"Stop at the last line." Priests against the war

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the recognition of the self -proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and ordered the Russian troops to introduce Russian troops into these territories. And before that, the appeal of the bishops of the Apostolic Orthodox Church was published in connection with the injection of the situation around the Donbass.

“The events of the last day, unfolding before our eyes, make us follow the borders of the heart to follow the stream of news,” the conversion says. “We understand all the weakness of our human efforts, but the words of our Savior, gentlemen of Jesus Christ, will be heard by everyone:“ Blessed are the peacekeepers ”(Matthew 5: 9)!

We urge everyone to whom the world depends on the Donetsk and Lugansk land: stop! Do not let the blood spill! Stop crazy injection of passions! "

The Russian Orthodox Church in this situation remains silent. Although every time the Orthodox liturgy is served in the temples, in one of the chants of its first part the words: "Blessed are peacekeepers." But outside the liturgy, these words are not heard from the top of the highest clergy today. According to the professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy of the Orthodox Priest George (Mitrofanov) , this happens because throughout its history the Orthodox Church in Russia was greatly dependent on state power.

“The current situation cannot but cause horror from what we are on the verge of, but it is also important that today after the thirty years, during which our church is not persecuted by the state, the authority of the Church in society and in power is not so great,” said Archpriest George (Mitrofanov). - And state power is not at all inclined to listen to the opinion of the Church, especially in important political, especially geopolitical issues. Therefore, the statements of individual priests or hierarchs most often sound simply as their personal opinion and, as a rule, go in the fairway of the state. I do not know if some position will be expressed in the near future-I hope that it will, but I do not think that it will be radical and specific. Most likely, this will be a reminder of the general principles of morality, which, of course, cannot support the war, but there is no need to expect any political specifics.

However, in the modern world, the actions of the authorities, both Russian and European, have long no longer dependent on the blessing of churches. According to the Archpriest, the church hierarchy should distance it as much as possible from the actions of the authorities, especially since the state does not ask its blessings and protrudes on its own behalf - it means that it bears full responsibility. If the church intervened, she would share this responsibility - for what she cannot influence. The priest suggests that, perhaps, therefore, not wanting to aggravate relations, the church is silent.

- In the conflict with Ukraine, a church element is present from the very beginning - recall the formation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, the conflict with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and this church conflict is generated by political reasons. The readiness of the church, that in Russia, in Ukraine, in some cases, to follow in power confuses me. I will say one thing using the old thesis: observe your constitution. Our church is separated from the state, and I hope that we, representatives of the Church, as law -abiding citizens, must follow this particular principle. The crisis that we experience and which put not only our country, but also Europe on the brink of war, of course, is the result of a policy that needs serious adjustments. War is evil, and it does not cancel the commandment "not to kill." Of course, there are situations when war cannot be avoided, you can only choose between more and less sin. I hope that now the situation is not such that our country has the opportunity to avoid war, maintaining fidelity to generally accepted moral values. I am ensuring that there are no military operations.

- In 2014 there were many anti -war performances, now there are almost no them - why? Can every Christian do something personally today to stop the war?

- I think in society there was a feeling of impossibility to influence events. There is no wide public opposition, offering alternative options for politics that the authorities would listen to. Therefore, one thing remains - each person can, as Solzhenitsyn said, live not by lies, that is, not to support what he considers wrong.

- How do you feel about the deacon of Andrei Kuraev, who writes in his LiveJournal: “The residents of the LDNR of their rrrevolutionary authorities during the“ evacuation ”deprived housing, all property, work, personal transport, divided their families, blaming all men into their“ police ”, and children and women to take over the border to another country. worse?"

-In general, what is happening surprises me-in the DPR and the LPR there are no Ukrainian nationalists, and, in my opinion, they did not appear there, and I cannot understand the reason for the evacuation. It is not prepared, it takes place with big problems for people, and Chernomyrdin is recalled: "It has never happened, and here again." Again, specific people suffer, about whom the authorities, it would seem, should take care - so where is this concern? Here a person feels vulnerable, do not affect anything, doomed to live the life that is imposed from the outside - so they go there and back, and for which it is incomprehensible. In general, the best way to prove that we are right is to create the best conditions in Russia than the neighbors, then, you look, we will have fewer problems. And here we can only urge people to live Christian. Living is not a lie - these words of Zhenitsyn, alas, remain relevant for our time.

The Orthodox priest Nikolai Savchenko in 2014 actively opposed the annexation of Crimea, against the war with Ukraine. Since then, it serves in a very small long -distance parish. In the Middle Ages, the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly participated in the peacefulness of the feud, which is evidence in the Old Russian chronicles, he recalls.

- The metropolitans, the bishops pacified the princes, traveled, led diplomatic negotiations, and it is not known a single case when the church hierarch blessed the campaign of one prince on another. And Metropolitan Philip Kolychev was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov for not blessing Ivan the Terrible on Novgorod, ”says Priest Nikolai. - And now we have forgotten about it. But I believe that peace is the only possible way for us: we should in every possible way reconcile the aspects of the conflict or at least not to incite military passions and fears, but with them the war itself. In 2014, the Russian Orthodox Church made the corresponding statement, a prayer was compiled, which read several years in the temples, however, then they stopped reading it. Probably now it would be nice to resume reading this prayer and elevate your voice against any aggressive aspirations.

Priest Nikolai calls on to show special philanthropy in connection with the hasty evacuation of people from the territory of the self -proclaimed republics of the DPR and LPR, about the causes of which he also has questions.

- Involuntarily, you recall all sorts of provocations - about Gloyvitsa, about Minila. Now they reported that a certain border point was destroyed by Ukrainian fire. True, in the video I did not see a single path to this point, he was all over in some young, it seems, there was not even electricity there. It seems to me that there is a danger to exaggerate the acts of the opposite side and downplay our deeds. This is propaganda, I am interested in history, and I myself saw the newspapers of 1939, when Soviet troops entered Western Ukraine and Western Belarus: then in Pravda unimaginable horrors were printed about Polish soldiers who cut out the hearts of Ukrainian and Belarusian peasants who pinned people to fences - and all this was a complete lie. The goal was one - to ignite the hatred of Soviet citizens to those who were declared enemies at that moment. The same thing was done before the start of the Soviet-Finnish war. Propaganda is a terrible weapon that kills indirectly. Evil manifests itself around us, in the form of hatred in the media, and a real Christian must resist this. Now in no case should anger boils into the heart.

The bishop of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, human rights activist Grigory Mikhnov-Vitenko posted on his Facebook page the appeal of the bishops of the Apostolic Orthodox Church with a quote from the Gospel: “Then Jesus tells him: return your sword to the scabbard, because everyone who took the sword will die” (Matthew 26:52). "We urge everyone to whom the world depends on the Donetsk and Lugansk land: stop! Do not let the blood spill! Stop the crazyumption of passions! .. The world of Ukraine! There is no war! No war!" - The circulation says.

“Negotiations can be solved by any problem-and not by using force, not threats, especially not nuclear blackmail,” said Grigory Mikhnov-Vitenko, Bishop of the Apostolic Orthodox Church ( unification of the Orthodox communities of the apostolic tradition . - Everyone needs to calm down and hear the voice of reason. We need to stop, even at the last line, is our hope. We read in the Bible, as the Lord has hardened the heart of the pharaoh, but we know that the Lord can soften the heart of any pharaoh in the same way. While the conversation between Macron with Putin and Biden inspires weak hope for negotiations.

- This hope arises - and, alas, it will not go out for the first time. And why do we now hear so few calls to the world from priests, from Christians?

- It causes my endless sadness. It seems to me that Christian churches should be tirelessly asking for peace. And it was very important for me that the bishops of Russia, the USA, Ukraine-those countries that will be involved in this conflict, signed this appeal. So that it was our common position - and we produced it. It remains for us to pray for the world and call the rulers to change our minds and take a step back.

The war is already going on, and if we constantly say “war, war”-someone will sooner or later click on the trigger. And evacuation causes terrible sadness, people are driving back and forth, do not provide any conditions, this imitation that can end poorly-now, actually, winter. And this will quarrel visitors with local residents, causes unnecessary stress, this is a very bad solution, it sows panic and enmity. Now it is very difficult for people to express their opinion against the war, here everyone was detained on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, it is very alarming. If the call to the world becomes extremism, then something very wrong happens in the country, ”says Grigory Mikhnov-Vetenko.

The famous Moscow priest Alexei Uminsky , the rector of the Holy Trinity Church in Khokhlah, admits that we are overwhelmed by the most alarming feelings in connection with the events.

“All this is so terrible that I don’t even know what to say.” It is certainly a pity for refugees - they are always sorry, especially since these unhappy people in any situation very often become the object of manipulation from different angles. I am in a state of terrible anxiety, my heart breaks with horror that, God forbid, irreparable will happen. The reports that we read are cold and introduce into some kind of stupor. I feel complete helplessness, I cannot internally agree with any message of war, hostilities, I can not justify any form of violence. Military tension is pumped out, and horror arises-God forbid, some extra movement, and irreparable will happen-I am not alone now living in such tension. They often ask me what to do, but I don’t know - I just pray both during the day and at the liturgy that the Lord comes and intervenes in this situation, ”says Alexei Uminsky.