RUSSIA IS SPECIAL CIVILIZATION AND SHOULD NOT BLINDLY COPY EUROPEAN WAY
Interfax-Religiia, 10 November 2015
The baptism of Rus permitted it to create a special civilization and not to be driven by external forces, declared Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill.
"Prince Vladimir's choice was not in any case merely a European or even merely a Byzantine choice. Moreover one should not consider it a rejection of national and cultural identity. It was a Russian choice, which permitted the people to find their own gifts and talents within the bosom of Christianity and to declare themselves in the service of universal Christian truth and within the bounds of this service to create their own civilization," the patriarch said at the opening of the 19th World Russian National Sobor on Tuesday in Moscow.
He said that today one has occasion to hear the opinion that the holy prince's choice was a European choice and the meaning of the baptism of Rus consists in the fact that Russia began to belong to Europe.
"If holy prince Vladimir made a civilizational choice in favor of Europe, then we should further confirm his choice, following Europeans, and if Europeans are the leaders, then we, naturally, are the followers, and there is no need to argue especially but it is necessary to copy what happens in the West and to transplant it onto Russian soil," the patriarch noted.
At the same time he stressed that a religious choice and the choice of civilization are not one and the same thing. "The Christian choice cannot be located within geographical boundaries, whether European or Middle Eastern."
"Christ has no chosen peoples; he loves and awaits everybody," the primate declared.
The patriarch also pointed out that no civilization can be declared "the creator of higher truth and indisputable law." This is the deceit of powerful civilizations that are able "not only by word but also by violence to force others into submission."
Participants in the forum will discuss the heritage of holy prince Vladimir and the fate of historic Rus, as well as questions connected with the idea of the unity of diverse epochs of national history and the presence in each of them of events that spiritually unite Russians with other fraternal peoples.
The World Russian National Sobor is an international public organization, which was created in 1993 and became an all-Russian tribune of public thought. Participants in the World Russian National Sobor include representatives of all branches of government, public associations, power ministries, higher clergy of traditional religions of Russia, teachers and students, and leaders of science and culture. The head of the sobor is the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus. In 2005 it acquired consultative status in the United Nations. Departments of the sobor have been opened in a number of Russian regions. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 November 2015)
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