www.byzcath.org

and yet decades later Stalin had to stoop to easing up on the Church in order to get the support of a majority of Russians to fight off the Nazis.

That is pretty much the West today, especially the superficial catechesis. Persecution here we come.

This I have to agree with, and it's one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to associating with Russians. A person may be the nicest sweetest person, but... if he failed his naturalization interview it was because the officer was black. If anyone anywhere screwed up, they've gotta be black. And overall, blacks are just gross, no reason in particular. Anti-Semitism, to various extents, is very common. I hear a lot of it all, and it's annoying and sad because you start liking a person but after such comments you cannot continue respecting him or her. You to talk to them, but it's not the same.

And I must add, thankfully, that there ARE also enough normal and intelligent people from Russia who would not stain themselves by such views.

The Civil War was complex and involved much horror, along with the red terror and hunger that came along. This text gives more detail: http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/his1g.htm

My great grandfather, may his memory be eternal, died in the Civil War, and we are not sure now of the details (his wife passed away) but we believe he died on the Red side. They were however believing Orthodox Christians, and it is thanks to my great grandma's insistence that I became Orthodox Christian myself. It wasn't quite like there was a Red Army enlistment kiosk and a White Army enlistment kiosk across the street. May the Lord remember all the victims in His kingdom.

Agreed, but just what 'rights' do those in the United States (whether they be Jew,Christian or Muslim) who do NOT want homosexuality, homosexual 'marriage' and homosexual parenting with all the unnatural methods of procreation which are associated with such 'parentage', propagandized to their children as being an equally accepted and natural lifestyle have? This propaganda occurs in school, on television, in movies, in the boy scouts, etc.

The gay 'agenda' has won. Sexual deviancy (or to be more PC, 'difference') of all sorts are celebrated in pride parades. To see two men or women kissing on network television has now become commonplace. The list goes on...

So, getting back on topic, again I say good for the backbone of Russia to go counter (American) culture on this matter.

Since sexual encounters of various types are no longer illegal in the U.S. or Russia, then why not just keep it private? Why force others to accept it? It is somewhat akin to the man or woman who is a chronic adulterer, or a polygamist, forcing a whole civilization to accept his or her weakness, and to celebrate it as being normal. Not to mention parading it around as an alternate life style which MUST be accepted and approved by all of society or chance being called 'hateful' and 'bigoted'.

I am sure that polygamy will be the next liberal cause masquerading as 'rights' and 'fairness' to all. Just wait and see. Let's hope it isn't something worse. Where will the line be drawn?

P.S...Just to be clear: Not that I think that homosexuals should be discriminated against in any way, nor do I personally have any problem with them as individuals (we are all entitled to private moral choices), but why not keep it low key instead of an 'in your face' political and social agenda?

I think that is the Western trend that Russia is making a stand about.

"Gay pride" is a reaction against the centuries-old tradition of denigration and all types of abuse of people who, despite all the abounding theories and proposed methods, usually do not feel that they have a choice in the matter. The percentage of homosexuals is quite low and we do not need to worry, Mother Nature has always ensured that the majority remains heterosexual and the human race will not die out.

However, the traditional degradation and slurs against homosexuals breeds anger and resistance and gay pride, just as it has in women and minorities in the past. My alma mater, Rutgers University, recently buried a student who killed himself because he was cruelly harassed for being gay. Did anyone ask the harasser to place cameras in the dorm room to then post videos on the internet? The student was perfectly happy to keep his private life private. Every action produces a reaction. Leave the gays alone and you will likely stop hearing from them. It is also worth remembering that homosexuality abounds mostly in specific conditions - jails, in all countries, for example. And the prospect of becoming someone's bitch invokes nothing but horror, whether in men or in women, when they are faced with a jail term. And talking about Church... is it not priests that have been abusing helpless boys worldwide? and the Church will then thunder about homosexuality?

Let us watch ourselves. Other people will answer to God for themselves, we will for ourselves. They are not "forcing" anything on anybody. I would like to watch someone try to turn my brother or me into a homosexual and I'll see how far they get. He and I do not however get foamy at the mouth when we hear of a homosexual. We shrug and say, "For the life of me, I don't get it." Homosexuals simply want to be left alone. Once that is achieved, the reaction will stop as no action will be causing it.

Gays in Russia get beaten and their jaws broken, just as do non-whites, Jews, just as a nine-year old girl whose only fault was her father was African, was severely beaten and hospitalized, just as do Russian citizens from non-Slavic parts of the country - hey who cares, we're going to beat them, not check their passport and birth certificate. Yeah, we are cleaning the garbage out of our country for the glory of God! Russia for Russians!! Russia for Orthodox Christians!!! Russia is the LAST BASTION OF FAITH IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry for the wordy post)

I guess you haven't seen the reality show Sister Wives yet? It is already happening except polygamists are very much conservatives. The only groups pushing it, at least in the US, are fundamentalist Mormons and small movements among Evangelicals.

Don't forget the Muslims.

Yes, I agree, it's almost like Religious Education is dying in the Western World, and the importance of being attentive to the Voice of the Divine Shepherd, and the Lord's teaching to all. We do need to try to drive home the importance and significance one can receive to obey the Commandments, teachings, and Gospel messages over that of secular powers, and liberal thinking.

I'm glad that President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kyrill are actually doing what they can to bring order and restore morality to the Russian motherland. Now we just need others to follow suit, and to make sure that we have more Christian messages to overcome the liberal secularism of the West today. Not going to be easy, brethren...

We are going to need to make sure we are more active with the upcoming 40 Days to Life than we ever were during the Fortright for Freedom movement. At least this 40 Days to Life is during the Great Fast, when we should be fasting and praying, anyway. So it shouldn't be too hard to pray for traditional marriage, praying for the unborn to be brought into the world and live their natural lives, and for those to bring light into the darkness of the modern world. May what Russia has outlawed here serve as an example set to be something of inspiration during these times, and how this will preserve the spirituality and morality that we hold dear.

Dear Mariya,

I think that maybe we are talking past each other?

I certainly understand what you are saying, and I certainly see your point.

I agree that gays should NOT be discriminated and harassed. However, think of the ramifications of this new world standard that the U.S. has set:

My children are past school age now, but what about when you have children and they come home from school saying "so and so has two daddies or two mommies", or "how does the baby in so and so's daddy grow?", etc...and how confused they will be if we go against what is POLITICALLY CORRECT to say. Then THEY will be discriminated against in school. I have been a mother at the beginning of this trend. I know what I have seen and what will be.

Teenagers are confused (scientifically proven) at the time of adolescence. They are confused about sexuality. Given the time to deal with it on their own, most will choose the biblical path of their gender. However, when their schools, when their entertainment, when their schools (gay clubs, gay studies, etc.) promote homosexual sexuality, many will be confused into thinking otherwise. Some would have chosen that path anyway and that is fine. However, many more will choose a path foreign to what they may have chosen if they were adolescents, let's say, in the 1950's to 1970's.

Putting that horrific and very sad incident aside which occurred in your university, I know for a fact that many of today's high school students think it is a 'cool' alternative to identify themselves as 'gay'.

That is just as bad as being ostracized for being gay. It is an extreme.

Just yesterday, I saw two young men kissing on a television show aimed at the younger generation.

I think that extremes of all sorts are dangerous. I think that political correctness is dangerous. I think that when you, God willing, become a mother, you might think differently about what is being presented to your child, and then, IF you disagree or speak up about it, you will find yourself on the other end of harassment and ostracization, as will your child, because of your Christian Orthodox beliefs.

With respect and love in Christ,
Alice

Not wordy at all, and thank you for your forthright and honest post bravely stated. I stand with you.

What deserted island did ya'll say you're standing on?

I do not have anything to add to Alice's response, except this: The day that MA redefined marriage and starting "marrying" same sex couples, the first couple, lesbians who had been together for a decade or so, were asked if they could have been satisfied with civil unions. "No," they responded "we must have marriage because that says that society accepts us as a couple." (btw, within a year they were "divorcing," complete with orders of protection). So much for "simply wanting to be left alone."

Alice, do not get me wrong, I understand your point of view also and I appreciate your taking the time to answer with your usual kindness and class rather than dismiss my opinions.

Let's read the Russian law closely. Its name sounds very good. It forbids "actions geared at propaganda of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness and pedophilia." The second article talks specifically about pedophilia. As a survivor of a pedophile's attack in childhood (he went to jail for 8 years and this attack has to do with why it's not likely that I will become a mother myself) I first of all wonder what gays have to do with pedophiles. Same-sex love is not a crime, attacking and defiling a child is. But okay, they just lumped everything together, fine. So how will the law be implemented in practice? Here's the problem. Legal professionals say that it is too vague to have any practical value, that it has not been formulated well enough - the penalties have, but not the elements of the crime, and the result is that it will mean whatever whoever wants it to mean.

Would you like to know more about true concern about minors in Russia? Consider the following.

Children can no longer be adopted by Americans, and I listened to an interview of a Russian orphanage system official, on the Russian radio, who explained what this will mean in his particular district, he gave numbers of how many orphans come in, what percentage goes here, goes there, and he explained how many more children thanks to the new law will now not have a chance to have a family based on past statistics of how many were adopted by Americans. He noted, in particular, that Americans were glad to adopt an ill or disabled baby, while Russians usually do not choose them or just can't afford the care.

And specifically about minors and morality. Wanna know something else? Something that keeps me from using the Russian internet when I can help it. The most obscene pornographic popup ads appear on Russian websites geared specifically at teenagers and young people! I cannot imagine what would be going through my mind if I were a minor and exposed to that filth. If I did have my hypothetical child, I do not know what kind of blockers I would need to install and if they even exist against this problem, so he would not click on a music-sharing site and all of a sudden be looking at two adults having intercourse or worse. I am not joking at all. If they want to regulate morality, why not start there? But it will probably tick off some people. For the record - this does not occur on the American internet. I use both on a regular basis, and I testify. You get pornographic popups in the American internet only if you specifically seek such content and do not have filters on.

I keep thinking about the orphan law. It shook the world. It shocked everyone with a heart. And I think back to the history of WWII, and the tremendous unnecessary sacrifices made by Stalin. He murdered a lot of people, but I'm talking about war casualties alone. In 2009, I stood at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, where 21 thousand people are buried. Not a single candle was burning at the monument's foot except for mine. Yes, Stalin did that, both those deaths, and that anger. People meant nothing, politics meant everything.

Is the current government trying to follow in the footsteps? Again we are telling the world: we have an agenda, we want to make a statement to you world. We will do whatever we want with all the people we want, for our purposes. The people do not matter, they have no value. They are just Russian people.

Alice, see, the reason I'm posting here is not to engage in polemics on homosexuality, certainly not to change anyone's mind. I do not have any more affinity for it than the next heterosexual person, but it's an entirely foreign issue to me therefore does not arouse any strong emotions. If I encounter someone who is gay I treat them like the person before and the person after. So, I really don't have anything to say.

My point is to appeal to those who sing praises to Putin and the Russian regime. As you have noticed, 95% of what I write here is about how I feel about Russia, what I know about Russia, and memories of my life there. I have lived in Russia for almost half of my life, I come from a politically aware and active Moscow family, and have access to the Russian radio and print materials. I talk to people. I have also lived in the United States for almost 20 years, and I compare the two. I bring an insider's perspective about Russia, there is a lot I can say, and I hope it can be useful to whoever is interested.