DIOCESE: BANNERS ABOUT "MATILDA" IN PROCESSION OF CROSS IN ST. PETERBURG ARE PROVOCAION
The Department for Relations of Church and Society of the St. Petersburg diocese commented on the appearance of banners connected with the film "Matilda" in a procession of the cross on 12 September.
"A group of persons who called themselves 'People's Militia of the Donbass,' who did not get any permits and blessings, on their own carried banners with slogans contradicting the spirit of the holiday in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky and thereby provoked surprise among many believers who were alongside," the department's statement says.
"We regard discussion of the film 'Matilda' in such a context to be a provocation and we condemn this action as violating the standards of Orthodox ethics," declared Archpriest Alexander Pelin, the chairman of the Department for Relations of Church and Society of the St. Petersburg diocese.
Archpriest Alexander Pelin also warned against cooperation with members of the St. Petersburg division of the "National Liberation Movement."
'"Representatives of the National Liberation Movement, on one hand, wrote letters to the metropolitanate requesting permission for them to attach their procession of the cross to the common one and they did not receive permission; on the other hand, their group on VKontakte has called people to schism and deceived them. Because the St. Petersburg division of the National Liberation Movement has taken a clearly anti-church position, bordering on blasphemy, the Department for Relations of Church and Society of St. Petersburg diocese categorically recommends that representatives of the Orthodox community not cooperate with this public organization, inasmuch as their teaching of 'restoring the church to the purity of Orthodoxy' does not correspond with the spirit of Orthodoxy and violates the theological and canonical foundations of the Russian Orthodox Church." (tr. by PDS, posted 15 September 2017)
SPLIT AMONG OPPONENTS OF "MATILDA": "FORTY FORTIES" MOVEMENT SHARPLY CRITICIZES "CHRISTIAN STATE—SACRED RUS"
Portal-Credo.Ru, 15 September 2017
The public movement "Forty Forties" [Sorok Sorokov—SS], speaking in defense of RPTsMP and against the film "Matilda," presented on 15 September a harsh criticism of the organization "Christian State—Sacred Rus" [Khristianskoe Gosudarstvo—Sviataia Rus—KhGSR], which also is fighting against "Matilda." As reported by "Russian National Line" [Russkaia Narodnaia Liniia—RNL], in the opinion of SS, the KhGSR "is a virtual and not a real creature, whose only purpose is to confuse the words 'Christianity,' 'state,' and 'Sacred Rus,' with a negative context: arsons, terrorist acts, and other crimes against society."
"Forty Forties" expressed its consternation that KhGSR appeared simultaneously with the start of the advertising campaign of Aleksei Uchitel's film "Matilda." "Millions of Orthodox people who spoke out against the blasphemous, anti-historical film 'Matilda,' created with the support of the Ministry of Culture on the eve of the critical moment of the history of the fatherland, act exclusively within a peaceful, legal channel, gathering for pickets, prayer services, and processions of the cross, collecting signatures, and filing lawsuits in court against the creators of movies and reasonably expressing their opinion within the public space," the statement of the SS movement says.
At the same time, the movement notes, thanks to the "sensational expressions of the leaders of the virtual organization KhGSR, news media have occasion to place millions of believers who are law-abiding Russian patriots on a par with saboteurs who destroyed vehicles of random people who also were opponents of the film 'Matilda.'"
"The motives and patrons of the arsonists are still not known to us. However, affirming that Orthodox believing citizens commit arson makes it possible to confuse, by the statements of the virtual organization of the KhGSR, the position of believing people and that of unidentified provocateurs. Consequently we are speaking out against the extremist actions that have occurred in Ekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, and Moscow," the "Forty Forties" movements declared. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 September 2017)
CHURCH AND CULTURE MINISTRY CONCERNED ABOUT VIOLENCE IN CONNECTION WITH RELEASE OF "MATILDA"
Interfax-Religiia, 15 September 2017
The vice-chairman of the synod's Department for Relations of Church with Society and News Media, Vakhtang Kipshidze, urged that the positions of the church and the Ministry of Culture on the movie "Matilda" not be set in contradiction.
"A number of news media are making attempts that have no basis to portray the situation in connection with the release of the film 'Matilda' as an occasion for demonstrating alleged substantive disagreements between the church and the Ministry of Culture," V. Kipshidze declared on Friday to a correspondent of Interfax-Religiia.
As reported, yesterday the first deputy chairman of the same synodal department, Alexander Shchipkov, blamed the minister of culture, Vladimir Medinsky, for the arguments that have erupted around the film "Matilda." "In my view the entire situation with 'Matilda' is a political mistake by Medinsky. It should have been foreseen and predicted and cultural policy should have been conducted in such a way that this situation would not have occurred, and today we would have been talking with you on an entirely different topic," he said in a broadcast of the program "Pravo Golosa" on the TVTs channel.
Meanwhile, V. Kipshidze said, both the church and the ministry are concerned about acts of violence in connection with the upcoming release of "Matilda" and they see in them a threat to public harmony, but at the same time they perceive the Ministry of Culture as an "organization that possesses a wide range of tools for seeking public compromise on this question."
The news agency's interlocutor recalled that Patriarch Kirill has received around 55,000 appeals from "law-abiding Orthodox Christians" who are worried about the release of the film "Matilda," and he stressed that the position of these people "cannot simply be ignored."
"According to information in our possession, the Ministry of Culture has not confirmed the fact of the financing of the film 'Matilda,' and therefore it is groundless to assign responsibility for it to the leadership of the ministry," the representative of the church explained.
"We consider the polarization of opinions regarding the film 'Matilda' and we are convinced that the time has come for ceasing mutual accusations and establishing a dialogue, a condition for which on our part is unconditional respect for the memory of the family of the last Russian emperor, including the minor children of the one who was brutally murdered by inhuman beasts," V. Kipshidze concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 16 September 2017)
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