Back to normal

It is not yet known which consequences will be the meeting of the Pope of Rome and Patriarch Kirill in a distant perspective, but if it somehow contributed to the conclusion of a truce in Syria and, even more so, if this truce leads to peace, then, in my opinion, already you could say it was worth it. However, as a result, the church was a very vulnerable position that could become even more vulnerable in the future.

Meeting with dad, no matter how surprisingly, despite the purely Christian language adopted by many, Cuba declaration, apparently, rattled Patriarch Kirill's skills Soviet church functionary. In any case, the "language of prayer" and the "spirit God's were immediately set aside, and already in an interview with Russia Today (RT) just a few days after the meeting the patriarch spoke in the language of the party protocol: he and the pope, "at the highest level", need “to develop a common understanding of where we are and where we are going. First, how the Christian family and, secondly, as human civilization."

prone to ideologization manifested itself in church leaders not today - they have sinned with this from the beginning 2000s, when Metropolitan Kirill (then still a metropolitan, head of the Department of External Church Relations) published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta an article entitled “The Norm of Faith as the Norm of Life” with the subtitle “The Problem of Correlation Between traditional and liberal values ​​in the choice of the individual and society. Already by that article, it was clear that the Holy Scriptures were clearly not enough for Vladyka (and how it’s impossible to understand him: what century and what kind of people fight, fight, but what’s the point!), he I really want to create some speculative construct that will help activate the process of building muscle in the church. Since the early 2000s, the Moscow the patriarchy began to show obvious signs of unease because of its "abandonment" by the authorities and groped for ways of rapprochement. This required to introduce ideological searches into a certain, clearly marked channel: salvation, eternal life - all this was not quoted on the public services market; "traditional values" had some, however, then still very vague, perspectives.

The course changed several times. At first it was an “Orthodox civilization”, which remained practically unclaimed. “Russian civilization” turned out to be a little more successful - the authorities, moreover, moment, she also fell out of love with liberal values ​​and was looking for a new cementing solution for society. Later, the “Russian world” arose, which fell more opportunely, although society instead of "braces" received a deep trauma, from which it will take a long time to come to its senses. Past the "solidary society" declared last World Russian People's Council as a new desirable goal, while managed to slip through, because a more burning issue arose on the agenda - the struggle with terrorism. This topic was also touched upon in the Cuban declaration: Pope and Patriarch called on the world community to unite in order to “end violence and against terrorism, and at the same time, through dialogue, contribute to the early achievement of civil world." I don’t know what the Pope of Rome means by “rallying”, but here Patriarch Kirill in the same RT interview outlined his vision of the issue in some detail. What motivates terrorists to take weapons in hand? Including "the development of human civilization, which, to Unfortunately, today includes the rejection of God - from the divine, moral law,” the patriarch is convinced. It became be, in order to defeat terrorism, "we all need to become different." Necessary seek a “global moral consensus” based on moral human feelings, which is embedded in the human soul by God. "We need agree on these common moral values ​​and on the basis of this consensus to build a common global civilization”.

So we have another the ideologeme is no longer “Russian”, but “global civilization”. Patriarch Kirill would like to bring out the process of desecularization, launched not without difficulty in Russia, to the international level, "to prevent the de-Christianization of modern society” and return Christians to their rightful place in the public space. At the same time, it seems to the patriarch that in Russia “moral consensus has already been reached. In any case, on March 6, at the consecration of the MGIMO temple in his parting words to future diplomats, the head of the church, in particular, said : “In today's situation, the protection of Russia is the protection faith, the defense of the Orthodox faith, the Christian faith…”. The question arises: what other believers and non-believers - do they not exist or can they not be protected?

In fact, the patriarch is not so bloodthirsty, as it may seem, the rapidly resurgent Soviet matrix of church-state relations. During the Soviet years, the main task The ROC on the world stage was a struggle for peace. And the Russian Church, "together with everything advanced humanity", exposed the lies of the ideologues of the war, tore "the masks of hypocrisy and hypocrisy from the criminal face of international brigands from big road." Today, it faces no less important tasks - the fight against terrorism, protecting Christians around the world. There are some changes in tactics: we are no longer called to take off our masks, but “only” to “be different”. Doesn't matter, that a person who is unable to "become different" for the sake of Christ is unlikely to become different, to set an example for a terrorist. It is important that this message opens the rich opportunities for new government orders. Note that so far power drew from the ideological bins of the patriarchy. Meeting with dad, who, according to many observers, could not have taken place for a long time if not for the interests of the authorities - the coveted membership in the international coalition against ISIS - became, perhaps, the first such order.

While the church is forced correct the mistakes of a regime that has quarreled with the international community, and she succeeds well, there is no reason to worry about her fate. But in the future, there may be other orders.

Soviet failure matrix provided. Adopted in 2000, the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the ROC contain a provision on the possibility of civil disobedience to the church, if the authorities compels believers to do something ungodly. However, it is much more important for present moment, the dissatisfaction with the principle of separation of church and state, which is perceived as "the result of anti-clerical or directly anti-church struggle, well known, in particular, from the history of the French revolutions. Church freedom cannot resist the onslaught of neosergianism.