Posted on 02/26/2015 10:08:45 AM PST by marshmallow
Moscow, February 25, Interfax - Russia is called to fulfill its Christian mission, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes.
"Russia is the third Rome. Russia is the only center of non-slaved civilization, which is capable to reveal itself as Christian. Thus, our patriotism is not chauvinism, not a call of the blood, not emotional passion for native land alien to any criticism, first of all, it is understanding the importance of the unique Christian mission which, I believe, our people live for," the priest said in his interview with Politrussia.com
According to him, the identity of Russians is wider than the European one. The priest noted that Europe accumulated its moral capital in the Middle Ages and "Genoa and Venice money-lenders started spending it, then it was made by so-called enlighteners, who declared a man autonomous from God and morals, the measure of all things."
"Then bourgeois structure of the society and state. Then revolution. Finally, we've got what we see in the West: new generations deprived of community, sense in life, values and orienteers. Alas, it is not Europe. It's Babylon. At the best, it's Rome of the late period of decline. The goal of authentic Europe are we, people, who remember about eternal and unchangeable values, knowing what they live and die for," the church official said.
He believes this knowledge is almost lost in the western part of the continent, and then "nations will lose its physical existence: they will just die out."
Russian megalomania survived communism.
We could use a dose of renewed pride here, however imperfect. Russia's dissension is largely located in the Muslim lands that it included for a time in the USSR. We're different... Obama is infecting our country all over, rather than in geographically concentrated areas.
No Russian slaves, - when did teh serfs learn of this?
Uhhh - - what of those gulag ‘residents’?
Then why is Russia invading CHRISTIAN countries?
This fool is either delusional or an FSB propagandist.
Stalin had a few pet priests when he needed them, too. The vast majority of Russian priests got a bullet in the back of the head, but the commies kept a few for emergencies, like “The Great Patriotic War”.
This goes very far back. Before Rome became the official seat of Christendom, there were several contenders that claimed to be the center of Christianity. After Rome fell, and the Roman Empire shifted its seat to Constantinople (now Istanbul), it became the new center of Christianity.
When Constantinople fell in 1453, the Russians assumed that Moscow was to be the new center of Christianity. However, this didn’t happen, and the center switched back to Rome.
And the Russians have been peeved about this since.
Putin revitalized the idea, in a masterstroke, inviting the heads of all the Orthodox Christian churches but the Roman church to come to Moscow for a conclave. And that has got the ball rolling to the idea of Moscow being “the new Rome”.
So I am not surprised at all with the idea that Russia is the only major nation not “enslaved” to socialism or other anti-Christian rule.
I’m Orthodox and have a lot of respect for the Russian Church which survived the most brutal persecution in the history of Christianity and is one of the few churches that is firmly holding its ground against the tide of relativism and secularism as well as Islamo-Facism. But... this guy has a reputation of long standing as a nut job.
Indeed. The Russian Church was nearly exterminated by Stalin. We will never know the exact number of martyrs but it is certainly in the multiple millions. For the most part the Church survived underground.
Presumably because they aren't Christian ENOUGH.
He might have a more convincing argument if killing unborn people wasn’t legal in the land of the non-slaved.
Freegards
It’s more a question of the center of Orthodox Christianity. From the Orthodox POV, Old Rome fell into schism and heresy over time and the primacy devolved to Constantinople per the canons of the Ecumenical Councils. With the fall of the Roman Empire in 1453 Russia became the largest Orthodox land not under hostile occupation by either the Turks or Catholics. Thus the myth of the Third Rome was born.
I think it is a bunch of baloney, but all countries have their nationalist mythologies. That said, the good father really needs to be reminded that Phyletism is a condemned heresy.
Im interested in your take on this. Do you have an opinion as to how much, if any, of the historic Euro/Russo strife is sectarian? Roman Catholic dislike of Orthodoxy?
A lot is cultural and historical. In fairness there is blame to go around. If you look at the history of relations between the Catholic states that bordered the Orthodox countries, it is one of incessant hatred and on again off again war. Poland the Teutonic Knights and the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarians all had a long history of waging war against Orthodox countries and religious repression of their Orthodox minorities. When Russia eventually became a major power and was able to push back, they gave as good as they got. Even today there is a lot of bitterness in the lands that are effectively the border between Catholic and Orthodox Europe.
What were those serf people?!
They weren't miserable serfs. They were happy-go-lucky smurfs.
He probably means slavery in the sense of being slaves to the Wall-St/London banking cartels....
Serfdom in Russia was ended a year or two after slavery ended at the close of our own civil war.
Interesting, I had a conversation with a friend from Croatia that mirrors what you said. You know any decent books or websites that discuss that Orthodox vs Catholic tension?
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