Translated material
Interview with philologist and patriot Tatyana Mironova!
Chief researcher of the research department of book science of the Russian State Library, Doctor of Philology, corresponding member of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, expert linguist. In addition, she is the wife of the famous opposition politician Boris Mironov and the mother of the nationalist Ivan Mironov. With her we talk about the present of Russia, about political movements and native Russian linguistic archetypes.
About Russian stereotypes and archetypes.
— In many interviews you talk about the archetypes of Russian consciousness, about genetic memory, about the substitution of stereotypes and concepts...
— In my new book “Russian Soul and Non-Russian Power,” which is due to be published in the fall, I tried to reveal the main archetypes of Russian self-awareness, which cannot be erased from us as long as we remember our native Russian language. Language really is an antidote for Russian people when trying to instill in us the viruses of the Western European and American plague of consumerism and callousness, selfishness and dishonesty.
We carry out many of our actions under the influence of linguistic genetic memory algorithms; we call this “I can’t do otherwise.” Here, for example, is the Russian word “nothing”. A persistent and at the same time mocking “nothing!” is the formula, the archetype of our Russian fortitude. With this word, like a stake or a club, we brush aside any adversity: whether an illness has overcome us - nothing!, we will endure it, or an enemy has approached - nothing! When we fall and hurt our children, we reassure them with the same words – it’s okay, it will pass. In response to any sympathetic attitude towards our grief, so as not to become limp and fall apart in self-pity, we answer: “Nothing! We'll survive!" This amazes every non-Russian person, meaningless at first glance, “Nothing!”, and also the rollicking “Nishto!”, “Nishtyak!”, “Nothing!” we laugh at the bitter fate, we overcome misfortune with clenched teeth, we convince ourselves of the triviality of pain, of overcoming grief, of the inevitability of victory.
The daring Russian “nothing” has at all times made us the most patient, the most persistent, and therefore invincible people. It is no coincidence that the iron Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, who had previously been the German ambassador to Russia, in difficult times strengthened himself in Russian: “Nothing, Bismarck, nothing!”
Our “Russianness” can only be destroyed by forcing the Russian people to forget their native language, or neutralizing it in the Russian consciousness with other languages, for example, English, which today they strive to teach from early childhood, so that it is supposedly easier for the child to fit into modern civilization. This is a disastrous path, the ending of which is the complete break of the young man with his people and with the fate of his Motherland.
— Your criticism of the “axiom” “God endured and commanded us”, which is being hammered into the consciousness of the Russian people, is well known. You said that the whole point is “a “rule” that is destructive for our consciousness, which was born from an incorrect Russian translation of the Holy Scriptures. What should the translation be like? Did this really not happen?
— The concept of Christian patience means only one thing - a person’s perseverance in the face of the troubles that surround him. A different idea of patience is imposed on us - this is non-responsibility, the so-called “meekness”, that is, non-resistance to evil by force. To support the idea of non-resistance to evil, they usually cite the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciple, who rushed with a sword at the arriving Jews: “Return your sword to its place. All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” They interpret it to mean that the Orthodox’s hands give up in powerlessness. Let's take a look at the Explanatory Bible, we read: “Christ, speaking his words, forbade all people to have a sword and use it as defense or to produce violence.” Here is an example of a blatant lie. The lie is that the word “priemshii” in Church Slavonic and Russian does not simply mean to take, it means “to take first, to begin.”
Let's compare the Russian expression to get down to business, which means to begin work. The Greek word in the original Gospel text has the same meaning - to raise the weapon first. Here is the “one who took the sword” - the one who took it first, who attacked with a weapon, and such a person, according to the word of the Lord and according to the testimony of our history, will certainly die from the sword. God does not give victory to the aggressor. And defending yourself from an aggressor is a sacred matter. And not to defend yourself anyhow, but harshly, with a sword, because the Lord said: “He will perish by the sword.”
A Russian proverb in confirmation of the Gospel words says: “God is for the beginner.” The truth is that the Lord forbade us to resist evil by force, which acts as personal revenge on our personal enemy. It is a great sin not to resist the enemies of God and the enemies of the Fatherland—the power of Satan—for this violates the two main commandments of Christ: the commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbor. The Gospel words about weapons and armed resistance to evil are deliberately suppressed today, although they are precisely the law for us to counter our enemies with force.
— Do you give lectures? If so, what are you trying to instill in students? Which categories should you pay attention to?
- Yes, I give lectures. But not for students, but public, intended for everyone - philologists and non-philologists, teachers and students. These are lectures about the foundations of the Russian people, which are stored in our language, and about how we can withstand in times of trouble in order not only to survive, but also to achieve victory. For trouble originally means a yoke, enslavement, and victory comes only in overcoming trouble.
— It is obvious that in our country, more than in any other, the influence of the state on the affairs of the church is noticeable, and vice versa. Why do you think this happens?
“ I only see the influence of the state on the church, as a result of which the church authorities, in fear of those in power, are afraid to raise their voices against drinking, drug addiction, corruption, and robbery of the people. And those honest and conscientious priests who dare to talk about this are banned by the hierarchy. The church has practically no influence on the state. The majority of statesmen do not have any Christian conscience and not the slightest fear of God. Endemic bureaucratic corruption, essentially robbery and looting, is proof of this.
— Last year, a major scandal occurred in Chelyabinsk - the Alexander Nevsky Church, which served as just an organ hall for many decades, was transferred back to the Russian Orthodox Church. What is your opinion on this event?
“ I don’t know anything about this story.” I think it would be better to build an organ hall for the organ and consecrate the temple for worship. But this is not done suddenly. We all need to be patient. In Moscow, a similar thing happened with the Church of St. Clement, which for many years housed the book depository of the Russian State Library (“Leninka”). The community tried to get the temple immediately after the transfer, but what to do with the huge number of rare books?! For ten years, everyone had to endure it: the library gradually removed books, and the Orthodox served the liturgy in a small chapel of the church. Such issues must be resolved by mutual agreement...
For whom the heart hurts.
— You are an active defender of political prisoners. In your opinion, what criminal articles are now considered “political”? Which prisoners of conscience are you most worried about?
— The political articles of the Criminal Code are now 280 and 282, under which convictions are handed down for thought crimes - criticism of the authorities, exposure of their crimes, calls to change the lives of the people for the better. But passing sentences under these articles is quite difficult, since the Constitution, which has not yet been repealed in our country, guarantees freedom of speech and thought in Article 29. It is much more convenient to fight the “enemies of the regime” by planting weapons, explosives, drugs on them, accusing them of unsolved wood grouse murders. And securely packaged for many years behind barbed wire. The main thing is that such people are not considered prisoners of conscience...
Personally, I write and send books to Nikita Tikhonov and Evgenia Khasis, who were convicted for political reasons. I am also worried about the fate of Daniil Konstantinov, who was falsely accused of murder. It seems to me that today every Russian should take upon himself the responsibility of supporting at least one fighter for Russian freedom in captivity. These people voluntarily bear the heavy cross of suffering, including those that we avoided.
— Your son Ivan was illegally detained in an attempt to prove his involvement in the assassination attempt on Chubais. How did you feel at that moment?
- How does the she-wolf feel when the hunters attack the wolf cubs? What is the bear thinking about when she rears up and goes to meet the hunters of her children? Yes, any tiny quail throws itself at the dog’s feet to take it away from the chicks. Nothing but determination to fight to the end. I didn’t feel anything else then. There was no despair, there was a bright feeling of a righteous struggle, which I tried to express in my book “The Cross and the Sword,” written for my son in those days and given to him in prison. The mothers of those children who are now in prison on serious charges with multi-year, or even life sentences, should not despair. The truth is behind them.
— Why can almost anyone be accused of extremism now? It would seem that experts recognize seemingly innocent words as calls for hostility. Is this a political order or simple unprofessionalism?
— The concept of “extremism”, unlike other concepts of criminal acts, such as murder, theft, robbery, fraud, has not yet received a precise definition in jurisprudence. This is understandable. If we expand this term philologically, as explanatory dictionaries do, it is “extreme measures”, the willingness or ability to make excessive efforts to achieve any goal. Any politician who risks taking extreme measures to save the state and people, for example, overthrowing the yoke that is destroying the people, is an extremist. But even the politician who goes to extreme measures to seize the country’s economy or enslave its people, and in our memory there were Chubais’ vouchers, and Yeltsin’s privatization, and the default of 1998, and loans-for-shares auctions that plundered the people’s property in favor of a handful of oligarchs— such a politician is also an extremist. A writer who calls his people for an armed uprising in order to save them from genocide is an extremist, because an armed uprising is an extreme measure of national resistance. But the judge who throws this writer behind bars on charges of undermining the constitutional order is an even greater extremist, since he uses extreme measures to conceal the genocide of the people and is thereby an accomplice to genocide.
The concept of extremism is deliberately not given a precise legal meaning these days, because this makes it easier to accuse any honest person of extremism. And obsequious expert philologists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, ethnologists who are ready to help in such an accusation are a dime a dozen. This tribe fawns over power, wags its tail, panders for a penny or a “position.” Do you think these people, as specialists, don’t know that any text can be interpreted in any way, that there are many possibilities for interpreting any statement? They know, but they interpret it from the angle the authorities need. Do you think these gentlemen don’t know that, according to the rules of expert opinions, evaluative statements are not verified, that is, they cannot be checked for truth, it is just an opinion for which you cannot be imprisoned, which is unconstitutional to prohibit? They know, but they deliberately commit villainy for the sake of their own base benefits, because no one can force a philologist or historian to conduct an examination. You can always refuse it if you are afraid to save the accused...
From philology to politics.
— How did the author of a textbook on the Church Slavonic language end up in politics? Are you breaking stereotypes?
— When people, under the guise of a profession not directly related to politics, claim that they are outside politics, this is stupidity or a deliberate lie. All of us, citizens of Russia, are present in the politics of our country. But to be its driving force or a blade of grass caught in the millstones of historical events depends on the decision of each of us. And the profession here is either a help in our care, or a convenient excuse to cover up our cowardice and indifference.
In philology, you can study the language of writers of the 17th century or the spelling of handwritten books of the 12th century and remain silent about the fact that often in Russia the government’s policies are aimed at debilitating the population and turning our children into stupid cattle. And it is possible to awaken national self-awareness in the younger generation, which is directly related to the Russian Word.
In philology, one can conduct examinations, looking for extremism in books that are disliked by the authorities. Or you can defend free Russian thought with your expertise. Even my textbook on the Church Slavonic language is not just a manual on the grammar of the language of Russian liturgy, but an attempt to preserve in it the language of our communication with God for young people, in which our ancestors prayed for a thousand years, and their prayer was always heard.
— Can we say that in your family everyone’s sphere of interest is close to politics? The husband is the chairman of the Union of the Russian People, a former federal minister. The son is a member of the leadership of the Russian All-People's Union. How can one explain such increased politicization in a single family?
— Boris Mironov wrote in a now banned book that “politics is the path to the goal.” Therefore, to your question about the politicization of our family, I will answer that everyone in our family - its head, the eldest son, and the wife - are people of purpose who set themselves the task of reviving the Russian national consciousness.
— Your phrase “Not all power is from God” is well known. How can one discern who the power is from?
— The Russian Christian tradition has preserved the covenant of St. Joseph of Volotsk about the ability to distinguish between God-given Power and power serving Satan: “The Tsar is God’s servant, for mercy and punishment of people. If a king reigns over people, and bad passions and sins reign over him: love of money and anger, wickedness and untruth, pride and rage, and most evil of all is unbelief and blasphemy, such a king is not God’s servant, but the devil, and not a king, but a tormentor. And do not listen to a king or prince who inclines you to wickedness or deceit, even if he tortures you or threatens you with death. This is what the prophets, apostles and all the martyrs who were killed by wicked kings, but who did not obey their commands, teach us. This is how it is proper to serve kings and princes.”
— Nationally oriented pro-Russian movements are now actively developing. What is this – an attempt by the Russian people to preserve themselves, or a good job of provocateurs to incite ethnic hatred?
— Why, when Russians talk about their right to decide the destinies of their own country, where there are more than 80 percent of us Russians, this is certainly regarded as inciting ethnic hatred and extremism? Yes, because this is how fear of Russian nationalism, which is love for one’s nation, is cultivated among the Russian people. A person who loves his nation, his people, cannot allow his people to be treated like cattle, to have their native land taken away, to distort and distort our historical achievements and conquests. Why is an independent, sensible, courageous Russian person, ready to defend the national independence of his Motherland, now regarded by many politicians as the main enemy? So there is no need to specifically look for and expose provocateurs in the Russian national-patriotic movement. It is enough to look at who such movements gather around them and where they lead. And according to this principle, distinguish the real from the forgery.
— In one interview, you talked about literature banned in modern Russia. Is this literature really capable of influencing the minds of the masses so much that it absolutely had to be banned?
— There has been an information war in Russia for 20 years now. Unlike a hot, bloody war, it is, at first glance, bloodless. We do not immediately notice losses in it. Only over time do we discover that the people are declining - some pass away as a result of alcoholism, drug poisoning, hopeless poverty, and some surrender and become a weak-willed slave of those in power. According to some estimates, such losses over 20 years amount to about 30 million souls. All the heavy artillery of the media is aimed against the Russians and other indigenous peoples of Russia: lies and slander, intimidation, threats. What can you do to counter this? Our weapons are books and articles exposing the crimes of the authorities. And if these books are banned, it means they are really dangerous for her.
— Mass protest rallies are currently taking place in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There is a calm in the regions. How can we explain this?
- It's not surprising. If we recall history, the February coup of 1917 reached the outback within a year, and the October coup of the same year finally reached, as you say, “the regions”, already in 1920. A recent example - 1991 was a stormy year only in Moscow. The province was waiting to see who would win. The same thing happened in the tragic year of 1993. A very dangerous abolition of participation in the fate of their own country on the principle - whose will take, to that, and we will join the fact that the people in a new round of changes can become not the creator of their own fate, but the material for the next experiments imposed on us or our power, Or the West.
- Your forecast for the next five years for our country?
- I am not a soothsayer, I can only answer for seeking to do it myself and what I try to fight for. I believe that in the coming years, Russian national identity will grow rapidly. The people, who fell into Letargy many years ago, is trying to wake up. Some of us see and understand all us for a long time, someone recently shook off the pernicious indifference to our national fate and only proceeds to the struggle. Many have yet to awaken. National awakening, a folk spiritual uprising is our main goal. And do not spare words for this. For only in a word - honest, sincere, intelligent, you can arouse a Russian conscience, which will tell each of us what to do next.
Interviewed by Oksana TRUFANOVA