Mat to war

The Russian Orthodox Church found a new explanation: Russia does not win, because the soldiers use obscene abuse

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church contrasted two “traditional values” of the Russian people - the Orthodox faith and obscene vocabulary, hinting that the failure of “Svo” is associated with the spread of the Mata in the army. But it is hardly the struggle with obscenities in Russia that has any prospects.

“Russia does not win because the Russian soldier is swearing,” the chief priest of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, Dimitriy Vasilenkov, announced such a clear formula for failure from the rostrum of Christmas readings of this year in Moscow. As an outflow of the idea of ​​Patriarch Kirill about the “metaphysical war with the West”, Archpriest Vasilenkov believes that people who themselves are mired in evil and sin are not capable of defeating world evil. “How much do we ourselves correspond to be the warriors of the truth? - asks about about. Demetrius. “At the front, people are familiar to sin ... In order to overcome this misfortune, win, and a spiritual feat of the people is necessary.” But the Russian mat is so rooted in the daily culture of not only most Russians, but also the peoples of the former USSR that it is not necessary to count on such a “spiritual feat”.

I will say more - the mat is rooted in this culture much more than religious beliefs or customs.

Therefore, religious argumentation (in places is quite fair) is too weak and inconspicuous for most carriers truly "crest" vocabulary.

If we turn to the history of Russian culture, then the first written source containing the mat will be the Novgorod birch bark letters of the XII - XIII centuries. Later, this vocabulary penetrated official correspondence, annals and even liturgical texts (though there, only a word meaning a harlot is used there, but it was gradually corrected in the XVII - XIX centuries, and today it is preserved only in Old Believers). The dangers of the spread of the mat in Rus' were mentioned at the Stoga Cathedral of 1551, and in the 17th century the anonymous “teaching of swearing” was widespread, the author of which appeals to both the Christian (the mat insults the Mother of God) and to the pagan (the mat defends the mother. The cheese is earth) images.

In our days, the former press secretary of the Patriarch, and now the chairman of the information commission of the Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, priest Alexander Volkov, is expressed in our days. He spoke at a press conference on February 3-on worldwide day of struggle against non-normative vocabulary. O. Alexander noticed (but did not cite accurate statistics) that the obscene soldiers "are more likely to die or receive injuries." Although it seems that no one asked him about this, he considered it necessary to give a “parting words of the priest”: “You can’t swear with a mat on the forefront ... I took a weapon into your hands - forget about obscene words! You sit in shelter with friends-beads-do not swear obscenities. ” His parting word about. Alexander gave in a cozy Moscow hall, and not in the "zone of his", where, as far as you can recall, he never went.

Developing his thought, the former press secretary of the Patriarch added that the mat is a “devilish language”: “There is a spiritual background in the mat. And people who are struggling even in these absolutely extreme conditions for their internal state to refrain from such vocabulary are much more preserved, including in conditions of military operations. This is not a joke, not just a set of five words, but a deep spiritual, diabolical component. ” On the Russian “patriotic” site “Reedus” , for some time, the commentary of the FSB lieutenant colonel and the vice-president of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha, Aleksey Filatov, who criticized the antimatter position of clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, disappeared: this is “not to swear in children , - said the Chekist. - I believe that the correlations between the fact that the soldier is cursing, and the fact that he is fighting better or worse is no. He may break out obscenity words, but his further fate does not depend on this. ” Moreover, according to the Alpha veteran, the mat at the front plays a large “positive” role:

“Their enemy is <obscene words. - approx. Auth .> It may not understand, because under their view there is a certain encryption of the team ... The priest was not in such extreme situations when a person falls under the fire. It must be understood that there is an environment in which we are growing. ”

The retired captain of the Northern Fleet’s submarine, and now a member of the interlocal presence and the Higher Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Murmansk Mitrofan (Badanin), who had the personal experience of the army (naval) swearing in the past, devoted to this sin the whole book “Truth about the Russian Mate” (St. Petersburg - Murmansk: Biblis, 2014). According to his observations, swearing in the army “serves as a means of gross suppression of the personality, which leads to illness and destruction of the team, and ultimately to paralysis in its work. The hope of the commander on the “swearing” indicates only the lack of professionalism. ” The obscene army, according to the Metropolitan, can not be a “army of Christ,” fighting on the side of good and light against the forces of evil and darkness: “The war of words and spiritual values ​​standing behind these“ obscene ones. - approx. aut. > “Combat” words, we lost to the cleanly ... Through the obscene words, the prince of darkness is worshiped and, as a result, a person retreats from God ... The mother, deprives himself of the help of God. ”

The former rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, and now Bishop of Skopinsky and Shatsky Pitim (cottage cheese), devoted one of his sermons to the same problem. He saw the very reason for the war in the fact that Russian and Ukrainian societies became obscene, “neither the family, nor the school, nor society can correct it, but only God” - through that terrible test, which was sent to two peoples. “Material abuse leads to death, it deprives them of < military personnel. - approx. aut. > Protection, they die massively because of this, too, ”said Bishop Pitim.

Last year, Patriarch Kirill himself also joined the “Combat Combat Combat” campaign, whose subordinates have repeatedly told the Novo-Europe correspondent about what selective vocabulary their chef in anger, including during worship. A video walks on the Internet, where Mr. Gundyaev is captured by the obscene even in the presence of V.V. Putin. The linguistic incontinence of Cyril unleashed languages ​​to other bishops, so that obscene vocabulary became a much more frequent phenomenon in their communication with subordinates than it was during the time of Alexy II. Corresponding complaints came to the Metropolitan of the Rostov and Novocherkassk Mercury (Ivanova), and the former favorite of the Patriarch and the former Exarch of Africa Leonid (Gorbachev), as the Novyevropa said , was not embarrassed to publish his own obscene rhymes, "denouncing" his opponents " ". One of them Leonid published , celebrating on May 9, 2023, in his telegram channel, putting in the mouth of a “negative character”-anti-tuned actor Dmitry Nazarov-such a replica: “I condemned the day of victory today, glorified, caviar / doctors They said - you m ... to, probably, / the diagnosis is accurate, I will die with this. "

Against such a cultural and hierarchical background, Cyril, speaking on Christmas readings of this year, suddenly urged "to deprive the maturated popularity he created." Perhaps, covered by a sudden, repentant impulse, he called the mat “spiritual disease that struck many,” and accused films, theatrical productions and the Internet of popularizing.

“Now, if we put a barrier to Matu, as we now put a barrier to alcoholism, then, of course, this would be a very important civilizational phenomenon,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church shared his dreams.

“Although public obscene abuse is equated by legislative hooliganism, in fact today it is legitimized in society,” Cyril said, correctly caught the trend that was found in the speeches of Russian politicians and propagandists of the “Svo” era. In fact, with the current seething in the Russian air of military passions and xenophobia of all shades, it seems even unnatural that nominally the mat in public space is still prohibited: for its use in public places, according to ST, 20.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, it can be chopped down for 15 days.

But if the official representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are right in this matter (after all, the Apostle Pavel warned that “the filths ... do not inherit the kingdoms of God” (1 Cor., 6:10)), then this even inspires a little.

Indeed, such an army is doomed to failure. Of course, not because of the mat, but because of the lack of moral, legal and simply human justification of their actions. Total foul language, along with total drunkenness and other forms of moral decomposition of the army, is only one of the symptoms of the disease.