“The Church is turning into a museum”: about the current state of the Russian Orthodox Church and the worldview of the Orthodox

We are publishing a report by Svetlana Solodovnik, which focuses on the conference "Theology, Culture, Society: Myths and Reality" and the problems of modern Orthodoxy in Russia discussed at it.

The conference "Theology, Culture, Society: Myths and Reality" held in the cultural center "Pokrovsky Gates" on May 14, 2016 was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the candidate of cultural studies Irina Yazykova. The conference was hosted by the Biblical Theological Institute of St. Apostle Andrew (BBI), where Irina Yazykova has been teaching almost from its very foundation. Now she is Vice-Rector of the Institute and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Pages magazine published by the BBI; BBI published her best-selling books The Theology of the Icon and The Co-Creation of the Image.

The conference began with congratulations from the Rector of the Institute Alexei Bodrov , director of the Pokrovskie Vorota Cultural Center Jean-Francois Thiry . Congratulations sounded even later: almost every speaker started with them, and the biblical scholar Elena Smorgunova turned her entire short report on the symbolism of the palm branch in the Old and New Testaments into a congratulation, presenting the hero of the day with a “golden palm branch” in the form of a fern leaf.

Most of the reports touched upon issues of aesthetics, religious perception of inspiration and creativity in general (Sister Teresa Obolevich from Krakow - "Aesthetics of A.F. Losev and some Western concepts: a comparative analysis"; Irina Bagration-Mukhraneli - "The poetic component of religious feeling" and others), however, the report of Irina Yazykova herself and the speech of the publicist Sergei Chapnin were devoted to the current state of the Russian Orthodox Church and the attitude of the Orthodox.

“Live well. Bad habits of our time” — such an antinomy was chosen by Sergei Chapnin to designate his theme. The desire to arrange life is quite worthy, but the main vector of recent years - well-being for oneself - has led the Orthodox almost to a dead end, the speaker noted. What will be the name of the era we have entered? Words are not easy to find, because our time is characterized by "the exhaustion of the language." The living language of communication in the Orthodox environment, primarily the official one, gradually gave way to the “language of reconstruction”: archaic moralizing does not involve reflection. The Orthodox media, sadly, replicate this language, and a lively conversation does not work, the speaker noted. So the Church is gradually turning into a museum - the past prevails, the present is mythologized, and there is simply no talk about the future.

Not only the language of verbal communication has been exhausted, but also the language of images. Many commercial icon painters have appeared, whose creations are dead, they do not convey the prayerful experience of the Church. The new church architecture completely ignores the surrounding space - no one in Russia can answer the question of what the temple architecture of the 21st century is.

Sergei Chapnin sees the origins of the current state of church affairs in the relations between the Church and the state that developed after Khrushchev's persecution. The well-fed life of the “executor of demands”, enclosed by the space of the temple, as it seems to him, corrupted the clergy. Today, the temptation to “satiety” takes on other forms: literally in recent months, the phrase “ecclesiology of efficiency” has come into vogue. The measure of a priest's work is his contribution to the diocese, and that of a bishop to the patriarchy. It goes without saying that a good confessor must have rich spiritual children.

A well-fed life corrupted not only the clergy. “In search of well-being, we gave up freedom,” Chapnin remarked bitterly.

Is it any wonder that isolationist tendencies "become an important component of the religious system." At the same time, the words about our “special mission,” “holiness,” and so on, sound louder and louder. However, "a reliable future cannot be built in one mansion," Chapnin is sure. “The moment we understand this, a new phase of our history will begin,” he hopes.

Noting that her report partly echoes that of Sergei Chapnin, as they communicate closely and think together on different things, Irina Yazykova focused mainly on what forms the “grand revival of Orthodoxy” mentioned by many, including Patriarch Kirill, takes. The signs of this “revival” force us to draw a sad conclusion: in experiencing his “faith”, modern Russian people are guided by Soviet stereotypes – they need heroes. Under the pressure of the patriarchal public, Dmitry Donskoy and Fyodor Ushakov were canonized. The title of saint is perceived almost like the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The words "holy war" have ceased to be a metaphor and become the everyday life of our lives.

But the new martyrs, whom, in the speaker's opinion, if we are talking seriously about the revival of Orthodoxy, we should remember first of all, are in oblivion: people are afraid to honor them; it is still unknown what will come out of the veneration of former state criminals!

The exhibitions of the cycle "Orthodox Rus' - My History" organized by the Church Council for Culture show that throughout the 20th century Russia has been going from victory to victory. The last of them is “1914-1945. From Great Upheavals to the Great Victory” testifies that the Church is ready to glorify its executioners. The Church is a part of society, which for the most part remains inert and easily programmed, therefore, people who came to the Church not only did not shake off the ashes of the “scoop” from their feet, but also think of Christianity as a new national idea. This year, Easter coincided with May Day, and this is symbolic, Irina Yazykova believes: we are increasingly rolling back, a slave consciousness is returning to us.

Another sign of the times is the monuments to the saints, which are now erected with the same zeal as they once carried out the Leninist plan to establish revolutionary values. The initiative to erect these monuments, as a rule, belongs to secular people, Yazykova noted, but the Church meekly consecrates these monuments, sometimes frankly ugly, completely indulging the “piety of the barbarians” - which immediately has the corresponding consequences: people begin to throw coins into the pits in front of the monuments, which is already , as Irina Yazykova put it, "pure sacrilege."

The spreading ideology of triumphalism testifies to the spiritual ill health of the nation. And one should not forget the words of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) that "it is impossible to go to God by stepping over a person."

Sources

• Inc. inf.