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Saint Seraphim of Vyritsky

organization "Sobor of the Orthodox Intelligentsia" held

in St. Petersburg International Youth

Ress "Orthodoxy, youth and the future of Russia".

More than

200 reports from 24 regions of our country and eight foreign

refugee countries.

The Congress was attended by representatives

8 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow

Patriarchy Presentations were made by representatives of many universities, including about 50 doctors and candidates of sciences, representatives of creative and trade unions of Russia, and various public organizations.

More than 70 percent of the participants in the Congress were young people - students, graduate students, cadets of higher military educational institutions, students of St. Petersburg theological schools.

At the Congress, it was decided to create a rightful youth organization "The Cathedral of Orthodox Youth", and the Council of the Council was elected.

Public organization "Cathedral of the Orthodox intelligentsia"

St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary State University of Technology and Design Research Institute for Comprehensive Social Research St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts Interuniversity Center for Humanitarian Education in Religious Studies ORTHODOXY AND YOUTH Proceedings of the International Youth Congress "Orthodoxy, Youth and the Future of Russia", held by the public organization CATHEDRAL OF THE ORTHODOX INTELLIGENTSIA in the name of the Holy Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky March 3-5, 2005 St. Petersburg UDC 271. 2- LBC 86. P Editorial Board:

V. N. Andreev, Yu. Yu. Bulychev, A. L. Kazin, A. K. Kolechenko, A. I. Kugai, V. E. Semenov.

Responsible editor A. N. Shvechikov, editor T. N. Fedorova Orthodoxy, youth and the future of Russia / Ed. ed. A. N. Shvechikov, red. T. N. Fedorova. - St. Petersburg, 2005.

P ISBN 5-7937-0177-x The collection contains the texts of reports made at the International Congress "Orthodoxy, Youth and the Future of Russia", held in St. Petersburg on March 3, 2005. generations. The compilers of the collection hope that it will be of interest to everyone who loves Russia, cares about its present, and believes in its future.

The holding of the Congress and the present publication of its materials were carried out thanks to the financial support of Baltika Brewery OJSC

The cover design used a fragment of the painting by M. V. Nesterov "Vision to the youth Bartholomew"

The text on the back cover is taken from the book: Abbot Filaret. Summary of the Law of God. SPb., © Team of authors, ISBN 5-7937-0177-x © CPI SPGUTD, APPEAL OF THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA ALEXY II To the participants of the youth meeting "Orthodoxy, Youth and the future of Russia"

March 3-5, 2005, St. Petersburg Dear participants of the youth meeting in St. Petersburg!

We are now experiencing a fateful time for our Fatherland - the time of choosing the image of the future of Russia. First of all, the fate of the people of the modern young generation depends on this choice, for whom it is very important today to understand and know in which country they will live, what ideals to focus on, what values ​​to compare their life goals and objectives.

The future of Russia can take place only on the condition that our country will be successfully built and developed based on traditional Orthodox life values ​​for the Russian people: the desire for freedom, social justice, selflessness, conciliarity, friendliness and respect for other peoples.

Your forum has brought together a representative composition of participants from both the older and younger generations, teachers and students who have firmly embarked on the path of faith in Christ, as well as those who have embarked on this path or are just willing to embark on it. But all of you, undoubtedly, are united by love for our Fatherland, people and our common spiritual mother, the Russian Orthodox Church.

This love will give you the opportunity to broadly and thoroughly discuss all the issues raised by the Forum program, to express your opinion on the ways and methods of their solution.

I wish you and all participants of the meeting successful work, good health and prosperity.

May God's help accompany everyone in your labors!

WELCOMING SPEECH ARCHBISHOP OF TIKHVINSKY KONSTANTIN (GORYANOV), Rector of SPbDAiS Thank you for giving me the floor. I would like to draw your attention to one of the most important recent events - the 13th International Christmas Educational Readings, which were held in Moscow under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

First of all, I cordially greet all those who have come to our Congress.

I am extremely pleased that there are not only people in civilian clothes, but also people in uniform, people of honor and duty. There are cadets from military schools here. This is the backbone of our country, especially in the era of the severe demographic crisis we are experiencing, which, if it continues, threatens the very existence of our Motherland.

And we all look with special hope and hope at these young people who are ready to fulfill their duty and give their lives to protect our dear and beloved Fatherland.

We know that the deep interest of our contemporaries in faith and legality is not at all a tribute to fashion. For example, a great interest in catholicity arose about 20 years ago. Fashion is transient, and the fact that young people are coming to the Church, albeit slowly, is evidence of the vitality of our aspirations. However, everything happens much slower and more painfully than we would like. Because the bad legacy of state atheism has not yet been eliminated. At the turn of the 80-90s. of the last century, apostasy led to the inevitable downfall of the atheistic state. And this was followed by the triumph of consumer psychology.

The family, deprived of a religious ideal, suffered especially. The consequences of the family crisis turned out to be so severe that today we are faced with a choice:

to be or not to be our Fatherland. There are countries with zero population growth - this is the majority of countries Western Europe. The East is rapidly gaining population. And the only dying country in the world is our Motherland.

In order for Russia and other Slavic countries to emerge from the demographic crisis, not only the efforts of the state are necessary, but also the moral potential of the Church. The catastrophic decline in the population cannot be explained by economic factors alone, although this crucial moment. Of course, material well-being is an important part of human existence. The Church fully agrees with the state that a person needs to ensure a decent life. However, if we turn to history, we can see that our Fatherland also experienced more difficult economic periods. But there has never been such a period in peacetime.

The formation of the ideal of a strong and close-knit friendly family could be a worthy task for the media. However, to deep regret, it is they who sow in the souls of people, especially young people, the seeds of permissiveness, growing selfishness and the desire for profit at any cost.

The result is a growing number of couples who, for the sake of momentary comfort, reject the blessed gift of childbearing.

The parental home is the starting point of a person's life path, the place where he learns to speak, love and feel. In advocating the introduction in schools of such a subject as the foundations of Orthodox culture, we aim to introduce students not only to knowledge, but also to the moral foundations of Russian and European civilizations.

Calls are often heard to introduce programs in the history of world religions in schools, where Orthodoxy would take the 12th or 13th place, to introduce religious studies or other similar subjects. Convinced it won't solve main problem namely, the urgent need for moral growth.

One must have firm ideas about good and evil, sin and virtue.

It is necessary to remember the highest responsibility before God and people.

Young people who come to faith today are actively involved in church life, and we support government initiatives aimed at the patriotic and moral education of young people and at supporting families.

Every year we have more and more Sunday schools, Orthodox gymnasiums, children's and youth camps. We should not forget about patriotic education, because there can be no love for the Fatherland without the memory of the exploits of the ancestors. This year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Victory over fascism in the Great Patriotic War and the memorable anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo.

We should not forget about the exploits of people, thanks to which we live in our country today. However, we observe that today there is a real uncompromising information war. And if one of our young people met with their peers from the USA and the talk turned to the Great Patriotic War, then in 9 out of 10 cases the question would follow:

"Which side did the Russians fight on - on the side of the USA or Germany?"

Today we need not to lose those who are already in the fence of the church. Of the many children graduating from Sunday schools, let's face it, we see few in the church. But this is not their fault, but ours, since we could not reveal the full depth of the Orthodox Faith, and our labors were in vain. It must be remembered that if children, schoolchildren or students do not have enough fellowship in a church environment, then they will begin to look for this fellowship elsewhere and gradually move away from God and the Temple. Therefore, we must leave them an active opportunity to communicate with each other. Dioceses can act as organizers of large-scale events, including even sports, bring young people together and show that they are not alone.

Orthodoxy and Youth Secondly, it is necessary to carry out a mission among non-church youth, it is possible to organize many areas of interesting work through which young people would become familiar with Orthodox culture. This practice already exists in many parishes, and there are certain positive results. Let at least one out of a dozen be imbued with faith, find the meaning of life and know Christ. Then our efforts and labors will not be in vain. But the main thing is to develop love in young people - the key that opens people's hearts to the acceptance of Christ. It is important, doing a lot of work in this field, not to become, in the words of the Apostle Paul, an empty bell and ringing brass. It seems that preaching among the youth will be successful if it is led by the young people themselves. Because, whether we like it or not, there is always a barrier between fathers and children. For a young person, the testimony of a peer is always important.

On this day, please accept our congratulations from the professorial and teaching corporation of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary, from the regency department, the icon painting school, the faculty of foreign students, and our employees.

With all my heart I wish all participants of the Youth Congress to work fruitfully and communicate. God help you, and may the grace of the Lord accompany all your labors!

ARCHBISHOP SOPHRONY OF KEMEROVSK AND NOVOKUZNETSKY I cordially greet the participants of the International Youth Forum "Orthodoxy, Youth and the Future of Russia", who have gathered in St. Petersburg from various regions of the country to discuss the most important and fateful problems that concern our compatriots.

There is no future without the present. And therefore, caring about the future fate of our Fatherland, we must solve the problems that today seem to us the most urgent, the most painful. One of them is the problem of the moral health of the younger generation.

Today, the condition of the majority of young people is of grave concern and deep concern. The moral crisis gives rise to antisocial behavior, the cult of the "golden calf", completely separates from the national traditions of Orthodox Russia. The artificial insouciance of Disneyland is being actively introduced into fragile souls, leading them away from real life into a world of illusions. The most severe illness that paralyzed young citizens is progressing uncontrollably.

Experts note the intensification of divorces and the breakdown of marriages, an increase in the number of incomplete families, a sharp decline in the birth rate, and the widespread use of abortions. Domestic demographers believe that by 2015 the population of Russia will be reduced by three times. Recently, more and more people are talking about the threat of the disappearance of our nation.

Today we have about 2 million homeless children and more than a million orphans in the country, half of whom have blood parents. A third of children born into the world have deviations in mental, mental or physical development. And this growing contingent is our future replacement. The prospect is truly sad!

The problem of the spiritual health of young citizens cannot be considered in isolation, outside the context of the moral, social and economic tasks of our entire Russian society, outside a number of other tasks of a national scale. It is important that these problems be solved jointly, that they consolidate and not divide our people in the face of a real danger of becoming a country without a future. It is important that today the voice of the Russian Orthodox Church be heard in solving vital problems!

Centuries of experience social work educational and educational activities accumulated by the Church cannot be ignored and used when building state policy in the field of upbringing and education. Without a wide introduction of children, adolescents and youth to the spiritual, cultural and historical roots of Orthodox Russia, it will not be easy to change the situation. Today, all the healthy forces of society, all those who cherish our Fatherland and its worthy future, must join their efforts and, together with the Orthodox Church, fight for the revival of the cultural and historical heritage and national traditions in Russian society;

for the restoration of the institution of the family in its truly Christian understanding, for the values ​​of Orthodox family education;

to strive for the inclusion in the program of educational institutions of all types of the course of Orthodox culture, in preschool institutions and elementary school - the Law of God.

Today there are examples of active care for the younger generation, including in the Kemerovo region, where gubernatorial cadet corps and women's gymnasiums are being created;

house churches are being opened at universities;

students study Orthodox culture;

Orthodox-oriented youth clubs and associations of military-patriotic, search and local history, pilgrimage and other areas are being created. Student squads help to restore churches and monasteries. Students in their free time under the guidance of the clergy are actively engaged in social charitable and spiritual and educational activities. Many young men and women, becoming church members, fill up the churches, meaningfully and seriously study the rich storehouse of the doctrine of the Orthodox Church.

I would like to believe that there will be more and more such examples. This inspires hope and strengthens the faith that, by the grace of God, our youth will turn to the living key of the holy faith of Christ. On her, today's young growth, lies the mission to preserve, appreciate and pass on to future generations in all its fullness our Holy Faith! Russia cannot exist without Orthodoxy, the future cannot exist without youth;

with Orthodox youth - to be Great Russia!

Orthodoxy and youth Dear fellow citizens, dear brothers and sisters! I wish you successful and fruitful work on this forum. Remember, your work is another good contribution to the revival of Great Russia! May the grace and mercy of God be with you all.

AD VIKTOROV, Chairman of the Committee on Science and Higher Education of the Administration of St. Petersburg I greet the delegates of the Congress and apologize to them for being late to the beginning, because the Russian Conference on Education was in progress.

True, purely material things were considered there, and not spiritual ones. But as for education reforms, without taking into account the spiritual component, they often come with great losses and damage to society.

In connection with the theme of the Congress, I would like to note that the aspiration of young people for spirituality is extremely important for us, especially in such a transitional period as we are now experiencing.

In St. Petersburg, very complex social problems and vices that are introduced from the outside into our society due to the great openness and huge opportunities for communication are not left without attention. I mean drugs and other problems that we unfortunately face in last years. And the Church is doing a lot so that the youth and students are distracted from this and other vices.

The fact is that now the issue of the relationship between drug addiction and education is being very intensively discussed in society - the problem is not as obvious as it sometimes seems. But there are obvious things that are easy enough to formulate and develop appropriate solutions for them. This, in particular, is a whole list of specialties and areas of human activity that are incompatible with drugs or drunkenness and other vices. But, nevertheless, the Constitution and legislation do not resolve this issue.

What the Church does is, first of all, to warn a person against making wrong decisions in difficult situations. Therefore, we welcome the fact that the Church is actively working with youth, students and pupils. And we are very grateful to you for this work.

I would also like to say that education is, first of all, upbringing, and only then professional training. But education without spirituality is impossible.

In conclusion, I would like to wish the participants of the Congress successful and fruitful work and say that the spirituality and work of the Church and her associates in this difficult matter are aimed at the stability of our society, the stability of the state.

I would like to wish all of us to embark on the path of stable development in the very near future. And in this matter, of course, the Church plays a very important role.

Welcoming remarks by ARCHIMANDRIT NAZARY, Vicegerent of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra Dear Presidium, dear organizers of the Forum. Your Eminence, dear brothers and sisters!

I will begin my words of greeting with words of gratitude to the organizers for the fact that, perhaps not by chance, they gave me the opportunity to greet all of you after the warrior Sergius1. We can say that the monastic brethren and the soldiers' army are very similar to each other. In agreement with the words of the previous speaker, I can confirm that monasticism in the Church is a kind of church guard, which is the most cohesive force, just like the army in society.

As a representative of the monastic corps of the St. Petersburg Diocese, on behalf of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra and all monastics, I welcome, congratulate and thank the organizers, participants and guests of this Youth Forum for the opportunity to meet and communicate with each other. Another gratitude that I would like to express to the organizers is for the fact that they called this Congress quite correctly: not just “Spirituality, Youth and Russia”, but precisely “Orthodoxy, Youth and the Future of Russia”. This name uses the word precise, capacious and self-explanatory, and not faceless and misunderstood in society, including those in power, the concept of spirituality. Only the Orthodox Church carries the true understanding of spirituality and morality in its entirety. Very often they are confused and understood as simple humanism, or associated with a good upbringing. True spirituality must have in its composition a relation to God, and only the Orthodox tradition preserves this concept intact. We all know that nothing happens without the will of God. Today, our Forum is overshadowed and consecrated by the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear". It has just been painted in the icon-painting workshops of the Lavra and has not yet been before the eyes of believers. This is also a kind of sign, firstly - may the Mother of God soon hear our sighs about the fate of the world and our Fatherland;

secondly, we live and breathe thanks to the merits of past generations, we are saved by other people's prayers, and now we have to join ourselves in this continuous process of prayerful presence. We have a great responsibility, because today, as before, the eyes of the entire Orthodox world are directed at Russia. They look at us as the guarantors and guardians of Orthodoxy, as the former Holy Russia. This is a great responsibility and a great hope. It depends on all of us whether Russia will continue to be such, and we must honestly ask ourselves: are we ready for this great mission? In fairness, we ourselves do not really correspond to the mission to which Russia is called. Today, unfortunately, the word "Russian" is not a synonym for the word "Orthodox". But there is hope for a revival, and evidence of this is the young faces of those gathered here, in the text of S. Telbukhov's speech is presented in section 1 of this edition of Orthodoxy and Youth in this hall. Let us ask ourselves the question: “Does Russia still remain holy today?” You can answer: “Yes!”, because the Lord is with us, and the prayers of the past generations are strong and effective today. But there is a great danger of losing this title of guardians of Holy Russia, and God forbid to lose it in our generations.

God will not forgive us for this!

We often hear that our grandparents were believers, but can we say this about ourselves? Our fathers have already stumbled, and now it is up to us to correct their mistakes. Are we doing it? We forget about our roots, we forget that we are Slavs who gave the world great prayer books, bearers of the highest culture and great scientists.

Forgetting this, we often look to the West, agreeing to replace the present with some kind of surrogates and pseudo-culture. This happens only because we do not know our own and are trying to fill the emptiness of our souls with imaginary values, which are slipped to us as bait by those who want to rule the world and manipulate our souls. Here it is appropriate to recall the gospel parable about a man who got rid of the power of sin, but did not fill the chamber of his soul with virtues.

Woe to such a person, because instead of one sin came seven more, even more evil and destructive.

We see with our own eyes how the forces of evil seek to destroy and destroy precisely those countries where Orthodoxy is still strong. This is the former Yugoslavia, as well as Ukraine, Georgia - it is there that strikes are directed and the old tried and tested principle is carried out: “Divide and rule!”. What can we do to counter this? – Unity, awareness of who we are and what we strive for.

We do not need to look for a way, it is already known and indicated by our Lord Jesus Christ. Only with him we will stand, strengthen and be saved!

N. M. ASHNIN, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design Your Eminence, dear colleagues!

Allow me, on behalf of the rectorate of the St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design, to welcome you, the participants of the International Youth Congress "Orthodoxy, Youth and the Future of Russia", this authoritative forum of youth, creative and technical intelligentsia, leaders of the Orthodox Church, all fellow citizens who are deeply concerned about spiritual health nation.

We, the employees of an educational institution, always remember that education is an inseparable unity of teaching and upbringing.

In modern Russia, we are experiencing a prolonged crisis in the state-political sphere, the economy and, which is very dangerous, in the spiritual sphere.

Welcoming words Our task is to form a young generation with a high level of responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, with an active civic position, and high moral qualities.

We are pleased to welcome the participants of the Congress within the walls of our University, founded in 1828 by decree of Emperor Nicholas I as a practical technological Institute manufacturing industry.

We do everything in our power to preserve and increase the glorious traditions of the formation of a Russian specialist, a patriot of his Motherland.

We wish you success in the work of the Congress!

E. V. AZIMINA, Ph.D. PhD, Director for Finance and Economics, Baltika Brewing Company JSC

Your Eminence, all-honorable fathers, brothers and sisters, gentlemen!

Allow me, on behalf of OAO Baltika Brewing Company and on my own behalf, to greet all the participants of the congress and thank the organizers for their selfless work in preparing it.

Our company, its management understands its social responsibility as an obligatory quality of a dynamically developing business, the long-term success of which is possible only in harmony with society.

Undoubtedly, the main social function of any production enterprise, and especially related to Food Industry, is the release of products that meet the highest quality standards.

But not only that. Working in society, drawing resources from it, primarily labor resources, it is necessary to repay it by taking an active position in strengthening everything healthy and healthy. It is a fact that the historical cementing basis of the social system in Russia has always been, is and will be Orthodoxy, turning away, rejecting which, the country found itself on the verge of destruction. It is through the Orthodox faith that the process of purification is now going on, albeit not as quickly as we would like. We see manifestations of this more and more often. So, for example, in our Company, Orthodox traditions are revered, for those who fast there are Lenten menu in the dining room, special pastries for Easter.

As far as possible, we help in the restoration of churches, we support the initiatives of the Orthodox community. Therefore, we gladly responded to the offer to participate, to help in holding this Congress. Since it is precisely those who are sitting in the hall and for whom this Congress is organized, our youth will have to determine what great Russia will be like in the future.

Not daring to take up much of your time, in conclusion I would like to address the young people present here in the words of our great writer Vasily Makarovich Shukshin: “The Russian people have selected, preserved, elevated to a degree of respect such human qualities that are not subject to reconsider: honesty, diligence, conscientiousness, kindness...

We endured and preserved the great Russian language from all historical catastrophes and kept it pure, it was handed down to us by our grandfathers and fathers ... Believe that everything was not in vain: our songs, our fairy tales, our incredible victory, our suffering - do not give everything this for a sniff of tobacco. We knew how to live.

Remember this. Be human".

SPEECH YOUTH RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA VE Romanov, Rector of the St. Petersburg State University. University of Technology and Design Dear participants of the International Youth Congress!

We sincerely welcome you within the walls of our University. We are glad that the Congress aroused such interest both among the Russian youth and abroad. This is evidenced by the composition of participants representing 25 regions of Russia and 8 foreign countries.

The relevance of the theme of the Congress is obvious. Our country has set itself the goal of a radical renewal of all areas public life, giving it more dynamism based on the achievements of the latest technologies and improving the human factor.

The processes of reform and renewal of our society are not simple, contradictory, cause tension and conflicts, give rise to doubts among some of our citizens about the correctness of the chosen course, and especially about the forms and methods of it. practical implementation our power. These problems make themselves felt in the process of reforming the education system in the country.

The desire of our reformers to reform Russian education on the basis of Western educational standards comes into sharp conflict with our domestic tradition, because the technical side of the educational process lies at the center of Western educational technologies, and the foundation of our Russian educational system has always been a person.

We hope that by common efforts we will still find some kind of consensus between technology and humanism, which will ensure that we carry out the reform of education so that its results fully meet the demands of the time and at the same time preserve the healthy core of national education, which has been formed over the centuries. But it won't happen by itself. In order to preserve the dialectical connection between the past, present and future in Russian education, we all need to take an active part in this process, each to the best of our abilities and capabilities. A special place here belongs to student youth, and, as I know, the absolute majority of the Congress participants are students of various universities in Russia and St. Petersburg, cadets and students of military educational institutions, as well as students of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary.

In this regard, I would like to draw the attention of the participants of the Congress to those most important issues and tasks that arise from the very topic of Orthodoxy and the youth of this forum. This is the participation of student youth in the construction of a new Russia, ensuring its proper place in the world community in the 21st century, turning it into a stable country capable of providing a decent life for its citizens.

Your main task today is to study well. You must remember that you are the future of Russia, the national elite of society. Each of you, based not only on the professional knowledge acquired in educational institutions, but, more significantly, on the basis of comprehending the long-suffering history of our country, its national traditions, can and must become a multifaceted moral and highly spiritual personality. This provides for the highest sense of duty and responsibility not only for one's own destiny and the destiny of one's loved ones, but also for the destiny of one's Fatherland.

Unfortunately, today there are too many facts that testify to the complete or significant loss of some of our youth of the most important spiritual and moral values, such as duty, love and respect for one's neighbor, respect for elders, responsibility and discipline, conscience and truthfulness, although it is Thanks to these qualities, a person becomes a person.

A huge problem for us is alcoholism and drug addiction among young people. In young men and women who indulge in the “green serpent” or sat down on a heroin needle, we are losing not only millions of healthy young people who could create happy families and help the country get out of a protracted and catastrophic demographic crisis, but also a lot of talents, which would then be an adornment of our national elite.

This disaster must be fought by the whole world, and young people, saving themselves and their future, must be at the forefront of this struggle.

Enormous harm to the physical and mental health of young people causes endemic tobacco smoking. It has become an integral part of the image of modern young people. In a word, various vices, unfortunately, are enough. Obviously, they will be discussed more than once in the reports of the Congress participants. But from conversations it is necessary to move on to action. It is necessary to consolidate the healthy forces of student youth, first of all, and direct them to the active eradication of spiritual and moral vices.

Orthodox youth should undoubtedly become an active participant in this struggle.

During its thousand-year history, our people, relying on Orthodox spiritual and moral values, formed the basic principles of their life, guided by which they created a great state, a great culture, won high prestige in the world community. I am sure that only on the basis of national traditions can true citizenship and patriotism be nurtured in young people. Meanwhile, it is patriotism, love for one's Fatherland, that is one of the most significant moral principles of a person.

We see with you that we have many unresolved, complex problems. Difficulties must be overcome, and not give in to them. The key to this Performance of Overcoming is youth, which, by definition, is characterized by optimism, intolerance for evil and injustice, overflowing energy, youthful enthusiasm and self-confidence. All this should be put at the service of the implementation of not only their own, but also social goals and objectives.

It is gratifying that the Orthodox youth movement is beginning to gain strength, capable of becoming a real striking force in the struggle for a healthy lifestyle of young people, for their spiritual and moral purification, for the formation of the worldview of young people on the basis of life-tested Christian values. Obviously, all this will be reflected in the work of the Congress. We hope that it will become a milestone in the Orthodox youth movement. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia drew attention to his work, sending his appeal to the participants of the Congress. This imposes on the work of the Congress an additional responsibility in the matter of consolidating the youth for good concrete deeds for the revival of our Motherland.

I sincerely wish all participants of the Congress the most impressive success in these works, good health and personal well-being.

THE RUSSIAN QUESTION WILL BE THE MAIN THING IN THE NEXT CENTURY AN Krutov, Deputy of the State Duma, editor of the Russian House magazine, Moscow Your Eminence, venerable fathers, brothers and sisters!

Sometimes you can hear that love for God and love for one's people are difficult to reconcile. The Russian Orthodox philosopher Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin answered this very well: “The people are not God;

and elevating it to the level of God is blind and sinful. But the people who created their homeland are the bearer and servant of God's work on earth, as if a vessel and organ of the divine principle.

The Russian question will be the main one in the coming century. And how it will be resolved depends on you and me. Will a Russian person be able to leave drunkenness, cowardice, cynicism, godlessness in the past, and take into the future Holy Orthodoxy, hard work, sobriety, honesty, love for God and neighbor, patriotism, sovereignty, social justice? If yes, then Russia will live. And let us pray to the Lord to send us rulers in the center and rulers in the regions endowed with national intelligence and state patriotism.

The Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov wrote: "The idea of ​​a nation is not what it thinks of itself in time, but what God thinks of it in eternity."

Orthodoxy and Youth It is not the people who choose an idea for themselves, but the idea given by God already exists for the people, and we must discover and cognize it. Our ancestors discovered it for themselves more than a thousand years ago - Orthodoxy. And they realized that the national is also the universal.

We, today, need to understand what we are and move forward. Regain the lost national identity. Go your own way, intended for Russia by God. Only through the Orthodox faith do we establish an invisible golden connection between mind and heart, between our ideas about the world and actions, between the earthly and the heavenly.

Western and Russian civilization are based on Christian values.

Moving away from them, we degrade. Freedom turns into freedom from God, that is, permissiveness. Immorality has become modern totalitarianism. The modern world through the media, culture inspired people with the idea that sin is normal manifestation natural instincts, the human norm, and goodness and virtue are vestiges.

Modern man, immersed in the abyss of fornication, becomes a slave to passions, things and fears.

Our authorities are actively preaching modern Western values, which are based on the denial of Christ, and reject their own national traditions. Even the Japanese noticed this. Former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone and a group of economists and historians in the book "After the Cold War" emphasize that "Russians, like a man who has lost his memory, are moving towards a spiritual vacuum." This is what the Japanese say, who have achieved economic development on the basis of national traditions. “To what extent can the kindness, sparkling in the dark, contained in the Orthodox faith and in the works of Dostoevsky be saved?” they ask, leaving the question open.

The answer came in the words of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, addressed to the participants of the III All-Church Congress of Diocesan Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church: “Orthodoxy from the very beginning created the statehood, cultures and self-consciousness of many peoples, and therefore it is quite natural that today the Russian Orthodox Church is faced with the task of affirming the Orthodox faith and way of life as a norm of social life.

The forces of the clergy alone are clearly not enough for this. Every layman who considers himself Orthodox must bear witness to Christ with his whole life. For many of us, unfortunately, all faith is manifested in words, but go to the temple to light a candle. But before the Lord it will not be a candle that will stand and answer, but a soul.

Too many of us have lost our sense of responsibility and duty, mutual respect and trust, justice, compassion and determination to stand up for the truth;

approach life with a measure: “profitable - unprofitable”, “what will I get from this?” or "nothing depends on us." Hence the tolerant attitude towards abuse of the Russian people, their shrines.

Today, millions of people are dissatisfied with the situation in which Russia finds itself, and they are ready to devote all their strength to the fight against evil.

But some do not know what and how to do, others rely on crafty politicians, and others are fooled and deceived by the mass media and take the real for the desired. And only he can understand what is really happening with society who goes to church regularly, takes communion, reads the Gospel, the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the writings of the Church Fathers, and brings true repentance. It is the Orthodox Faith that will serve us as that foundation, that “stone” on which the great Orthodox Russia will be reborn, uniting the national essence of life with social justice.

This is what the current ideologists and rulers are afraid of. How do they differ from the Bolsheviks who seized power in 1917? Nothing. Like the Trotskyists, they are hindered, in their own words, by the Orthodox mentality, in Russian, the Orthodox soul of the Russian people. And it cannot be changed by changing the system and ideology, therefore we are required to change our very spiritual nature, to kill the Orthodox core of our culture. Today, the work of almost all the media, the ministries of culture and education is aimed at this.

Today, power goes to the most arrogant and unscrupulous, and is most often seen as a trough, an opportunity to make their own capital at the expense of the state. Few consider power as a religious service to the commandments of goodness and justice, as "God's tax". A bad example is contagious, they say among the people, and, looking at big bosses, they “take”

right and left, and the head clerks are smaller, the entire vertical of power is being decomposed by a thirst for unrighteous gain.

But we expect from the authorities, authorities of any level, first of all, responsibility. So that she is responsible for her words and deeds, so that the criminals are in prison, and not served from TV screens as financial geniuses.

In "The Tale of the Antichrist" Vl. Solovyov, the Antichrist, who proclaimed himself the president of the globe, hoping to buy the favor of the Orthodox, addresses them with the following words: “Dear brothers! I know that among you there are those for whom the most precious thing in Christianity is its sacred tradition, old symbols, old songs and prayers, icons and the rite of worship. And indeed, what could be more precious than this for a religious soul? Know, beloved, that today I have signed a charter and assigned rich funds to the World Museum of Christian Archeology for the purpose of collecting and preserving monuments of church antiquity. Orthodox brothers! Whoever is in the heart of this my will, who, by heartfelt feeling, can call me his true leader and lord, let him come here ...

At least in relation to Orthodoxy, the policy of Soloviev's Antichrist is already being implemented: Orthodoxy is successfully being driven into the ethnographic-ritual reserve.

One can speak and write about rituals and traditions, but Orthodoxy cannot be taught at school.

Why does the state not allow the Church in the media? Because the authorities consider the Church as a competitor in influencing the souls of people.

The Church says: The Lord gave man freedom of choice, and man is free to choose between Good and Evil. A person must change, come to God in order to make the right choice. The media do not speak, they offer Orthodoxy and youth their ideas about good and evil. They will introduce you to God, and saints, and angels, and Satan, and put into their mouths what the authorities need. They will so skillfully suggest that you make a choice of this or that product, this or that service, this or that candidate, this or that party, that you will be convinced that this is your choice, and not a product of propaganda.

The media create an off-screen world, a ghostly existence that replaces real existence and, ultimately, cancels it. People begin to live the life and events of spirits supplied by the media. Today, the media decide what is and what is not. If an event is not reflected in the media, if it is not talked about in the media, then it did not exist.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising when the authorities refuse air time to the Church. It would be surprising if they gave their competitor the opportunity to preach his views.

At the same time, polls consistently show that 80 percent of our people are baptized into Orthodoxy, more than 65 percent of the population recognize the authority of the Orthodox Church in social and moral matters, and especially, as the polls say, there is a great need for the religious and moral principle to influence real, unfortunately, far from moral activity of secular politicians. It is no coincidence that in all polls, religious organizations occupy one of the leading places in terms of the degree of trust.

Why do polls show that the impact of religion on society can be great? Because today in society there is a protracted moral and social crisis, the absence of understandable and generally accepted secular ways out of this crisis. The speech of Orthodoxy in defense of the rights and dignity of disadvantaged ordinary people against lack of spirituality and corruption, cynicism, drug addiction and sexual promiscuity, orphanhood with living parents also increase confidence in religion and its authority.

Freedom in general, including freedom of conscience, although it is legally enshrined and guaranteed by international legal acts, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations,” is given to man by God from birth. This divine gift cannot and has no right to take away either the state, or society, or any powerful person.

The right to freedom of conscience is exercised by believers not only at home and in church, they have the right to freedom of conscience in educational institutions as well. It is recognized by all that religious self-identification is carried out not only by belonging to a particular confession, but also on the basis of relating oneself to a certain culture, a national way of life, formed under the influence of this religion. That is why it is important, or rather, necessary, to teach Orthodox culture in state and municipal educational institutions.

The denial by the Ministry of Education of the possibility of teaching Orthodox culture in state and municipal schools, and the refusal to cooperate in this area, speaks of a lack of understanding by the current Minister of Education, Fursenko, of the essence of a democratic civil society. If people who were involved in the development or implementation of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" in society are expelled from the Ministry of Education and replaced by others, this indicates that today's leaders of the Ministry of Education have little idea not only of the role and place of the Government in the life of Russia, but also purpose of the posts to which they are appointed in the Government.

I would like to emphasize once again that the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” is a secular subject that does not include the teaching of religious practice, much less direct religious practice.

The study of Orthodox culture, for example, by the overwhelming majority of the population of our country is the study of the national culture of their homeland, their state, which was created on the basis of Orthodoxy.

Its goal is to penetrate into the traditions of the native country, to help the still fragile mind to patriotically and culturally self-determine.

Today, unfortunately, the Ministry of Education is replacing one course on the culture of one religion with another course - religious studies - on the list of religions, that is, the history of religions. It must be clearly and clearly stated that ignoring the rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens who want to study their traditional religious culture in a secular school in such a volume and manner, as is implemented in most countries, is direct discrimination of citizens on religious grounds.

This violates part 3 of article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of December 16, 1966 and part 4 of article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of December 16, 1966. In many cases, this attitude can be explained by hostility towards Orthodoxy.

Today, it turns out that the Ministry of Education is also ignoring the opinion of the largest religious organizations in Russia, which are in favor of providing the state with opportunities for students of state and municipal institutions to receive knowledge about religious culture on the basis of a voluntary choice. This goes against the policy of creating a civil society proclaimed by the President.

What prevents Minister Fursenko from establishing cooperation between religious organizations and the state? In my opinion, it is not the existing laws at all (they are sufficient to carry out this matter), but their ignorance and legally incorrect interpretation of many concepts and terms, and, above all, the concept of “secularism”. A secular state, a secular education, a secular school - these concepts, unfortunately, are interpreted by many in different ways. In addition, we have not decided on the terms "spiritual and moral education" and "religious education", which was discussed today. Yes, the life of our society has changed dramatically, the legislation has changed, but often secularism is perceived, if not as anti-religious, then as complete non-religion of the state and society.

But if we separate social institutions, then by doing so we will undermine the integrity of social life and we will not succeed in any consolidation of society, to which we are called today. It is necessary for Orthodoxy and youth to separate not social institutions, but the functions of one from the functions of the other for the normal functioning of each institution and society as a whole. This understanding is accepted in most countries and was in Russia until 1917. Not the separation of the Church from the state and the school as social institutions, not mixing or suppression by one institution of another, but precisely the separation of their powers and functions. The concept of separation of the state and religious organizations, in my opinion, defines the essence of this system more precisely than the concept of "separation of religious organizations from the state."

Such a flexible system will allow them to cooperate fruitfully where their interests intersect. And there are a lot of such areas of life today - these are works of mercy, and charity, joint support for the institution of the family, motherhood and childhood, ensuring freedom of conscience and work in medical institutions, in places of deprivation of liberty, and peacemaking.

And let's not forget that the very principle of the secular state is historically approved by Christianity as opposed to the pagan understanding of the origin and nature of power in society. Jesus Christ said: My kingdom is not of this world; give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and God's to God. And the attempts of the authorities to subjugate the Church or the accusation of the Church of seeking to appropriate the powers of the state only speak of a misunderstanding of the very foundations of the Orthodox Christian worldview.

I expressed my proposals in the State Duma:

First. It is necessary to create a special commission, which should analyze the content and essential features of the secularism of the state and the secularity of education in state and municipal educational institutions, develop recommendations for improving Russian legislation in this area, aimed at resolving a number of controversial issues and still unresolved problems. And make appropriate changes to the law on freedom of conscience and the law on education.

Second. The most important direction should also be the improvement of legislation in education, in the sphere of fixing the legal norms regulating the procedure for teaching religious culture in state and municipal state institutions.

Third. We know that more than 80 percent of Russian citizens call themselves Orthodox. They support their state with their labor and taxes, but why shouldn't the state express their spiritual interests?

I believe that Orthodox Russia is returning, Russian patriotism is being revived, unthinkable without religious self-awareness. This means that the Lord will not leave our country, our people. Thanks.

Speeches RUSSIA AS A CENTER OF SPIRITUAL FORCES OF THE WORLD AN Shvechikov, Ph.D. n., Associate Professor, Director of the Russian Interuniversity Center for Humanitarian Education in Religious Studies, Chairman of the Executive Board of the "Council of Orthodox Intelligentsia", e-mail: [email protected] Not the flesh, but the spirit has become corrupted in our days, And man is desperately yearning...

He rushes to the light from the shadow of the night, And having found the light, he grumbles and rebels.

F. I. Tyutchev In these words about the corruption of the spirit, spoken by our great mystic poet, we can find the key to explaining that catastrophic state from which the country cannot get out for almost two decades. But these two decades were only the finale of that almost century-old corruption of the Orthodox Russian spirit, on the fertile basis of which Holy Russia was built and a God-bearing people was formed. We pay a terrible price for this spiritual corruption, comparable only to the consequences of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. It cost us the collapse of a great country, the complete destruction of its economic life, accompanied by the plunder of the country and the extinction of the population, unprecedented in our history. These destructive processes have not yet been stopped, the threat of a tragic end for Russia continues to persist, Russian society is in a state of intense expectation and split. In such a situation, society cannot get out of the crisis, but it should not remain in this state for a long time, because a split can lead to a tragic outcome of a power confrontation, i.e., a civil war. Unfortunately, there are forces in society that are pushing towards this path of establishing unanimity and social peace. Recent alternative rallies organized by the ruling party have shown that even the government itself, called, so to speak, on duty to maintain the stability of society, can act as a provocateur of such a clash.

The authorities are trying to resolve the protracted systemic crisis of society by imposing on it market reforms alien to the people's spirit. In this case, the main emphasis is placed, as in Soviet time on the material side of life. In the opinion of our godless authorities, the market does not need any spiritual or moral values, therefore, even the national Russian idea is reduced by the authorities to Russia's achievement of competitiveness in the world market.

Unlike the authorities, the people are becoming more and more aware that the salvation of the country is not in market reforms, not in joining the so-called Orthodoxy and the youth of civilized countries, but in returning to those spiritual and moral values ​​on which it was built and developed before. Great Russia, which received the name "Holy Russia" for the power of the Orthodox faith. Our Congress is called upon to contribute to this sacred cause, to focus the attention of young people on understanding the determining role of the spiritual (Orthodox) side of life and the secondary nature of its external forms. Is it possible to count on success in this matter, does Russia have a chance to regain its former greatness and respect for the world community, which have fallen so low today? Orthodoxy is alien to despondency and pessimism. We are sure that the revival of the former greatness of Russia will take place, despite all the cataclysms that have taken place and are taking place in it. The pledge of such confidence is for us the affirmations of our Orthodox saints and seers who stood closer to God than us.

“I foresee,” said St. Righteous John of Kronstadt, - the restoration of a powerful Russia, even stronger and more powerful ... Russia: it is the foot of the Throne of the Lord! A Russian person should understand this and thank God for being Russian.” The Monk Seraphim of Sarov also argued that "the Lord will not allow the Russian Land to completely collapse." F. M. Dostoevsky was convinced of the fortress and inviolability of Russia.

In The Diary of a Writer (1897), he wrote: “Whoever believes in Russia knows that she will endure everything resolutely ... and remain in essence our holy Russia ...

Her appointment is so high, and her inner premonition of this appointment is so clear ... that whoever believes in this appointment must stand above all doubts and dangers. Why does the Lord show such mercy to Russia and protect it? Because, Rev. Seraphim of Sarov replies, “in her alone Orthodoxy and the remnants of Christian piety are predominantly preserved,” and because the Russian people have retained “the Divine image of Christ in all its purity.” We must remember that the Lord protects Russia not so that it would instill fear in everyone with its military and economic power, not in order to create an over-fed life and any material well-being for its people. The Lord preserves Russia and the Russian people so that Russia becomes a spiritual center, a spiritual outpost of the world, the main spiritual force capable of resisting the forces of Antichrist, who, as we see today, successfully conquers the sinful world and is close to full possession of it. Therefore, when we talk about the revival of Russia, we must mean precisely its spiritual revival. We have already tried to build a society of complete satisfaction of material needs. We have already tried to catch up and overtake the Western countries in terms of economic power and material well-being, but we did it contrary to divine predestination, and therefore our efforts turned into the construction of a new Tower of Babel. However, our government is trying to convince us today that the future of Russia is joining the members of a well-to-do material, well-fed and self-satisfied Western community, in global processes that will require the rejection of Orthodox values ​​and principles of life, from our God-given destiny. On this path, we cannot count on the Speeches of the protection of the Lord and, deprived of this protection, we will fall into the herd of the Antichrist and perish along with those whom the authorities impose on us today as an example to follow. But we must know and remember: they are not supposed to save us, but the time will come when we will save them.

Of course, Russophobes of all stripes and shades will maliciously remind us that our people bear little resemblance to the God-bearing people, that today they have fallen into banditry, drunkenness, drug addiction, theft, all kinds of licentiousness and lawlessness.

We cannot but accept these accusations, but at the same time we cannot but raise the question of who plunged him into this state, what immoral satanic forces destroyed his economic and moral life, leaving many millions without work, without a piece of bread. , without salaries and pensions, without hope for the future. We must ask who plunged society into legal chaos, hunger and cold, who corrupted our youth in the media.

One can only marvel at the patience and endurance of our people, their nobility and prudence, their common sense. Moreover, the people did not follow the guides of darkness and sin, they went to the Orthodox Church, led by a sense of belonging to the faith of their ancestors, a sense of self-preservation and love for their land, their Fatherland. We are not blind and we see that every year Orthodox churches are filled more and more, that people far beyond retirement age begin to predominate among the worshipers, that the number of believing men and women in parishes is gradually leveling off.

There is no such growing movement of faith today in any Christian country. There is no doubt that these positive processes in society, aimed at the revival of Russia as Orthodox country will continue and grow. Our task is to activate and strengthen them. As for the current sad state of the Russian people, they have not yet said their last word and will find the strength and courage to overcome the terrible disease of forgetting their image, instilled in them by the perestroika and false reforms. In addition, a great connoisseur of the most hidden depths of the Russian soul, F. M. Dostoevsky warned that the Russian people should be judged “not by the abominations that they so often do, but by those great and holy things by which they themselves constantly sighs its abomination... Judge our people not by what they are, but by what they would like to be. And his ideals are strong and holy, and it was they who saved him in the centuries of torment, they merged with his soul from time immemorial and rewarded it forever with innocence and evenness, sincerity and a broad, all-open mind, and all this in the most attractive, harmonious combination. We know to what spiritual and moral heights the Russian people can rise when its hour strikes, when its time comes. Obviously, today he began to rise to this height, saying “yes” to Orthodoxy and “no” to non-religious authorities. Perhaps right now the moment of truth is coming for Russia and the Russian people, the moment of answering the question of whether they are ready to fulfill the role that is determined for them by the Providence of God.

The Russian people can fulfill their providential mission only under the guidance of their spiritual shepherd, the Russian Orthodox Orthodoxy and Youth Church. F. M. Dostoevsky believed that the Russian people could not fulfill any providential tasks outside the Church. “For Dostoevsky,” wrote the Serbian theologian and philosopher Rev. Justin Popovich, “the main thing is not the people, but the Church, the people are as important as they are in the bosom of the Church and as far as they live by Christ and for Christ. The Church is the conscience of the people, it must take possession of the soul of the people with the help of the miraculous and miraculous face of Christ. If we correctly understand and recognize this statement of Dostoevsky as an irrefutable truth (otherwise we will not understand the essence of Russian Orthodoxy), we will also understand why in the highest echelons of US power the Russian Orthodox Church is considered the main enemy. They have studied us well and deeply and understand that the revival of Orthodox spirituality in Russia will finally bury the plans for its colonization and the transformation of the “most recalcitrant people” into an uncomplaining cattle. They also understand well that the ROC is the core of spiritual revival. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the Orthodox social movement in all its forms should be the full support of the Church in all its affairs, the preservation and strengthening of its authority, role and influence as a true conductor and custodian of the Orthodox faith in the soul and heart of the Russian people, all the glorious people of Russia. .

Here we must exercise constant vigilance, bearing in mind that the forces hostile to us will act in two main directions. The first of these is the desire to constantly work to destroy the unity of the ROC by undermining the authority of the Church in the eyes of believers. The main task of this direction is to create a negative image of the ROC and its ministers in the eyes of the public. A wide range of techniques, methods and forms are used and will be used here, from writing thick folios that compromise the ROC (such as N. Mitrokhin's book) to spreading rumors about the unworthy deeds of ROC ministers. In addition to direct compromise, the enemies of the Church will continue to strive to limit the influence of the ROC on all processes taking place in society, and especially on the development of education and upbringing of young people, on the activities of the media. We see with what bitterness they resist the introduction of the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into the school system, how they oppose the penetration of Orthodox programs on television.

The second direction they use in the fight against the ROC is attempts to decompose it from within by infiltrating its agents into its body, fueling existing internal contradictions, deploying in the media a company of frank persecution of individual representatives of the episcopate and clergy, whom it considers the most dangerous for itself. .

We should not only not succumb to the provocations of the enemies of the ROC, but also give them a tough rebuff, render all possible support to our spiritual mother, because we must understand that today only the ROC can truly spiritually unite the nation, which will save Russia and its people from complete defeat and disappearance into oblivion.

Rallying around the Church, we can count on success, on the fact that we will be able to fulfill the mission prescribed by God - to be the footstool of the Throne of the Lord's Speeches, the spiritual center of the world. May the Orthodox faith and courage not leave us on this God-given path.

I would like to quote at the end of my report, as at the beginning, the words of F. I. Tyutchev:

In the armor of faith, dress your chest, And with God, the sovereign giant!

Oh, Russia, the coming day is great - the Ecumenical day and the Orthodox one.

1. Russia before the second coming. SMP. Zhitomir, 1995.

2. Collection of thoughts of Dostoevsky. Ed. house "Belfry". - M, 2003.

3. F. M. Dostoevsky. Writer's Diary, 1877.

4. F. M. Dostoevsky. Writer's diary, 1876. Collection. op. in 15 t. t. t. 13.

SPb., 1994, 5. Prep. Justin Popovich. Dostoevsky on Europe and the Slavs. Sretensky Monastery. - St. Petersburg, 2002.

ORTHODOXY AND NATIONAL SECURITY OF RUSSIA THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE MODERN ARMY N. Yu. Belan, cadet of the Military Medical Academy, St. Petersburg Undoubtedly, modern Russia needs a strong and efficient army. The future of Russia and neighboring countries directly depends on our military potential. If the power of the Western armies is based primarily on technical equipment and weapons, then the Russian troops have always been distinguished by their spirituality. Historically, Orthodox values ​​underlay all the exploits of the Russian army.

Currently, attempts are being made to find the image of the Armed Forces that would correspond to modern Russia. For more than a decade, military reforms have been carried out, which are based on the creation of a contract service following the example of Western armies. It is believed that contract servicemen will perform their duties more professionally. In addition, it can solve such problems as hazing, desertion, conflicts on ethnic grounds. However, the Russian military at all times were distinguished by high professionalism and at the same time did not conclude contracts with their homeland. Since ancient times, the Russian army has had an oath that determined the behavior of military personnel both in peacetime and in war. The actions of a mercenary will always be limited by the terms of his contract, while the Oath and sense of duty have one goal - to protect their People and Fatherland. The soldiers of the Western armies primarily do the work for which they are paid. At the same time, they are an instrument of foreign and domestic policy of their states. The Russian army faces a higher task: maintaining the integrity of the state, preventing interethnic clashes on the territory of Russia and beyond. The question arises, is the Russian army capable of coping with this task?

Despite all the problems of our army, it cannot be argued that it is soulless and weak-willed. Russian history is rich in examples of heroism, but many such examples can be found in modern troops, especially if we turn to the events in Afghanistan and the North Caucasus.

Section 1. Orthodoxy and the national security of Russia The Military Medical Academy is proud of its graduate, colonel of the medical service I. A. Milyutin. During the assault on the heights in the Novolaksky district of Dagestan, he, acting as part of the attacking units, personally carried four wounded from the battlefield. Seriously wounded, he continued to provide first aid on the spot and led the evacuation. For bold, decisive actions and courage he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

Another military medic, surgeon Valery Bauer, operated on a wounded woman in the field, who urgently needed donated blood during the operation. Without leaving the operating table, the doctor gave his own blood by direct transfusion. As a result, the woman was saved.

Particular attention should be paid to the fate of the border guard Yevgeny Rodionov, who was born and raised in an Orthodox family. In February 1996, when the Chechen war was in full swing, he was captured.

Three months later, he was executed by militants for not fulfilling their demand to remove his pectoral cross.

Numerous cases are known when soldiers who have served their time refused to leave Chechnya until the young replenishment was trained.

The actions of these people indicate that the traditions of the Orthodox "Christ-loving" army are alive among the military. Obviously, these traditions must be preserved and strengthened, and the military clergy can play an important role in this. In many Western armies, the activity of chaplains is mandatory, while the spiritual needs of the Russian military are ignored by the state. The troops need regimental priests, who have always been an integral part of the Russian army. The military clergy will be able to solve those tasks that military psychologists are not able to cope with in full. These are, first of all, such problems as the adaptation of conscripts, hazing and violence among military personnel. Now not every soldier has the opportunity to visit the temple. It is especially difficult in this regard for those who serve in hot spots - in the North Caucasus and outside of Russia, where there are no Orthodox churches. But it is these servicemen who most urgently need spiritual help. People involved in combat operations often intuitively turn to God, some decide to be baptized or go to confession. It is very important that at such a moment a priest is nearby.

The activity of regimental priests is also necessary for conscripts who, being far from home and loved ones, get used to new living conditions, difficulties and hardships. It is known that unauthorized abandonment of the unit and suicide attempts are most frequent among the soldiers of the first year of service. The reason for this is a difficult period of adaptation and homesickness. It will be easier for a young soldier in difficult times to seek advice and tell his father about his difficulties than to his boss or colleagues, to whom he is not yet accustomed.

The work of the military clergy will allow many Orthodox traditions to be returned to the army, which will help strengthen the spirituality of the troops:

Orthodoxy and youth - the consecration of weapons, battle flags, military equipment, barracks;

– celebration of Orthodox holidays;

– service of prayers before exercises and combat missions;

- taking the military oath in the presence of a priest.

The revival of the best qualities of the Russian army will become possible if the broken connection with the Church is recreated. The Orthodox traditions, returned to the troops, will transform the Armed Forces, will become the basis for creating such an army that can ensure the security and stability of Russia in the future.

REDUCTION OF POPULATION OF RUSSIA - GENOCIDE OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE OR HISTORICAL INEVITABILITY?

B. G. Dvernitsky, editor-in-chief of the journal "Russian Self-Consciousness"

“When the moral-religious idea was outlived in nationality, then there always came a panic-cowardly need for unity, with the sole goal of “saving the bellies” - then there are no other goals of civil unity, but “saving the bellies” is the most powerless and last idea of ​​all ideas. ...

This is the beginning of the end."

F. M. Dostoevsky 1. Many publicists note the steady decline in the population of Russia over the past 15-20 years and the corresponding decrease in the average life expectancy, primarily of the Russian population. Actually, these phenomena, although to a much lesser extent, were observed under the Soviet regime. A slight increase in the birth rate and a decrease in mortality took place only during the period of the anti-alcohol campaign. Now only the pace and scale of these phenomena are striking, as is the leadership in the number of abortions, alcohol and tobacco consumption, the number of street children, the number of prisoners and other things of that kind.

However, Russia is no exception. P. J. Buchanan writes: “In the year 2000, the population of Europe, from Iceland to Russia, was 728 million. If the current birth rate is maintained, excluding immigration, the population in 2050 will decrease to 600 million people.

This is the forecast of the United Nations Population Division. According to another study Section 1. Orthodoxy and Russia's national security, the population of Europe will drop to millions over the same time period. The last time such a significant reduction in the European population was observed during the Black Death - the plague epidemic in 1347-1352. However, if the epidemic kills both the young and the elderly, then the reduction in the birth rate affects only the youth.” He continues: “Of the twenty nations with the lowest birth rates, eighteen are European. The average birth rate in Europe has fallen to 1.4, while a level of at least 2.1 is required to maintain the current population. If the current level of fertility is maintained, the European population by the end of the twenty-first century will be reduced to millions of people - that is, to 30 percent of today. The cradle of Western civilization will also become its grave." But back to Russia. Are the above negative phenomena a consequence of the genocide of the Russian people, unleashed by some dark forces, or are there historical or any other reasons for this?

So some associate this with a transitional period in the history of the Russian people, namely with the transition from the imperial phase of the development of the Russian spirit to the nationalist one. Others explain this by yet another turmoil experienced by Russian society. I. R. Shafarevich considers the reason for this to be the change in the prevailing way of socio-economic life or the accomplished replacement of the peasant civilization with a technological one.

According to L. N. Gumilyov, the Russian people are going through a phase of breaking the passionary tension of the ethnic system, and all the discord in society is from this.

Some explain the atmosphere of despondency and self-doubt that prevails in society by the fact that "Russia is fundamentally not modernizable"

(S. Kurginyan) and, therefore, will not fit into the "civilized world and order."

“Orthodox Russophobes” consider the cause of the troubles that have befallen Russia to be “the gravest sin of perjury and regicide that weighs on our people” and “the apostasy of the Russian clergy represented by its highest hierarchs” (K. Dushenov). (Which is more here: theological illiteracy, false prophetic pathos, or “Khlestakov’s lightness” in thoughts is hard to say. And therefore we will not seriously discuss this slander against the Russian people, so as not to become like Gogol’s mayor).

It should also be noted that Russian people are gullible to various hysterics and pseudo-prophecies, according to which the future of Russia is predetermined, that is, it depends only on God and not at all on man. Which means you don't have to do anything. For it is one thing to believe in Russia and to the best of one's ability to work for her good, and another thing to affirm historical predetermination, incompatible with freedom, reason, or activity.

Let's try to understand these statements.

2. Publicists who see in the modern troubles of Russia, first of all, the intrigues of certain " dark forces”, “world behind the scenes” or a secret world government, Masons or Zionists, in essence, the engine of History is recognized not by God, but by the devil and the “negative figures of history” who serve him. The true philosophy of history, with all the variety of approaches to it, recognizes the existence of the Divine Dispensation in the world, although Orthodoxy and youth would be in the most general form, and accordingly N. Ya. Danilevsky singled out positive figures in history, ethnographic material and "negative figures in history" or "scourges of God". Through the positive figures of history, the Mysterious Divine Providence is accomplished for peoples, tribes and “languages”, and we should rejoice most of all about participation in Him. The comprehension of history is the comprehension by the people, first of all, of itself, it is the comprehension in itself of the divine law of the development of the Nation.

And we must direct all our efforts towards this, and not look for historical "scapegoats".

The arguments of I. R. Shafarevich, in whose opinion the above negative phenomena are a direct consequence of the change of the peasant way of life that prevailed in Russia by technological civilization, do not seem to me completely convincing either. And hence his call: "to distance ourselves as much as possible from technological civilization - so that in the event of the collapse of this system, we would not be buried under its rubble." This call seems risky to me. Rather, a technological civilization will crush and bring down the entire world before it itself collapses. More true and justified historically is the path chosen by Peter the Great. We should not be afraid of either the technological or information age, but transform everything to our advantage.

3. A shortcoming of all the above views is also their one-sidedness. There is no single determinant cause of all disorder and misfortune in Russian society. There are at least two or three of them.

The Russian philosopher A. A. Kozlov distinguished between the knowledge of God, let us call it knowledge or wisdom, and knowledge about God. Similarly, there is knowledge (knowledge) of Russia, the Russian people, a person, and knowledge about Russia, the Russian people, a person. Knowledge of something comes to us through the mind, the knowledge of something through faith or "the way of the heart." The whole philosophy of history, and its child - geopolitics, talk about peoples and humanity, regardless of what they consider the subject or object of historical development:

absolute spirit, national charisma, the struggle of "Iranian" and "Cushite"

began in mankind, production relations, the struggle of classes, the clash of civilizations.

Modern geopolitics, in pursuit of historical "scapegoats", have lost the "thread of history", as well as the understanding of time as "kairos", and not just as "chronos". The voice of time (kairos) is the voice of God, “What is it to me and to you, Woman?” Christ says to the Blessed Virgin at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2.4.) In other words, they are not they are aware of what is happening in the world, that is, not just happening, but precisely what is happening in the fateful years of history. And in the fateful years of history, the Nation passes from one “age” to another, or a new period of the formation of the national spirit begins.

And the truth of modernity or the “thread of history” is that the time has come for nationalism. The time has come for the transition from the imperial period of the development of the Russian folk spirit to the nationalist one. The time has come to test the depth or strength of the Russian spirit, not the height, as in religion, Section 1. Orthodoxy and the national security of Russia are not strength and power, as in the empire, but precisely the depth or inner strength of the national spirit, character, culture, tradition.

The time of principalities, kingdoms, empires has passed, the era of globalization has come, the time has come to challenge the identity of each civilization, and not the struggle or clash of civilizations. The uniqueness of each ethnic group (people), the originality of each culture (language), the self-sufficiency of the way of life of each civilization are in demand. And what is not leveled, not simplified, does not fall into secondary confusion and simplification, according to K. Leontiev, it will not just be preserved, but will continue in a new quality. And with this, an influx of new deep forces of the Nation will come, a new charm and attraction of culture will arise, harmony and harmony of a new way of life, courage and heroism of a new citizenship, and with them the solution of all emerging problems.

Of course, any transition from one period of the formation of the national spirit to the next, and for us from imperial to nationalist, is extremely painful for the Nation, up to the threat of its transformation from a positive figure in history into ethnographic material for other peoples. This is how it always happened. Was it the time of Peter, or the end of the Kievan period of our history, or a protracted sunset Russian Empire. But this must be done with minimal losses, so as to preserve the passionate core of the Nation, which can consciously and with faith create a new structure of power, a way of life, a culture that is already Great Russian in its content.

This is getting harder and harder to do. We have gone too far in the frenzy of the collapse of the communist regime, and someone under the guise of Russia, as before the Russian Empire and Orthodoxy. And someone still mourns for the beautiful past, for them the "golden age" of our history, not wanting to admit that greatness and glory are not reborn, but they do not die either - they are immortal. Tyutchev wrote about this in relation to the Roman Empire:

Saying goodbye to Roman glory, From the Capitoline heights In all the greatness you saw the Sunset of her bloody star! ..

Each period of history has its own glory and greatness, its own charm and beauty, and we must look forward to new glory and greatness, and not try to return to the former, so that the decline of the Russian Empire and the USSR does not become the decline of the Russian Nation. And maybe then we will understand what kind of bliss or happiness Tyutchev wrote about, the bliss of contemplating the new greatness and glory of Russia:

Blessed is he who visited this world In its fatal moments!

He was called by the all-good As an interlocutor to a feast.

He is a spectator of their high spectacles, He was admitted to their council - And alive, like a celestial, He drank immortality from their cup!

Orthodoxy and Youth In the meantime, many Russian people are closer to the lines of another poet:

Farewell, great Power, One sixth of the land Which is at the crossing, We did not save together.

Boris Primerov 4. The next and no less significant reason for the troubles experienced by society is that we have doubted ourselves, in our “special position”, in the uniqueness of our spirit and character, in the self-sufficiency of our civilization and the originality of our culture, to such an extent that that we are already on the verge of losing faith. In principle, doubt, as well as self-criticism, and even more so repentance, are not at all bad in themselves, and even beneficial, but without loss of faith.

On February 17, 2001, the Constituent Assembly of the St. Petersburg Public Organization was held in the assembly hall of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary. The forum brought together representatives of the clergy of the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox scientists, doctors, teachers and journalists working in the northern capital, as well as students of higher educational institutions of the city.

In a welcoming speech addressed to the participants of the meeting, the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary, Bishop Konstantin (Goryanov) of Tikhvin, now the Archbishop of Kurgan and Shadrinsky, noted that “the need to consolidate the forces of the Orthodox intelligentsia arose long ago,” since it was precisely the intelligentsia, being “the conscience of the Russian people”, has always stated “the plight of the Russian people, their spiritual decline and demographic crisis”.

Vladyka Konstantin spoke in detail about the demographic problems leading, in his opinion, "to the deformation of society and a decrease in the creative potential of the people." Bishop Konstantin sees the reasons for these processes in wars, revolutions, famines, mass repressions and the social crisis of the end of the 20th century. “We appeal to the help of Orthodox scholars,” Bishop Konstantin said. “We are called upon to monitor the adoption at the political level of decisions that could aggravate the severity of the situation.” In particular, the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Schools expressed "serious concern" in connection with environmental and other modern crises, "questioning the entire civilized path", and called on those present to unite their efforts to uphold the Church's views on the problems of bioethics.

On behalf of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the participants of the meeting were welcomed by the coordinator of the meeting on religious issues, deputy Igor Rimmer. “The revival of the country will begin with the revival of the Russian national spirit, Russian Orthodoxy: this is the task of the intelligentsia,” said Igor Rimmer. - During the so-called "perestroika" so much "garbage" was inflicted on our country that we now have to clean it up. We must do this for the sake of our children, for the protection of our home.”

Aleksey Shvechikov, director of the Interuniversity Center for Science and Religion, called the Constituent Assembly of the Cathedral a "significant event", since, according to the speaker, "the Orthodox intelligentsia in St. Petersburg is not organized." Aleksey Shvechikov considers the goal of the Council of the Orthodox Intelligentsia to be "the revival of Orthodoxy as the main religious confession of Russia."

At present, the chairman of the executive board of the St. Petersburg public organization "Cathedral of Orthodox Intelligentsia" is a permanent author "" Alexander Petrovich Belyakov. The organization consists of people well-known in Orthodox-patriotic circles: Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head. Department of Art History of St. Petersburg State University of Cinematography, member of the Union of Writers and the Union of Cinematographers of Russia Alexander Leonidovich Kazin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Russian Self-Consciousness" Boris G. Dvernitsky, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation , winner of the State Prize of the USSR Georgy Nikolaevich Fursey, candidate of pedagogical sciences, writer, head of the Diocesan outpatient consultation center "Resurrection" Priest Alexy Moroz, candidate of art history, head of the cultural studies course at the St. Petersburg Rocket and Artillery Cadet Corps Victoria Olegovna Gusakova, secretary of the Writers' Union Russia, Chairman of the Orthodox Society of Writers of St. Petersburg, member of the Council of the World Russian People's Council Nikolai Mikhailovich Konyaev, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head. Department of Philosophy of the Higher School of Folk Arts Sergey Viktorovich Lebedev, Senior Researcher at NIIKSI, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University Tatyana Nikolaevna Fedorova, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Director of the Interuniversity Center for Religious Studies Alexei Nikolaevich Shvechikov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, full member of the International Academy of Psychological Sciences, Honored Worker Sciences of the Russian Federation, director of the NIIKSI of the Faculty of Sociology of St. Petersburg State University Valentin Evgenievich Semenov, art critic, member of the Union of Artists of Russia Maria Sergeevna Fomina and others. Most members of the Council of Orthodox Intelligentsia are the authors of "". Strong friendly and fruitful relations were established between the Council.

On February 11-12, St. Petersburg will host the International Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Council of the Orthodox Intelligentsia.

In connection with the upcoming anniversary, the editors of "" received a congratulatory address from a member of the board of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood, Chairman of the Council of Entrepreneurs of the Business Community "DeloRus"

Appeal of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia ...

Your Holiness!
The public organization "The Cathedral of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg" considers it its duty to draw your attention to the unacceptable statements of Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov about the Great Patriotic War and the Vlasov movement. In his book “The Tragedy of Russia”, as well as in scandalous television speeches, he calls “state victory” Victory Day, which is holy for us, which also became a church day of commemoration of the soldiers who fell in the Great Patriotic War. He declares the traitors who collaborated with the Nazis to be the failed heroes of Russia, and the real heroes - helpless victims and almost "servants of evil." In other words, Archpriest G. Mitrofanov is trying to give the traitors "an appearance of piety" (2 Tim. 3:5).

The question of the betrayal of General A.A. Vlasov is obvious from a historical and moral point of view. Vlasov really changed his military oath and betrayed Russia, which caused harm to her, and not to the communist regime or its leaders. According to its ideology, no supporter tsarist Russia he was not, the ideology of the ROA and KONRA was developed in the depths of the Abwehr and Wehrmacht propaganda. In the event of the victory of this ideology, the Russian people (as well as other peoples of the world) would fall under the double yoke - the Nazis and the "former", but not changed in spirit, communists. In the difficult hour of the cross suffering of Russia, Vlasov went over to the side of her worst enemy and began to serve one of the most terrible regimes in the history of mankind - Hitler's occult fascist regime, which pursued a policy of dismembering Russia and total destruction of the Russian people. At the same time, we distinguish Vlasov himself and the direct executors of his orders, whose hands are stained with native blood, from those Russian people who were rejected by the communist regime, and only in search of a way to return to their homeland joined the ranks of the ROA.

The views of Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov differ from the attitude towards the Great Patriotic War on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church, as you know, called on the people to fight the enemy from the first day great war(even before the well-known appeal of Stalin), and since 1994, with the blessing of the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, Victory Day has acquired a truly ecclesiastical significance, becoming a day of prayer and remembrance for the soldiers who were killed on the battlefield, for all those who were tortured, including by hands Vlasov.

From a moral point of view, the rehabilitation of Vlasov means the justification of Judas sin and the glorification of betrayal, as well as mass Nazi repressions in Russia. Politically, it means the threat of a split in the Church and society, as well as the complication of church-state relations, especially in connection with the creation of a commission to combat the falsification of Russian history. If it is possible to rehabilitate Vlasov, then why not Bandera and Bandera, the murderers of many Orthodox clergy? Accordingly, the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian parts of the SS receive their justification, to which General Vlasov called for unity.

Currently, Archpriest G. Mitrofanov holds the responsible post of head of the church history department of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. We do not question the personnel decisions of the Academy's leadership, but we consider it necessary to draw your attention to the views of Archpriest Georgy, which he fully revealed after his appointment, launching an unprecedented propaganda campaign dedicated to such a holy date for a Russian person as June 22 - the Day memory and sorrow. All this is especially intolerable in the context of the country's preparations for the 65th anniversary of the Victory - perhaps the last anniversary in which war veterans will be able to take part. We have to emphasize that the personnel policy, carried out under the influence of Archpriest G. Mitrofanov, brings to the Academy such odious teachers as the historian Kirill Alexandrov, an open apologist for General Vlasov, who has already caused a scandal with the presentation of his new Provlasov book. All this can have a severe impact on the upbringing of future pastors, who may fall victim to the intellectual aggression of the "church Vlasovites" and carry views to their flock that promote schisms. Last year, on Victory Day, there was a scandal at the Holy Spirit Center of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, when war veterans and blockade survivors were offended by the provlasov speeches of Archpriest G. Mitrofanov's disciple.

Archpriest G. Mitrofanov systematically expresses his other views, which contradict the teachings of the Orthodox Church. So, in 2007, at the round table "Family in the Modern Church", he spoke in defense of abortion, and also made an immoral statement that the purpose of marriage is not the birth of children, but carnal relations between spouses. During the conference "Sacrament of Marriage - Sacrament of Unity" (2008), Father G. Mitrofanov stated that "for centuries, the idea of ​​marriage as a Sacrament was alien to the Russian people." To the question about St. Peter and Fevronia, as an example of an ideal married couple in Russian hagiography, he replied: "We do not know for sure whether these people existed at all." Georgy Mitrofanov's statements in defense of euthanasia are known, as well as his opinions on the "expediency" of replacing the liturgical Church Slavonic language with modern Russian.

Your Holiness! We deeply sympathize with our compatriots who, by the will of fate, found themselves in captivity during the war and subsequently abroad. Their personal and social drama is undeniable, as are the crimes of the theomachist regime in Soviet Russia. However, the history of our country in the 20th century is not reduced to the "Gulag archipelago", and the Russian people - to the guards and prisoners of Soviet concentration camps. The false statement of such an identity puts the aggressor (Hitler's Germany) and the victim (Russia) on the same level, which is fraught with unpredictable political, financial and territorial problems for our country in the future.

Based on the foregoing, we are forced to admit that the whole ministry of Fr. G. Mitrofanov - and above all his book "The Tragedy of Russia" - in its conceptual basis is a blasphemy against Russia and the Russian people, comes into sharp conflict with the views of the modern Russian Orthodox Church on essence and consequences of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. We sincerely believe that Archpriest G. Mitrofanov must decide: either he is a clergyman and a church preacher who is obliged to correlate his views with church tradition, or he is a free publicist who actually opposes it. In the first case, he should have publicly abandoned his pro-Vlasov views and the concept of the isomorphism of the Soviet and Nazi regimes, while simultaneously apologizing to war veterans. In the second case, as we are convinced, the duty of conscience obliges him to leave the responsible post of head of the church history department and the department of church history at St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. We ask you, Your Holiness, to help Archpriest George make this difficult choice between personal ideological and political predilections and the historical truth, conciliarly recognized by our Church.

We humbly ask the holy prayers of Your Holiness!

The text of the "Appeal" was discussed and approved at the enlarged meeting of the Executive Council of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg on November 5, 2009. It was decided to send the "Appeal" to His Holiness, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, His Eminence, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga , His Eminence, His Grace Bishop Ambrose of Gatchina.

The meeting was attended by members of the Council of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg:

Gracheva I.V., psychologist, head of the St. Petersburg organization "Cultural community "Russian House";

Gruntovsky A.V., head of the Holy Spirit Center at the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, director;

Gusakova V.O., Candidate of Art History, head of the cycle "Culture and Art" of the St. Petersburg Cadet Rocket and Artillery Corps, senior lecturer at the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen;

Dvernitsky B.G., Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Russian Self-Consciousness”;

Zarudny D.I., academician, doctor of technical sciences, member of the Metrological Academy, professor;

Kazin A.L., Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor, Head. department of SPbGUKiT, member of the Union of Writers and the Union of Cinematographers of Russia;

Konyaev N.M., writer, secretary of the Board of the Writers' Union of Russia;

Kugai A.I., Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor of the North-Western Academy of Public Administration;

Kukhar V.V., director of the non-profit partnership "Center for Social Programs";

Lobanov N.A., Director of the Research Institute of Socio-Economic and Pedagogical Problems of Continuing Education for Adults, Leningrad State University. A.S. Pushkin;

Moroz Alexey, priest, candidate of pedagogical sciences, member of the board of the Union of Writers of Russia St. Petersburg, member of the board of the Society of Orthodox Psychologists of St. Petersburg, head of the anti-drug center "Resurrection";

Pozdnyakov NI, member of the Presidium of the Petrovsky Academy of Sciences and Arts;

Rebrov A.B., poet, secretary of the Board of the Writers' Union of Russia, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Rodnaya Ladoga";

Semenov VE, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Honored Worker of Science of the Russian Federation, Director of the Institute for Comprehensive Social Research, St. Petersburg State University;

Sementsov V.V., Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Senior Lecturer, Department of Theory and Methods of Teaching and Education, Leningrad State University. A.S. Pushkin;

Sergunenkov B.B., Chairman of the business community of Orthodox entrepreneurs "DeloRus";

Skotnikova G.V., Doctor of Cultural Studies, Professor of St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts;

Sokurova OB, Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor, Faculty of History, St. Petersburg State University;

Stepanov A.D., historian, editor-in-chief of the news agency "Russian Line";

Tikhomirova A.K., Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood;

Fedorova T.N., Art. researcher at NIIKSI St. Petersburg State University, scientific secretary of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg;

Fomina M.S., Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor of the Institute. IE Repin of the Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation, member of the Union of Artists of Russia;

Sharov S.N., member of the board of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood;

Shvechikov A.N., Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Director of the Interuniversity Center for Religious Studies, Co-Chairman of the Executive Council of the Council of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg;

Chairman of the Executive Council of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Intelligentsia of St. Petersburg Belyakov A.P.

- Vladyka Hilarion, to the question of Zinaida Mirkina and Grigory Pomerants: “Does the Orthodox Church need an intelligentsia?” - You answered: “Yes, we need it,” referring to the same words of Patriarch Kirill that prompted the authors of the article to raise the question. How do you feel about the story they told?

Hegumen Vitaly (Utkin), secretary of the Ivanovo diocese, tweeted: "The intelligentsia is fruitless and useless for the country, therefore, there can be no Orthodox intelligentsia in nature." Adding to this the arguments that Russia is not ripe for democracy, the author stressed that he does not hide his respectful attitude towards Stalin.

In my opinion, twitter and the blogosphere, as a kind of small media, mercilessly seduce their participants with the idea that they are great social scientists and historiosophists. And so the darkness of self-deluded broadcasters of home-grown truths, unrestrained and not self-critical, was formed. Although, before elevating your life impressions and considerations into a principle, it would, of course, be worth thinking about.

- I don’t read blogs and before the publication of this article I was not familiar with the statements of the clergyman you mentioned. Those quotes that are given in the article, of course, are shocking. How can one honor the holy new martyrs and at the same time be respectful towards Stalin? It's like honoring John the Baptist, but at the same time respecting Herod, who cut off his head. How can we glorify both the victims and the executioner? I think that history has already set all the accents, and nostalgia for Stalinism, especially from the lips of a clergyman, sounds to me like some kind of blasphemy.

And, of course, to say that the intelligentsia is fruitless and useless for the country, and therefore there can be no Orthodox intelligentsia in nature - this, forgive me, is nonsense. Maybe the priest just decided to shock his readers? Today, unfortunately, shocking is becoming one of the methods of attracting attention. Sometimes, unfortunately, the clergyman is no stranger to this. The Orthodox intelligentsia has always been, it must be and will be.

On the one hand, it is obvious that it was the intelligentsia that made a very significant contribution to the cause of the destruction of Orthodox Russia, which led to the revolution of 1917. And this, perhaps, is the main historical fault of the Russian intelligentsia. But on the other hand, it was precisely among the intelligentsia that the movement for returning to the Church was born, which at the beginning of the 20th century was reflected in the pages of the Vekhi magazine and which did not stop even after the revolution, despite the most severe persecutions against both the Church and the intelligentsia.

In general, "intelligentsia" is a very broad concept. If by intelligentsia we mean all people of intellectual labor, then, of course, they have always been in the Church, and today there are many of them in it. The Orthodox intelligentsia still exists today. Moreover, a person can be both an active member and minister of the Church and a representative of the intelligentsia. I don't see any contradiction in this.

For example, I consider myself a member of the intelligentsia. Moreover, in the third generation, because my mother is a writer, my father was a physicist and mathematician, my grandfather was a professor of history, my grandmother was a party worker (professional party workers were also a kind of intelligentsia). In this sense, I come from an intelligent family, all my life I have been mainly engaged in intellectual work, and I do not understand at all why intellectual work cannot be combined with active membership in the Church.

I just think that the intelligentsia is a very important component of our church organism. After all, these are people who produce ideas and have a decisive influence on the ideological component of our being. In this sense, the intelligentsia is always at the forefront. Therefore, direct and close contact and dialogue between the Church and the intelligentsia is very important today. Both the one that is already in the Church, and the one that is beyond its threshold.

- Intelligentsia is a purely Russian concept. What is the value of this phenomenon?

- Although the word “intelligentsia” itself has a Latin root, this concept itself really exists only in Russian and is not translated into others. But there are people of intellectual labor, people who produce ideas, in every country. In this sense, the intelligentsia is by no means a purely Russian phenomenon.

The role that the intelligentsia played in pre-revolutionary Russia was very specific. And here we return to the topic that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill touched upon more than once in his public speeches, emphasizing that, unfortunately, in pre-revolutionary Russia there was a very serious divide between the world of the intelligentsia and the world of the Church. Despite the fact that the Church in pre-revolutionary Russia was a nationwide institution, despite the fact that the absolute majority of the inhabitants of the Russian Empire were members of the Church, at the same time, in a sense, it was in the ghetto.

In particular, the world of secular culture in the 18th-19th centuries developed independently and independently of the Church. The Church had its own composers who wrote only church music, while secular ones wrote only secular music. And the case when a secular composer would write church music was very rare. And it was perceived as something abnormal and scandalous. When Tchaikovsky wrote the "Liturgy", this very fact caused a great controversy, his music was not accepted by the Church.

Was it already easier for Rachmaninoff in the Silver Age?

- Yes, it was already the period of the Russian religious renaissance. But since Rachmaninov's compositions were actually written right before the revolution, they did not have time to enter the church repertoire. Yes, in a sense, they were not intended for worship.

The divide between the world of the Church, on the one hand, and the world of culture and the intelligentsia, on the other, we must overcome today. There have been some attempts to overcome it before. One can recall the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Society, which operated at the beginning of the 20th century. On the part of the Church, it was headed by Archbishop Sergiy (Stragorodsky) of Vyborg and Finland, in the recent past the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and later the future Patriarch, and on the part of the intelligentsia there were a variety of people - Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Vasily Rozanov, Nikolai Berdyaev and many others. It was an attempt by people from among the intelligentsia, who were inclined to dialogue with the Church, to overcome the dividing line that existed between them. But for the most part, the corporate "boundaries" between the world of the Church and the world of art, culture, and the intelligentsia were preserved.

- What are the roots of this "disengagement"?

- I think they should be looked for in the reforms of Peter the Great. In particular, in that colossal culturological shift, break and fracture that occurred after Peter artificially and forcibly began to impose Western orders in Russia. This concerned both culture and worldview standards. It is no coincidence that he had to reshape the structure of the Church, because the structure of the Church, which corresponds to the canons that existed in Russia in the pre-Petrine era, did not correspond to this Western paradigm. It was restored only after the revolution ...

- After the February Revolution...

- Yes, after February. Although, de facto, of course, the Patriarch was elected after the October Revolution, and preparations for the Local Council began even under the tsarist regime. During the synodal period, there was an ideological paradigm according to which the Church should be subordinate to the state and deal only with church issues and themes, that is, priests should only baptize, marry, perform the funeral service, serve the Liturgy, but should not be engaged in some socially significant business, but the position of the Church should not influence the life of society. This paradigm had a very significant impact on the development of the intelligentsia and culture: both the intelligentsia and culture in the 18th, and especially in the 19th century, became purely secular in Russia. And they had very few points of contact with the Church.

In Soviet times, as we know, the intelligentsia was not even classified as a class, they were considered a kind of "stratum". And the Soviet government was never able to develop an unambiguous attitude towards the intelligentsia. Lenin's statement, which is cited in the article by G. Pomerants and Z. Mirkina, is very characteristic in this sense. The Soviet government was a persecutor of both the Church and the intelligentsia. The entire pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, in fact, was exterminated during the years of Stalin's terror. Therefore, today, after such a sad and tragic historical experience, we must, first of all, get rid of artificial schemes and watersheds. The very opposition between the intelligentsia and the Church is artificial. I say this from my own experience, and from the experience of my family, and from the experience of thousands of other people who consider themselves both intellectuals and the Church. There is no contradiction between belonging to both groups of people.

- The series “Heat” by Alexander Arkhangelsky has just ended on the Kultura channel, which tells about the return of the intelligentsia to the Church and spiritual searches in the 70s of the twentieth century. Was this the second moment after the experience of the Religious-Philosophical Society, when the intelligentsia and the Church erased the "borders"?

- The 70s and 80s of the twentieth century - this is also the time of the Russian religious renaissance. It was not as obvious as at the beginning of the 20th century, it was underground, but it existed. I was its witness and, in a sense, a participant. Very many people from among the intelligentsia then returned to the Church, and often not in a direct way. It all started with the search for Indian literature, hobbies for yoga, but gradually the enthusiasts came to the Orthodox Church. I would not say that it was a mass phenomenon, but it was significant enough. I think it was a harbinger of that spiritual revival that unfolded on a full scale in the 90s.

– Tell me, what today can help overcome the division between the Church and the intelligentsia?

“First of all, we need to get rid of patterns. From artificial oppositions between the intelligentsia and the Church. From radicalism and outrageousness, whether on Twitter, blogs or in any other format. We need a calm and friendly dialogue.

“But often both sides sin. The intelligentsia, for example, with terrible self-will, subjectivism and spiritual ignorance when looking at church history and reality...

– It seems to me that in order not to make mistakes, it is very important to take into account our historical experience and rely on what we in the Church call Tradition or Tradition with a capital letter. As a rule, mistakes occur when this solid ground of Tradition, on which the spiritual life of our people has been built over the centuries, is slipping away from under our feet. A break with Tradition is always fraught with gross and tragic mistakes. Peter's reforms were just such a break with our spiritual and national Tradition.

- What do you mean by "Tradition"? Integrity of spiritual ideas...

- Tradition is a very broad concept that exists in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches and virtually non-existent among Protestants. This is the totality of the spiritual and religious experience of previous generations, which is passed on to us and from us should be passed on to our descendants. The concept of Tradition is of key importance for the life of the Church. We say, for example, that only that Church can be called a Church in which there is an apostolic succession of ordinations. This means that those bishops who serve today were ordained by other bishops and the direct chain of ordinations must go back from them to the apostles themselves. If somewhere and sometime this chain is interrupted, then the community no longer has the right to legitimately call itself the Church. This is just one of the examples.

There is also the continuity of teaching. We cannot now change the teaching of the Church, introduce new dogmas. We can only study ecclesiastical dogma and adapt the language in which we present ecclesiastical dogmas to the present situation, but the dogmas themselves are immutable and unchanging. The same is true for morality. There is Christian morality - certain unshakable moral postulates that cannot change depending on fashion, on the trends of the times. When today they try to impose on us moral standards that are incompatible with Christian teaching, we, as believers, cannot accept them. In this sense, Tradition and Tradition are of key importance for us.

Peter's reforms were a break with Tradition. And the consequences of these reforms (including for our culture and intelligentsia) were very deplorable. On the one hand, we are talking about the 19th century as the heyday of Russian culture... And, indeed, the majority of Russian people known to the whole world, whether they were composers, writers, poets or artists, lived in the 19th century. And in a sense, this "meeting with the West", which took place due to the fact that Peter opened a "window to Europe", was very fruitful for Russian culture.

But the other side of the coin was this departure of the intelligentsia and Russian culture from the Church. It was not a complete retreat, because at its last depth Russian culture has always remained Christian. Looking in retrospect at the Russian culture of the 19th century (especially looking through the prism of the Soviet period), we see that it was saturated with the juices of Christianity and Orthodoxy. And in Soviet times, Russian culture was for our people one of the bearers of the Christian gospel. After all, we could not then, except in samizdat or in photocopies, read the works of the holy fathers, for example, Isaac the Syrian. But they could take The Brothers Karamazov in the library, where many pages are simply a retelling of patristic works. Of course, this ecclesiastical Christian element in Russian culture was hushed up in every possible way, reinterpreted, but, nevertheless, it existed. And therefore it cannot be said that the intelligentsia or culture has completely broken away from the Church. There was a divide between the world of the Church and the world of culture and the intelligentsia, but the presence of Christian ideas and religious themes in the latter has always remained very significant and significant. And it is no coincidence that at the beginning of the twentieth century, when a significant part of the intelligentsia sided with the reformers and revolutionaries, another part of the intelligentsia took up the revival of religious ideas and thought hard about rapprochement with the Church.

What kind of intelligentsia does the Orthodox Church need today?

- The Orthodox Church needs a thinking intelligentsia. Open to dialogue. Calm. Alien to radicalism and extremes. The intelligentsia, which, on the one hand, will be receptive to the assimilation of Christian ideas, and, on the other hand, will be ready to feed the church organism with its fresh ideas. If her ideas radically contradict Church Tradition, she will inevitably find herself in conflict with the Church. But if these ideas are in line with Church Tradition, a very interesting and fruitful dialogue can arise. And the intelligentsia can make a very significant contribution to the development of church life.

After all, the intelligentsia are people who produce ideas, and fresh ideas are always needed.

- What should be the Church in relation to culture and intelligentsia? Berdyaev pointed out in The Russian Idea the obscurantism and ignorance of the Orthodox clergy, and it seems to me that this is enough even today. Talking about the benefits of simplicity is in vogue. They happily quote a saying attributed to one of the Russian elders: "Where it is simple, there are a hundred angels." It seems to me that these words are rather a call not to follow your whims and class rituals, than an invitation to simplify knowledge, ideas, attitude.

- Simplicity is not at all a synonym for illiteracy and lack of education. You can be very simple in dealing with people, in your lifestyle, and at the same time be an educated, intelligent, intellectually developed person.

I think that today we need an educated clergy like air. And this is one of the tasks that His Holiness the Patriarch sets before the Church. We have made it mandatory for the clergy to receive at least a seminary education. And one of the first steps of the Patriarch after his accession to the Primate's Throne was the reform of spiritual education. New educational institutions were created, such as Church postgraduate and doctoral studies aimed precisely at a radical increase in the educational level of our clergy.

I think that we really need an educated clergy today. For a dialogue between the Church and the intelligentsia, people are needed who would not speak nonsense and write all sorts of nonsense on the Internet, but would be responsible for their words. After all, willy-nilly, a person, meeting the statements of priests, perceives them as the position of the Church. And it is very difficult for us to say: these words reflect the official position, but these statements of this or that priest are his private opinion. After all, a priest, in fact, is always treated as a teacher, a bearer of general church ideas. And in this sense, every clergyman has a very great responsibility. If you can't speak intelligently, competently, with restraint, it's best to keep quiet.

- A difficult person for the Church - a value?

- Every person is a complex person. Simplicity is very rarely an innate quality, more often it is acquired. It seems to me that it is a consequence of the internal disposition of a person, some kind of inner world that he can both carry in himself and transmit to others. Today, very few people have such an inner world. Today, people tend to be torn, nervous, with increased emotionality. And when such a state, unpeaceful, restless, with an increased emotional degree, becomes the norm for a person, it is then that he produces ideas and statements of a radical nature.

- It seems that today we are experiencing a crisis of humanitarian culture, good poets are not heard, great humanitarians like Averintsev and Bibikhin, whose work was unthinkable without a religious beginning, are forgotten. The resonant medium is damaged. It's like a temple with bad acoustics. Can the Church be the impetus for a humanitarian cultural renaissance?

- I do not quite agree that we live in an era of decline in culture and humanitarian knowledge and that now there are no good composers, poets, writers. We live in a time that is oversaturated with information, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish real signals in a stream of noise. But, as you know, big is seen from a distance. And great people are rarely recognized during their lifetime, usually after death. Yes, today, in modern music, there seems to be no figure that is in any way similar in scale to Shostakovich. But it seems to me that it is still too early to make a final judgment. Times will come when our descendants will appreciate our era differently. And maybe what is happening now and seems to us less significant than what happened before, will be important and in demand for our descendants.

The problem is that the information space is turning into a huge market, where each person is trying to find what suits him. And an even bigger problem is the anti-culture that we often pass off as culture. Instead of educating people morally, making them spiritually purer, it, on the contrary, corrupts. The so-called popular culture, "pop music", is often of such low quality and carries such base moral messages that it can rightly be called anti-culture.

I think that the common task of the intelligentsia and the Church is precisely to create today a full-fledged culture, art of a high aesthetic level, at the same time carrying a powerful positive moral charge. And also to promote the revival and development of the humanities, which are necessary for the full development of society.

Interviewed by Elena Yakovleva