"Everything is drowning in pharisaism..."

Pasternak wrote an ominous phrase. For all time. Although I would not have disturbed this popularly familiar topic if it had not been for an accident near the court on August 17.

The disputes did not subside there until the night. Near me, two people were furiously discussing the same thing, and one, finding no more arguments, suddenly barked:

- Go... to church!

Those standing around were at first speechless with surprise, and then laughed and applauded, welcoming the birth of a thematic euphemism. And this meant that "she drowned." This is also an ominous phrase. In this case, it refers to the church. Countdown from Stragorodsky.

And the church began to sink to the bottom (from Vysotsky: “I wish I could lie on the bottom like a submarine and not pass on my call signs…”) a long time ago. Only she very persistently conveyed the call signs. And almost each of us has our own history of relations with the church.

…Five years ago I came to work in the editorial office of an Orthodox magazine. I thought that the team here was rare. And I was not mistaken.

To begin with, I was very surprised: as a new employee, no one met me. They weren’t introduced to the chief, or the deputy chief, or to anyone at all. Suddenly someone accidentally discovered my presence and exclaimed in surprise:

- Who are you?!

Only the lady in the staff knew me (naturally!) and two young men - the responsible officer and his deputy, with whom I worked on the release of the issues.

This has never happened before in my thirty years of journalistic practice: if a newcomer was not introduced individually, then at meetings or planning meetings it was necessary. But that was in secular editorial offices. Please take this into account. And here, by the way, there were no meetings or planning meetings.

Consequently, the chief and his deputy, meeting me in the corridor, were each time amazed at my greeting and clearly puzzled over who was greeting them? They looked in bewilderment and rarely stooped to return a greeting. In secular editorial offices it is customary to say hello. But then in secular ones... But here people are not of this world. Let's make a correction factor. And the fact that they were old enough to be my children (one is almost the same age as my son) is also irrelevant.

Then I started having a streak of bad luck. It was as if someone with an imperious hand was taking me away from the editorial office.

I immediately became very ill, lost my voice, sat at home with a temperature of thirty-eight and read the number sent by the answering department by e-mail.

Everything seemed to work out fine. But as soon as I went to work, my mother (eighty-three years old) began to be afraid to be alone in the evenings. After all, when the layout was going on, I returned late. Mom got stuck, she started screaming and begging me not to leave for long. I'm stuck.

She explained the situation to the young men and asked if it was possible to work by email. After all, we already have such experience of working together. And I'm a freelancer.

They said that it was probably possible, and promised to find out from the management. The management refused. Neither the chief nor his deputy called me in, they “didn’t talk”... They just conveyed their “no”.

And I left, thinking: is my street lost? Does it lead to the right temple? Although the suspicion that the priests in the churches believe in anyone, but not in God, was already brewing in me.

“All the religiosity that actually existed there came from below, from the common people - and at the top there was nothing like that from the very beginning...” (Oleg Grechenevsky)

How many times have I easily negotiated work from home! But this is with secular publishing houses and editorial offices. Where the so-called “journalists” work, who understand that the main thing is that everything is done well and on time. What difference does it make where you read the texts...

There were no prayer services there every week, the attendance of which was zealously monitored by the head of the Orthodox magazine. By the way, only the young men from the secretariat did not go to prayer services. And they were the only ones from the entire editorial staff who sincerely regretted that I was leaving. We worked together. The others simply didn’t know me... They prayed.

Later, I accidentally found out that the magazine had a difficult financial situation, that the editorial staff had been laid off, that illness had begun there...

But nowadays, many publications are closing. Nothing surprising. A pattern, but not retribution. I don’t believe in punishment according to Dostoevsky. Let's look around: how many criminals are walking free?

One might object: what about the eternal fear in which they live? So this is not a punishment, but the other side of the coin.

And it is no coincidence that Bulgakov needed Woland, and no one else, to bring at least temporary justice to this Earth. In the arch of Mikhail Afanasyevich’s house there was once written in huge letters: “Woland, come!” This is how we cry out for justice and pray for it. But she doesn’t exist and, I’m afraid, she never will.

What will happen? Obviously, the eternal church. And many will avoid it and beware. Everyone remembered the Frolovites, their aggression, attacks and outright malice, the assertion that it is “incorrect” to forgive, the “suffering” servants of the Temple, the rejoicing of the Orthodox, reveling in revenge near the court, the triumph of pseudo-believers who ardently approve of handcuffs and shackles, dogs, bullying, seven years without the rights of meetings and correspondence, fines of twenty million for “nanopust”, cheese, pavlova and nikiforov.

And McCartney, Björk and Madonna, in general, will soon get a slap in the face from the believers. Forward, brothers and sisters! “And eternal battle, peace we only dream of...” Well, why, if Romanov and Krugov can be hit in the face, then these stars cannot? Why are they worse?

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to cover them with car paint, as one of the “deep believers” promised on August 17 near the court. He simply didn’t have any paint at that time. Next time he'll take care, he promised. And he will consecrate her in the temple.

Orthodox "brush masters" will paint the cars of their enemies with crosses. And they are unlikely to stop by cars. There are still entrances, apartments and dachas ahead. Previously, fences were smeared with tar...

There was also a call for reprisals against the Bolsheviks with weapons in their hands. To protect your values. And a gun permitting law is coming soon. “The moral thing worthy of Christian behavior is to destroy as many Bolsheviks as possible,” the Internet quotes Vsevolod Chaplin’s call. In response to the Red Terror. An eye for an eye. And Fanny Kaplan, according to this logic, acted with dignity. Let the church erect a monument to her!

Hitler, I remember, also stood up for his values and shot commissars, communists and Jews. The latter - for easily organizing revolutions. This is true, by the way... Historical fact. Read Litella.

I never shared communist ideals and, unlike many, was not a member of the Communist Party. But Vitya Anpilov is my classmate. And I don't really want to see him dead. Given the complete discrepancy of views, I don’t even want to think about reprisals against the Udaltsovs and their associates. And if the church led by Chaplin goes to war against them, I will side with Vitya. Fortunately, he spends a lot of time in unfriendly Ukraine. Live there, Vitenka! You will be healthier!

I don’t even want to mention the shoulder straps. Gaidai spoke about them long ago in the famous film “On Deribasovskaya...”.

But in reality there is Metropolitan Chrysostom, in the world Georgy Martishkin. The only bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church who publicly acknowledged cooperation with the KGB back in 1992. He explained it this way: “If I did something while working with them, it was exclusively for strategic purposes, saving the church.”

That is, the end justifies the means.

Ten years later, he returned to the topic: “As for me, I came into contact with the KGB, but was not an informer. For example, I, as a bishop, received the consent of the KGB to appoint priests to the parish. I proved to the “employees” the correctness of my actions and did not sing the songs that they expected from me: about the justice of the system and the wisdom of the rulers."

What about others?

So everything is very serious. The church will dictate the terms. But you don’t have to read the Gospel anymore. As well as the Constitution and the Criminal Code. They are superfluous in this series. From now on they are powerless. How powerless all the Volkovs, Feigins and Polozovs are in the world.

But the church’s “golden” chain of pressure is now our common cross. We can't bear to carry it...

A very real and fresh option has also appeared: the priest in a Mercedes or BMW (and they claimed that they don’t get paid enough!) will hit you in the evening. And that's it! Father was drunk. And who is not without sins?

Although in the past they said: “Personnel decides everything.” The aphorism is attributed to the “great” Joseph, to whom our church prays with inspiration, supposedly for the returned temples.

Temples can be returned. What about conscience, mercy and honor, which Pushkin so insistently mentioned? But the church reads Pushkin with one single purpose - to find blasphemy in him, a blasphemer, and correct it. Although it’s not Alexander Sergeevich who needs to be corrected.

And Vladimir Vladimirovich used to say (you’re not thinking about that just now, it’s just Mayakovsky!) that there is an option - “down with your religion!” Down - and that's it! He was a naive man. Maybe he paid for his naivety. But I don’t believe in punishment on Earth!.. And as for God’s judgment, Mikhail Yuryevich asserted this. He knows better.