Fear God

I understand that it is difficult for the Russian Orthodox Church to extricate itself from this insanity while maintaining its corporate honor.

But time is clearly against them.

When, upon closer examination, it became clear that all the “blasphemy” of these bad girls came down to a prayer to the Mother of God to “remove Putin” and harsh statements about Kirill, it became clear that there was something, and there was no smell of blasphemy here. Publicly teasing people is not good, creating scandals for the sake of Herostratus’ glory is an outrage (and not the first one - before that, as you know, they did weird things in a museum, etc.), but where is the “blasphemy”? Neither Putin, nor Kirill, nor KhHS are the incarnations of Christ, not the representatives of God on Earth.

Who is “closer to God” - the Patriarch, these girls, me, the readers of the Echo website, Shevchenko or Parkhomenko - an interesting question. There is just no answer. But Christ commanded everyone to love.

There is no criminality in their actions in the strict sense - no violence, no damage to property.
The criminal prosecution of girls “in the name of the Church” is direct, gross blasphemy.
Prison for “the wrong prayer in the Temple” is a desecration of the Temple of God.
Attempts to “bring out repentance” in prison are the theology of Al Capone: “a kind word convinces, a kind word and a gun convinces even more.”
The sophistry “do not take revenge on your enemies - but fight the enemies of the Faith” is stupid blasphemy. Faith in God has nothing to do with it, and no one is obliged to believe in Putin-Kirill-ROC.

In general, the Church behaved like the most ordinary, cold, stiff-necked, arrogant bureaucratic institution of the state - and “got it.” After all, no matter how you look at it, the “Ministry of Faith” is not quite ordinary, it lives “for Christ’s sake” - that is, I apologize for the expression “on the credit of the Commandments.” The believer expects - albeit unconsciously - that the behavior of the Russian Orthodox Church should, at least symbolically, differ in some way from the same Ministry of Internal Affairs. And by continuing this insanity, the Church carries out an “exposure of magic” and continues to undermine its moral capital. And out of stupid punks he creates “martyrs”, almost “saints”.

Kind (and unsolicited) advice: without waiting for Easter, find a way to let go of the “blasphemers” with a “decent expression on your face.” And hoping to force “repentance” out of them – and thereby win a “moral-corporate Victory” - is very weak. Even if you “break it down” with fear and violence, there will be no “catharsis” in society.

In general, fear God, remember the Gospel, humble your corporate pride - and “forgive” what there is nothing to forgive. They don’t even expect an apology from the Russian Orthodox Church for stupidity, aggression and “inciting religious hatred” - just silently give it back and that’s it.

And you will be forgiven too. Not punks, but normal people. They don’t have another Church, they are happy to go to this one - don’t make it difficult for them to have this opportunity.

PS. By the way, to numerous “objections” - “You have the Jewish faith, that’s what you care about. And how would a synagogue or a mosque react to such antics?” I can answer.

I am a believer and do not belong to any denomination. And especially not to any religious organization. As well as to any secular... However, I am hardly such a great figure that it is worth telling my biography.
Any person has the right to judge any religion, especially an open, not closed sect. Especially if the Church itself directly addresses the secular authorities, the state. We all have something to do with him.
I don't know how Jews or Muslims would react. Probably bad.
But I know that the difference between Christianity is that Christ called to forgive one’s enemies (not “forgive,” but to love one’s enemies!) and to turn the left cheek. Alas, that’s exactly what it says. And this is not a “reservation”, but precisely the essence of the Teaching. It is clear that many Christians are directly infuriated by such calls, but for some reason they also do not want to give up Christianity... Well, these are your difficulties, gentlemen. How can you help here?

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