Patriarch St Germogen Refuses to Sign the Polish Decree
Pavel Chistyakov
1860
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Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias called the élite to remember the tragic lessons from the Smuta, so as not to be tempted to “rescue” Russia by using foreign ideologies, just as some boyars in the 17th century tried to force the Patriarch to support the Polish papist invaders and betray the Russian people. Patriarch Kirill said this on Saturday, the feastday of the Holy Martyr Patriarch Germogen, after a Molieben at the future site of a monument to the saint in the Aleksandrovsky Garden. Previously, the liberal community (that is, “conservative” in Anglosphere terms: editor) repeatedly called on Patriarch Kirill to intervene in the political and social situation. A year ago, the oligarch Boris Berezovsky addressed His Holiness with a missive asking him to “support a bloodless régime change in Russia”.
Patriarch Kirill also pointed up his position with respect to last year’s mass rallies and reminded us that he faced criticism for the fact that he’d supported the government at that time, saying, bringing to mind the events of the Smuta, “However, the treacherous boyars, as well as the Polish occupiers, understood that all would come to nought with their plans for Russia, if the Patriarch of Moscow refused to appeal to the people to believe in the principle of ‘rescue’ via foreign ideology. Patriarch [St Germogen] came under enormous pressure from some of the boyars and the Polish occupiers to ‘sign an appeal addressed to the Russian people to accept foreign domination as an excellent and necessary act, with the intention of saving the country’”.
He noted that the Polish invaders easily prevailed in Moscow because boyars in the Moscow élite “saw the occupation of Russia as a good thing, as a way to improve their material situation and level of culture by adopting European values. Why did our enemies need such assistance from the Patriarch? Indeed, it was because they knew that the people… the ordinary simple people, who always decided, and who still decide, the fate of Russia… didn’t agree with the élite, they weren’t tempted [by foreign ideas], they lived according to their conscience. Only one voice could affect the people… the voice of the Patriarch. However, [Germogen] was as one with his people, but this powerful élite group, who tried to destroy the country’s unity, was, in fact, alien to the church and to the people”.
As Patriarch Germogen disagreed with the elite’s plans to “transform their motherland”, he was imprisoned in the Chudov Monastery, where his gaolers starved him to death. Nevertheless, even in prison, Germogen continued to appeal to the Russian people, he blessed their war of resistance against the invaders, and his appeals galvanised Minin and Pozharsky, who led the opolchenie in a glorious chapter of Russian history. Vladyki Kirill remarked, “What happened to us in the 17th century is a great lesson for all time and it’s a lesson for everyone… for the government, for the élite, for the Church, and for the people”.
He noted that the Church recognises three Patriarchs of Moscow and all the Russias as saints… Patriarch St Job, who didn’t succumb to the temptation to support the False Dmitri, who “retained a true understanding of the underpinnings of Russian state power”, Patriarch St Germogen, “who remained faithful to his people and country”, and Patriarch St Tikhon Bellavin, who “in the tragic years of the 20th century Smuta raised his voice and spoke the truth”. All three patriarchs were victims of the “the powers of this world” and the “powers that be”, and the Patriarch pointed up that these men set an example of the prophetic ministry of the Church, which operates to the benefit of both the Faith and the motherland, going on to say, “I feel… both at that time, and now… that our deepest relationship is with our people, with that people who’re sometimes offensive, who sometimes feel themselves unable to make decisions, who are sometimes easily-misled, weak, and prone to failings. Yet, the Orthodox faith resides deeply in the life of the people, together with a deep loyalty to the motherland. So, the Church, being at one with its people, prays for the people, continuing the ministry carried out by the greatest Patriarchs of Moscow”.
2 March 2013
Olga Samsonova
RIA-Novosti
http://ria.ru/society/20130302/925478741.html
Editor’s Note:
Do observe that HH uses the term “Smuta” for both the period of the Polish occupation and the period of the confused era of the first years of the USSR. However, the most important takeaway here is:
What happened to us in the 17th century is a great lesson for all time and it’s a lesson for everyone… for the government, for the élite, for the Church, and for the people.
HH compares the present pro-Western neoliberals (“conservatives”) to those boyars who favoured bringing a Catholic junta to Russia. This has resonance far beyond Russia. This isn’t the place for an extended treatment of the subject, but it means that all the churchmen who compromised themselves by an overly-cosy relationship with the Western “powers of this world” and “powers that be” are treacherous and traitorous Quislings. In particular, it means that past and present figures such as Aleksandr Schmemann, Victor Potapov, Lyonyo Kishkovsky, Basil Rodzianko, Alexander Webster, James Paffhausen, and John Jillions besmirched and compromised themselves by their shameless and open service to the Western Moloch (often, for mere filthy lucre and prosperity, as in the case of Rodzianko, Potapov, Webster, and Jillions). This requires a more thorough treatment, but we don’t have the time or the space now.
However, do read Potapov’s screed against Stalin on the ROCOR official website in light of the fact that he was (or remains) a bought n’ paid-for minion of the most reactionary Russophobic elements in the American government (a fact that’s been known for at least thirty years). Remember, he who pays the piper determines the tune. That speaks volumes about those named above, no? Can you see why the Centre refuses to sign off on Paffhausen joining the ROCOR? Dig deeply… you’ll find riches. Dig superficially… you’ll end like the Monomoron crowd, making bootless predictions that never see the light of day (their forecast of Lyonyo’s imminent demise was laughable, wasn’t it?). All that glitters isn’t gold…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
17 March 2014. A Picture IS Worth a Thousand Words… Donetsk and Kharkov Show Their TRUE Colours… They’re NOT Blue n’ Yellow… They’re White, Blue, Red!
Tags: Donetsk, Kharkov, Kiev, Marxism, Ploshchad Lenina, political commentary, politics, Red Banner, Russia, Russian, Russian culture, Russian history, Soviet Union, St Vladimir, Time of Troubles, Ukraine, USSR, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Putin
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A spectre is stalking the corridors of the junta in Kiev… note well that Russian people are rallying around the Lenin statue in Ploshchad Lenina in Kharkov. The Russian people are defending it. All of our history is ours… or none of it’s ours! If you want St Vladimir… you must accept Vladimir Lenin. If you want Lenin, you must accept St Vladimir. Who’s bringing about this synthesis? Another Vladimir… Vladimir Putin. I believe that history will record Putin’s reign as the Second NEP, and that he ended the Second Smuta (Time of Troubles). Never forget two things… firstly, the Komsomoltsy stood tall for the canonical Church in the Nasty Nineties (“The Komsomols were real muscle men, but they treated the elderly bishop with great respect and always asked his blessing”). Cross and Red Banner march together! Secondly, Marxism isn’t static, as crapitalism is… the dialectic is dynamic… the thesis and antithesis do lead to a creative synthesis. That’s why Marxism in future isn’t going to be antitheistic (that was an aspect of an earlier era, now gone, never to return, for the dialectic doesn’t run backwards). At present, the world is drunk on cheap spiritual vodka… libertarianism, licentiousness, and greed. A hangover ALWAYS follows a toot. As I said, a spectre is haunting not only the junta, but all of modern crapitalism…
LET HISTORY JUDGE…
RUSSIA LIVED… RUSSIA LIVES… RUSSIA WILL LIVE…
Give glory to the Three Vladimirs… think on it (honour all of them or you honour none of them)…
BMD