The Church compromised

The Russian Orthodox Church agreed that studying the basics of Orthodoxy will not be compulsory

On the eve of the start of the school year, the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church again started talking about “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” . This time, the position of the largest Russian denomination, voiced by the deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, looks like a compromise. “Teaching the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”, taking into account the principle of voluntariness and variability, is the most honest and expedient way. And it is no coincidence that this is the path proposed in the exemplary agreement on cooperation between regional educational administrations and our dioceses,” Fr. Vsevolod. The DECR deputy head emphasized that “free choice of ideological subjects” is a practice accepted in most countries of the world and does not at all contradict human rights and freedoms: “Believers are protesting precisely against the monopoly of one worldview in school - this is materialism, including including a skeptical view of religion."

In defense-industrial complex lessons, the conversation should not be about attributes, but rather about the fundamentals of Orthodoxy; teaching in no case should be “immoral and non-ideological.” As noted by Fr. Vsevolod, if you tell schoolchildren only about the architectural merits of churches, about the technique of painting icons, about dry historical facts, about the difference between an archimandrite and a metropolitan, then this course will not fulfill its main goal - it will not help the moral education of students. “A story about Orthodox culture in a detached, cold way, not related to the human soul, is unlikely to really change people for the better, since most of today’s schoolchildren will not accept what is not directly addressed to their hearts,” says a representative of the Patriarchate.

Let us note that the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science holds a diametrically opposite opinion. On Thursday, the head of the ministry, Andrei Fursenko, said that the subject should not be spiritual, but cultural and “neutral in relation to religion.” The main problem, according to the minister, remains the lack of teaching staff and the lack of quality textbooks. The last statement is all the more curious considering that the textbook has already been written - the Academy of Sciences is actively lobbying for the manual, prepared under the editorship of the director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Chubaryan.

In the pedagogical community itself, the current position of the patriarchate was perceived as a step forward. “I’m very glad that representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church have moved from false accusations to a very constructive recognition that this course should be purely optional ,” emphasized Alexander Adamsky, rector of the Eureka Institute of Educational Policy, and member of the public council under the Ministry of Education and Science, in a conversation with Vremya Novostey. . In his opinion, the statement of Fr. Vsevolod Chaplin actually puts an end to the discussion about the introduction of military-industrial complex into the compulsory educational standard. Mr. Adamsky recalled that the initial message of the church hierarchs was exactly this - back in 1999, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II sent a letter to the dioceses, where he emphasized the voluntary nature of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodoxy.

At the same time, the expert believes that the compulsory cultural subject “Fundamentals of Religions” may well coexist with an optional analogue of the Law of God.

“It seems to me that teaching the subject “History of World Religions” as part of a general school course does not contradict teaching the basics of religion on an elective basis with the consent of parents and the free choice of students,” Mr. Adamsky believes. “This is the right of both confessions and citizens, which corresponds to both the constitutional principle of freedom of conscience and the law on education.”

Showing tolerance, Orthodox hierarchs say that “our brothers Muslims, Jews, atheists, Buddhists, and other religious and ideological minorities should have the same voluntary choice.” However, the “Muslim Brothers”, who came out sharply against the appearance of the military-industrial complex in Russian schools, did not change their position. Thus, participants in the All-Russian meeting of leaders of Tatar public organizations that took place recently in Kazan made a statement that “the involuntary introduction by the authorities of certain regions of the Russian Federation into the curriculum of secondary schools of the course “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” violates the norms of the secular state and human rights.”

Mikhail MOSHKIN