Seditious adaptation

The leader of the nationalist association "Russians" Dmitry Demushkin is concerned about the words of the head of the Synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, about the need to integrate migrants in Russia.

“Such statements cannot but cause alarm and wariness, because we have always believed that the task of the Russian Orthodox Church is to carry the word of God and Orthodoxy, and not the political and social adaptation of religious communities of migrants in Russia,” Demushkin told Interfax.

“If this were a private opinion, but Vsevolod Chaplin represents the Russian Orthodox Church, so we, as believers, would like to be somewhat more careful in expressing such seditious thoughts,” he said.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin on Monday in Moscow at a press conference on the problems of adaptation of migrants, expressed the opinion that Russia will only benefit from the influx of migrants if their cultural and social adaptation is successful.

“The ability to accept new people is always a testament to the strength of society, and the very process of accepting new people into society is one of the keys to its future strength, its stable and effective development,” he said .

According to the priest, one should not think that the best way to preserve society is to “preserve its formal homogeneity and build barriers to the emergence of new members of society.”

“Any strong country in history was strong, as a rule, also because it attracted new people, and these people became an organic part of the society of this country, its traditions, culture, public life. Therefore, today we need not to be afraid of new people in our society, but to do everything to ensure that they become an organic part of this society,” the priest emphasized.

One cannot but agree with Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin that “the ability to accept new people” is “evidence of the strength of society.” But one cannot but agree with Dmitry Demushkin that it is not entirely the church’s job to deal with the adaptation of migrants. At the last Christmas readings, Metropolitan Mercury complained that the number of Sunday schools in the parishes was extremely small; the patriarch more than once expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the practice of the widespread appearance of social workers and catechists in the same parishes was spreading poorly - it would not be more logical to begin by solving these intra-church , Problems? However, the church is involved in the education of migrants, intending to introduce them to Orthodox culture, as if Orthodox culture is the first thing migrants encounter in Russia.

The official church has long been trying to pretend that Russian society is deeply Orthodox, but I’m afraid even migrants cannot be convinced of this. On the contrary, those who come from regions where traditional culture is much more deeply rooted can only be disappointed in the joint activities of the FMS and the Russian Orthodox Church. But the budget money allocated for this project will be divided among the worthy.