Patriarch Kirill Comes out for Russian History
3/10/2012
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Moscow, (RIA Novosti)
Addressing the 16th World Russian People’s Council, which opened in Moscow on Monday, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called for victory in the information war being waged by the West against Russia.
There are moments in history where there is no visible frontline, but still you cannot retreat because otherwise you will lose your country, he said, adding, “This is exactly the moment we are experiencing today. Physical battles have been replaced by information wars. A battle for minds is in progress, in which we must not retreat.”
The Patriarch reminded his audience that Russia and the Western world had emerged from one and the same church. However, after the separation of the churches, the West has persisted in its aggression against both “our land and our souls. … We are witnessing attempts to rewrite Russia’s history. Russian history needs to be defended.”
Patriarch Kirill concluded his address by making an appeal: “While celebrating the 400th anniversary of the end of the Time of Troubles, we need to draw a line under the turmoil that followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union.”
Presidential Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov delivered a message of greetings from the president and praised the unique experience of cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state. He also promised that “the state will continue to employ the full force of the law in order to protect the religious feelings of the Russian people against any attempts at sacrilege or blasphemy. After all, it is the erosion of the spiritual foundations that has been the source of all the tragedies experienced by our country.”
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said that the Orthodox Church was responsible for shaping Russia’s national character, which combined a love of freedom with the ability to get along with other peoples. She urged the “soft power” of the Russian people to be made use of in order to strengthen the country’s unity.
Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky lashed out at the intelligentsia: “It is important to urge the intellectual elite to stop digging into our common past with a view to seeking out wormholes and mistakes. Enough self-exposure! Ours is a history full of great military and labor exploits. If we cherish it, it will teach us where to go and what our national cause is.”
