropolitan. Now I don’t know who lives there, but my sister lived like that.
How did the church change under Kirill?
Here it is the same as with the people - a disconnect has occurred: the bureaucracy - the metropolitans and bishops who lead the regions - have become separated from the priests. But the fact is that, according to the Charter, the patriarch now owns everything. Bishops have powers of attorney for ownership, just like estates. If you look at any church document for any church, we all act on the basis of a power of attorney, and the beneficiary is ultimately the Holy One.
Here's how it's done: there is a priest, he has a temple, the community brings money there, the priest collects it and keeps some of it for himself, and sends some up. It always comes from the bottom up; the fact that they are giving something away to someone is complete nonsense.
A classic example: an absolutely merciless village, about 400 inhabitants, a huge destroyed ancient temple, as a rule, an architectural monument, to restore it - crazy millions are needed just for design, not to mention restoration. But, nevertheless, the priest has a tax. Firstly, 5 thousand must be paid to the metropolis, another 5 thousand must be given to the dean, but on average this is 20 - 50 thousand rubles per month. But such amounts in villages where there is nothing at all, often there is no temple as such.
Is this an official tax? Is it set by some internal document?
You won't find anything in internal church documents. At most, they will give you a receipt from the diocese for what you contributed, but this receipt is not taken into account anywhere - the church is separated from the state by the Charter.
Candle monopoly and tax on creativity
Or they sell candles - 100 rubles, 50, 20. It turns out like a store, but they don’t give you a receipt.
They will tell you that this is not a cost, but a donation. But you won’t take anything for free—the donation is involuntary.
How is the system built? There is a factory in Sofrino, where they produce several hundred tons of these candles. In general, each region tried to start its own factory, but now His Holiness needs money, and through internal church documents he obliged everyone to report whether they have production or not. Supposedly this is being done so that there is understanding, but in reality now all this will be banned and closed.
We have a command-administrative implementation: His Holiness loads the metropolis - it must take 50 tons of candles, and the metropolis adds the same price, and they force them to take priests. And the priests gather with the dean, where they receive instructions on where and how much they will cost: this costs 100 rubles 50 , the requirements - this one costs fifteen hundred, this two, these three, this four. Why is this being done? This is regulation and the priest cannot challenge these prices. He can only take candles and church utensils, and this is another hidden tax - goods must only be taken from the metropolitan’s warehouse. This is another form of income, since everything in this warehouse is also of His Holiness.
Previously, the founder and former director of Sofrino, Evgeniy Parkhaev, did not bother, but the current one, Lord Mercury , ordered the issue of trading everything to be considered. If earlier it was only a church product, now they want to sell Korean cosmetics - such a hidden affiliate network... Dumplings, coffee and donuts, it goes so far that the deacons make sushi and rolls. There is already monastery oil and soap, although there is practically nothing left of the monastery there, everything is imported. It turns out that everything is in the hands of the patriarch, everything comes from him. Candles, icons, utensils - this is all “Sofrino” or China under “Sofrino”.
That is, there cannot be small and medium-sized businesses there? For example, would a craftsman want to display his goods there?
This is possible: you come to church, show it to the priest, he says “cool,” you put it in the church shop, give it to him there if it sells. But he will have to pay up for this so that such liberties are allowed. The shop already pays, but if the product is not entirely blessed... Now Mercury has begun modernization: if something like this appears, the priest must pay for it - an additional tax on creativity.
The main thing is that everything should fly off as it should, that’s what they ask for mercilessly. If the priest does not pay what is assigned to him, he is removed and an inspector is placed in his place. If income has dropped, he looks at why: for example, the abbot offended everyone and they left him, or vice versa. The priest is replaced, and if they see that he has concealed God’s blessings, he is banned from serving for non-payment of church taxes, for ignoring church norms.
Expensive popularity and a dacha for the bishop
And who is watching this?
Bishop and Church Council. It usually includes deans, heads of departments and people closest to the bishop. A vicious practice was created here, which practically became a system. Those who are creative, with their own opinion, with their own ambition - they don’t like them. But, as a rule, there are a lot of people around him. Therefore, they begin to put pressure: there are a lot of people, so there must be income - they raise taxes, supposedly for the benefit of the church.
And the “creative” ones go for it, because if you want to be in good standing with the bishop, you rise up yourself. As a talented businessman, you are promoted to dean, you look after the region, the district. What a smart dean does is impose additional fees on the fictitious functions of his assistants, lawyers, for example, in the field of education, and terrorize those priests who do not want to pay. And the priests begin to spin like a squirrel in a wheel - if you want to have some benefits, then you begin to build a relationship with the dean on additional services and payments.
For example, priests who organize general church events in the area, in the region, at their own expense, are in good standing. Or a bishop has come, he needs to chip in for a dacha house, for a name-day gift, for an ordination, for a birthday, or, for example, for a table. Some people go out and wrap delicious jars, carry cottage cheese and sour cream - but these are monasteries, as a rule. And so - the church council actually meets, the deans meet and decide what the parishes will specifically load - three, five, ten thousand . If you do the math, it turns out that the same amount is spent on “left” taxes as on direct taxes, or one and a half times more.
A bishop or metropolitan comes to a parish or deanery - this is an additional fee. If the rector wants to invite the bishop to the church, he definitely needs a good table, everyone who came with him must also be given money - they worked hard and came. The bishop comes and, as a rule, they give some kind of pendants - church awards. But now the patriarch has somehow ranked them: the priest must three million in order to receive this church award.
It’s just that not everyone is chasing these awards, some go after children - Sunday schools, art, crafts, specialists are invited, general events are held. All this requires money, but if the priest organizes it at his own expense, then he is in good standing. After all, they not only pay taxes, they are well-known - they need to be supported.
Kickbacks from donations and church decisions
Candles, prayers, donations - what else do the churches make money from?
There are a million ways. Weddings, christenings - everything goes away legally: you keep some for yourself, the rest flies away. This is all such a small thing that is officially shown to everyone everywhere. This is not even enough to maintain the temple - electricity, cleaning, taxes, etc. You need to build something - this is a huge amount of money. You will never do anything with grandma’s chervonets, candles and baptisms, these are meager amounts. But they are meager for a particular church, and not on a national scale - His Holiness is doing well in this sense.
All the main money comes from benefactors. These are wealthy people who really give. There are many of them in cities, but none in village churches. But they still collect from them, the enthusiasts there are merciless priests, the church rests on them.
Let's return to the rich believers, benefactors, where does the money go from them?
According to the Charter, I do not have the right to disclose my benefactors, this is based on the phrase said by Jesus Christ: “When you do a good deed, your right hand should not know what your left hand is doing.” Even if the FSB takes me in and asks who gave it, I can legally answer: “Sorry, I won’t talk about it.” And everything is based on this.
So I gave a donation of 5 million to the priest, and then how is it distributed?
It happens in different ways. For example, you gave five million and told the bishop that you gave. And then the bishop will ask the priest where he is taking them. In theory, this money should go to the church, to the maintenance of the community, to reconstruction, to some kind of event. Reasonable priests report to the benefactor for this money, although they should not. Because - well, who else will bring it to you if you go and buy yourself a car.
But he didn’t report to his superiors—that’s what bishops usually hunt for, and that’s what priests are caught doing. The dean sees that one of the furry benefactors is visiting you, and he himself begins to visit you. And then you have two options - either you immediately share with the bishop, or you begin to close questions with the dean, and he covers you. The dean has 10-15 priests who have already given him a hundred thousand , and everything is fine with him.
You just create a circle of people, usually not many of them, who help you. Accordingly, you help them too. This is the arrival, everything else doesn’t matter anymore, really.
Most of the gatherings are in the regional centers, but there is also a struggle for places in the regional centers. There the priest will one way or another communicate with organizations that work there for one simple reason: they need to do something in the region. If a person helps me well, and he has a problem - I need to sign a paper on the land, criminal elements are persecuting me, or, conversely, the inspection authorities are attacking me, then I go to my bishop, and he, through the governor or law enforcement officers, will close this problem and help like no one else can the other one won't help.
Officials decide everything everywhere, but with them, if you work in some department, you will never see Putin, right? The regions are under the governor and the regional government, the regional government is under the federal government. In order for the governor to get to Putin, I don’t know what needs to be done. There are no governors who freely come to Putin.
With us, everything is very simple: a priest from the region goes to the bishop, the bishop to His Holiness, the Holiness to Putin, the lifting is much steeper, due to which the church has stood so far.
Requests for Putin and FSB control
Does Putin still receive His Holiness?
Now no, but before - yes. This all worked before - under Alexy, now Kirill has diminished, Putin has no time for him. Although I received him recently, they talked about allocating funds to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. There were 4-5 more questions that were not included in the camera, which Patriarch Kirill asked the officials to do, but they did everything - for example, they removed and arrested the former schema-monk Nikolai Romanov, and put out the scandal with Ignatius.
In our church there were constant movements of some kind... The FSB is very clearly watching this, I see FSB officers more often than you. What one fool with a belt can do, a company of soldiers cannot do, they are all fanatics, and therefore dangerous. Muslims are even tougher, but Kadyrov is watching over this, he controls the Muslim world, he controls every Muslim. They talk whatever they want, but if you ask him the right question, they will immediately take him where he needs to go and talk, that’s what happened. If they are naughty, but if it ends up somewhere, Kadyrov corrects them there. Due to this, Kadyrov was inundated with money - all of Chechnya and himself. We do not have the same order as Kadyrov. 36 million people in the country don’t drink, don’t take drugs, and that’s it, they are very strict, the guys are obedient. I would like it to be the same with the Orthodox, but His Holiness has been making terrible mistakes lately, he is not allowing the Orthodox to organize, and the Cossacks have been defamed in general.
Previously, there was Diomede - an anti-globalist, anti-INN, and around him there were a very large number of church believers who could be called fanatics, they supported his ideas, etc. The temples were taken away from them - they went to the brownies. His Holiness personally appealed to Vladimir Vladimirovich to have Diomede tied up. But this is an old story...
They worked with him very competently, he is now nowhere to be seen or heard. The temples were taken away from him, but how? He restored a lot of churches in the Khabarovsk Territory. It was impossible to take him away - the people know him, he is a bishop. They brought relics, shrines... Which temple will be closed in front of the shrines? They opened it. Everything there is arranged in a cunning way - they place shrines in the temple, and a guardian must always be near the shrines. At night, they, accordingly, remain at the shrine. They left the keys for them to go to the toilet or somewhere else. During the night the locks were changed, people came - the abbot was no longer there. This is exactly the kind of special operation that was carried out.
Now there are a lot of priests who specifically denounce His Holiness and his closest employees, so they are automatically banned. Here is Kuraev, who talks about these pederasts everywhere, they tolerated him, they tolerated him, they tried to ignore him... But he got to the very mentor of His Holiness - Nikodim Rotov (he also had this sin - “Nicodemus’ sin”, the so-called), he simply said , that one should think twice about such a teacher, and he was removed from everywhere - from the Theological Academy, from all posts. Our church has always tried to hush it up, not pay attention, but he continued to write, he simply mocked the vices of the hierarchy: some bishop did something naughty, and he was right there in his journal. He has a huge cloud of insiders, we now have an Internet space, everything is fast - he sinned in the evening, in the morning Kuraev already wrote about it.
But sometimes it’s the other way around, it gets really creepy. Our exarch of Belarus, Metropolitan Pavel, misbehaved there, he was removed, a local was installed, and this one was transferred to the Krasnodar region, and there are big priests there... He began to try to raise taxes, discipline, something else, and immediately about him in all telegram channels wrote. They began to hunt him down, began to discredit him, and began to invent that he kissed the abbess on the seashore - this is very romantic. The bishop and the abbess, and at such and such an age!
This transparency and openness of personal life began to frighten the hierarchy, because everything that spreads like this becomes known very, very quickly. Well, how can you go too far here? I’ll just tell you: take the bishop’s salary sheet - 30 thousand , it’s just ridiculous. His outfit costs tens, if not hundreds of times more than this salary, business trips and trips. That is, all sorts of flows begin to flow into the bishop’s maintenance, which are not advertised anywhere.
The cowardly patriarch and the money lubricant
What if you work well, have good sales, have restored a temple, and become popular?
If you receive an additional architectural monument, you already have an established income there, so you must restore another one that was mercilessly killed. As a rule, they don’t refuse this, because all the same, when you restore a temple, there are fewer questions for you - as long as you restore it. And if everything is fine with you, and you drive a Mercedes...
Are there many priests who live beyond their means? A nice house, a car, a business?
Only furry ones start a business - those close to the bishop, they are allowed. But they are just like officials: they start a business for their daughters, for someone else, for themselves - no one.
What's going on with the patriarch? These scandals, revelations - expensive planes, cars, estates. Is this how it should be for a patriarch?
You know, how many patriarchs I know or have read about them, who lived in all this, not one became famous. The current one is really a coward, that’s why there’s a mess going on all around. Any normal Orthodox person strives to meet God and does not cling to this earthly life, but this same person takes unprecedented measures to protect his health.
For example, here are the reforms of religious education. He collected power under himself in a very centralized manner. At the same time, the affiliation with the West has become unprecedented: we are “unwashed,” so Catholics teach us religion. They try to send young people there - there is a Catholic university in Paris, careerists from the priesthood study there. The bishops who were more or less close to him went through Western institutions and work. Orthodoxy does not just bend, it is sewn to a rotten body - there is such a torture: a healthy person is tied to a dead one.
This is a big problem - there is a spiritual crisis in the Catholic Church. The Pope, with these scandals - blueness, a lot of all sorts of disgrace, gathered a synclite - a council of learned men, cardinals - and said: we need to develop new trends. And one abbot - Jochen Bunge - he was the leading ideologist of the Catholic Church, said: I will try to model the future model of the Catholic Church, and began to travel. He came to us, stayed in Moscow, was disappointed, they have all this, then they took him to the Anzersky monastery on Valaam, he talked with the schema-monks, then lived there for some time and converted to Orthodoxy. At a meeting of the Synclite, he said that the Catholic Church could regain its authority and the fundamental basis of the Christian faith only if it returned to Orthodox origins. That is, Orthodoxy is the very thing that the Catholic Church requires. The cardinals consulted and decided that a church with such traditions, with such power, cannot come under anyone’s control or accept any foundations. Then the decision to merge was worked out, and now all these processes are underway.
Does Kirill understand this?
They made some promises to Kirill about some kind of world leadership. He had to gather all Orthodox denominations under his right hand - which is what Patriarch Bartholomew is doing now. And His Holiness Cyril thought that it would be natural - Bartholomew would depart to another world, and he would be elected primate at the World Council of Orthodox Churches. That is, when the Orthodox unite, a dialogue should begin with the Pope about the reunification of all Christian denominations. and there were promises: if you gather, then the Catholic Church will reunite with world Orthodoxy. But nothing happens - all agreements are being defamed. Bartholomew said this: “I’ll definitely collect it, but never this one.”
And our church tried to lubricate all processes with money. Now the understanding has come that this does not help, which is why His Holiness sits. We used to have our own direct affiliation. I watched when they tried to make this cathedral pan-Orthodox, our entire Foreign Ministry was sitting in the patriarchal residence on Chisty Lane. There were more scouts with license plates there than pedestrians, there was such a commotion. His Holiness, one might say, was restless, he was beaten.
Two-faced power and merciless rebellion
What important issues still need to be talked about?
The main problem is the duplicity of power, any power - spiritual, secular. It has brought our country, people, and state to a point where no actions or reorganizations can restore their trust. Even the fight against corruption that was launched, do you know how it is interpreted? Now they can’t eat shit, and their capabilities have already diminished, so these spiders are crushing each other. After all, nothing can be done by appointing new people... I don’t know how the authorities themselves understand this, but they seem to understand it.
I’ll say this: I have one federal minister I know, he resigned. And while he was able to say “yes, yes,” but now he began to criticize the authorities. Now we were talking about Putin’s speech on the 17th, he still knows what and where, I go to him. And Putin said: “I sent ten to the regions.” And this minister says: “This is not Putin, he shouldn’t say that and would never say that, “he threw ten yards into the regions.” This is already a decline in ethics, a decline in the press service, a decline in everything. Even the deputy head of the department cannot say “ten”, but this one said... That is, you can already say “chirped.” Social payments of five thousand for children under eight years old... They have already gone crazy there - 150 thousand requests and already right there... Even I can’t show that a family in the region lives on 5 thousand, they have a vegetable garden there, they grow in it. But no one will officially hire you, because you have to pay as much taxes for the worker as you give him. And it’s okay to pay - you need to report. And then the employee can still demand maternity leave, sick leave - he won’t work, but you will continue to pay, and he will go and write to the labor commission. Therefore, this black cash will continue to circulate here.
Social justice is no longer possible now; I believe that there will still be some kind of cataclysm. It is very likely that they will count on controlled chaos in the country, but what they will get is a crushing Russian riot, merciless, insane. And so it will be, because it accumulates, they feel this injustice, they have no one to turn to, it’s easier to take Kalashnikovs after all. And now there is a fine line, a balance between lawlessness and the dominance of utter impudence.
Here is the mayor of the city of Tomsk, almost the entire city is barracks, people live in these barracks, they survive, all the youth have left, and there they catch the mayor, who has 14 billion... And this last squeeze of juice has led to the fact that they no longer trust anyone.
Social injustice is total, but we are still accustomed to the fact that the state, in which we invested the lives of generations, provided at least some minimal benefits: they will give you an apartment there, if you don’t drink, you can even buy a Moskvich of some kind, on the sea go there, at least I got something there.
And now the village is a labor-intensive area, just invest there, the fact that nothing reaches the village remains with the officials, no one cares, it is ineffective to maintain the village. People who just live there, they can’t do anything, they come to the city to trade - they won’t hire them to the factory, there is no housing. A hopeless future, and here it begins: steal somewhere, rob, try to get into some position... And it turns out that the 15 million contingent of employees - doctors, teachers, they also don’t really have any respect. They tell the teacher - they’re paying you, you didn’t pay attention, you have to take care of the child. But it breaks down on children, and education simply falls into nothingness, the nation simply continues to degenerate.
Patriarchal compromising evidence and communism for the Metropolitan
What does the patriarch do for the Orthodox? Should he care about moral education?
The functionality of the patriarch comes down to cooking the world. They can’t cook without it, and it doesn’t do anything worthwhile. As for moral education - I actually brought together homosexuals and effective managers - what do they teach?
Why did you collect it? This way it’s more convenient for him - he can be kept under control. That’s why he gives the patrimony for feeding, and daddy already lies on him. Just like in the state, when you take on a serious post, you immediately have a daddy. Without it, it’s somehow boring to hire a person who will use left-wing schemes. How will you control it?
What is the ratio in the church of those who really serve God and those who use their position?
Thank God the ratio is nine to one: nine priests and one crooked. There are about 20-30 thousand priests together with monks, and 10 percent of them use this system. But these are simple priests, and the leadership... The Patriarch, the metropolitans live under communism, the bishops - there are 400 of them - have also essentially caught up with communism. Of course, there are only a few there... Everything definitely rots from the head, and you can pull it through that head....
What should we do now with the church?
Install a new primate. There are a couple of good ones that really work. And this is vital for the secular authorities for one simple reason: the church will somehow regulate this balance, this social injustice, at least create the appearance. If this is not done now, then I believe that our state will function for a maximum of a couple of years. We will be a small group of disparate entities. Now, in fact, the entire population has fled to the European part; beyond the Urals you can hardly gather 15 million inhabitants. That is, the country no longer exists - neither the Urals, nor Siberia, nor Transbaikalia, nor the Far East - this is all appearance. A territory, in fact, that we no longer own.
I propose what needs to be done in order to improve the situation in the country, if possible, with God’s help next time.
If you have information about corruption violations by officials and law enforcement officers, write to the PASMI section “Report corruption”
From the church information bureau
That’s for sure, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable! Until the early 1980s. Vigilyansky moved in a bohemian environment: writers, journalists, people of art...
Moreover, it still smacked of dissidence... And after some time he was immersed exclusively in worldly affairs: he edited the Sunday supplement of the Moscow News newspaper, lectured at the Universities of Michigan and Massachusetts... And suddenly he went into the Orthodox press, began publishing in church publications, teach journalism at the Orthodox University named after John the Theologian. And then he headed the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“There are no regulations other than the rules of decency”
— The press service of the Moscow Patriarchate was recently transformed into the press service of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. With the name change, did the tasks also change?
“I will answer briefly, referring to the official document signed by Patriarch Kirill: the press service is being created “for the purpose of providing information support for the activities of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and ensuring the work of the press during services and official events with the participation of the Primate of the Church.” The tasks of the press service include, in addition to technical ones (accreditation, notifying the press about upcoming events with the participation of the Patriarch, organizing broadcasts of services, creating an archive of photo and video materials, etc.) and some creative ones, for example, preparing the “Patriarch” section on the church-wide website : Patriarchia.ru.
—What is the measure of openness of church authorities? I’ll even ask directly: what information about the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church is not subject to public disclosure?
- You know, no one even thinks about any degree of openness or closedness, there are no guidelines or regulations other than the well-known rules of decency. Although, of course, some “shop”, corporate problems, as in any professional community, are not customary for us to discuss publicly.
— What if these problems affect the interests of society or the state?
“In this case, with the help of our press service, they are reflected in the media. Compared to other religious organizations, the Russian Orthodox Church is the most open. I speak about this with knowledge of the matter. The late Patriarch Alexy, often answering a question about his attitude towards criticism of clergy in the media, said that we are open to criticism, that we have no taboos, that we are grateful to everyone who cares about the good of the Church, even if painful aspects of the life of the Church are touched upon communities. I think many hierarchs will subscribe to these words. Let me also remind you that, in addition to a very developed network of church “paper” press, there are hundreds of Orthodox websites of various types, and hundreds of clergy actively participate in the blogosphere - from psalm-readers to bishops. For any question, even the most pressing one, you can find a competent answer on the Internet.
“The Primate of the Church talks about everything in his sermons”
— Patriarch Kirill is very diverse in his manifestations. He is a monk, a public figure, the Primate of the Church, and the head of the church apparatus. The press service informs in one way or another about all aspects of his activities. But do you think you manage to convey the most important thing through the daily news flow - the personality of the Patriarch?
“Everyone associated with church media is also concerned about this issue. We recently discussed it at the board of the Synodal Information Department. On the church-wide website we broadcast in printed form and in the video section the sermons and speeches of the Patriarch (note, without cuts). In each of his public speeches, Patriarch Kirill, in addition to church topics, speaks very sharply, sincerely about current social problems, about himself, about the history of the country, and about what is happening in the world. And since the Primate of the Church is very stingy with interviews (he says - why should I give interviews if I talk about everything in sermons), we are faced with an urgent task: to find forms in which we could, as you say, “broadcast the most important thing” . Unfortunately, we have not yet come to a consensus on this matter. But, I assure you, we will come soon.
— Is Patriarch Kirill ever dissatisfied with the work of his press service? Have you ever heard complaints from him and why, for example?
- Of course, there are complaints, as without this. Patriarch Kirill is demanding of himself, therefore, with all his condescension, patience and trust in others, he is principled with his assistants. For example, sometimes he delicately reproaches us for the fact that not enough press representatives gathered for some of his speeches, which were very important for the Church. The Patriarch understands that the optimal mechanisms for interaction between the press service and journalists have not yet been fully established, so some hiccups on our part are sometimes inevitable.
—Have you developed a trusting relationship with Patriarch Kirill? Can you turn to him for a blessing, ask for advice in worldly matters?
“I hope that we developed this trusting relationship with His Holiness back when he was a metropolitan. I once asked him for his blessing to go to an event with the participation of very aggressive anti-church figures, and he quite friendly advised me not to go there, so as not to get upset.
— Does Patriarch Kirill have spiritual children?
— Any clergyman has spiritual children. Of course, patriarchal concerns eat up a lot of time, and it is unlikely that His Holiness has the same opportunity to find free minutes for his children. All that remains is to pray for them. And what could be better than the prayer of the Primate of the Church! By the way, the Patriarch serves very often, much more than any parish priest. Over the past year - more than 230 services.
“The dissidence of the 1970s and 1980s was quite religious”
— You graduated from the Literary Institute, published in the magazines “New World”, “Znamya”, “Ogonyok”; worked at the Institute of Art History... We were an absolutely secular person, not alien to the dissident environment... How did you become a church member?
— This is a long story, which, by the way, I have told more than once. I won't repeat it. I will only note that the dissidence of the 1970-1980s was quite religious: A. Solzhenitsyn, A. Sinyavsky, V. Maksimov, A. Ginzburg - these are a few names that are on everyone’s lips. When in the early 1980s I became acquainted with the spiritual heritage of Russian culture, I was shocked by the fantastic wealth that was taken from us. Here it is nearby - take it and use it. At the same time, I became friends with several monks of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, who discovered to me the joy of communicating with people of pure intentions, which you cannot find in our bohemian creative environment during the day. I have seen with my own eyes that religious consciousness changes the scale of vision, opens up new dimensions, determines the purpose and meaning of life, reveals the possibility of being truly free and, finally, provides the key to understanding love - that love that our world so sorely lacks.
- Still, why did you give up your secular career?
“I really wanted to be useful to the Church with all my skills and experience gained in secular professions, and when such an opportunity opened up and I was called to serve, I accepted this turn of fate with great joy, without, of course, thinking about any career.
"The priest is always in sight"
— What restrictions in secular life does clergy impose on you? Don’t you sometimes experience an internal discord between Vladimir Vigilyansky (writer, philologist, publicist) and Father Vladimir (shepherd, head of the Patriarch’s press service)?
- If there is some kind of discord, then it is the same as what any believer experiences: do not commit a sin and your conscience will be clear and calm. The clergy imposes restrictions, but these restrictions are very useful for me: the priest is always in sight, his words are responsible, his actions are deliberate, but is that bad?
“For me, good literature is always Orthodox”
— You taught Orthodox journalism. How is it different from ordinary journalism? Are there any taboo topics in it? Is she biased in some way?
— You and I know very well that there is no objective, non-biased journalism unless it is a genre of dry information. An Orthodox journalist differs from his fellow writers in that he cares about the glory of God. In this sense, for the non-believing reader, the Orthodox journalist is biased. But this partiality is of a higher order: the truth to which he testifies is Christ. In addition, journalism is a type of creativity, and creativity by its very nature cannot be objective. I can completely imagine an Orthodox journalist working for Izvestia or the magazine Iskusstvo Kino. Moreover, even in such a secular press, designed for a wide reader, he does not at all have to write about internal church affairs, about the Patriarch, about divine services and spiritual holidays. His themes can be cinema, politics, war, and even sports, but he must always and everywhere testify to the truth in his writings.
— There are also the concepts of “Orthodox literature” and “Orthodox writer.” What's this? Who is this? For example, Maya Kucherskaya, who wrote the books “God of Rain” and “Modern Patericon” - is she an “Orthodox writer”?
“I’m not sure these terms will catch on.” For me, good literature is always Orthodox. The best Orthodox work of Russian literature is The Captain's Daughter, which seems to never mention God or the Church. Everything that brings us closer to God is Orthodox; everything that does not contradict Love, Truth, Freedom is also Orthodox.
“Repentance and repentance are two different things”
— Why do you think the film “The Island” gained such success among mass audiences? The idea of repentance - frankly speaking, it is alien to our social consciousness, brought up by the Soviet era
.
- Everything is very simple. It seems to me that in this film we first believe the truth of the characters, and then we believe what those characters believe. That is, there is a certain methodological point here that is important for every Christian: show the truth of God in yourself and then it will be understandable and attractive to absolutely everyone.
— Elder Anatoly, the hero of the film “The Island,” prays to the Lord for the salvation of his soul. There is a grave sin on this soul. I want to ask you: repentance and repentance are not the same thing?
- These are different things. Peter, who betrayed Christ, repented and became the chief apostle, and Judas repented and hanged himself. Repentance is an internal change in a person. Without God's help it is impossible. And repentance is just regret that one or another of your actions or a set of actions did not bear the desired fruit.
“Orthodoxy is not an ideology, it is life”
— Orthodoxy is gradually becoming part of the state ideology. Does this make you happy or scared?
— I doubt that Orthodoxy is becoming part of the state ideology. Because it itself is not an ideology. Orthodoxy is not an ideology, it is life. The famous American priest Alexander Schmeman wrote a wonderful article about the difference between ideology and religion. I won’t retell it, I’ll draw attention to only one thought: “Religion says: “What good is it for a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26); ideology says: the whole world must be acquired to implement the ideology; religion encourages you to see your neighbor in another person, while ideology is always aimed at distant, impersonal, abstract people.”
“If we do not obey moral laws, then let us obey state laws”
— The invasion of religious activists with their own rules into other people’s monasteries (television, theater, exhibition halls) and the desire to establish their own order there—we are seeing this more and more often. True, it must be admitted that such an invasion is usually provoked by something. Moreover, it is sometimes very difficult to draw a clear line between artistic provocation and religious provocation. It is carried out by upbringing, taste, sense of proportion, and they are different for everyone. The exhibition “Beware of Religion!”, in my opinion, was obscene. The radicalism of its organizers personally disgusts me. But the radicalism of the pogromists of this exhibition is also disgusting, because this is censorship in its aggressive embodiment. Do you agree with me?
— We, I hope, live (or want to live) in a civil society. Religious activists are citizens like everyone else, and they have the right to defend their idea of standards of life. Why can you talk about television, theater, exhibitions, but we can’t?
— I understand that art is a sacred thing. But still not to such an extent that every artistic gesture is verified by the canons of Orthodoxy, Islam or Buddhism; so that one cannot take a step in the space of culture without looking at the calendar. Meanwhile, the trend is obvious, including, I think, for you, Father Vladimir: the appearance of all kinds of symbols of faith in stage (picturesque, screen, etc.) creations began to take place not without regard to church postulates. The desire to taboo the content and form of works of art that “offend” someone’s religious feelings is becoming a sign of the times. And most importantly, it finds a response in secular society. After the scandal with cartoons in a Danish magazine, we haven’t heard enough! And about the inevitable confrontation between two civilizations, the impending deadly clash between Islam and Christianity, poverty and wealth. And about the fact that in the face of such a threat, humanity should reconsider all previous values and abandon the “decrepit” standards of behavior developed over centuries.
“But you won’t deny that the most painful issues in society are national and religious issues.” Tell me, was Tatyana Sapunova a radicalist and pogromist, who in 2002 tried to tear up an anti-Semitic poster on the Kiev highway?
- Well, no, of course.
— What if someone suddenly calls this poster an artistic provocation? Since we don't have many laws in place, what can people do? For example, there is Art. 3, paragraph 6 of the Law on Freedom of Conscience, which states: “Intentional insult to the feelings of citizens in connection with their attitude to religion is prohibited and prosecuted in accordance with federal law.” And in Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on inciting national, racial or religious hatred provides for punishment for such actions using the media, up to imprisonment for up to four years. Before the incident with the exhibition “Beware of Religion!” not a single person who offended religious feelings was convicted under these articles. If we do not obey moral laws, then let us obey state laws.
From the RG dossier
From 1988 to 1991, Vladimir Vigilyansky was an employee of the literature department and a member of the editorial board of the Ogonyok magazine. From 1991 to 1993, he worked as editor-in-chief of the literary, artistic and socio-political magazine “Russian Visa”. In 1994, he became editor of the Sunday supplement of the Moscow News newspaper. Then he taught courses in church journalism and radio journalism at the Institute of Church Journalism under the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. He taught the course “Modern forms of missionary work” at the Higher Pastoral School at the Sretensky Monastery. Periodically takes part in theological conferences, symposiums, scientific meetings, where he gives reports and lectures on the topics: “Church and Culture”, “Religion and the Intelligentsia”, “Church and the Press”, “Church and Literature”, “Church and Television” . Father Vladimir is a member of the Union of Russian Writers.
Press service of the Russian Orthodox Church about the petition and abortion: A ban cannot be approved
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia , signing an appeal to the President of Russia to ban abortion, merely approved the removal of medical termination of pregnancy from the scope of compulsory health insurance (CHI). The patriarch's press service reported this EADaily
“Since yesterday, information has spread that His Holiness allegedly approved the ban on abortion in Russia,” Patriarch Kirill’s press secretary, priest Alexander Volkov . “The one who wrote and writes this is either himself deluded, or deliberately misleading others. I advise all journalists and readers to read the latest official statements of the Patriarchate on this matter. They are in the news feeds of all leading news agencies.”
“His Holiness the Patriarch has already spoken more than once about his concern about the situation with abortion in Russia. - added Volkov - All points that are contained in the petition signed by the patriarch for the ban on abortion, in general, are undoubtedly shared by any normal Orthodox Christian. Certain points of the petition for a ban on abortion, which the patriarch signed, may sound harsh and require some discussion in terms of their implementation. These points are grouped and worded in such a way that they may look quite harsh together, but this does not mean that they do not reflect the views of the majority of Orthodox Christians.”
EADaily recalls that on the evening of September 27, Russian media, including TASS and RIA Novosti, citing the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate, reported that the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church signed an appeal to the President of Russia for a ban on abortion in the Russian Federation. This happened at a meeting of the patriarch with participants of the All-Russian public movement “For Life” and the “Orthodox Volunteers” movement, who were collecting signatures for an appeal from citizens for a ban on abortion. The meeting took place near the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Belousovo, Troitsky administrative district of Moscow, where Patriarch Kirill the day before led a festive service in honor of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.
“The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church signed the document. The text of the appeal, which was agreed upon with the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, states:
We, citizens of the Russian Federation, stand for an end to the current practice in our country of legal killing of children before birth and demand changes to legislation aimed at: Recognition of the status of a conceived child as a human being, whose life, health and well-being must be protected by law. Prohibition of surgical and medical terminations of pregnancy. Prohibition of abortifacient contraceptives. Prohibition of assisted reproductive technologies, an integral part of which is the humiliation of human dignity and the murder of children in the initial stages of embryonic development. Providing financial assistance from the federal budget to pregnant women and families with children at a level not less than the subsistence level.”
The Patriarchate noted that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church “thanked the participants in the action for their efforts and blessed them.”
The news was received with approval by many well-known Orthodox speakers. “The Patriarch signed a petition for a ban on abortion and legislative enshrinement of the right to life from the moment of conception: https://interfax-religion.ru/?act=dujour&div=321. Vsevolod Chaplin , the former head of the Synodal Public Relations Department, wrote on his Facebook . “Perhaps, the first bold conservative gesture in recent months - and a good answer to all those officials, church and secular, who whisper that they need to be “more careful” and not irritate the “progressive public” at all. No, gentlemen, faith and truth are more important than all “reputational risks” among people who value sin above all else. These people need to be encouraged to change - instead of adapting to their moods. The main thing is what the Lord will say about us at His trial, and not what these people on the Internet will say. I am especially glad that the Orthodox community forms meanings and tasks, and the Patriarch joins it, and not the “whisperers.” I remember a good slogan that Dmitry Tsorionov posted at the White House: “If Russia does not end abortion, God will end Russia!”
An employee of the Institute of CIS Countries Kirill Frolov , an Orthodox activist who heads the Association of Orthodox Experts he created, wrote on his Facebook: “Those who are against the ban on abortion in Russia approve of the mass murder of the Russian people.”
“As for the official position of the Church on the issue of interaction with government authorities, our position does not change here: we believe that the first step towards eradicating such a phenomenon as abortion should be the removal of abortion from the compulsory health insurance system. This is our principled position,” says Vladimir Legoida . According to him, the Russian Orthodox Church is convinced that “people who disagree with abortion, of which there are many, should not pay for this procedure with their own money.” In addition, the fact that abortion is included in the compulsory medical insurance system means that abortion is positioned and perceived as a social norm . Therefore, at this stage, it seems important to us to remove abortion from the compulsory medical insurance system.” Legoyda added: the Russian Orthodox Church hopes that the removal of abortion from the compulsory medical insurance system may be the first step towards the fact that “we will someday live in a society where, perhaps, there will be no abortions at all.”
Messages that the Patriarch of Moscow is not going to petition the President of Russia to ban abortion in the country, but is simply raising a depressing problem and demanding that abortion be removed from the free medical system, have been on the websites of Interfax, RIA Novosti and others since the morning of September 28 leading Russian news agencies. But there is no similar specific information on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church yet.
EADaily recalls that the collection of signatures to the President of Russia with a request to ban abortions in Russia was approved by the Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of the Russian Federation Anna Kuznetsova . “The entire civilized world has been opposing such a phenomenon as abortion for several years now, and we support this position, while, of course, we believe that this issue requires a systematic approach,” Kuznetsova said. The idea of banning abortion in Russia was supported by the Supreme Mufti of Russia Talgat Tadzhutdin and the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar .
An EADaily correspondent contacted the authors of the petition, the public movement “Orthodox Volunteers”. The head of the organization, Mikhail Kuksov , listened to the EADaily correspondent, but did not yet answer the questions.
It should be recalled that according to the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church,” abortion for medical reasons is permitted by the Church. “In cases where there is a direct threat to the life of the mother if the pregnancy continues, especially if she has other children, it is recommended in pastoral practice to show leniency. A woman who terminates a pregnancy in such circumstances is not excommunicated from Eucharistic communion with the Church, but this communion is conditioned by her fulfillment of her personal penitential prayer rule, which is determined by the priest receiving confession,” reads the text of the Social Concept. In pastoral practice, it is recommended to show leniency towards women who have terminated pregnancies resulting from rape.
