In society Pillar December 8, 2008 Leonid Radzikhovsky After Metropolitan Kirill was elected by the locomotive of the patriarchal throne, naturally, a great dispute broke out: does this mean that he approached the post of Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church - or not? Not a connoisseur of church intrigues, I cannot meaningfully participate in the discussion of this issue.

Locum tenens is Metropolitan Kirill’s stellar chance. He will preside over the Council of Bishops, which will convene and determine the procedure for electing delegates to the Local Council, as well as at the Local Council itself in 2009.

Former Yukos vice-president Vasily Aleksanyan has been released on bail in the amount of 50 million rubles. This decision was made on December 8 by the Moscow City Court. Before that, Aleksanyan, suffering from AIDS, tuberculosis and cancer of the lymph glands, was kept in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center, and then in custody in the 60th city hospital. Aleksanyan will be released as soon as the specified amount arrives in the court's deposit account.

On December 5, the heads of key departments in the Georgian leadership lost their posts - Foreign Minister Eki Tkeshelashvili, Defense Minister David Kezerashvili and Secretary of the National Security Council Alexander Lomaia (during the conflict in Georgia, his voice accusing Russia was heard most often). The new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Grigol Vashadze, told Kommersant that Tbilisi is ready to restore diplomatic relations with Moscow.

Imagine a man who, for some reason, decided to portray a Russian nobleman of the 19th century. He wears a long frock coat, walks with a cane, let go of the backed. Nothing terrible will happen - except that others will twist a finger near the temple. But admit that this person at the slightest conflict threatens with all a duel, and also pester people on the street, claiming that they were serfs who escaped from him.

After Metropolitan Kirill was elected locum tenens of the patriarchal throne, a great controversy naturally broke out: does this mean that he is closer to the post of patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church - or not? Not an expert in church intrigue, I cannot meaningfully participate in the discussion of this issue. But it seems to me that something else is more important - to understand what the Russian Orthodox Church is in general and what role did the late Alexy II play in its history?

My article “Neoconformism with a female face” was followed by a number of fundamental responses, in particular, “A Just Cause: New Stylistics” by Y. Bogomolov and “Lenin’s Course” by O. Yablonskaya , to the authors of which I am grateful, including for the opportunity to clarify and deepen important problems of civil responsibility of the Russian intelligentsia.