Byzantium was Intentionally Removed from the European Historical Consciousness

Professor Natalia Narochnitskaya (1948- ), Doctor of Historical Sciences, President of the Historical Perspectives Foundation

Recently, a documentary film entitled The Fall of an Empire, written by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, the Superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, aired on Russian television. In an interview with Aleksei Sosedov of the website Interfax-Religion, Natalia Narochnitskaya, Doctor of Historical Sciences and President of the Historical Perspectives Fund, shared her impressions of the film.

*****

The film The Fall of an Empire gave us a panoramic view of the general development of human history, something that most modern people do not wish to see. Unfortunately, most viewers only see the superficial details of this film, for they wish to guard themselves from the burden of responsibility that comes from seeing their behaviour as a part of the evolution of history. Today, people prefer to see only that small patch of reality on which they sit, and they do not desire to know where the winding river of history flows as a whole. The film reminds us about Byzantium, the mother of both the Western and the Orthodox civilisations, an entity intentionally removed not only from Soviet Russian historical awareness, but, also from that of Europe in general, as well.

The liberals who criticised this film did so because they do not abide the very existence of the concept it enunciated, that the purposes and measures of human history are intimately connected with the faith, for the faith harmonises the dichotomies between the personal and general philosophical senses of the historical path of mankind. Contemporary liberalism asserts the independence of the human personality from the restraints placed upon it by faith; they assert it is free of the constraint of religious, national, and family values. In their view, mankind must struggle to achieve this autonomy in order to progress. We would beg to differ. No, in this case, mankind ceases to understand the linkage of one’s personal life with the general life of society.

This film is useful, and it actually was historically-accurate, although any film of this kind is bound to contain some oversimplification. But, our liberals prefer to argue over this or that detail; for example, they say that something was taken at times from this century, at times from another. But, this is because the concept of the film itself is unbearable to them, for it suggests that something other than the West was the light of the world!

There is no flattery in the film with respect to Byzantium; it showed Byzantium’s vitality and how it lost it, how it lost the meaning of its existence, and how this destroyed the Empire, and how others took advantage of this situation. It is absolutely true that, up to the middle of the second millennium, Byzantium was truly the cultural metropolis of the world. In comparison, Western Europe was a place where kings only bathed twice in their lives, once, when they were born, and, again, when they were placed in the coffin. The West was lower than the Byzantine provinces; it was a backwater of this civilisation. Meanwhile, in Byzantium, manners were very refined by the standards of the times, the domestic arts, architecture, trade, and haute couture in clothing were all highly developed. This is all absolutely true, just as it is true that after Byzantium’s fall the impetus in intellectual thought shifted to Western Europe, which served as an enormous push in the development of Western science, culture, and civilisation. Europe had fallen very far behind. Those material influences that the West secured for itself at the cost of robbing Byzantium and South America are not sufficiently reckoned, they are comparable in scope to centuries of growth through natural evolution.

The basic idea of the film lays in the stipulation that technology, science, or external development cannot forestall collapse if the inner core is destroyed. Decline is inevitable if society loses the connection between the personal and the common good, if it loses civil sensibility, if it loses the understanding of the distinction between sin and virtue, and if the élite becomes so rotten that they no longer recognise themselves as part of the nation.

The West can see a warning for itself in this film, because the same thing is happening to Western civilisation, a civilisation that also had vitality, a great culture founded upon the fiery conviction of Christian truth, upon the struggle between good and evil. This is the source of the monologues of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Schiller’s heroes. What is the end result of all this, if man’s most important choice today is his brand of toothpaste, and his homeland is where the taxes are lowest? That is why they are helpless before non-Western emigrants, not entirely because there are hordes of such emigrants, but, because Westerners have lost their own values.

Neither is the film very flattering to our own Russian state. On the contrary, it articulates a ringing, bold, and daring rebuke. If we lose the vital foundations of our society, and if our élite becomes corrupted, history will judge even the specific eras of responsible and constructive government as nothing more than fleeting ephemera.

5 February 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=interview&div=166

Editor’s Note:

Another English translation of this piece exists on Pravoslavie.ru. Not only is it overly literal at points, obscuring the meaning of Professor Narochnitskaya, it lacks Paragraph 2 of the main body of text. There is nothing I dislike more than incomplete translation, especially where an important point is made, as is the case here. Shame on the original translator! All of us who translate have an obligation to present the original in its entirety. The English-speaking reader has the right to as complete a text as exists in the Russian original.

BMD

Grandpa

Aleksei Shapoval with his extended family in church

It is no easy task raising thirteen children and bringing up 102 grandchildren, but Aleksei Shapoval of Siberia proved to be up to the challenge. His life is the exception rather than the rule, since the average Russian family has no more than two children. We cruised along the winding roads of the Siberian township of Bungur, trying to find this extraordinary family. “Which of the Shapovals are you looking for? We’ve got quite a few of them”, the locals ask. “Go to the church. Today’s Sunday, so they’ll all be there”. Dozens of children and adults, all dressed up, are gathered outside the church.

“In the past, people would criticise me for having so many children. Then again, our faith used to be frowned upon. We are Baptists, you know…Now, my kids have grown up and I’m not ashamed of the way they are. The times have changed, as well. The attitude toward large families isn’t like it was before”, says Aleksei, a heavyset, grey-haired man with a smiling face.

Aleksei has, indeed, every reason to be proud of his children. They are all outgoing, hospitable, and cheerful, and they look very much like their dad. Four years ago, at the age of 69, a widowed Alexei decided to remarry. Surprisingly enough, the children supported the prospect; an elderly person shouldn’t spend his or her last years all alone, they reasoned. But, looking at the Shapoval family, it is difficult to imagine how one could ever feel lonely here.

“After we first met, I didn’t dare reveal for quite a while that I had 13 children and just under a hundred grandchildren”, Aleksei recalled. “I was afraid. When I finally told her, she spent the next couple of months thinking my proposal over”.

“Of course, it seemed frightening”, said Valentina, Aleksei’s new wife. “The family is, indeed, a large one, so you never know how you’ll get along. Me, I have just one son. I remember Aleksei bringing me to his place for the first time. He had all of his children get together to introduce me to them. I suggested that their father and I move in together for a month or two to see if we could live together, but, they said that if we were really going to live together, we should get married”.

One of Aleksei’s sons then joins in our conversation while cuddling a baby in his arms. He is a father of five. In the Siberian region of Kemerovo, which is home to the Shapoval family, the past decade has seen the local population decline by as much as 200,000. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, there are 17 deaths and just 11 births per every 1,000 residents. The trend has persisted for a few years now. Analysts from the Severo-Zapad think tank have predicted that the region will lose another 200,000 of its residents in the next decade unless something is done to improve the dire demographic situation. They warn that the consequences of inaction could be grave.

Social anthropologist Aleksandr Sadovoi believes that the Kemerovo region’s demographic crisis is representative of the situation in Russia as a whole. In the past 15 years, the nation has been on the brink of a demographic collapse. Since 1992, its population has been declining by up to half a million annually, which is comparable to the losses that the Soviet Union sustained during the Second World War. Dmitri Mendeleyev, a famous Russian chemist and creator of the periodic table, estimated that the Russian Empire’s population should be 300 million by the start of the 21st century. But, unlike the United States, Russia never reached that mark, having lost some 70 million of its residents to famine, war, and political repression in the first half of the 20th century, in addition to another 140 million in potential births.

Russia’s current demographic crisis is all the more alarming because it puts at risk the nation’s sovereignty and the security of its territorial borders. So, what can be done to reverse the current unfavourable trends? According to Mr Sadovoi, Russia’s government, as well as society at large, should now focus on human values and work toward raising the standard of living in the provinces, increasing wages and providing spacious, yet affordable, apartments for couples willing to have several kids. Experts say that for the country to be able to regain its population, each household should have at least three children or more, if radical transformations are to be made.

Incidentally, all of Aleksei Shapoval’s children are raising large families of their own. His eldest son, Vasili, is a father of 12, and his daughter Nadya has just as many. His son Aleksei has ten children; Iosif, 8; and Maksim, 4. There is a garden and a greenhouse in every household, which, along with livestock, help provide for the young families.

“I kept saying to my children: Treat the land with love. Farming won’t make you rich, but you’ll never die of hunger”, Mr Shapoval said. “We always kept cows. The kids would work as shepherds in the summertime during their time off school. They were rewarded for their work with hay. When they grew up, the older children handed over the work to their younger siblings. Our family thus spent 17 years looking after the local herd”.

Many wonder just how such a large family could be provided for, but, surprisingly, this isn’t the biggest challenge. “It’s much more important to ensure that one’s children grow up into honourable adults. This takes a lot of effort. But, for some reason, this task is no longer given as much attention as it deserves. Modern-day parents tend to care more about their families’ material well-being rather than about their spiritual development”.

A survey conducted last year by the Federal State Statistics Service came to the same bleak conclusion. Low incomes and inadequate housing are the main factors that prevent people from starting a family or giving birth to as many children as they would like. A lack of clear future prospects is another major impediment. One other fact revealed by the survey is that couples who live together without formally registering their marriage are, more often than not, oriented toward a smaller family than their officially-married counterparts.

Marina Klariss

Rossiskaya Gazeta (The Russian Newspaper)

Quoted in Russia Beyond the Headlines

http://rbth.rg.ru/articles/2007/11/14/grandpa.html

Editor’s Note:

It is important to note the many differences between traditional Russian Protestants (such as Mr Shapoval and his family) and contemporary American Protestants. This led to many misunderstandings and bruised feelings amongst the Americans. They found out that traditional Russian Protestants are like their Orthodox neighbours in many ways.

When Americans introduced the idea of prayer breakfasts, the Russians were insulted when the Americans wanted to sit for “grace”. “That’s wrong”, they said. “You stand up, and you sing the Lord’s Prayer, that’s what’s done!” In short, EXACTLY what we Orthodox do. Also, when the Americans tried to introduce vacuous “praise music” into worship, the Russians nixed that idea as well, and vehemently. They use choral music similar to ours. Then, of course, American Protestants were taken aback by the fact that Russian Baptists hold the Mother of God in as a high regard as do we Orthodox.

What took the cake was when American “evangelists” tried preaching American-style sermons in Russia. That truly fried the ice of the Russian Baptists (and rightly so!). They have their own style, again, similar to ours, and they saw this as clumsy cultural imperialism. In short, the only American Protestants who found themselves welcome were those who took the time to learn the language and customs.

May God bless the Shapoval family. I bow before them in deep respect.

BMD

Now, for a Taste of Summer!

Editor’s Foreword:

Why not a little Russian on your table, instead of at your table (like inviting me and Nicky for dinner!)? I’ll throw a recipe or two at you occasionally. As we say in Russian, proshu k stolu! (Please, to the table!). Bog blagoslovit!

BMD

*****

Some stereotypes are firmly grounded in reality. For instance, ask a foreigner what comes to mind when you mention Russia, and one of the first answers you’ll hear is “cold”. Although there are certain parts of the country that rarely see snow, most of Russia is indeed a land where winter holds sway. But, not always. Summer may come late to Russia and not linger very long, but, it’s perhaps the most breathtaking time of the year, a reward after nine months of snow, ice, mud, and rain. City streets that were once a depressing grey explode with colour as trees bloom and the sun glints off the churches’ golden cupolas. In the countryside, fields that were covered in snow fill with wild flowers, once-frozen rivers burble and rush. Of course, Russian cuisine undergoes a transformation as well, for many of the heavy, nourishing foods meant to get you through the winter are replaced by a lighter, more summery menu. One of these warm weather wonders is svekolnik, a close cousin to that most famous of Russian soups, borscht. While a bowl of borscht could equal an entire meal, this light, easy-to-make soup is strictly a refresher, served cold and filled with crunchy fresh vegetables. On a hot summer day, there are few things better.

Svekolnik

Ingredients:

• 3 litres (quarts) beet stock
• 6 beets
• 2 bunches of scallions/green onions
• 2 sticks celery
• 4 cucumbers
• 4 carrots
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup (250 ml) lemon juice
• 1 cup (250 ml) sour cream
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) wine vinegar or pickle juice
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) finely cut parsley and dill
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) black pepper
• salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables.
2. Boil beets and carrots separately, let cool, then, peel and cut into straws. Save the water from the beets, this is your stock.
3. Peel cucumbers and cut into straws.
4. Finely dice green onions and rub with salt.
5. To vegetables add strained beetroot stock.
6. Add salt, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar or pickle juice, pepper, parsley, and dill. You’re aiming for a sweet and sour taste here, much more sour than sweet, so be generous with the vinegar and pickle juice.
7. Before serving, add a dollop of sour cream and a halved boiled egg to each bowl.

This is a soup that comes in many easy variations. Sliced sausages or diced ham can be added. Boiled potatoes will make svekolnik heavier and more filling. If you like your soup spicy, a dose (50 grammes or more) of horseradish and a spoonful of mustard will lend some heat. Another delicious option is to drop a slice of lemon into each plate before serving.

25 June 2008

Ira Iosebashvili

Russia Beyond the Headlines

http://www.rbth.rg.ru/articles/2008/06/25/taste_of_summer.html

It’s wrong to Consider Somebody Sinful Simply because they have a Mohawk

They’re going to support the teaching in school of the Bases of Orthodox Culture and serve missionary vigils and liturgies under the open sky on the shores of Lake Seliger. Last year, they helped to protect the Bronze Soldier in Estonia, and, this year, they stood in support of church unity against the Diomidovtsy (supporters of the schismatic bishop Diomid) outside the hall of the Archpastoral Council in Moscow. It’s only been one year since the Orthodox section of the youth group Nashi (Ours) was founded, and the head of the section, Boris Yakemenko, summed up his thoughts to Artur Priimak of Interfax-Religion.

Artur Priimak

What would you say are the prime goals of the Orthodox section of Nashi?

Boris Yakemenko

Our section is part of a larger organisation, one that has many sincere believers in it. We created it not so long ago to fulfil several tasks. We wished to draw young people into the church, we wished to describe in contemporary language that Orthodoxy is not a religion for oldsters and losers; rather, it is a faith for confident and successful young people who love their motherland, its culture, and its language. That is, our Orthodox section treasures both our church and our culture. In any case, we discussed all our plans with the church, and we are acting with its blessing. Last year, a lot of kids came to our camp on Lake Seliger, so, priests came and gave lectures, talked with the kids, and served missionary liturgies.

Artur Priimak

Did you find it difficult to write the textbook for the Bases of Orthodox Culture course? What goals did you set yourself?

Boris Yakemenko

The textbook for Bases of Orthodox Culture tells our young people in contemporary language about our native culture, about Orthodoxy, and about the role of the Church in our history. This course is already being taught in a number of regions, and young people who were unfamiliar with Orthodoxy took an interest and many went to church out of curiosity… I do not agree with those who say that, supposedly, “the leadership of Nashi will teach Bases of Orthodox Culture from their textbook”. Let me tell you, Bases was a joint project, and the only one from Nashi was me. As far as the accompanying CD is concerned, it is generally chants sing by the monks of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery. As for those who teach this course, almost no one refers to our group’s role.

Artur Priimak

Today, in your opinion, who is opposed to the general introduction of the Bases of Orthodox Culture? Is it individual officials at the Ministry of Education?

Boris Yakemenko

No, I wouldn’t agree. If we have opposition today, it comes from those who urge believers to not carry passports and shun taxpayer identification numbers. I reiterate; the teaching of Bases of Orthodox Culture is already carried out successfully in many regions. Fr Vsevolod Chaplin was right when he said at our press conference that most of the problems with the introduction of Bases are found in Moscow itself or in the Moscow oblast.

Yuri Shevchuk (1957- ), Russian rocker

Artur Priimak

When you were working on the chapter of the textbook entitled “Russian Rock and Orthodoxy” did you consult with the rockers Kinchev and Shevchuk, as is rumoured?

Boris Yakemenko

One of my graduate students at the Russian University of the Friendship of the Peoples who wrote a thesis on the theme “Orthodoxy and Russian Rock Culture” worked on this chapter. When we actually writing it, of course, we had the idea to assign it to Kinchev and Shevchuk, amongst others, but, in my view, they have said enough concerning it in their own interviews. Moreover, the numerous appearances of Hegumen Sergei Rybko and Deacon Andrei Kuraev are abundant evidence of the predominantly Orthodox nature of the Russian rock movement.

Artur Priimak

In recent years, in many Russian cities, informal Orthodox rock clubs began to pop up, such as Fakel (Torch) in Moscow in the Voikovsky neighbourhood. I understand that these clubs are having a difficult time staying open today. What sort of assistance can Nashi offer such clubs?

Boris Yakemenko

They would have to ask us! Yes, we know of such clubs, for Hegumen Sergei runs some of them. For example, if anyone attacks these clubs, we shall organise pickets and gather signatures on petitions. However, if the problem involves the lease on the present premises, there is not much one can do about it. Of course, we support all sorts of good projects, but, we do not give financial aid, nor do we involve ourselves in lobbying politicians or any other public figures. Everything we do must be honest and aboveboard.

Nashi members with posters of Dmitri Ganin (1987-2007), Russian hero-martyr killed by rampaging Estonian police

Artur Priimak

In the spring of 2007, Nashi conducted a series of protest demonstrations outside the Estonian embassy in Moscow. Now, there is an analogous situation in the Ukraine. Are you going to carry out protest actions against the Russophobic actions of the Orange fanatics, and in what form?

Boris Yakemenko

With Estonia, it was fairly simple, as the Estonian leadership offered frank and open provocation. If it were simply a matter of moving the Bronze Soldier itself, that wouldn’t be so bad. However, there was another side to the story, one that the Estonian leadership knew full well. This was not simply a monument; it was a memorial graveyard for the mortal remains of Russian heroes. They carried out the exhumation in a completely disrespectful and barbarous way, when they reburied the remains on Tyinsmyagi Hill, they called the heroes “drunkards, marauders, and oppressors”. In response to these enormities, our section conducted a series of protest demonstrations. If something similar happens in the Ukraine, we shall intervene, but, only when it happens, and not before. The Orthodox section of Nashi is ready to heed the call.

Artur Priimak

What sort of work does the Orthodox section of Nashi do at your summer camp? What did you do last year, and what shall you do this year?

Deacon Andrei Kuraev (1963- ), professor at the MDA, great popular preacher

Boris Yakemenko

Last year, our section was organised in two months here at Lake Seliger. Therefore, it was important that we bring the leadership together to work out our programme for the future. In the summer camp, we gathered several thousand signatures for the introduction of the Bases of Orthodox Culture, we celebrated the main Christian feastdays, and a missionary liturgy was served by Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, Deacon Andrei Kuraev, and monks from the Nilo-Stolbenskoy Pustyn. When we went to help out at the monastery, the monks talked with a lot of the kids and discussed all sorts of spiritual questions. You can rightly say that we organised a real spiritual life here at Lake Seliger.

This year, of course, we shall carry out those things we found that worked. Furthermore, since we use the Lake Seliger camp as a “testing lab” for new ideas, we shall try to come up with a general proposal for the organisation of the Orthodox youth movement and we shall present specific ideas to different dioceses, according to need, we shall develop contacts with them, and so on. Obviously, we shall serve the missionary liturgy again this year. Well-known Orthodox figures such as the theologian Aleksei Osipov from the MDA, Hegumen Sergei Rybko, who is “the apostle to the counterculture”, and Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin are coming to Lake Seliger. Besides these people, many clergy are going to spend the summer here. By doing this, we hope that those who are coming to our camp on Lake Seliger from 12 to 26 July shall see the meaning and essence of Orthodoxy embodied in fact.

Artur Priimak

So, the missionary liturgy at the Nashi camp is going to be served by Fr Vsevolod Chaplin and Fr Andrei?

Boris Yakemenko

Since this liturgy is served on a large scale, it requires much cooperation from various quarters. On the eve of the service, two hieromonks heard confessions from an enormous number of people, more than 400, I understand. I would like to emphasise that many of these people were confessing for the very first time. The next day, the liturgy was served with the help of the monks from the Nilo-Stolobenskoy Pustyn and the chorus of the Orthodox section of Nashi. Since this liturgy was served outdoors, in the open air, one could see all that occurs in the service. We did not have an iconostas. Fr Andrei Kuraev explained the readings from the Gospel and the Apostle, and he also explained the Eucharistic Canon from beginning to end.

After the liturgy, people came up to Fr Vsevolod and said that although they had been to church for quite some time, it was the first time that they found it so open and understandable. Indeed, Fr Vsevolod said in his book Loskutki (Scraps) that the missionary liturgy served at the Nashi summer camp on Lake Seliger strongly affected him and he found it of great value. This year, we hope to serve a missionary vigil as well as a liturgy.

In the camp chapel, Fr Vsevolod conducted baptisms and marriages. We recorded all the divine services on CDs, and we gave them to the bishops at the Archpastoral Council as an aid to them. This is profound experience, we should study it carefully.

Artur Priimak

How would you answer those clergymen who reject all of this and demand that we end serving missionary liturgies?

Counterculture person with a “Mohawk”

Boris Yakemenko

Before God, there are no useless people. It’s wrong to consider somebody sinful simply because they have a Mohawk, an earring, or a short skirt… only God knows who is righteous and who is not, and to prejudge this on our own is completely wrong. As Korovyov said, “You can be mistaken; moreover, you can be completely in the wrong”. Therefore, we say that external signs of rebellion in counterculture young people are their way of protecting themselves from a harsh world. Under the all that rebellion, one finds a person hiding a wounded and sensitive soul that must be opened up to the light. Fr Sergei, who works with all sorts of nonconformist and counterculture people, finds them completely normal in every respect. At Lake Seliger, we confessed almost 500 people, and you should have seen what people they were! Before the time of the camp, it seems, they had never darkened the door of the church. Clearly, they had much that they had to open up to the priest, in order to confess properly before God. I find this very important.

1 July 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=interview&div=186