Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin spoke out against accusations of immorality against the Russian authorities

On June 8, 2011, the materials of the online conference of Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Department for Relations between the Church and Society, were published.

Answering the question “whether an alliance with unscrupulous authorities leads to the corruption of the Church,” the priest said that he “tryes to avoid some officials because of their immorality,” but “today they are an absolute minority.”

“Most of the officials I know,” insists Fr. Vsevolod, these are personally modest, internally decent people, whom I in no way identify with either crime or bureaucracy. I really don't like to praise ministers, deputies, and so on. I do not want to name a single name in a laudatory manner. But yesterday I spoke with the Deputy Prime Minister, with whom I am not close friends - in general I try not to be friends with politicians - but I have been observing the life of this person for about 15 years and I know for sure that this person is very honest, kind, sincerely caring about the future of the country. There are many such examples."

He advises “those who constantly say that we have terrible authorities should try to work in power for at least five years and then return to the question of whether all officials are monsters or not.”

Sources

• Orthodoxy is true Christianity (interview with Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin) // Orthodoxy and the world. 2011. June 8.