Russian Orthodox

From an interview in the Russian publication Argumenty I Fakty, republished on the site of the Moscow Patriarchate. Worth reading in its entirety. Excerpts:

Should the Church do something to attract young people? Should it seek a special approach to them?

I believe that the search for real freedom is a worthy thing not only for young people but also for all those who are seeking the true life. The Church appreciates the aspiration of the young to freedom and independence, as Christians have never been the adherents of the submissiveness to the reality in which they live and which bears the apparent traces of sin.

At the same time, the search for freedom, unfortunately, do not always bring people to their cherished goals. Young people often take permissiveness and nihilism for freedom. As a result, after a natural dependence of their parents up to a certain age they become slaves of consumers’ worldview and brute instincts that the slavery exploits. Therefore the Church offers its experience of the search for freedom to the youth with the words of the Saviour: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (Jn 8:32). While helping young people to seek real freedom, the Church is willing to speak with them in the language that they understand.

Young people who go to church are often ‘grounded’ in the history and life of the Church, but are lacking Christian spirit and Christian attitude to the neighbour. What advice would you give to these people? How can the Church solve this problem?

The belonging to the Church of not only a young person, but of any Orthodox believer, should find its expression not in the knowledge of the life of the Church, which is important, but first of all in the irreplaceable aspiration to the main thing, which the Church offers — the new life in Christ. The experience of the real communion with God that a believer receives in the church sacraments and prayer gives him strength to change, to transform himself and finally to become a true man. A true man in the Orthodox understanding is a person of full value who clearly comprehends the meaning of life and wishes to realize himself in the love of the neighbour and in creative work. Continue reading →

Highlights from Reuters:

The “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” daily published an “Ode to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin” written in a style typical of poems devoted to former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. “The country is again at a crossroads wondering whether it might perish or not,” the ditty reads. “We congratulate you comrade Putin and ask God to give you another 120 years.”

[ … ]

Putin handed over the presidency in May 2008 to handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev. He took the more junior post of prime minister but he is widely believed to make all key decisions. The former KGB spy has become a devout believer since the collapse of communism and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill was among the first to congratulate Putin on his birthday. “Wisdom based on rich political experience, typical for you, is a guarantee of stability in our state,” Kirill wrote in a congratulatory message carried by Russian news agencies.

[ … ]

Igor Yurgens, who heads a think-tank working for Medvedev, told Reuters recently that “the cult of personality is in our genes,” citing busts and portraits that appeared after Putin’s first term — though he said Putin himself had resisted it. “I believe this is the nature of Russian power,” Yurgens added. “There is huge inertia living in this secret Kremlin, looking out on those 1,500-year-old towers and churches. Something happens inside you, I guess.”