Pray, Hermitage, to all gods!

The Orthodox, using the language used by the current authorities, held a “mass unauthorized action” in the museum.

The singing of prayers held in the Hermitage last Sunday became a landmark event: Orthodox fundamentalists actually invaded the secular territory of the museum and held there, in the language used by the current authorities, a “mass unauthorized action.”

Moreover, the action was prohibited in advance: its initiator, Deputy Milonov, applied for permission to the director of the Hermitage and was refused. Thus, the violation of the rules of conduct in the museum by the participants in the “prayer service” was deliberate. The action was massive (according to media reports, 60 people took part in it, judging by the videos posted on the Internet - about 40) and lasted in the hall where the Alexander Nevsky cancer was exhibited for about ten minutes.

I propose to compare this event with what happened in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior last year. Then members of the punk group Pussy Riot prayed in it in an unconventional way for 40 seconds and received two years in prison. Moreover, under Article 213b of the Criminal Code, which provides punishment for hooliganism committed “on grounds of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity against any social group.”

Both “prayer services” violated the internal regulations, in one case of a temple, in the other of a state secular museum.

And if Pussy Riot were sentenced to a real prison term for the allegedly present motive of religious hatred in their actions, then the participants in the “prayer service” in the Hermitage should receive an appropriate punishment. Because in their case the motive of ideological and religious hatred is obvious. Answering questions from the media, a participant in the action, Anatoly Artyukh, stated that it was directed against the secular character of the state museum and, in essence, against the secular character of the state: “Piotrovsky opposed himself to all Orthodox people... He spat in our faces with the Chapman exhibition, we will constantly remind him that he is not the owner of the Hermitage. The Hermitage belongs to the people, most of whom (sic!) are believers in one way or another. If Piotrovsky believes in some other god, then let him create a temple in his dacha and pray there to whomever he wants. We will pray at our shrines in the places where they are located. This is our country."

I would like to understand why citizens peacefully protesting for the observance of Article 31 of the Constitution at Gostiny Dvor are regularly detained by law enforcement officers, why participants in a punk prayer service are sitting in a camp, and gross violators of the work schedule of a secular museum remain unpunished? Either it should be recognized at the legislative level that we already live in an Orthodox fundamentalist state, or Orthodox fundamentalists should be subject to the same law enforcement practices as other groups.

From Novaya:

The press service of the State Hermitage explained that the museum is not yet going to take any additional security measures in connection with the incident. The security service did not expel the participants in the Sunday chants from the hall because they did not touch anything, did not even come close to the exhibits, and in the Hermitage it is not customary for security to remove visitors from the hall who are not behaving violently.

Of course, it is impossible to call an event like Sunday choral singing in the Hermitage a prayer service: in structure, the prayer service is a shortened version of the morning service conducted by a priest, with the reading of the Gospel and the canons, although a shortened version of the service is also allowed. In any case, it must be conducted by a priest. So the vocal exercises initiated by Mr. Milonov were, of course, just a polyphonic PR campaign of the type “to spite my mother, they’ll go and frostbite my ears,” as small children often react to the prohibitions of adults: if the museum’s management does not allow singing in the hall, You must definitely sing to spite your evil uncle.

But this example can turn out to be very contagious: already the communists are eager to once again storm the Winter Palace, then some other ideological or religious fanatics will want to organize mass rituals or dances - fortunately, in the Hermitage collection there are objects that were cultic for all religions and beliefs, which existed in world history.