The tragedy of the Russian Orthodox Church

Sometimes it seriously begins to seem to me that the goal of some mysterious forces is the destruction of the Russian Orthodox Church...

Let's leave aside the epic with Pussy Riot or the stories with the clock and the Patriarch's apartment...

Every day, new and new events deal mortal blows to the prestige of the Russian Orthodox Church:

V.Yu. was appointed supervisor of interaction with religious organizations. Surkov , whose appointment was enthusiastically welcomed by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin;
Information appeared in the media that on July 31, Abbot Timofey, who became known to the general public after the baptism of Kirkorov’s daughter, had an accident in a BMWZ4 roadster with diplomatic license plates. Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, the abbot was intoxicated;
Archpriest Vladimir (rector of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the French city of Saint-Louis) shared in an interview with the Pravda.ru resource “memories” of how KGB officer G. Gudkov conducted his case in the mid-80s, while mocking parishioners and stole a “gun from the times of Alexander II.” Let me remind you that the Pravda.ru holding belongs to V. Gorshenin , whose professional success is not without reason associated with the name of the ex-head of the Department of Internal Policy of the President of the Russian Federation (and long-term subordinate of V.Yu. Surkov) K. Kostin .

I look at all this, as well as at the public’s reaction to what is happening, and I feel very sad...

The Russian Orthodox Church managed in less than a year to squander the entire reserve of public trust accumulated over the post-Soviet decades, finally turning into an integral part of the Kremlin propaganda machine... And many hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church turned, unfortunately, into a complete resemblance of Kremlin officials...

And if things continue like this, then our grandchildren will learn about Orthodoxy only from history textbooks...

And, in fact, I can only sympathize with Patriarch Kirill at the moment when, after death, he will appear before the face of God and will explain to him what happened to the Russian Orthodox Church...

And there’s one more thing I can’t wrap my head around...

After all, surrounded by the “national leader” there are people who position themselves as believers... The same President of JSC Russian Railways V. Yakunin or Minister of Justice A. Konovalov .

It is clear that they ended up in the ruling elite not thanks to their professional abilities (V. Yakunin is a co-founder of the Ozero cooperative, A. Konovalov is a classmate of D. Medvedev), but this does not change the essence of the main thing - judging by their actions, they are deeply believers. For almost ten years now, V. Yakunin has been annually delivering the Holy Fire to Russia from Jerusalem for the beginning of the Patriarchal Easter Service... A. Konovalov even received (albeit in absentia) an Orthodox theological education at St. Tikhon’s University.

I am not interested in their moral torment in connection with serving the “national leader”... Most likely, they have long come up with convenient excuses for themselves...

But how they can calmly watch how, at the behest of Kremlin political strategists, the Russian Orthodox Church is completely discredited in the eyes of the public remains a mystery to me...