The children were in a state of excitement. The teachers at their kindergarten
had just told them that the next day a priest would pay them a visit and
they would get to kiss the cross. For the children, it was a bit
of fun -- something akin to Ded Moroz's New Year's visit.
I, however, did not share the children's enthusiasm. I don't have anything
against religious education as such, but it should to be done with parental
consent.
Having called the director of the kindergarten, I discovered that parental
consent was required but only for kissing the cross, i.e. all the children
were to listen to the priest, and then part of the group would be
dispatched to kiss the cross and the rest would sit and watch.
But why should the children have to listen to the priest's sermon at
all? After all, the church is supposed to be separate from the state.
The director countered that children ought to have some knowlege of
religion. The argument makes sense, but why only an Orthodox priest? Why
not, in that case, invite a mullah, a rabbi, a shaman even? We live in
an Orthodox country, was the firm answer I was given and that was the end
of the discussion.
The idea that we live in an "Orthodox country" has been repeated so
many times that it is lodged in our consciousness. Few stop to consider
that it fundamentally contradicts the constitution.
Indeed, the Orthodox Church has, with the authorities' nod, effectively
conferred upon itself the right to make official pronouncements regarding
the "spiritual tutelage of the nation."
In 1993, during the standoff between President Boris Yeltsn and the
Supreme Soviet, the patriarch promised to put a curse on anyone who intiated
bloodshed. Yeltsin bombarded the Supreme Soviet but this in no way cast
a shadow on his relations with the patriarch. When Yeltsin transferred
his presidential powers to Vladimir Putin, he asked the patriarch to give
his blessing.
The church hierarchy also blessed the army when it was sent down to
Chechnya and couldn't find a single word of censure regarding human rights
violations that were being perpetrated there. Individual priests did protest
but they were dissident voices, so to speak.
Within the Orthodox Church there is not a single faction that is critical
of the status quo. In the Catholic Church, for example, different political
views are represented, from the progressive liberals of the Communione
e Liberazione, to the far-left Liberation Theologians. The Orthodox hierarchy
over the centuries has developed an organization which allows it to effectively
silence critical thinking within. And it is little interested in the democratization
of society.
On holidays, state officials line up at the altar en masse, awkwardly
cross themselves, etc., although to all appearances they have absolutely
no intention of actually atoning for their sins.
Bandits exhibit even greater religious fervor and their donations have
become an important source of income for many church communities. However,
I have yet to hear of a case where religious zeal made a bandit turn to
the straight and narrow.
The church does not seem to remonstrate with its criminal parishioners
or refuse money from dubious sources. Thus, criminals acquire a reputation
for being good citizens and the church gets funds that are needed for rebuilding
churches that fell into disrepair during Soviet rule.
Money earned by numerous commercial companies set up under the aegis
of the church may also have been spent to this end. In the 1990s all sorts
of tax and customs breaks were granted, as a result of which businessmen
linked to the Orthodox Church became leaders in importing tobacco and alcohol
into the country.
At the end of the 1990s, this topic cropped up in the press on a number
of occasions but failed to provoke controversy either in the upper echelons
of the church or among the flock. This says more about how people view
the Orthodox Church than any opinion surveys.
In countries where society is deeply religious and the church enjoys
genuine authority, any reports of corruption in church circles elicits
shocked reactions.
Here, on the contrary, such reports elicit little interest at all. When
the Orthodox Church criticized the television show "Za Steklom," it had
absolutely no impact on the program's rating. Believers do not have much
need of the church in order to find the true path to God.
The authorities, on the other hand, do need the church in order to resolve
their own problems of an entirely earthly nature.
Boris Kagarlitsky is a sociologist based in Moscow.
РПЦ