Clergy - about the consequences of perestroika in the second half of the 1980s.

On April 27, 2014 Regions.ru published a selection of opinions clergy about the perestroika started by Mikhail Gorbachev and its consequences For Russia. The majority did not approve of the changes that had taken place, although they acknowledged that The Russian Orthodox Church benefited from these changes.  

Bishop Irinei of Orsk and Gaisky believes that Gorbachev "does not was independent in his decisions - this is a driven person who acted as he was told by Western politicians", therefore "the collapse of the country is on his conscience" .

According to the bishop, all freedoms received by citizens are offset by the fact that "many at the same time found themselves on the verge of poverty" . However the bishop appreciates the freedom received by the Church: “The Church has freed itself from control, stop trying to control it. We got freedom like we never got never, and in 30 years they have done as much as they have not done in many years .

Others hold a similar point of view. clergy. Rector of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior of the Former Sorrowful monastery on Novoslobodskaya, Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko is sure that "Russian people” did not get better from perestroika, and it brought benefits only to “billionaires, bandits, corrupt officials .

The priest also sees positive changes: “Now they interview clergymen on various issues - it used to be like that impossible to imagine. You can travel abroad, engage in private entrepreneurship, publishing books - in general, a lot has now become possible. However, in general, he is "very skeptical" about the results of perestroika.

Cleric of Nikolo-Kuznetsky temple, the teacher of PSTGU, Archpriest Ivan Vorobyov, agrees that the Soviet a system that "has outlived its usefulness" should have been changed, and some perestroika ideas were “very good and sound – calls for publicity, democracy, freedom of ideas" .

However, "any the change was somehow used by our adversaries to weaken state” , and Gorbachev “turned out to be a free or involuntary pawn in the hands of others” . As a result of this, “unthinkable in their chaos, economic and political unbridledness” 1990s.

The current situation in Russia suits the priest more: “Democratic Russia, as it turned out, can still exist, but only with a strong government. Yes, corrupt, yes, with a lot of problems. But today there is at least a government that is trying to defend national interests, and in the conditions "perestroika" and in the 90s they were completely forgotten .

Chairman of the Affairs Division youth of the St. Petersburg diocese, Archpriest Konstantin Golovatsky noted first of all, religious freedom: “With regard to the Russian Orthodox Churches were banned and persecuted. Atheistic ideology was abolished. Not in vain our church leadership noted that the freedom that the Church has now, never before in its history .

The priest believes that the negative consequences of perestroika “can be would have been prevented if the political leadership had been wise, and the processes that took place were not chaotic, but controlled .

Head of Department religious education and catechesis of the Yekaterinburg diocese Archpriest Alexy Kulberg , by contrast, experiences "only pain" from the consequences perestroika, which he considers only “the collapse of the country, the impoverishment of the regions, cultural, scientific, technological degradation " . According to him, " there was a reshuffling of forces in world is not in favor of the Soviet Union .

He is convinced that "the initiative belonged not only to Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev and some of his assistants, - it was a serious geopolitical operation that took place with active participation, as they say now, "our Western partners", who were interested in weakening the country and obtaining its natural resources .

Head of Department for interaction with medical institutions of the diocese of Orsk, Priest Vyacheslav Kochkin sees the reason for the failure of perestroika in the "active influence of local national elites of the republics of the USSR "and" a sharp reduction in the price of oil " . Priest sees a parallel with today: “There are a lot of ideas, wishes, and money in no country . "

Muslim leaders assess perestroika extremely negative. Head of the Ulema Council of the Russian Association of Islamic Accord Mufti Farid Salman is sure that perestroika "failed and there was no need to start it” and “touch our Soviet society”. As a result, “we lost our Soviet identity, and not everything in it was disgusting, as many now want to show. We have lost a huge country millions of relatives found themselves separated by the borders of different states.

The priest thinks that “it was possible to reconstruct the system by other methods, introduce innovations, work with the rest of the world without giving up their own positions .

Imam-muhtasib of the northern districts of the Omsk region, Akhmad Akhmetov reproached M. Gorbachev for he “ruined the country” , “poured everyone’s brains, spoke to collective farmers, frightened with incomprehensible words like "consensus" , and also that he "was not a patriot" and "traveled around Western countries with lectures . "

Representatives of Jewish organizations are not so negative about perestroika. Chairman of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and associations of Russia, Rabbi Zinovy ​​Kogan notes that although “modernization socialism did not work out for Gorbachev” , the advent of glasnost “played positive role: the society woke up. And it can be credited Gorbachev and those who advocated glasnost .

The rabbi believes that when carrying out reforms, it was necessary to take for the sample experience of China, not Western countries.

Chairman of the Ulyanovsk Jewish cultural and educational public organization "Shalom" Igor Dabakarov reminded that “there was nothing good in the Iron Curtain” , and the Jews in the USSR were “afraid speak openly about their nationality, hid, changed their names, passports . He considers the collapse of the Soviet Union inevitable.

Sources

• Perestroika: Liberation or Catastrophe? - Opinions of the clergy // Regions.ru. 2015. April 27.