Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin Articulated His Thoughts on the Radical Changes Presaged by the Present Situation in Russia

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We need to transition from stability into a realm of conscience and freedom…

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the MP Department for Church and Society, believes that the political situation in Russia can’t return to the position that it was in before, so, we need a dialogue between the state and society in order to save the country. Fr Vsevolod wrote on Thursday, “This 10-day ‘party’ can create the powerful impression for some people that everything’s back to business as usual, to the political calm of the past decade. No, it won’t return… it’ll never come back”. Fr Vsevolod’s convinced that we can’t restrain the will of the people or its political activity at the local, regional, or national level. On the contrary, their resolve shall carry on, he said, adding, “The leaders of Russian organisations were ashamed to have to stand on the same platform with Boris Nemtsov, Garry Kasparov, and Ksenia Sobchak”.

Fr Vsevolod thought that we should start a “serious national dialogue about the basic political and economic structure of the country, including the role and status of the Russian people”. On his part, he offered a number of specific measures for a radical change in the social and political situation in Russia. In particular, he wrote, “If the government doesn’t want a slow degeneration, and if the people don’t want to pay for an occupying army and enrich foreign business, you need to move from ‘stability’ to the realm of conscience and freedom. Freedom… both political and moral”. Much of what’s happening in Russia, in his view, “is profoundly abnormal and isn’t responsive to the will of the people, it’s a legacy of the ‘90s of the last century, and we must decisively reject it”.

Fr Vsevolod also suggested approaches to solving such problems as corruption and illegal immigration. In his view, migrants must register at least once every three days at their legal place of work. He said, “Those who fail to do so should fall under the criminal law”. He went on to say that “high-profile investigations of government thievery” and corruption should lead to the dismissal of “all those in the chain of command, starting at the regional level”.

Fr Vsevolod paid particular attention to reforms in the army. In his opinion, “Soldiers in Russia shouldn’t be below ‘mere merchants’ (ниже торговцев) in social status. Every officer of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies should have a house, even in the Moscow region. However, we need to tie this housing with their posting or [as a reward for] a decent retirement. This is the best remedy against corruption. Let 2012 be a year of a resolute and moral Russia. Let us be a country with a strong sense of the meaning of life… both today and in the future”.

5 December 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=43660

Editor’s Note:

I read some writings about Russian events by ignorant American media gasbags (in particular, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Georgie Ann Geyer) recently… the obtuseness just jumped off the page and hit one in the face. Well, they’re answered in spades by Vsevolod Anatolyevich… he blows them away without breaking a sweat. That’s because the American commentators on the Russian scene are getting their information at second-hand from self-important blozos such as Lyonyo Kishkovsky, Serge Schmemann, Sophia Kishkovsky, and Anya Schmemann (note well how these creeps take care of their offspring… they stuck in their thumb and pulled out a plum… need I say more?). I’m getting it from directly from the writings of movers and shakers (Vsevolod Anatolyevich is KMG’s “Prime Minister”… and don’t you ever forget it). Whom do you think may be closer to the truth? Langley-paid flacks who didn’t tell you the full truth about the demonstrations, or, would it be someone who seeks out the best RUSSIAN sources on the situation?

I don’t need to belabour the point. Most American commentators miss the point because they try to superimpose the rules of Selfish American Individualism on Russian Orthodox Collectivism. Note well that Fr Vsevolod believes that army officers are higher in class standing than greedy self-serving crudzos like salesmen, stockbrokers, lawyers, real estate developers, and “biznessmen” (which is VERY pejorative in Russian). In fact, it’s clear that he rejects the American shtick about the “Free Market” and “Rugged Individualism”. Trust me… he’s not alone. That’s why America’s efforts to export its evil “Greed is Good” credo to Russia will fail… and it’s why you can’t trust Western commentators on the Russian scene.

Russia and the West are different “worlds”… and there’ll be no peace until the West sees that (and that the African, Muslim, East Asian, and Latin American “worlds” are distinct as well). Shall they, though?

BMD

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A Cell for the Abbot: Meanwhile, the Greek Government Ministers Involved in the Deal Walk Away Scot-Free

Thieves Should Be Put in Prison

Arkady Arseniev

2004

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Why aren’t the greasy pols in the slam, too? Is it because they could be useful to Langley in the future? Perspirin’ minds wanna know… oh, do note that the buzzard in the cage wears a tie, NOT a riassa.

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In Greece, the unprecedented happened. Abbot Ephrem of Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos is in solitary confinement in Korydallos Prison Complex in an Athens suburb. An appellate court found that the elder’s dangerous to society, since his monastery, a few years ago, made a deal with the state to exchange land belonging to the monastery for property in Athens. The court let off the Greek government ministers involved in court happily skip away scot-free. The statute of limitations for Greek officials is very short. Therefore, only Abbot Ephrem will face charges for this real estate deal. The situation is murky; the actions attributed to the Igumen took place from 2001 to 2008. However, the Greek court only acted after the return of Abbot Ephrem from Russia… the Igumen had accompanied the tour of the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God to various Russian cities.

What is Abbot Ephrem accused of doing? The bone of contention is land near Lake Vistonida, long claimed by the Greek government. These lands belonged to Vatopedi since ancient times… the monastery has letters from New Roman emperors and Turkish sultans noting that its their property, recognised by the Greek State. However, the Greek government had its sights on these lands. Therefore, litigation concerning them started. After several years of proceedings, the court recognised the legitimacy of the ancient rights of the monastery to the land and its right to dispose of the land. After that, Vatopedi offered to exchange this piece of land for several house-lots in Athens for the needs of the monastery. A barter deal was struck. At the same time, Abbot Ephrem argued that those real estate transactions were, in fact, forced. Athens media sources quoted him as saying, “We didn’t care for these deals, but they were forced upon us by the then-government. Our lawyers convinced us that we didn’t have a choice; otherwise, there’d be long-term friction (with the authorities)”.

The new Greek Socialist government spotted possible discrepancies in this transaction that could cause cost the state budget 100 million Euros (4.08 billion Roubles. 127.26 million USD 82.45 million UK Pounds). In this case, five ministers of the former rightwing government signed the deal with the Athonite monastery. True, we know who the corrupt parties are, but because the statute of limitations as far it concerns the officials has expired, all five walked away scot-free. Nevertheless, they decided to punish the elder from Mount Athos for the deal. However, that’s not the point. Furthermore, there’s the fact that they decided to imprison Abbot Ephrem pending trial, that is, before they prove his guilt. It looks more like an act of intimidation. Don’t think that the Greek investigators, in fact, believe that the Igumen would run off and go into hiding. Moreover, you should know that Abbot Ephrem’s an ill man, he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure; imprisonment could further undermine his health. However, common sense and humanitarian principles didn’t prevail in this case. Why? Our conclusion is that those commentators who said that this was a politically-motivated action are right.

It’s no secret that Greece has become closer to Russia in recent years. The reason is Orthodoxy. Many people requested the Vatopedi fathers to bring the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God to their countries, but the elders of Vatopedi always turned them down, including those in the USA. Yet, they brought the Belt to Russia… millions of Russian believers venerated the relic. Abbot Ephrem only learned of the plans to imprison him upon his return from Russia. The RF Ministry for Foreign Affairs said, “…Taking into account the statements by Archimandrite Ephrem about his willingness to cooperate with the investigating authorities and the state of his health, we have deep concerns about the actions of the judicial authorities in Greece, for they don’t take into account the decisions and recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights on placing him in custody pending trial”. The Foundation of St Andrew the First-Called, who organised the tour of the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God in Russia, reacted to the arrest of in abbot by using even harsher terms, “The consistency and perseverance exhibited by [Fr Ephrem] whilst under persecution suggests that this minor legal dispute involving Vatopedi Monastery with the Greek state has become a pretext to act against the basis of values ​​of European society and an attack on the Orthodox Church, whose spiritual centre is Mount Athos”.

30 December 2011

Yelena Korotkova

Московский Комсомолец (Moskovsky Komosomolets: Moscow Komsomol Member)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

Editor’s Note:

I had to wait awhile before writing this… I had to “cool down”. Here goes nuttin’… there’s NOTHING on the official websites of the OCA or the ROCOR stating their firm and undeviating support for His Holiness’ call for the release of Igumen Ephrem. NOTHING. They’re silent as fish… they say NOTHING… it’s as though it didn’t happen. His Holiness issued his “sorrowful epistle” on 29 December… a full week ago. These slugs have REFUSED to stand up behind their Ultimate First Hierarch. Through their silence, they support Langley and its machinations in Greece and the Phanar (they did topple an Ecumenical Patriarch and had their toadies replace him with the American lickspittle Athenagoras Spyrou). Today, the Western political machine threatens Holy Mount Athos, and where do we find the OCA and the ROCOR? They support the enemies of Orthodoxy via their silence! Here’s a description of the prison where Igumen Ephrem languishes:

Amnesty International and other human rights bodies such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture have repeatedly expressed concern about the prison for its overcrowding and inhumane treatment of detainees. In 2007, a special committee composed of physicians of the Division of Health Inspections of the Prefecture of Piraeus and Piraeus Medical Association reported that the hospital and the mental clinic of the prison operate without even the minimum conditions of hygiene, with aging infrastructure and big shortages in medical and nursing staff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korydallos_prisons

I shall NOT mince my words! Such people as Lyonyo Kishkovsky, Victor Potapov, and Alexander Webster poorly serve Paffhausen and Hilarion Kapral… and I’m only naming those with direct government links. These men take Uncle Sugar’s shilling or participate in “think-tanks” that support American aggression abroad. Ergo, the official OCA and ROCOR are silent about this abomination. If we had to choose between believing “Vladislav” of the Night Wolves MC or believing Sophia Kishkovsky of the New York Times, I don’t believe that the choice would be hard for any of us. It’s time to STAND TALL for our Orthodox Faith! If you can’t stand for Athos and the Athonite Fathers, what can you stand for? Oh, yes… SVS and Vassa Larina laughed at the Mountain at the instigation of the Uniate poseur Robert Taft… that speaks volumes of them, doesn’t it?

Speak out for an unjustly imprisoned man! Here’s some contact information:

Greek Embassy Washington DC:

http://www2.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/embassyMailForm.aspx?UICulture=en-US&eID=001

Send them your protests! To think that Langley thinks that it can push the Church around… let’s show ‘em some “people power”.

LET FR EPHREM GO!

BMD

5 January 2012. I’ve Not LOST My Senses… I’ve COME to Them!

…Was Dead, but Came Back to Life, Was Lost, but Was Found Again

Unknown Artist

late 1980s

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Many contemporary Russians fault Gorbachyov for not doing more to keep the USSR together. This poster shows that people accepted the commies’ repentance… do note that there are self-righteous elements in the diaspora who don’t… some are open; some are hidden. The open ones, I can deal with, they’re merely mistaken and duped… the hidden ones are treacherous and duplicitous sorts, not to be trusted under any circumstance (some of them are high in the OCA/ROCOR apparats). I think that most of you would agree with that assessment.

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Over the past five years, my ideas have deepened and matured as I’ve gained new information and been in contact with many good people in the Rodina. One of the things that I noticed was that the propaganda line put out by the Western élites in general and the US Republican Party in particular didn’t fit reality. It was fantasy of the highest order. It portrayed a world where all goodness resided in the USA and its allies of the moment, and where all badness resided in its “opponents”… a rather Zoroastrian view of the world. The All-Pure Ahura Mazda USA versus the All-Bad Ahriman Russians, Chinese, Muslims, and Latin Americans (especially those ungrateful bastards in Cuba, dontcha know!). The War in Iraq led me to question all that. There was no reason for that conflict whatsoever… prior to the American aggression, Saddam Hussein was contained, and at minimal cost and discomfiture, too. Today… that war led to a power-vacuum that has the volatile ingredients of an ascendant Iran and a restive Kurdish minority (who are provoking the Turks with their aid to confrères in Turkey)… combined with an Iraqi public that tilts to Teheran due to the fact that most Iraqis and Iranians share a common Shiite Muslim faith.

If that wasn’t bad enough, what destroyed my faith in the “conservative” (actually, Radical Right Neoliberal) narrative was the Great Recession of 2007. All during the 2008 election cycle, the Republicans (especially McCain, Palin, Limbaugh, and the rest of the Fox News propaganda machine) insisted that there was no recession, that it was a Democratic fancy, a will o’ the wisp. Then, after the McCain defeat at the polls, the Bushies piped up and said, “Oh, we lied to you… there IS a recession, after all… AND HAS BEEN SINCE DECEMBER 2007”. One would think that this brazen exposed lie would put finis to the GOP. No… the dark forces of greed, racism, and class warfare kept it alive.

Greed… in supporting insane tax cuts whilst they waged hyper-expensive wars in foreign parts. Racism… in blaming the federal deficit on “welfare niggers”… being white, I’ve heard it from more than one mouth… which usually goes on to praise the GOP for “taking the silver spoon from those lazy monkeys”. The GOP carries on class warfare in the media, in cyberspace, in the workplace, and in the marketplace. The One Percent attacks all the rest of us for their enrichment and, then, they have the absolute chutzpah to blame class bitterness on notional labour leaders and community activists. Some people believe it because the Big Lie is repeated over, and over, and over again by such well-paid shills as Limbaugh, Hannity, Palin, and O’Reilly. These people went to school (literally) to learn how to read from a Teleprompter with a sincere and folksy expression painted on their faces. They are well-paid mercenaries and whores… they earn MILLIONS… I doubt that you earn as much in a year as many of these mouthpieces earn in a week. Anyone who attends to Rush Limabaugh et al is a dupe of the media pupeteers, sadly enough (doesn’t Limbaugh sound like Joseph Goebbels shouting his racist rants at the Berliner Sportpalast?).

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The Red Rose… the logo of the Socialist International… THIS (and repentant communism) is what the Church blesses… NOT the greedy and moneygrubbing Neoliberalism of the Radical Right

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However, that’s not what pushed me “over the line”. Daily, I read the Russian press, especially as it concerns the Church. I read what His Holiness says… I read what Vsevolod Chaplin says… I read what Mark Golovkov says… and compared it to the rubbish spewing forth from the Blunder (he mostly regurgitates the shibboleths of the Western ruling class and Russian oligarchs). It became clear to me that the Church at the Centre does NOT support Neoliberal excess and greed. Indeed, when the Church condemns “Liberalism” (and it does so in no uncertain terms), it condemns what is called “Conservatism” in the Anglosphere.

“Liberal” in Russian terms means an environment free of state control, especially in economic terms… that is, laissez-faire capitalism of the worst sort, a blind following of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. It does NOT mean “Social Democracy”… which the Church approves and gives its blessing to. After all, most parish priests in Russia told their parishioners to vote for the Socialists or the KPRF in the last election. Finally, when I read that His Holiness considers Neoliberal Capitalism a total fraud, that it victimised the ordinary worker, that opened my eyes… and what I saw appalled me. The absolute hedonism and self-centred greed of Western “conservatives” turned my stomach, and turned it permanently (McMansions, anyone?). The stunning hypocrisy and saccharine self-absorption of the so-called “Evangelicals” made (and make) me wish to hurl (me and my “Personal Saviour” Jayzuss). The lies tossed at President Obama are LOW… even by the standards of dirty politics… I’ve had enough of them (he’s no prize… but compared to the alternative). I’ll be honest, the sound of Limbaugh’s voice is enough to make me ask for an exception to the rule of no violence to one’s foes… he’s that noisome.

I’m tired of all the lies, lies, lies… and, then, they climb on their moral high horse. It’s time to tell the truth. Even if it hurts… even if it means that this or that cleric has to step down. If we don’t tell the truth, we’ve stopped being Christ’s Church. That’s why I fight, and it’s why I won’t give up. It’s why you guys keep comin’ back here… THANKS! It won’t be easy… it won’t be short… but we can win, if we but persevere.

As the repentant Scrooge said to Mrs Dilber on the staircase, “I’ve not lost my senses, I’ve come to them”… I thank God that He allowed this realisation to me. It’s a gift greater than any amount of money. I confide that many of you agree with me…

NB:

A note for my fellow Orthodox Christians… this is why we must oppose Paffhausen, Potapov, Lyonyo, Rod Dreher, Jillions, Freddie M-G, Terrence Mattingly, and all the others like them. We can worship God, and follow His Holiness… or, we can worship Mammon, along with the people that I just named. God, or, the Right Wing? That’s the question… how shall we answer it?

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 5 January 2012

Albany NY

5 January 2012. Fathausen Serves with His Puppeteer Potapov in the District… Don’t Forget the RF Warns Its Diplomats to Stay Away From This Far-Right Parish

Of course, to be truly accurate, this would have to show TWO levels of pupeteers. Firstly, the good word has it that Langley manipulates Potapov, who, in his turn, manipulates JP according to his masters’ wishes… sleazy, isn’t it? However, it’s accurate in one respect… if the good buzz is accurate, it shows how Langley manipulates both JP and Potapov… again, that’s SAD. I’d warn the Centre, for its own good, to trust NOTHING emanating from either of these men or their circles…

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Read this. Fathausen and his (widely-reputed) Langley puppeteer Potapov served together at Potapov’s parish in the District. Lest we forget, Potapov introduced JP to the Moonies at the Washington Times, the far-right nutters at the American Enterprise Institute, and took JP’s errant Greek nuns under his wing. This shindig having Hilarion Kapral’s “blessing” is a non-starter; I’ve been told from many sources that the main besetting fault of the man is his inability to say “no” to anyone. As I said many times in the past, RF diplomatic personnel in the District are warned against attending Potapov’s parish because of his known ties to Langley (everyone on the BBG has such ties, let’s be frank). Some whispers have reached me saying that the embassy is reconsidering whether its personnel should go to St Nicholas Cathedral, because of Fathausen’s known ties to the American Far Right and his suspected links to Langley through his pal (and Éminence grise) Potapov.

Let’s not be coy… Potapov and JP are the enemies of the Rodina and the friends of its Neoliberal money-grubbing foes. Potapov’s a long-time Inside-the-Beltway rightwing troll… and JP’s his drooling and obedient stooge. Pathetic, ain’t it? You can’t do much about it, but there’s one thing that you can do… refuse to send Syosset any money. That, my friends, is the ONLY language that they hear and understand…

BMD