Russian Orthodox Church in 2015

We are publishing a review by Svetlana Solodovnik dedicated to the latest events in the Russian Orthodox Church and the main trends in church politics in 2015.

If over the past few years the Russian Orthodox Church could be reproached for the fact that with many of its actions aimed, in its understanding, at the “moral revival of society”, it consistently narrows the space of freedom, fully supporting repressive lawmaking, then in the past year there has been a qualitative turn - in the public space there were obvious attempts to expand the space of arbitrariness. It was no longer only so-called Orthodox activists like the notorious Enteo who allowed themselves to act violently towards people they did not like for one reason or another (fortunately now all their “dislikes” can be covered up with “offended religious feelings”) - this shaky The soil was stepped by one of the most famous Moscow priests, Father Dmitry Smirnov, head of the Patriarchal Commission for the Protection of the Family, no matter how funny it sounds in this situation. Together with a detachment of strong young people, accompanied by a column of believers, he burst into the festival of the Silver Rain radio station, starting a real brawl with self-mutilation. Cause? Loud music at the festival, which took place about a kilometer from the temple of Fr. Dmitry, allegedly interfered with the service.

Residents protesting against the construction of churches in park areas faced obvious aggression from members of the “Forty Forty” movement near the church. One of these stories happened in the summer in Torfyanka Park. A small nature reserve in a quiet corner of Moscow was flooded with visiting fellows from the Moscow region, Ryazan, Vladimir (apparently there were not enough Moscow participants), who behaved so hostile towards the local residents (“pagans”, “chramophobes” and “demons” - the mildest from the curses with which they showered those gathered, and serious brawls did not come only thanks to the vigilant supervision of the police), which turned even those who were initially loyal to the construction against themselves.

“Torfyanka” became the first major victory of the fighters against falsification during the implementation of the Temple-200 program - in this particular case, information about public hearings was falsified. The unity and resilience of the residents led to the court ruling to change the construction format, and the Patriarchate agreed to move the temple to another location in the same area. “Torfyanka” is not the only place in Moscow where the conflict between municipal authorities and opponents of construction has received public attention. The story with the temple on Khodynka Field has also been going on for several years. Protests are also heard in other cities, for example,Saratov , Tolyatti , Novorossiysk . After the victory at Torfyanka, civil activists united into a coalition of more than 70 groups, which sets itself the task of continuing to fight illegal development in Moscow, this time in all directions. The coalition's plans include not only street and judicial activism, but also changes in legislation.

If we take the theme of aggression in its verbal expression, then Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin certainly takes the lead here (although some priests, for example Alexander Shumsky and the same Dmitry Smirnov, are only half a step behind him). Partly for this, he paid with his position as head of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society just before the New Year. Time will tell how seriously he paid the price - whether the eloquent priest will sink into oblivion or head some new project. He has already slightly outlined its contours: criticism of the patriarch, and not only (“No one will take away from me my position, my voice, my right to argue with anyone, be it the patriarch, high government officials or social media authorities”), change of elites (“all those immoral elites who today are preventing the country from developing” must leave), developing models for the moral reconstruction of the country. The archpriest does not exclude the possibility of acquiring his own media.

Of course, maybe this is all shocking out of despair - it’s still a shame: he worked tirelessly, but was fired into nothing - but if you keep the conspiracy theory in your head, then Chaplin’s program is very reminiscent of the applications of all kinds of folk-Orthodox-social-Christian parties that popped up after the protest events of 2011-2012 like mushrooms after rain - at the suggestion of the same Fr. Vsevolod. However, parties on religious grounds are prohibited in Russia, and no one has lifted the ban, so the initiative has sunk into oblivion. What if there is a plan to revive her - in such a personal version? (Besides the main political line, there are always a few “in reserve,” and no one has canceled the contradictions within the political class.) A party is dangerous, and Muslims may want their own party (and this is doubly dangerous). Let Chaplin replace the Orthodox party with the Orthodox. In any case, the goals stated by the archpriest in no way lead to growth in faith, but they strongly smack of political claims.

In general, the Moscow Patriarchate followed its usual tactics over the past year - it tried to strengthen the positions it had gained in society and fought for new frontiers. In particular, the showdown with culture continued. The aforementioned Enteo allowed himself too much: he raided an exhibition in the Manege, ruining several works from the state fund of the famous Soviet sculptor Vadim Sidur. That is, he encroached on the sacred: not on the works of some dubious representative of the “so-called contemporary art,” but on the opinion of the state, which considered these works worthy of preservation. And then there is the unanimous indignation of the museum community. As a result, 10 days of arrest and a criminal case with the prospect of payment of compensation - for the first time in all the time of similar excesses.

The attempt to acquire St. Isaac's Cathedral into the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church ended in failure. The St. Petersburg authorities did not agree to this, arguing their refusal by the fact that in the event of a transfer, access to the exhibition for everyone would inevitably be reduced, and the cathedral is still a cultural heritage of all of Russia. In addition, the city cannot afford additional expenses: now the cathedral is in federal ownership and is supported by the state, but if it goes to the Russian Orthodox Church, then St. Petersburg will have to pay for its maintenance, since practice shows that the church is not able to bear this burden .

Secular theology remains a frontier that has not yet been completely overcome. Departments and departments of theology have long existed in many Russian universities, and a chain of secular theological education has been built - bachelor's and master's degrees. The stumbling block is the defense of dissertations in theology; there are still no dissertation councils or an expert council within the Higher Attestation Commission in this specialty, and the Ministry of Education saw no reason to change the system: we don’t have enough theologians inclined to scientific activity to fence a garden.

Nevertheless, in October 2015, the Higher Attestation Commission made a serious concession - it approved a passport for the specialty “Theology”, that is, it set a certain framework for defending dissertations: having said “a”, sooner or later you have to say “b”. Expert councils on theology, however, will still not be created, nor will the degrees of candidates and doctors of theology be awarded: applicants will defend themselves in history, philosophy or religious studies, albeit in the specialty “Theology”. The Patriarchate is, of course, dissatisfied with this state of affairs and is going to continue to “punch through the wall.” At the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities, the main disruptive force in secular theology, they are already ready to form a dissertation council.

This is perhaps one of the few successes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the past year. The peak of mutual attraction between the church and the authorities has clearly passed, there is a reverse wave, and the escalation of aggression, perhaps such an awkward attempt at resistance - we will show it to you all!

At the same time, the Moscow Patriarchate does not abandon the work of creating ideological concepts that could be useful to the authorities in the difficult task of uniting the “Putin majority.” They started with the sacred - they tried to unite the people around the figure of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, magnificently celebrating the 1000th anniversary of his death in the summer. It didn’t go well, the people did not cling to Vladimir, categorically opposing the installation of his monument on the Sparrow Hills.

Then a “solidarity society” was brought to Prince Vladimir, the foundations of which he allegedly laid by introducing church tithes in Rus', and this tandem was put forward at the World Russian People's Council (VRNS) as a unifying value. The old formula - the so-called Russian world - has considerably compromised itself, becoming a meme of the tragic Ukrainian events. “The social ideal of a solidary society is a family society, the center of which is not competition, but cooperation; a society characterized by fraternal relations between people and the government’s concern for the people,” says the Council Word.

The current, by no means solidary society, as always, reacted rather sluggishly to the latest proposals of the ARNS. Few people see the Cathedral as a “laboratory of Russian thought,” as it is called on the once firmly conservative portal “Russian People's Line,” which has now suddenly become keenly interested in the topic of “Orthodox socialism.” However, experience shows that when there is a need, especially when there is an acute need, as was the case after the annexation of Crimea, the government, due to the scarcity of its own ideological resources, is ready to fall back on the achievements of others. Then the theme of the “Russian world,” which had been ripening in the depths of the church and the VRNS, was widely heard for the first time in the Russian public space. So it is possible that in the event of further archaization of politics, they will still try to line us up in strict columns of a “solidary society.” Then Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin can come in handy.