Deck

Our Church rests on ascetics and prayer books. “Without three righteous people, the city cannot stand,” the Russian saints asserted. And if today Orthodoxy still retains its influence on hearts and souls, it is solely thanks to our inconspicuous grandmothers and a few unknown prayer books. In my village there is one such woman - Baba Lizaveta - even in whose appearance one can see sorrow for each of us, and in her face the radiance of the Mother of God shines.

It would seem that here they are, the “righteous people” on which Holy Belogorye stands. Not contrived, not covered with fake gold...

But with the tenacity of a rabbit crawling into the mouth of a boa constrictor, our official church is sinking deeper and deeper into sin. I, of course, have no right to judge, but God will not forgive me even for silence if I pass by this news: “Ivan Kulabukhov became the guest of honor at the congress of clergy (Source: Regional Duma).”

At first I thought that this Ivan was definitely one of the three righteous people, without whom Belgorod could not stand. Otherwise, what is veneration for? But I was confused by the reference to the regional Duma. I wasn’t too lazy - I looked. There is only one Ivan Kulabukhov. He is the chairman of this Duma, he is also some kind of big shot in the United Russia party.

So what happened? The deans of the metropolis also gathered to serve as assessors—even honorary ones! — elected a leader of a separate political party. “By tradition, the congress of the clergy is held in the regional center, at which the clergy sum up the main results of the year and determine priorities for the future (same source).”

And now a question for the Bishop. Your Eminence, why do I, an Orthodox person who does not share the position of United Russia, need the clergy, whose priorities for the future are determined by the “guest of honor” from “United Russia”? I’m not a boy and I don’t believe that Kulabukhov came to you solely for an “honorary meeting.” The Church, especially today, is an ideological weapon, and isn’t it more correct to believe that this Thomas came to put his fingers on the trigger?

The Gospel is closer and clearer to me than the United Russia Charter. And in the Bible there are psalms, and among them the very first one says: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked...”, and so on, you remember, Vladyka. It seems that this covenant also extends to cases when the advice of the wicked itself comes to the blessed man.

God forbid, I have nothing against Mr. Honorary Guest of the Congress of Deans. He honestly does his job, as a representative of the power deck, which has already crushed any independent thought in the area. He was ordered to suppress the spiritual one as well - he fulfills it. And the dean, like the students, in a single impulse, attached the blue banner of the United Russia to the banners.

And after this, someone starts talking about slandering Orthodoxy? What is slander? Is it not the deans who, as God wills, carry out party guidelines? What “priorities for the future” can be determined with the indispensable “guest of honor”, ​​other than party ones?

...And a little about heaven. I can imagine how many new adherents would come to Orthodoxy if something like this appeared in the news feed: “A parishioner of the Ilyinsky Church of the Biryuchensky deanery, ninety-year-old Elizaveta Maltseva, became the guest of honor at the clergy congress.”

Weak, gentlemen of the Metropolitan?