www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Andrew Sorokowski on Russophilia

An excellent, and rather timely, article, I thought:

http://risu.org.ua/en/index/expert_thought/authors_columns/asorokowski_column/54715/

Of course this is written with much anti-Russian bias.

The author feels that, "European values are Christian values." Really?

However, I do agree with some of the statements in the article, such as:

For while the West continues heedlessly on the road to secularization, Russia is experiencing a religious revival.

President Putin has championed a specifically Christian moral code.

While Western liberals decry President Putin’s authoritarianism, many embattled Christians in the West welcome Russia’s support. After all, liberal Europe is practically de-Christianized, while America’s largely superficial Christian affiliation conceals widespread practical apostasy. It is precisely where democracy has advanced, in the West, that religion has declined.

Putin’s anti-Western authoritarianism, it seems, defends traditional Christian values.

^ No. The author is not anti Russian. He is opposed to two things however that many Orthodox, particularly converts, are drawn to. These would be a romanticized view (usually NOT held by non Russian Slavs) regarding "Holy Russia" and a resurgent Russian led "pav-slavism."

I think he articulates the "complex" relationship many of us have with things Russian - admiration mixed with fear. History is a cruel teacher.

Perhaps not anti-Russian....but I can definitely detect the bias. I think he is a Ukrainian Catholic in communion with Rome....so this would be expected.


Of course, I am always struggling with my own bias.

We cannot place people into two tidy little categories and call them ecumenists or traditionalists.

Good summary, DMD. Thanks for that.

I would argue that uncritical anything-philia is inherently unhelpful, and leads inevitably to a type of blindness and intellectual atrophy.

We can be romantically attached to whatever seems good to us, but it is incumbent on all Christians to avoid letting their notions obstruct their view of what is true.

As for Russia, its treasures can be seductive indeed, but also incredibly overbearing. Just ask a Georgian or Ukrainian.

"What is happening in Ukraine, hurts my heart a lot. Ukraine for me is my native country, it is my native people, it is my people and my flock. And what I’m doing now, is connected with my inner spiritual life. I pray for Ukraine, I pray for that nation. I understand that there is a threat of a divided nation. Threats of another round of civil confrontation. Generally what we see today is a revolutionary situation...The Church bears the word of reconciliation, she turns to the human soul. She should help people in this difficult time to collect, focus and perhaps lay the groundwork for such a dialogue that would help solve the problems facing Ukraine today."
Patriarch Kirill

Yeah, the website is Ukrainian Catholic, as it says on its about us page, "RISU is a project of the Institute of Religion and Society of the Ukrainian Catholic University."

"Holy Russia" - good example of an oxymoron.

Disagree. Holy Russia is making a come back.

In order to comeback means it was "Holy" in the first place. No nation or people are presumptively holy. Only the Church is holy.

No nation or people can be the eldest daughter of the Church either, but that does not stop people from calling France the "eldest daughter of the Church."

Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth.
Deuteronomy 7:6

It is erroneous to think in terms of one nation or another being 'holy', hence 'Holy Russia' is a misnomer.

"It is not the state (ethnos) as such that enlightens the nations but God's "people" insofar as they are "obedient" and "faithful" to God....There is a relation of Church (Ekklesia) and the people of God as perceived by the New Testament documents. However, the Church of God (He Ekklesia tou Theou) is also an eschatological community and exists to gather all peoples and nations under the rule of God in recognition of Christ as the Messiah.The Ekklesia is a universal manifestation of God's concern for the entire human race. The Lucan understanding of the "people of God" (laos Theou) shifted from the pre-Christian view of Israel as the people of God to that of the Christians as the people of God." from "The People of God: An Orthodox Perspective " http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith9285

Well...I'm certainly not going to start debating you regarding the term, "Holy Russia." For me it is an endearing term and I will continue to use it. I understand that we do not agree on too much.

O great pastor! Hear thou our prayers, if not for the sake of us, sinners, then for the fulfillment of thy prophecy on the purification of the gold of the Russian soul in the furnace of fiery tribulations, for the glory of thy name and for the glory of God in Holy Russia.
Bishop Nikon on St John of Kronstadt

And what is the spiritual legacy of Vladyka? He can be seen not in the everyday responses to current, temporary church events of his day, but in the main prayer of his life, that is, for the rebirth of the Holy Church in Russia and the return of the Russian people to the ideals of Holy Russia.
Fr Victor on Met. Philaret

Hey! Thats St. Philaret.