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Western shock headlines misrepresent Patriarch Kirill
Published: 14 January, 2012, 16:57
Edited: 11 May, 2012, 17:23
Western and Scandinavian media caused a Christmas shock through their sensational headlines.
Unfortunately, quite a few Russian news outlets repeated these headlines. And an ordinary observant reader got an odd inkling that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin could be even supporters of dollar-funded color revolutionary leaders.
Western media didn’t write any references to specific orthodoxy (right mind) and orthopraxis (right practice) of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the worst cases, the above-mentioned journalists had never even attended an ROC mass.
Many greetings and prayers of the Orthodox Christmas services focus on brotherly love and peace in Jesus Christ. According to Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky (1903–1958), an influential Eastern Orthodox, the Christian life of prayer and worship is the foundation for dogmatic theology, and the dogma helps Christians in their struggles.
The doctrine of the ROC is based on the liturgical life, prayer and on the experience of the church members about the presence of God in Christ. Could the journalists also understand the speeches of Kirill and Chaplin in the context of the Orthodox Christmas and devotion?
In his 2012 Christmas message, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said to all the faithful children of the ROC that hope is linked to the birth of Christ rather than to political power struggles, personal greed and relativism: “God is born in the flesh so that he may manifest his love to people and help every person willing to listen to his call to find the fullness of life. That is why today’s feast grants to us the immutable hope of help from above in the most complex situations of our life.”
Patriarch Kirill spoke about the grave challenge of our modern world: “This challenge is aimed at the destruction of the sense of morality embedded in our souls by God. Today we are told that the human person is the measure – and sole measure – of truth, that each individual has his own truth.”
It is fairly easy to recognize that Kirill is guiding people from greedy strivings and moral relativism to the sense of morality and to the spiritual dimension of the life.
Orthodox Christmas worship is characterized by a personal forgiveness and Holy Communion (Eucharist). This applies equally to small children and old people. For many secular people it is an impressive experience that believers of all ages participate in the Holy Communion at Christmas.
Everyone needs confession of sins and forgiveness. Orthodox Christmas is also filled with joy, but the joy is not commercial in nature.
Patriarch Kirill invited both the protesters and the government to Confession. His Holiness turned to the Government – as the Western media has made very well-known – but he turned also to the provocateurs of the demonstrations, and exhorted them to be renewed: “Be honest with yourselves.”
His Holiness warns that “social networks manipulate awareness” of people. In his Christmas service he said, “It is important to learn how to recognize the deceits and illusions of Earthly wellbeing in our destructive addictions, in our greedy strivings, in the temptations of advertisements, in the entertainment industry and political propaganda.”
The patriarch’s speech about “social networks” echoes Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin’s cautionary words about “social network hamsters.” The priests express the Church’s love for people, but are concerned about manipulation and incitement.
On January 8, 2012, Patriarch Kirill said in the “Word of the Pastor” that everybody wants “to express his own wisdom, not only publicly to present to others, but also to lead others.” Everyone lives under the powerful influence of the information flow during times of election campaigns and political conflicts.
For better orientation, the patriarch refers to the Christmas song “troparion” and reminds that the birth of Christ the Savior opened a new era. Christ is “a guiding star, a beacon, which helps to pull out of the darkness.” His Holiness prays that God will grant Russia the will to follow the mind of God. “Then we can avoid many mistakes of the past.”
The priests’ messages arose from the Christmas theology and Orthodox devotion. The ROC didn’t build upon any dispute, but rather tried to steer people towards divine peace, brotherly love and peaceful unity.
The clerics guided people from the momentary emotional manipulation to deeper spiritual orientation. Everyone needs to listen more to each other, instead of each one inventing consistently wilder campaigns against the opposing sides.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
As I might have guessed, you have your own spin on Christianity in Estonia which is not untrue but incomplete....Here's the rest of the story you don't want to share. Orthodoxy was most likely first introduced in the 10th through 12th centuries by missionaries from Novgorod and Pskov active among the Estonians in the southeast regions of the area close to Pskov. The first mention of an Orthodox congregation in Estonia dates from 1030.[3] Around 600 AD on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) the Estonians established the town Tarbatu (modern Tartu). In 1030, the Kievan prince, Yaroslav the Wise, raided Tarbatu and built his own fort called Yuryev, as well as, allegedly, a congregation in a cathedral dedicated to his patron saint, St. George. The congregation may have survived until 1061, when, according to chronicles, Yuryev was burned to the ground and the Orthodox Christians expelled.As a result of the Baltic Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century, northern Estonia was conquered by Denmark and the southern part of the country by the Teutonic Order and later by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, and thus all of present-day Estonia fell under the control of Western Christianity. However, Russian merchants from Novgorod and Pskov were later able to set up small Orthodox congregations in several Estonian towns.[3] One such congregation was expelled from the town of Dorpat (Tartu) by the Germans in 1472, who martyred their priest, Isidor, along with a number of Orthodox faithful (the group is commemorated on January 8).[4]
wikipedia
I post on RT, Larry, primarily to counter certain untruths which are published there. You will appreciate that permitted size limitations on posts mean that all relevant facts can never be included, but I try hard to include facts that, first of all, are indeed facts (in contrast to what is sometimes pubished elsewhere in RT), and secondly, that correctly convey the subject at hand and do not misrepresent it. However, my posts are not perfect, and if anyone can demonstrate and substantiate mistakes in them, I will publicly correct them.
As for what the East has brought to its people, look up any one of dozens of current international reports and indexes comparing aspects of national development, and compare outcomes for Eastern and Western countries. I'm not saying that the West is perfect. But I am saying that very few people in the West, and hardly any in Estonia, want to live in Russia. Even Russians in Estonia don't want to live in Russia.