Religion
Igor Kondenko
2006
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The Russian people will cease to exist, if we don’t deal with our spiritual crisis…
Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias responded to critics who accused the Church of being greedy. In a meeting with Governor Lev Kuznetsov of Krasnoyarsk Krai in Moscow on Thursday, he said, “We aren’t focused on intramural interests, even though our enemies often accuse us of that, but I’ll say that our enemies are very often the enemies of Russia in general. Like, excuse me, they say that the clergy muck around with Church life for the sake of profit”. His Holiness said that you can’t separate the welfare of the Church from the people’s welfare, “because the Church has no income-generating real property; it doesn’t own businesses or engage in banking. We live in exactly the same way as our people live”.
Patriarch Kirill noted, if we can deal with the spiritual crisis of modern man, “we’ll have a future; if we don’t deal with it, then, right along with the destruction of our spiritual principles, it’ll destroy our national identity and culture, it’ll prevent us from passing on our heritage, it’ll suppress everything that makes us a ‘people’, and our people will turn into mere ciphers. If we disappear as a people, if we become mere ciphers, then, the question of what material conditions we’ll have becomes insignificant”. In his opinion, Russia is a rich land, and Krasnoyarsk Krai is “a treasure of that land. We have wide expanses, but they’re sparsely settled. We must motivate our people to settle these boundless expanses, to develop their God-given potential to the fullest, and only spiritually-strong people can deal with such tasks. Consumers who wallow in luxury, who set great store by extravagance and comfort, aren’t capable of great deeds”. His Holiness pointed up that, today, many people “don’t even realise what great feats we could accomplish for the sake of Russia, bringing about such changes in our Russian life that it’d be the greatest accomplishment of our generation”. He also said it was important that people shouldn’t lose a sense of morals and values, “and to further that work, the Church created a Metropolitan District [in Krasnoyarsk Krai]”.
3 November 2011
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42914
Cooperation is Open to Everyone
Unknown Artist
Soviet poster
1920s
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THIS is what the Church teaches… not “Greed is Good”. The Church grasps the Red Banner of Social Justice… not the Black Flag of Neoliberal Nihilism… think on that.
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Editor’s Note:
Yet again, His Holiness condemns Free Market Neoliberalism and its godless Consumerist ideology. Note this:
Consumers who wallow in luxury, who set great store by extravagance and comfort, aren’t capable of great deeds.
That says it all. His Holiness throws down the gauntlet in front of “Greed is good”… “The race goes to the swiftest”… and “The invisible hand of the market”. He counters that with:
If we don’t deal with [the spiritual crisis of modern man], then, right along with the destruction of our spiritual principles, it’ll destroy our national identity and culture, it’ll prevent us from passing on our heritage, it’ll suppress everything that makes us a ‘people’, and our people will turn into mere ciphers. If we disappear as a people, if we become mere ciphers, then, the question of what material conditions we’ll have becomes insignificant.
All that Neoliberal “conservatism” can offer us is a bovine consumerist Hell… a human pig wallow where we chase after mere trinkets and flashy bling and baubles. I’m no Savonarola; I don’t advocate a Bonfire of the Vanities. However, I call ‘em as I see ‘em… “Money is the root of all evil”… “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Those verities haven’t changed. Reflect on the fact that greed and hubris sit regnant in America today… it’s become a bloated and rapacious spider with a ravening appetite and absolutely no compassion for the weak whatsoever. The “bottom line” rules and the Almighty Dollar takes the place of Almighty God.
We CAN reach the New Shore… but only if we cooperate. If we shatter our unity for the sake of individual enrichment, we’ll not only not progress, we’ll regress. Look at contemporary America… that makes my point. Cooperation IS open to everyone… you ARE your brother’s keeper. Ponder that…
A Note to Russian Orthodox Christians in the North American diaspora:
His Holiness stands for Social Justice, Selflessness, and Cooperation… Paffhausen and his pals prostrate themselves in blasphemous adoration before the Almighty Dollar, they uncritically swallow the selfish Greed and the atheistic Individualism preached by the American rightwing. If you follow one, you can’t follow the other one, they’re mutually exclusive. Your eternal destiny DOES depend on it.
BMD
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