Tough words of Patriarch Kirill towards the Presidential Administration
- Russian Orthodox Church
- 26.Aug ‘20
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Loading...On August 20, Patriarch Kirill held a working meeting on the development of Solovki (not only the monastery itself, but the entire archipelago). This meeting would have remained a usual bureaucratic routine, if not for the unusually harsh rhetoric of the patriarch towards top officials. We quote from the official website of the Moscow Patriarchy:
“Dear Mikhail Efimovich [Fradkov – Chairman of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago] and members of the Foundation! We are all here not for the Foundation, but for the Church. Look for what – for the sake of the monastery. The church cannot play a second role, Mikhail Efimovich … Therefore, I asked that at the level of such a meeting, without reaching higher levels, we would agree that everything should take into account, first of all, the opinion of the Church ”;
“We still consider it important to develop a separate law on the status of the Solovki. However, the wording of the corresponding draft law, proposed by the State Legal Department of the President of the Russian Federation, is not supported by us due to the fact that, according to this version, the leading role in the management of Solovki belongs to the Fund, and not to the Church ”;
“I believe that this agreement should regulate the following issues of interaction between the Church and the Fund: the procedure for sending proposals and other information … to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and agencies. Believe me, the Patriarch always has the opportunity to ask some questions, including in those instances where requests from the Fund or other organizations are sent, so it is better to do this together ”;
“Getting acquainted with the protocol decisions of the July 24 meeting in terms of territorial planning documents, I drew attention to the fact that the participation of Church representatives at all stages of the process was not mentioned. I would ask both in protocol and in practice not to deviate from this rule. “
In recent months, everyone was talking only about how easily the state was able to force church leaders at all levels to comply with sanitary and epidemiological requirements. In turn, the speech of Patriarch Kirill shows that the Russian Orthodox Church is not ready to put up with the role of an obedient daughter, and is ready to take a tough stance on some issues. The attack on the Presidential Administration is especially noticeable: the patriarch openly declared that he was not ready to accept the project on the special status of Solovki developed by the State Legal Department. In general, we are waiting for a harsh opposition between church and secular officials.
“What’s the matter? Why does the state apparatus work like that? It is not for me, of course, to criticize the state apparatus, there are other people, but as a voter, I have legitimate questions. Well, what is it, and at such an object? “
P.S. In the fiery speech of the patriarch, the following, truly, interreligious comparison was especially touched: “The Solovki could turn into a passage house, a tourist Mecca.“
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