Right-Believing Grand Prince St Aleksandr Nevsky stopped the absorption of Russia into Catholic Europe and thus saved the Russian Orthodox faith
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There’s something in the Russian collective memory that causes Russian mistrust towards the West. Does this mistrust have religious roots? I don’t disagree completely with some of the points made in the article Anti-Western Sentiment as the Basis for Russian Unity, heavily criticised by fellow RI contributor Eric Kraus. Russian identity has a deeper anti-Western sentiment than implied by the recent rise of anti-Western sentiment among Russians, primarily caused by what they perceive as American and NATO aggression. So what is one of the main causes of Russia’s historical mistrust towards the West? For centuries, the Vatican tried to convert Russian Orthodox Christians to Catholicism. They succeeded in doing so with Orthodox Christians in the Western Ukraine and in parts of the Western Balkans. Even today, Vatican zealotry is alive and well. The Vatican is trying to achieve a “church union with Orthodox Christians”, of course under the primacy of the Pope. Russians saw foreign invaders… the Vatican, together with Swedish and Polish forces, Napoleon, Hitler, and NATO… as violent symbols of Western civilisation.
However, Russian identity didn’t gel as a reaction or historical reflex to Western expansionism. In its nature, Russian culture isn’t anti-Western or based on antagonism towards foreign civilisations or concepts.Many Russians would argue that Russian identity belongs to a different civilisational “code” as a successor of the great traditions and civilisation of New Rome. That’s the reason the Russian Empire was for centuries considered the Third Rome. Orthodox civilisation differs from its Western counterpart in terms of values, tradition, religion, and so on. Just read Samuel Huntington’s A Clash of Civilisations. Huntington posits that people’s cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. Many would argue that this is exactly what’s happening in today’s world. Most of the recent conflicts have either religious or cultural causes. In addition, bloody civil wars in the Balkans, and now in the Ukraine, had a strong religious and civilisational dimension to them.
Let’s not forget that many American and European Christian conservatives support Putin because of his Christian vision and pro-family values. Maybe, could this be a reaction to their own governments’ openly anti-Christian and anti-family approach to social issues?
Here’s what Mr Marinović wrote to an interlocutor in the commboxes:
I was referring to the Vatican, not to ordinary Catholic believers. There’s a big difference between good ordinary Catholics on one side and the corrupted Vatican and “infallible” Pope on the other. Click here for an excellent article about Vatican and Russia. As Dostoyevsky pointed up, “Papism is more dangerous than atheism, since it presents to us a profane and desecrated Christ usurping the earthly throne”, the Pope took the sword and added, “lies, intrigue, deception, fanaticism, and villainy”. Papism is dangerous precisely because it offers a counterfeit Christ.
You obviously deceive yourself when you claim that the Popes didn’t want to subordinate Orthodox for centuries. Yes, they didn’t ask for the Latin Mass, but they did ask us to admit the primacy of the Pope and to consider him “infallible in matters of faith”, which is blasphemy. As far as the power-hungry Vatican is concerned, you can worship God as you want, as long as you subordinate yourself to the Pope. The Pope replaced Christ; he’s the God in the Vatican church. There’s no place for Christ next to the Pope; you just need to adore the Pope and you’ll be saved. In regard to theological and other important differences between Catholics and the Orthodox Church, please, click here, here, and here.
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If you’d like to learn more what Catholic clergy did to “their Christian brothers”, to Orthodox Christians, in the Second World War, please, look at this documentary. Moreover, this documentary only relates the Vatican’s misdeeds in World War II; I’m not even mentioning any other tragic historical events related to the Vatican and Orthodox Christians. THE VATICAN’S HOLOCAUST isn’t a misnomer, an accusation, and even less a speculation. It’s a historical fact. Rabid nationalism and religious dogmatism were its two main ingredients. During the existence of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) as an independent Catholic State, over 700,000 men, women and children perished. Many were executed, tortured, died of starvation, buried alive, or were burned to death. Thousands were forced to become Catholic. Catholic padres ran concentration camps; Catholic priests were officers of the military that committed such atrocities. 700,000 in a total population of a few million, proportionally, would be as if a Catholic militia exterminated one-third of the American population.
The Ustaša slaughtered Serbs, Jews, and the Roma were in their villages after unspeakable tortures or burned alive in their churches. Those they didn’t murder, they expelled to Serbia proper after despoiling them of all their property or forcibly converting to the Roman Catholic faith by Franciscan and Roman Catholic clergy. Many suffered as slave labourers. The remaining people went to concentration camps where the majority perished. From gold and money stolen from these people, the Vatican enabled Nazis to escape to Argentina, on the so-called “ratlines”. Pope John Paul ll declared war criminal Alojzije Viktor Stepinac beatified in 1998.
I’d add that a good place to find some more intel on this is here, scroll down to “Dmitri Anatolyevich at the Radonezh Orthodox Gymnazia in Moscow”, then, scroll past the Vasnetsov painting and under the image of D A Belyukin, read that. There’s a lot of good stuff in that post… D A Belyukin is a People’s Painter of Russia, an Orthodox activist, a Russian patriot, and a world-class painter. Here’s the main quote:
Dmitri Anatolyevich asked, “Did you know that Prince Aleksandr Nevsky had a dilemma? He could go to war against the Horde or against the enemies from the West. Why do you think that he chose to face the latter threat?” The students replied, “Because they wanted to force Russia to convert to their faith!” Dmitri Anatolyevich replied, “The answer’s correct, harsh as it is. That is, the Tatars were content with tribute, they didn’t infringe upon the Faith, and they didn’t notice that Igumen Sergei of Radonezh had started to stir up the depths of the Russian land. The Westerners, on the other hand, wanted to bring their crusades to Russia, which, in many respects, the current popes carry out both covertly and openly. Therefore, it’s even more necessary for all of us to protect Orthodoxy as the mainstay and foundation of the unity of the nation”.
It’s a frightening snapshot of the mindset of the Tea Party. They’re nothing but nativist Know-Nothings. It’s why we as Orthodox Christians can have nothing to do with them. They’re American Sectarians through-and-through. Their defining ideology is “Dominion Theology”, which states that the Bible (in its distorted and bowdlerised Proddie recension) trumps all civil law. Orthodox can’t have anything to do with that… our theology speaks of the symphonia of Church and State, each in its proper sphere, each with its own proper laws.
Many American Orthodox have succumbed to the siren song of American Sectarianism. After all, there are MILLIONS of them and only about a million Orthodox all told, of all “flavours”, in the USA. We must recognise that sectarianism is the greatest enemy to Our Lord Christ that exists in our country. Atheism doesn’t even come close to them… secularism is a pale opponent in comparison. A Russian priest wrote to me, “Sectarians use the name of Christ, but they aren’t of Him or in Him. They aren’t Christians, they’re of Satan”.
Orthodoxy isn’t defined “against” anything or anyone… it has its own positive dynamic. It stands alone… it’d exist even if there wasn’t a West or a Vatican or a Protestantism. We don’t define ourselves in comparison with anyone else. We are what we are… they are what they are… that’s what sober normal people think, any road. The same is true of Russian and Holy Rus… we aren’t Russian because we’re “not Westerners”… we’re Russians as Holy Rus is the successor of New Rome… we owe NOTHING to the West, and certainly not to drooling Anglo American toddler “conservatives” or “liberals” (both are two sides of a perverted neoliberal ideology that’s satanic to the bone). Russia has its own inner logic, wisdom, civilisation, faith, and folkways. We wish to live in peace with all people of good will… however… all those who march on Russia will be put to death! As it was, as it is, as it ever shall be!
One last thing… Samuel K Huntington did NOT originate the idea of “civilisational blocs”… that goes back to S M Solovyov in the 19th century (he was the father of the famous religious thinker V S Solovyov). Sergei Mikhailovich was one of the greatest Russian historians, but how many Westerners are even aware of his existence?
BMD
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Archbishop Alojzije Viktor Stepinac (1898-1960), supporter of the Croatian Ustaše massacre of Serbian Orthodox in World War II (shown here with Ante Pavelić, the Nazi collaborationist ruler of Croatia). If Rome wishes to be our friend, they must remove this thug from the list of saints.
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The newspaper Politika wrote that the SPC gave a letter explaining its position regarding Alojzije Stepinac’s canonisation to Dominique Mamberti, Secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, who was in Serbia. However, the message’s content remains unknown, but the newspaper noted that the SPC “undoubtedly doesn’t view favourably announcements that Stepinac could become a saint”. Mamberti will also take with him to the Vatican a letter from the Serbian president on the same subject. In an interview for Politika published on Sunday, SPC Patriarch Irinej Gavrilović said that Vatican announcements that they could canonise Stepinac by the end of the year came as “a great surprise” for the SPC… “In order for someone to be a saint, they must be a truly shining and holy personality and be accepted as such by other Christians”. Stepinac was a World War II-era Croatian Catholic cardinal, convicted after the war by the SFRY for collaboration with the fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The NDH operated death camps during the war that were the sites of mass murder of Serbs, Jews, and Roma.
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Editor:
So much for Frankie Bag o’ Donuts and his smiling face. He supports the murderous Uniate pigs in the Ukraine, and, now, this. Stepinac said:
All in all, Croats and Serbs are of two worlds, north pole and south pole, never will they be able to get together unless by a miracle of God. The Schism is the greatest curse in Europe, almost greater than Protestantism. Here there is no moral, no principles, no truth, no justice, no honesty.
Note the toxic hatred of Orthodoxy, unconcealed, open, and unashamedly stated. His later supposedly anti-Nazi statements came at a time when Germany was obviously losing the war… I believe that they were opportunistic bullshit. The above is what he truly believed… it’s why he winked at the Ustaša massacres of Orthodox. Frankie Bag o’ Donuts has the right ideas on social justice (he shares many positions with HH, by the way… both HH and Frankie oppose the slobbering ignoranus “Christian” rightwing), but his rancid views on Orthodoxy, as shown by his actions, lead me to conclude that he is an enemy of Orthodoxy in general, and Russian Orthodoxy in particular (note well how Frankie treats his lapdog EP pals).
One last thing… the mentor of the rancidly Russophobic Joe Biden was a rabidly pro-Nazi Croatian Catholic priest… fancy that. One wonders if he told little Joe about the pleasant goings-on at Jasenovac and how its commandant was a former Franciscan. Just sayin’…
According to Croatianmedia, the Vatican shall declare Alojzije Stepinac a saint by the end of the year, as his cause met the last condition for canonisation… the competent Medical Commission determined one case of a “miraculous healing through Blessed Alojzije Stepinac’s intercession”.
Efraim Zurof, the Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem, said in announcing a letter of protest to the Vatican, “We should state that all associates of Ante Pavelić, all those who supported the policy of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), are war criminals, not saints. As soon as we learn more on this, we’ll address a letter of protest to the Vatican. This is outrageous! I don’t know how come, and about the process, but it’s on Pope Francisco to make the right decision”.
Dr Veljko Djuric Mišina, historian and director of the BelgradeMuseum of Genocide Victims explained, “Stepinac was the ranking military vicar for the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) armed forces; therefore, he’s responsible and bore the blame for the monstrous crimes of Catholic priests in the Ustašamilitia and Domobrani units. He advocated the forcible conversion of Orthodox Serbs [in Croatia]; in a mid-1943 letter to Pope Pius XII Pacelli, he related the forcible conversion of some 244,000 Serbs… and that’s one of his ‘good points’. There isn’t any evidence that Stepinac ever protested against the crimes committed against the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) or against those committed against the Serbian and Jewish peoples. His intervention remained limited to only a few cases, even though he acknowledged what was going on in concentration camps throughout Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, being aware of the murder of many thousands Serbs, Jews, and Roma. Certain Croatian and German claims that Stepinac protested and intervened against Nazi crimes in Croatia are dishonest, as not a single notation of such is in his papers or in his diary, which are in the BIA archives in Belgrade, earlier, they were in the UDBA archives. After World War II, Tito (a Croat) and Bakarić (another Croat) made a backdoor deal, so, the monstrous Bishop wasn’t tried for crimes against Serbs, Jews, and Roma, but for ”pronounced anti-communism, hiding treasures and archives of the Ustašarégime, and for aiding terrorist groups infiltrated into Yugoslavia“.
Historian Predrag Markovic emphasised the risk in perceiving Stepinac as a victim of the communist government, as an ordinary Catholic priest who merely followed Pius XII’s policy, whose crime laid in not speaking out against the Holocaust, saying, “We have similar cases in Estonia and Hungary; they rehabilitated Nazi criminals under the guise of rehabilitating victims of communism. However, Stepinac was a far more complex personality than the majority thinks. He wasn’t a criminal, but we can talk about his personal responsibility for abetting the suffering of over a million victims in the NDH. After all, the Ustaša killed his brother”. Archpriest Velibor Džomić of the SPC said, “It’s their (Catholic) decision about who they declare saints. If they want to make Alojzije Stepinac a saint… well, I think that he’s far from embodying the Christian virtues that adorn all the holy men that we learn about in the Gospels”.
12 February 2014
M R Petrović
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Milojko Budimir, the President of the Association of Croatian Serbs, said that the Vatican’s intention to declare Stepinac a saint is fiercely condemned by the descendants of those whose fathers and grandfathers experienced the heinous crimes of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) (1941-45). He pointed up that Stepinac supported these atrocities within the Catholic Church, saying, “It’s a proven fact that Stepinac called on his clergy to support and defend the Catholic State of Croatia and that he was aware of the atrocities at Jasenovac and other camps around the NDH, but he didn’t publicly oppose them. Even after the liberation, Stepinac didn’t change his mind, which is why the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of Croatia sentenced him to 16 years in prison and the loss of civil and political rights for three years, but they commuted his sentence to house arrest. This seems to me to that they rewarded him for his contribution to the NDH’s creation and for the crimes committed against Serbs, Jews, Roma, and others who opposed the fascist state. During this time, including physical liquidation, they violently repressed 250,000 Orthodox Serbs, who didn’t have a choice in the matter. I hope that progressive forces amongst Catholics could organise, oppose such an action, and stop this shameful canonisation, for this person was no saint, he did nothing to deserve such”.
Blic is a mid-markettab… in orientation, it’s centre-left, with populist leanings. Therefore, I wouldn’t discount this report, but I’d wait for more Vatican confirmation before going ballistic about it. As for Francisco… nothing will change that I find his politics and societal stance congenial. However, if he allows this canonisation to go through, he’s our enemy. It’d torpedo all chances of any real dialogue with the Vatican. I’d hope that the papists would pull back from this one. Truly, they should… I don’t want to see more petrol tossed on the fire. There’s enough bad blood already, isn’t there? If this does happen, DO NOT take it out on individual papists… they didn’t propose it nor did they approve it. Keep it focused and keep it clean. We can oppose one another without rancour or hate… we’re Christians, after all…
BMD
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Voices from Russia 
The Religious Roots of Russia’s Mistrust towards the West
Tags: A Clash of Civilisations, Aleksandr Nevsky, Aloysius Stepinac, Balkans, Byzantine, Byzantine Empire, Catholic, Christian, Christianity, Constantinople New Rome, Croatia, Dmitri Belyukin, Eastern Orthodox Church, Independent State of Croatia, Moscow Patriarchate, national identity, New Rome, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, patriotic, patriotism, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Roman Catholic, Russia, Russian, Russian culture, Russian history, Russian Orthodox Church, Samuel K Huntington, Serbia, Serbian Orthodox Church, Sergei Solovyov, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Solovyov, war crimes, World War II
Right-Believing Grand Prince St Aleksandr Nevsky stopped the absorption of Russia into Catholic Europe and thus saved the Russian Orthodox faith
______________________________
There’s something in the Russian collective memory that causes Russian mistrust towards the West. Does this mistrust have religious roots? I don’t disagree completely with some of the points made in the article Anti-Western Sentiment as the Basis for Russian Unity, heavily criticised by fellow RI contributor Eric Kraus. Russian identity has a deeper anti-Western sentiment than implied by the recent rise of anti-Western sentiment among Russians, primarily caused by what they perceive as American and NATO aggression. So what is one of the main causes of Russia’s historical mistrust towards the West? For centuries, the Vatican tried to convert Russian Orthodox Christians to Catholicism. They succeeded in doing so with Orthodox Christians in the Western Ukraine and in parts of the Western Balkans. Even today, Vatican zealotry is alive and well. The Vatican is trying to achieve a “church union with Orthodox Christians”, of course under the primacy of the Pope. Russians saw foreign invaders… the Vatican, together with Swedish and Polish forces, Napoleon, Hitler, and NATO… as violent symbols of Western civilisation.
However, Russian identity didn’t gel as a reaction or historical reflex to Western expansionism. In its nature, Russian culture isn’t anti-Western or based on antagonism towards foreign civilisations or concepts.Many Russians would argue that Russian identity belongs to a different civilisational “code” as a successor of the great traditions and civilisation of New Rome. That’s the reason the Russian Empire was for centuries considered the Third Rome. Orthodox civilisation differs from its Western counterpart in terms of values, tradition, religion, and so on. Just read Samuel Huntington’s A Clash of Civilisations. Huntington posits that people’s cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. Many would argue that this is exactly what’s happening in today’s world. Most of the recent conflicts have either religious or cultural causes. In addition, bloody civil wars in the Balkans, and now in the Ukraine, had a strong religious and civilisational dimension to them.
Let’s not forget that many American and European Christian conservatives support Putin because of his Christian vision and pro-family values. Maybe, could this be a reaction to their own governments’ openly anti-Christian and anti-family approach to social issues?
7 November 2014
Danmir Marinović
Russia-Insider
http://russia-insider.com/en/culture_christianity_society/2014/11/07/09-33-37am/religious_roots_russias_mistrust_towards_west
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Here’s what Mr Marinović wrote to an interlocutor in the commboxes:
I’d add that a good place to find some more intel on this is here, scroll down to “Dmitri Anatolyevich at the Radonezh Orthodox Gymnazia in Moscow”, then, scroll past the Vasnetsov painting and under the image of D A Belyukin, read that. There’s a lot of good stuff in that post… D A Belyukin is a People’s Painter of Russia, an Orthodox activist, a Russian patriot, and a world-class painter. Here’s the main quote:
I also posted this… here’s the main quote:
Orthodoxy isn’t defined “against” anything or anyone… it has its own positive dynamic. It stands alone… it’d exist even if there wasn’t a West or a Vatican or a Protestantism. We don’t define ourselves in comparison with anyone else. We are what we are… they are what they are… that’s what sober normal people think, any road. The same is true of Russian and Holy Rus… we aren’t Russian because we’re “not Westerners”… we’re Russians as Holy Rus is the successor of New Rome… we owe NOTHING to the West, and certainly not to drooling Anglo American toddler “conservatives” or “liberals” (both are two sides of a perverted neoliberal ideology that’s satanic to the bone). Russia has its own inner logic, wisdom, civilisation, faith, and folkways. We wish to live in peace with all people of good will… however… all those who march on Russia will be put to death! As it was, as it is, as it ever shall be!
One last thing… Samuel K Huntington did NOT originate the idea of “civilisational blocs”… that goes back to S M Solovyov in the 19th century (he was the father of the famous religious thinker V S Solovyov). Sergei Mikhailovich was one of the greatest Russian historians, but how many Westerners are even aware of his existence?
BMD