Moscow, 29 January 2008 (Interfax):
Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsky, the Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, criticised Russians copying the Western celebration of lovers on 14 February, St Valentine’s Day. “For some reason, human rights activists do not speak against this, but, they should”, Vladyki Kliment said on Tuesday at the 16th annual “Christmas Reading” in Moscow. He feels that the ideology of free love celebrated in the contemporary Western observance is alien to the traditions of Russian culture. Vladyki Kliment urged Russians to cultivate their own Orthodox holidays. In particular, he proposed that 14 February be declared the Day of the Orthodox Family.
Interfax-Religion
