Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia criticized the so-called “creative class” on Sunday after the liturgy at the Conception Monastery in Moscow, Interfax reports . He presented a number of church awards, including the Order of St. Prince Dmitry Donskoy (II degree) to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was present at the service, in connection with efforts aimed at developing church-state relations and the 50th anniversary.

As the patriarch stated, in Russian society there is a category of people who “disdain the people, considering them incapable of creative activity.” “These people have assigned themselves a certain name of the “creative class,” or, using a foreign word, they call themselves “the creative class,” Kirill explained. According to him, the assessment of these people, too, “is surprisingly correctly given by our people, who have preserved the faith, and therefore the criterion of truth.”

“Isn’t that why they destroyed this monastery in 25, isn’t that why they destroyed the faith and shot priests, monks and nuns, so that our people could be deprived of this criterion of truth forever?” “It didn’t work out, and it didn’t work out only because the Lord himself is present in history through the life of his Church,” the primate concluded.

“Creative class” is a term introduced by the American Richard Florida in 2002 to designate modern, “post-industrial” people: engineers, artists, photographers, artists, bloggers, journalists, etc.

Last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin defined the “creative class” as public sector workers, speaking about the need to increase their salaries. According to the president, “the creative class is, first of all, doctors, teachers, and cultural workers.”

Patriarch Kirill criticized the “creative class” for neglecting the people