Patriarch Kirill Said that the Church Isn’t Focused on “Intramural Interests”… It Cares for the Welfare of the People

Religion

Igor Kondenko

2006

______________________________

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

******

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.

______________________________

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

3 November 2011. Confused Reports on OCA Sobor Assessment Vote

I’ve heard two wildly conflicting reports on the vote on the assessment in the present OCA Sobor in Seattle. The only agreement is that 269 voted in favour of imposing a cut and 178 voted against it. The disagreement is over WHEN the cuts take effect. One version says it’ll happen immediately, the other says that there’s a grace period of one year. We’ll have to see. If the assessment’s being cut, where are they going to get the money to pay for JP’s supposed “evaluation” and to pay off the Honesdale Loan? Perspirin’ minds wanna know. Lil’ Mizz Ginny’s sleeping under a tree, as per usual. I would’ve been in the room with a laptop, with a pre-written template, and, trust me, the news would’ve been posted IMMEDIATELY (modern technology allows us to do this). Compare Lil’ Mizz Ginny’s lackadasical efforts with the sterling effort of the ACROD people during Vladyki Nicholas‘ funeral. I rest my case…

Oh, one last thing… the REAL spoiler is yet to come. Is the Sobor going to vote on disaffiliation with the NCC? That’s where the rubber hits the road, kids.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 3 November 2011

Albany NY

Hilarion Alfeyev Concerned about an Apparent Campaign against the Convening of an all-Orthodox Council

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the head of the MP Department of External Church Relations, attempted to dispel the fears of believers associated with an all-Orthodox Council. On Thursday, the DECR website quoted him as saying at a ceremony awarding him an honorary doctorate degree at the St Petersburg Theological Academy, “I can assure all sceptics that this council will be the Eighth Ecumenical Council, it shall not cancel, and it shall not review the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils”. In his view, the Church “won’t abolish the Lents, won’t impose a married episcopate, not allow second marriages for clergy, won’t recognise the authority of the Pope of Rome over the Orthodox Church, and it won’t agree to a Unia with the Catholics… in short, it’ll do none of those things that many fear today”. He called them “so-called ‘defenders of Orthodoxy’, who show a zeal not according to knowledge”.

Vladyki Hilarion pointed up that the whole topic of the preparations of such an all-Orthodox Council brings up various misunderstandings, “and outright rumour in some circles. Therefore, some marginal media sources launched a campaign against the convocation of a Council. Believers are afraid that a Council would bring on the coming of the Antichrist, because it would allegedly make decisions contrary to the teachings, dogmas, canons, and rules of the Church, such as introducing a married episcopate and doing away with the Lents, and that it would revise the foundations of our doctrine. Then, Orthodox Christians wouldn’t have any other choice but to leave the ‘official’ Church and seek other means of salvation”. In this regard, he emphasised that such arguments “aren’t only without real foundation, but also indicate ignorance or deliberate distortion of historical facts and Church tradition by those who use them”.

On the question of when we could convene an all-Orthodox Council, which has been under preparation for nearly half a century, Metropolitan Hilarion said that we would know after the meeting of the First Hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches, scheduled for 2012. He said, “If some at this meeting attempt to abandon the principle of consensus as the fundamental and sole manner of decision-making at the inter-Orthodox level, you can assume that any convening of a Council would be postponed, indefinitely, into the far future. Indeed, no Church would agree to participate in any council that can ignore or reject its opinion under pressure from other Churches. In addition, the Council mustn’t use the principle of equal representation [for each Local Church]; it must use the principle of proportional representation. It would be wrong for the [MP], which has about 150 million believers and about 250 bishops, to be represented by the same number of delegates as some other Local Orthodox Church, which only has a few tens of thousands of believers and a few bishops”.

3 November 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42913

Editor’s Note:

This is truly a gemischlichkeit, as the Germans say. Paragraphs one and two are the Blunder’s opinion. Paragraph three is where he has to toe His Nibs’ line. Will the real Blunder please stand up (shades of To Tell the Truth… Bud Collyer, wherefore art thou?). Paragraph Three makes it abundantly clear that there’s going to be NO all-Orthodox Council in the near future, far future, or any future. Let’s not kid ourselves… Bart (or any of his successors) would never agree to His Nibs’ stipulations. It doesn’t bother Nibs one bit… such an airy-fairy Council isn’t high on his list of priorities. Only ungrounded konvertsy and ivory tower pseudo-intellectuals even know that such a Dixie Fry’s proposed. Trust me, 99 percent of the believers and clergy don’t know of it, don’t care about it, and don’t want to know of it until it happens. That is, tell them about REAL things, not Cloud Cuckoo Land speculations and theories.

I’ve noticed that the over-educated and superficial (two groups with CONSIDERABLE overlap) tend to go gaga over the Blunder. His TV presenter looks and mannerisms buffalo the lot of ‘em. If you needed proof that higher education in the West doesn’t require intelligence, only the regurgitation of the latest party line in academe, this is it. After all, the Blunder entered monasticism in ’87 after doing his army service… he was only 21, and was ordained a priest that same year, before completing (or even entering) seminary. That is, he snuck in during the period of ’85 to ’91 when the Church had its most explosive growth; the number of parishes grew 150 percent, going from 8,000 to 12,000 in only seven years (don’t forget, the revival began under the Soviets, NOT after the August events). All sorts of flotsam n’ jetsam crept in, including this prize package. The expansion was unplanned and rapid, leading to all sorts of confusion, and normal standards went by the boards. Alfeyev is from an academic family with no previous Church ties (some sources identify Jewish roots for at least some of his forebears). In short, he’s the same sort of shake n’ bake irregular that most of the OCA/AOCANA konvertsy set are, and I believe that’s why they’re attracted to him. Like DOES call unto like. If there was ever an illustration of “all that glitters isn’t gold”… he’s that in spades.

This “Council” isn’t going to get off the ground; it’s a proverbial LEAD Zeppelin. Relax… it’s going to happen as soon as the Jabberwock appears on your doorstep. People do believe the most curious things…

BMD 

BREAKING NEWS. 3 November 2011. Update on Metropolitan Vladimir’s Condition

Archbishop Aleksandr Drabinko (1977- ) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky, Secretary to Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan of Kiev and all the Ukraine, at a press conference today at the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra in Kiev

______________________________

According to a statement on Thursday by Archbishop Aleksandr Drabinko of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky, Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan’s condition remains serious but stable. At a press briefing in the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra he said, “The reports in some media sources today that he was in a coma are fantasies”. As reported on the UOC/MP official website, Metropolitan Vladimir regularly takes communion and asks his flock to pray for him. As reported earlier, on 30 October, Metropolitan Vladimir was admitted to hospital. In late September, he was discharged from hospital after recovering from surgery on 16 September for a hip fracture.

******

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias prayed for the recovery of Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan of Kiev and all the Ukraine. On Thursday evening, Deacon Aleksandr Volkov, a spokesman of the Patriarchal Press Service stated, “His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was informed about the health of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, and he’s praying for his recovery as soon as possible”. As reported earlier on Thursday, Archbishop Aleksandr Drabinko of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky said that Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan’s condition remains serious but stable. At a press briefing in the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra he said, “The reports in some media sources today that he was in a coma are fantasies”.

******

At the residence of the First Hierarch of the UOC/MP at the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra in Kiev, Archbishop Aleksandr Drabinko of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky held a press briefing at 16.00 CET (17.00 MSK 14.00 UTC 09.00 EDT 06.00 PDT) on 3 November. He stated, “As stated by his doctors, the health of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir today remains serious, but stable. He was conscious when Metropolitan Pavel Lebed, the Superior of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra and Metropolitan Vicar, took Communion to him. The reports in some media sources today that His Beatitude was in a coma are fantasies”. He went on to say that Metropolitan Vladimir regularly takes communion and asks his flock to pray for him.

3 November 2011

Interfax-Religion

Украинская Православная Церковь (Ukrainskaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov: Ukrainian Orthodox Church)

UOC/MP Official website

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42915

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42916

http://orthodox.org.ua/uk/node/10273

Editor’s Note:

This was released in Moscow at an odd hour… Interfax ran it at 20.35 MSK (17.35 UTC 12.35 EDT 09.35 PDT), an unusual hour for them (usually, they shut down at 18.00). It was also over three hours after the press conference. Why the rush to get it up at an unusual hour (there are only three full-time religion reporters on the Interfax staff)? We’ll have to see. There was also no notice of this on patriarchia.ru (also not usual). By the way, His Holiness was on his way to Nizhny Novgorod, where he’s going to take part in Day of National Unity observances tomorrow. I don’t think that it bodes well… do pray for Vladyki Vladimir and light a candle for him, if you can.

BMD