R.P.Ts.
EXPLAINS
FUTURE FATE OF MOSAIC WITH STALIN FROM ARMED FORCES CHURCH
The
Russian Orthodox
Church has decided to reject the mosaic with a depiction of
Joseph Stalin
directly within the church of the Russian Armed Forces in the
suburban Moscow
Patriot Park and to place it in a museum on the territory of the
complex,
Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, the head of the RPTs Expert Council
on Church Art,
Architecture, and Restoration, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier
it had become
known that within the chief military church, which is being
constructed for the
75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, there
may appear a
mosaic devoted to the Victory Parade of 1945 in Moscow. Stalin
is depicted in
it: a Red Army soldier is carrying his portrait. The fact of the
depiction in a
church of the supreme commander and leader of the soviet state
provoked a mixed
reaction in the RPTs.
"Nevertheless
we
decided that it is more appropriate in the museum than in the
church building.
Why engender some kind of confrontation and strife among the
people? We should
be together; we are citizens of one country and one Orthodox
faith, and peace
and love are most important for us. And in such a situation,
when passions
really flared up and open rejection arose—well, that means this
isn't
necessary," Kalinin said.
He noted
that he was
talking "not about a choice between good and evil" or "between
some spiritual principles," but only about "the concept of the
depiction of certain persons." "Whether it is necessary to
'ground'
the church somewhat in historical events, or to still leave them
in a museum,
because it would be more appropriate there. So in this dimension
discussion is
quite possible and the decision should be in the spirit of the
love of
Christ," the priest added.
He said
the museum
will be located right next to the military church. (tr. by PDS,
posted 16 May
2020)
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