PATRIARCH KIRILL RESPONDS TO CRITICS OF HIS SERMON ABOUT "THE HERESY OF HUMANOLATRY"
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill, speaking on Tuesday before deputies of the Moscow city duma, explained his position with respect to his statements regarding human rights, which evoked a critical reaction in the liberal portion of Russian society. He also called attention to the fact that within the framework of governmental policy it is possible to do much for protecting cultural traditions, moral ideals, and the training of the youth.
"Such an outburst arose! I said something simple, without casting doubt on human rights. I simply said that if one makes man the absolute measure of truth, then there will be no truth, because everybody has his own opinion," Interfax quotes the patriarch's words.
If a person has no higher ideals than his rights, "then he will exercise these rights in order to satisfy himself," the primate of the Russian church is convinced, noting that in the context of such "a philosophy of deification of man, when man is made to be a god, there cannot be love," including in family relations.
We recall that the occasion for criticism of the patriarch was his recent sermon delivered on the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the church of Christ the Savior. In it he called for defending Orthodoxy from "the global heresy of humanolatry, the new idolatry that wrenches God from human life." He pointed out that "efforts are being made in many affluent countries to confirm by law the right of any human choice, including even the most sinful that goes against the Word of God, the concept of holiness, and the idea of God."
These words evoked a response and several news media reproached the patriarch for disparaging human rights. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 30 March 2016)
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