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The results of the year. ROC without the UOC, but with captured weapons

January 7, 2019 Svetlana Solodovnik

Over the past year, global changes have occurred in church life, but all of them are mainly associated with inter -church relations, and if we take the situation within the Russian Church, the trend has not changed: the church continues to integrate into the state and has already merged with it almost to indistinguishable, while the body of the Church itself is steadily drying out.

Not so long ago, many were shocked by the presence of Patriarch Kirill on the collegium of the Ministry of Defense, but this was ritually sat and left - in everyday life processes are much less noticeable, but much more important in their consequences for society. In this academic year, church accreditation of teachers on the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” will be carried out for the first time. What it will result in practice is not yet very clear, since the accreditation is “public”. That is, they gave you a crust “On Compliance” according to the results of the passage of the diocesan commission, and you can proudly wave this crust. For the capitals, most likely, a low -social detail, so more for the soul. But in the province, the teacher with Xiva from the diocesan authorities will probably have an advantage over the teacher who does not have such a piece of paper. Then our secular education will crack at the seams.

It is already cracking. The number of temples at universities-all sorts of, and public and private-is gradually growing, in Moscow there are already 20 of them. Somewhere the initiative comes from the believers of the rectors, somewhere the university authorities are simply afraid to resist the pressure of the patriarchate: it is known to go against the “line of the party”, but that such is the “party line”, it seems, no one has any doubt. Under the Patriarchate, a special commissions were created to interact with universities and the scientific community, almost the main task of which is to multiply the number of university temples. As the reporting report of this commission appears, in most cases, “rectors provide support for churches and periodically attend worship” (still “periodically”, and not as in Soviet times of the party committee). The commission, in turn, promotes "the participation of clergy and members of the parishes in the educational and social work of higher educational institutions." And who else will contribute to the introduction of the “moral component” to the academic environment?

Meanwhile, the number of Orthodox schools and gymnasiums in Moscow does not grow at all: as it was three dozen, it remains. In the last academic year, they released only 143 people, this is 40 people less than a year earlier. The number of sisterhoods does not grow - as it was 11 in 2016, it remains. There were fewer church children: it was six two years ago, there were three left. In spiritual schools, it cannot be said that the people were falling with a shaft: less than a hundred people wanted to act last summer (on full -time and correspondence departments together), and even those not all went through an interview.

The influx of living blood to the church is drying out, there is no trace of the euphoria of the “religious revival”, the church is increasingly difficult to live “from itself”, and Spike and the state are called upon to somehow make up for this shortage. This is worse than if the Moscow Patriarchate was driven exclusively by mercantile motives. But they are very significant, of course.

The Patriarchate is intensely that the hospital priests are included in the state of medical institutions, that is, they receive a salary from the state. And not only priests, but also their assistants. Doctors are mercilessly reduced - it's time to replace them with the healers of souls.

Last year, a lot of amendments to the legislation were adopted, which derive religious organizations from the action of a number of laws. For example, unauthorized buildings were obliged to demolish everyone, and religious organizations were allowed to leave not only “unauthorized religious buildings”, but also “unauthorized buildings intended to maintain religious property and (or) form a single cult complex”. You have a self -built garage workshop on the territory of the temple (now there are a lot of them) - you can earn on it further.

Moreover, religious organizations were exempted from submitting financial statements. The parishes just began to more or less massively and regularly submit this very reporting to the tax authorities, as is no longer necessary. As in the old tobacco-vodka times, the church turns into a bridgehead for the formation of an impressive piece of a gray economy. Sunday school is not at every temple, but there are more and more different circles. As a rule, they are free, but if completely without financial statements ... In addition, now the “spiritual and sports centers” will also open with churches. The notorious movement “Forty forty”, which exercises power support for the construction of temples where local residents actively opposed, implement this program together with the Patriarchal Commission on physical education and sports. Not all the “night wolves” receive presidential grants ...

Patriotic education, which in recent years has been more persistent in the church walls of the catechism, will now be raised to a new height: a special program for training specialists for military-patriotic clubs in parishes has been developed. That is, there will be a spiritual and sports center in one chapel, and in another a military-patriotic club-and all together they will go to Kubinka Kubinka, where in the Patriot Park, in a clean field, a huge main temple of the armed forces with trophy weapons is built ...

All these minor joys, however, cannot block damage from the loss of the Ukrainian part of the church. The parishes of the UOC MP, while mainly in the west of the country, are slowly moving to the PCU - today there are one, a week later - but the most irrevocable pace threatens the UOCs with extinction. Moscow, waving his fists and discussing the theme of Ukrainian autocephaly on the Council of Councils, only complicates the situation for the UOC -MP - it is even more clearly associated with the Kremlin.

The Russian Orthodox Church - so far the largest in the world - can give in this proud title to the Romanians! Well, how can I not get angry with Constantinople?

The breakdown of relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate remains, of course, the most loud church event of the past year. The Moscow Patriarchate did not, as it intended, waited for the provision of Tomos to Ukraine, and, so to speak, with an advance announced the cessation of Eucharistic communication with Fanar. His actions are called “robber” and “canonically insignificant”, Moscow refused to recognize them, as well as the “community” created “on the so -called unification cathedral”. The same churches that recognize were threatened with an exception to the canonical field: having recognized Raskolnikov, Fanar identified himself with a split. The radicals from the ranks of the Orthodox community even called on to betray Patriarch Bartholomew.

On the New Year's Eve, the Russian Orthodox Church hurriedly created its exarchates in Western Europe with a center in Paris and Southeast Asia with a center in Singapore. And in general, as the church Minister of Foreign Affairs, Metropolitan Hilarion, was going to open parishes around the world "without any look at Constantinople." You are so we - as Moscow says, hosting the canonical territory of Constantinople. However, in the New Year’s letter of Patriarch Kirill Bartholomew, there is not a word about the creation of the exarchates - only already sounding calls to retreat “from communication with schismatics”.

Fanar, freely or involuntarily, played along with the Moscow Patriarchate. Simultaneously with the promise of Tomos to Ukraine, Bartholomew, without any warnings, overnight, dismissed the Archbishop of Russian parishes in Western Europe, which had the status of exarchate. Archbishopia, one of the two church formations in the world, based on democratic, speaking the language of secular, the principles of the landlord Cathedral of 1917-1918 (the second is the Orthodox Church in America), refused to bloom and pour into the local dioceses of Constantinople. At the end of February, the General Assembly Assarchate Assembly should take place, on which the Holy Principles, clergy and elected laity will decide their future fate. It is likely that the Moscow Patriarchate for this created “their exarchate” - so that the structure was already ready for those who wanted to reunite with the Russian Orthodox Church. And then this archbishopic, only give her will - talks about self -governing, elected bishops ... And so - here is the head of the exarchate, Bishop of Korsunsky and Western European John (Roshchin, and not at all Renneto, the current leader of the Archbishopian), ask to love and complain (the bishop was immediately elevated to the dignity of Metropolitan)!

Kyiv, meanwhile, continue to scare the “church war”, up to the bloodshed. The redistribution of property is really unlikely to be avoided. The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine has already begun in the temples of the UOC MP inventory of "historical and cultural values." As you know, Paris is worth the lines, and what is the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, everyone has to find out ... The leadership of Ukraine, however, the newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, promises that there will be no power seizure of significant objects. However, insignificant are suitable for the role of powder barrel, especially since there is always a danger of provocations from Moscow. Do not follow the State Department, who this time turned out to be the “customer” of Ukrainian autocephaly!

In the meantime, few people pay attention to the evil invectives of Moscow - the dream of millions of Ukrainians came true: Ukraine received a local church. On January 5, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul, the Patriarch Bartholomew signed a Tomos about autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. From now on, its Primate will be called Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine (now this title is the head of the UOC MP Metropolitan Onufry, and the question has yet to be resolved). The solemn transfer of Tomos to Metropolitan Epiphanius took place on January 6 at Fanar in the presence of Petro Poroshenko and other members of the Ukrainian government, and today, January 7, Metropolitan Epiphanius headed the Liturgy in the Kiev Cathedral of St. Sophia already “in the presence of Tomos”.

Another concern: the stronger side of the Ukrainian religious life all the post-Soviet years were competition between religious organizations-three Orthodox churches, Greek Catholics, Protestants, and communities created by national minorities. Now, due to the interest of the authorities in the success of the Ukrainian Local project, you will not want to give preferences, but give it. And although Poroshenko swears that in Ukraine there will not be a “state church”, Russian experience teaches with the wary of the emphasized attention of the authorities to one of the religious structures.

Photo: 1, 3 . Russia. Novosibirsk. 06/06/2019. Believers during the festive service on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ in the Ascension Cathedral. Kirill Kuhamar/TASS
2. Russia. Moscow. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Cyril during the festive service on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Sergey Bobylev/TASS
4. 01/05/2019 . The Ceremony of the Tomos of AutoCephaly for Newly Elected the Head of Ukraine Orthodox Church in Istanbul. Mykola lazarenko / Pool / EPA \ TASS
5. 06/06/2019. Tomos transfer ceremony on autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Istanbul. Mykola lazarenko / Pool / EPA \ TASS