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http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_06102ortho.shtml


Objections raised to imposition of Orthodox culture in Russia -02/10/06

Russia's school year began recently with debate raging about the appropriateness and efficacy of a course on Orthodox Christian culture amid reports that four regions were making it mandatory and another 11 introducing it as an optional subject � writes Sophia Kishkovsky for Ecumenical News International.

Opponents of the course say it is an effort by the Russian Orthodox Church to introduce religious instruction in schools in a manner comparable to the formerly mandatory study of communist ideology. Supporters say the course is inoffensive and is essential to understand Russian culture, such as the masterpieces by Andrei Rublev, considered to be the greatest Russian iconographer.

"All people who want to declare Orthodoxy as the foundation of the country, and one people as the big brother of another, are enemies of Russia," said Arslan Sadriyev, the deputy chairperson of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the European Part of Russia, at a 15 September 2006 meeting organized to discuss the course.

But speaking to reporters on the eve of the school year, Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church said the course was not meant to exclude people of other faiths.

"If there are people of other faiths living in our country, they must, of course, study their culture, but they must also know the history and culture of the country in which they live," said the patriarch.

Russia's Council of Muftis and the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organisations of Russia have issued statements warning against mandatory Orthodox studies in state schools. Leaders of Russian republics with Muslim majorities, such as Dagestan and Bashkortostan, also spoke out.

Still, Roman Catholic leaders have accepted the course with equanimity, which is seen as reflecting steadily improved relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Rev Igor Kovalevsky, general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, told the Interfax news agency he thought the course would be "useful for all of Russia's multi-ethnic and multi-confessional society".


Looks like the hagarenes don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot!

Alexandr

Alexandr,

I agree with your last statement!

I, as a Catholic, have no problem with Orthodox Culture being taught as a mandatory subject in Russian schools. And, it appears neither do the Catholic bishops of Russia. I don't know the statistics, but isn't the Russian Catholic Church the largest body of Cathoilcs in Russia? Aren't they larger than the Latin Catholics? Therefore, if Orthodox Culture is taught, then it is also the same culture as the Catholics are immersed in.

Do you mean Eastern Rite Catholics of Russian ethnicity? Then no, they are not the largest Catholic group.
There are Roman Catholics of Polish and Lithuanian origin and propably other ethnic groups such as Germans who are Roman Catholic living in Russia.

There are also Eastern Rite Catholics of Ukrainian ethnicity living in Russia proper.

According to the "The Eastern Catholic Churches
Statistics from the Annuario Pontificio 2005"
compiled by Fr. Ron Roberson, CSP on
October 3, 2006 the Russian Eastern Catholics are listed as:

V. Communities without hierarchy
Russians, Belarusans, Georgians, Albanians

A cultural matrix is indispensable for a nation which desires to remain a nation. In Russia, that means Russian culture. That Russia includes some ethnic minorities is not a secret, but even as Russia has the obligation to treat the ethnic minorities with fairness and dignity, so to the ethnic minorities have the obligation to respect the local (Russian) culture if they wish to remain in Russia. [This ignores the problem of some communities who were brought to Russia forcibly and are now unable to return to their own countries; that situation is a product of the Soviet period and Russia, as the heir of the USSR, has an obligation to do right by such people to the best of its ability.]

A reasonable exception would be certain ethnic minorities who are indigenous to what is now Russian territory and who do not relate to any other nation-state. These people managed to resist the merciless pseudo-russification of the Soviet Union, and have a right to their own identity and some sort of satisfactory arrangement for a degree of autonomy on their own land - but it will be to their advantage to have a basic knowledge of Russian culture in relating to the larger society around them. The same is true of pre-Columbian peoples indigenous to what is now the USA - and the USA's record on the matter is not exactly enviable.

Fr. Serge

Dear Serge you said:

I say:

Good for Russia. In this country, we were always immersed in an English and Protestant culture in school. We had to be, or else we would not be a nation today.

Of course there were and are people of different religions, as well as enclaves of people speaking German, French, and Dutch, but over the past century, they all kind of disappeared.

You said:

I say:

I don't know what you mean by not quite enviable. I live in the East Coast, and as far as I know, very few indigenous people live here. Rather, I know of many who have proudly boasted of their Indian ancestry. One of them of note, would be Winston Churchill's great-grandmother, on his mother's side.

Zenovia

No need to shame the indigenous Americans with Winston Churchill for a putative relative. If you won't tell; I won't tell.

Fr. Serge

I�d be proud to claim Winston Churchill!

He was an ordinary man like the rest of us who became an extraordinary leader and played a major role (if not THE major role) in saving the world from the evils of Hitler. Eternal Memory!

Dear Administrator,

Far be it from me to deprive you of Winston Churchill! But he did other things as well as rally the troops in WWII, and embracing him in toto might be imprudent (as well as requiring long arms, given his girth!). I hope you like cigar smoke.

However, he did have a sense of humor at times. There's the delightful occasion at some party when a woman approached him, noting his visibly inebriated condition, and with upraised eyebrows andshocked tone stated the obvious: "Sir Winston! You're drunk!"

Churchill responded: "Madam, I'm drunk. In fact, madam, I am very drunk. And you, madam are ugly. In fact, you are very ugly. But tomorrow, madam, I shall be sober!"

Well worth remembering.

Fr. Serge

Dear Father Serge,

To continue on Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Presidents wife couldn't stand him. She found him very uncouth. :rolleyes:

Once when he visited Washington DC during the war, he indulged himself in taking a bath. Water was very limited in war time London.

Well the President walked in as Winston exited the bath tub, and he looked at him and said, well you can now say there is nothing about me that is hidden.(Or something to that effect).

Actually though, it seems that Churchill did try to persuade Roosevelt to be more adamant with Stalin at Yalta, but Roosevelt deferred more to Stalin and gave away Eastern Europe.

Zenovia

Just thank God that they dont have the Anti-God ACLU in Russia.