The genius of church PR

Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) even turned his own correspondence for good, becoming even closer to the Patriarch of the Thron

Is it good to read someone else's mail?

10 million rubles are extorted from the Pskov Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) for non -publication of his private correspondence with the powers that be, hacked hacker group “BlackMirror”. At least, this is the Metropolitan himself, who undoubtedly became the most influential political figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. Although this money is small for him (after all, the cost of each park-museum “Russia is my story”, the network of which Tikhon covered the whole country, is calculated by billions), “encouraging a dirty business” does not intend to encourage a dirty business. So, Show Must Go on.

Of course, opening and reading someone else's correspondence is not very good. But the question of what correspondence is “alien”, in the era of digital technology, total electronic control and “Vikiliks” is not as simple as it seems at first glance. The society (for now?) Sents only that part of the Metropolitan’s epitolar heritage, which does not affect his private life, including the alleged “spiritual” relations with Putin, as if only socially significant (and dangerous!) Thus, the cultural policy of the Kremlin, church-state relations and the “Orthodox factor” in geopolitics. And the metropolitan itself not only confirmed the authenticity of the correspondence, but also quite extensively commented on its contents to the state news agency.

So far, Iceberg’s very top has been published-so to speak, the presentation of the project (“BlackMirror” still expects to sell the collection-not Tikhon, so his competitors). These are several letters of the ex-minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky (and back), assistants to TV presenter Andrei Karaulov, his own assistant to Internet projects and the scandalous “Orthodox expert” by Kirill Frolov. The collection is an audio recording of a telephone conversation with Nikita Mikhalkov, made, according to Tikhon, with the consent of the director for the subsequent stylistic edition and printouts. The content of the conversation, however, makes you doubt it ...

"Philosophy"

Tikhon himself defines the genre of his communication with the “great director” as a “philosophical conversation”. Mikhalkov is part of the Patriarchal Council for the Culture of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is headed by Tikhon, a graduate of the Faculty of Faculty of VGIK. The reason for the conversation, according to the Metropolitan, was the task set before the Council of the Patriarch: to develop forms of the reaction of the church to "blasphemous manifestations in contemporary art." And if most members of the Council (and there are 38 actual members, including Andris Liepa, Alexander Pakhmutov, Vladimir Spivakov and ... Vladislav Tretyak with Svetlana Khorkina) was against any reaction, then Nikita Sergeyevich took a “more complex” position. Actually, for her submission to other members of the Council (after the thorough removal of non -normative vocabulary), the conversation was recorded.

The “more complex” position is quite simple. The hierarch and director are discussing, in particular, the production of the ideal husband Konstantin Bogomolov, who has been in the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater since 2013. It seems that nothing serious (compared to the “blasphemy” by Kirill Serebrennikov, which Tikhon had previously discussed in correspondence with Vladimir Medinsky) - “Naked Baba depicts the crucifix” (expressed by the language of the interlocutors). But:

"Bogomolov - Bastard!" - Patetically exclaims Nikita Sergeyevich. “Everything is clear what we do?” - busily, without emotion, Tikhon answers.

- “Yes, take off the performance, and that’s it. So to speak, not for this, but because many years have passed. He outlined himself. Without any hint of the church, ”the master advises with knowledge. Mikhalkov’s story about how he, with the help of his “Besogon TV”, has achieved the criminal punishment of the Yekaterinburg blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky in 2016, just because the guy “caught Pokemon” in the Temple of the Russian Orthodox Church, The story "Pussy Riot" in miniature ...

Recognizing for Tikhon, great lobbying opportunities, the interlocutors often ask him about “very specific” things that can be decided “at the very top”. Thus, Medinsky asks to ensure the transfer to the Ministry of Culture of Culture of Control of the Media and the Publishing Industry. And TV presenter Andrei Karaulov - the return of his author’s program to the nets of the TVC. Shortly before the 1917 revolution, a similar role in the Russian system of power was played as if a clergyman - of course, much more controversial and mysterious than our hero ...

"Throw money"

No less interesting are the actual church plots in correspondence. For example, in March last year, Tikhon considers the complaint of his ward editor Anton Pospelov (Orthodoxy.ru and other Internet resources) to the most influential synodal departments of the Moscow Patriarchate-external church relations and informational. It turns out that they have been “substituting” Tikhon for the second time, achieving the placement of texts on his resources, against the publication of which the authors themselves opposed.

The Pskov Metropolitan was actively involved in the development of a church reaction to protests against the “Khrammostroy” in Yekaterinburg in May last year. Here his confident is the head of the virtual “Association of Orthodox Experts” by Kirill Frolov (in the church environment is also known by the pseudonym of the Kazi-Bazhai). He complains that “anti -church” “Lenta.ru” and “Credo.press” work, and activists of the Russian Orthodox Church are silent and are waiting for money. In response, Tikhon gives his assistant an assignment: "Our bloggers need to throw money." The list of bloggers willingly forms the same Kirill Frolov, who, as can be seen from his correspondence, opened earlier by Ukrainian hackers, “sat on the streams” and in the spring of 2014, paying for the services of “supporters of the Russian world” in Odessa and other places of the south of Ukraine. Frolov’s reaction to the publication of such a correspondence is always paradoxical: denying the authenticity of the texts, he ardently defends the correctness of the ideas and calls presented in them. The story with Tikhon was no exception.

On August 9, 2018, Frolov instructs Tikhon in detail how to prepare the meeting of Patriarch Kirill with his Constantinople Partner Patriarch Bartholomem, who then prepared the proclamation of autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine. Here is the “Turkish stream-2”, and the factor of Russian tourism, and the very exclusive: “By September 1, the organization of the Athos uprising is necessary”-the Monastic Republic in Greece. However, the meeting held on August 31 ended in failure-Ukrainian autocephaly was granted on January 6, 2019 ...

Out of competition

Metropolitan Tikhon has a reputation as an unsurpassed genius of church PR, who has no analogues in the Orthodox world. On this field, Patriarch Kirill has no chance. In conditions of shock from the “coronavirus apocalypse”, when all the “talking heads” of the Russian Orthodox Church went into the shutter or went to the hospital, only Tikhon encourages the church people and surprises the secular public with an original creative. When it became clear that the temples on Easter would have to be closed, on the same day - on March 29 - Kirill and Tikhon turned to the flocks of video certificates. Cyril was gloomy and depressed and gained 77 thousand views. Tikhon was cheerful and hot - spoke of a new Patriotic War in which we should survive, like ancestors. On the first day, his word gained 216 thousand views. On April 23, church blogger Sergei Chapnin distributed the news that Tikhon himself fell ill with coronavirus and would be hastily transported to St. Petersburg. But Tikhon remained in Pskov and stated that he had only ordinary pneumonia ...

While the bishops of other dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church require the subordinate clergy of the strict payment of diocesan contributions, or, at best, give a small delay, Tikhon completely cancel the contributions - up to the complete normalization of life. Moreover, at Easter he distributes 10 thousand rubles for the needy priests of the Pskov diocese, and 2 thousand to need parishioners. This has not yet happened in the history of the Moscow Patriarchate! After all, its entire structure is built on the “feeding system”, when the priest accumulates the resources of the arrival in order to maintain the bishop, and he - the diocese resources to maintain the patriarch (receiving in return the right to assign part of the funds). Tikhon, who has sponsors in the person of the largest Russian corporations, does not depend on the Pskov clergy in any way, so gestures that no one more except the patriarch can afford to himself in the Russian Orthodox Church. But for some reason the patriarch does not make them ...

One of Tikhon’s main PR appropriation is the reputation of the “confessor of Putin”, which he seems to not confirm, but does not refute. Frankly, then we are more likely about constant “spiritualism”, in which Putin does not need his weak “churching”, but about some kind of spiritual harmony, mutual understanding, maybe friendship. Tikhon’s psychotype is comfortable for Putin, unlike the psychotype of Cyril. And the President of the Russian Federation does not skimp on the signs of attention: together with Tikhon, he opens patriotic exhibitions in the “Manege” on November 4 of each year, watches the performance “Griffin” in Sevastopol-the apotheosis of the dramatic work of the Metropolitan, visits the Pskov and the Pskov-Pechora Monastery, where the very “inconsistent saints” of the twentieth century, the book of short stories about which became the only Orthodox Bestseller in modern Russia. The last time of Putin to Pskov took place on March 1 - he met and talked with Tikhon after the Panichid in the Pskov paratroopers. In order to find out the topic of that conversation, you no longer need to hack mail: on March 2, Putin introduced a package of amendments to the Constitution with the most complete set of “traditional values”, the main of which is the name of God ...