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james_krotov's LiveJournal:
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| Monday, June 30th, 2008 | | 2:24 pm |
| | Monday, February 4th, 2008 | | 11:09 am |
Two Patriarchs
The official web-site of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: www.ec-patr.org.
According to this site, Ecumenical Patriarch is "the primary spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian world".
It is prominent for me that Patr. Bartholomew was born in Febraury 29, 1940. February 29 is also the birthday of my mother.
Vincent Boland ("Financial Times", August 26, 2005) made such a lead to his interview with Ecumenical Patriarch:
"His position is not universally accepted; <...> there is intense rivalry between Bartholomew and Alexei II of Moscow, whom the Russian church - and perhaps the Russian government - would claim to be Bartholomew’s equal (they are involved in a fierce battle for the allegiance of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine). And since the Orthodox Church is organised more along national lines than the Roman Catholic Church, there is frequent dispute among the patriarchy. Still, Bartholomew is regarded, especially in Greece and the Anglo-Saxon world, as the leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, and he has the mien and bearing of a man of influence."
"The Orthodox Church is organized more along national lines than the Roman Catholic Church", - Boland stated. He is absolutely precise theoretically. Historically, the situation is more interesting. National divisions are less prominent for many people now than ideological divisions. I am not afraid of the word "ideological." It helps to know the truth: unity doesn't mean similarity. There are liberals and conservatives, left and right. Unity of faith must embrace all of them. The conflict between Constantinople and Moscow is to some extent the conflict between normal Church, where people of different views share common faith, and the Church which is not the Church of the Russians, but the Church of the Russian Government. The Moscow Patriarchy now is the Church of Moscow Kremlin and its empyreal politics. </p> | | Friday, November 9th, 2007 | | 10:29 am |
Meaning of Life
"Contemporary culture does not give proper weight to questions of meaning." - Bishop Murray of Limerick, quoted by Zenit.org, Nov. 7, 2007.
I began my way to God searching "sense of life." I guess, "meaning of life" is the same as "sense." When I found God, I thought He is the sense of life. Now I see that He is the Life and the source of my life. The sense of life is still absent, and this is fine. Question about sense of life is another form of the questioning "What was before God."
I enjoy limericks and I've wrote a few (in Russian.) But this speech of Limerick's bishop seems to me senseless and meaningless. The bishop didn't say what he really wanted to say. He wanted to say that "secularism" rejects the sense and meaning compulsory for all. Anyone is free to have his own vision of meaning, sense, values. Fundamentalism (anti-humanism) is very nervous with such situation. God isn't. | | Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 | | 9:19 am |
History of the World
I am fond of Church history because I think Church history is not the history of the Church institutions but the story of the whole humankind. This history consists of two symmetrical parts. Before Christ people seeked One God through multiplicity of deities. In Christ this One God responded to our quest. The second act of world history began. God is now in quest for united humankind and building it through innumerable ways and means.
Christians often tend to think that the Church is this united humankind. Should it be so, the history ended a long time ago. God wants to save all not only in a numerical sense. United humankind is still absent, because personality is still lacking in humans. God is co-working with people to activate personal potential in everyone had to restore unity of humankind not as something similar to a huge snowball but as a union of loving personalities. | | Monday, October 15th, 2007 | | 8:39 am |
Dogs: Czech, Polish, Russian
Chrystia Freeland concludes her fine article (Other people's dictators, ft.com, 13.10.2007) with such a passage:
In one of my favourite Soviet-era jokes, a Czech dog and a Polish dog meet at their two countries' border. The Czech dog asks the Polish one why he is crossing to more prosperous but more repressive Czechoslovakia: "because I want to eat meat". And why, he wonders, could the Czech dog possibly want to enter poorer but freer Poland: "because I want to bark".
She thinks that "all the world's dogs, and all of its people, want both to eat meat and to bark." But perversions happen, and dictatorships happen, and Russia is an example of dogs who've agreed to have less meat, less barking, worse houses for higher prices, in order to be free from any responsibility, to be fighting dogs with phychology of any soldier, i.e., phychology of a puppy. | | Sunday, October 14th, 2007 | | 10:03 pm |
corruption is only the rust of despotism
Corruption is not always a feature of a weak state. What is "weakness"? What is a "strength"? Democratic state is strong as concerns cultural and technical achievements, common wealth and human rights. Despotism is strong as concerns war conquests, the wealth of ruling elite and the rights of rulers and nomenclature. Corruption is a most widespread pretext for dictators to be dictators. Sometimes dictators really can exterminate corruption: there was very low level of corruption under Hitler and Stalin. But this is only a short-range effect, and the price (in human lifes) is too high. In democratic states the corruption is usually average. Modern Russia is a very old despotic state, born in XVIth century, and the level of corruption is very high. The current polical strategy of Kremlin (extermination of democracy) will lead not to the extermination of corruption, but to the extermination of information concerning corruption. The corruption will grow according to the Acton Act: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." People who think that the iron hand of Kremlin (Putin or any other hypostasis of despotism) will remove corruption, don't understand that corruption is only the rust of despotism. | | Saturday, October 13th, 2007 | | 10:09 pm |
Anonymity & Enmity
Anonymity is more widespread in the web than in reality. Generally, I hate anonymity. It is a sort of a mask, which is normal in some good situations (on a masquerade), but usually is used in a very evil situations: killers, thefts, executioners...
I hate anonymity because I mostly met it in a very bad situations. It smells of slavery, totalitarianism, lack of freedom or conscience.
Certainly, I will gladly receive a donation from an someone who don't want me to know his/her name. But as far as I understand, large donations never are anonymous, and this is not by chance.
I will communicate with a like-minded person even if he/she writes under nickname.
Still, I will avoid any sort of communication or discussion with an adversary who hides under nickname. May be some day I will meet such an opponent whose argumentation will be so bright and interesting that I will write to him even if he is anonymous. But I think that probability of such case is very low. Really bright and clever person will participate in a tournament under his real name--just I do. | | Thursday, October 4th, 2007 | | 8:19 am |
Kleptomania
Patriarch Alexy II compared homosexuality with kleptomania. I don't think comparison is valid, but what is more important, comparison helps do defend homosexuals from attacks of the Russian Christians. I don't know the Western situation, but Russia is definitely the country where theft is the norm of secular and Church life, Theft from the private and public property. "Kaznokradstvo"--Russian term for embezzlement of public funds. What a combination of sounds! But the phenomena is even worse. Thefts wage public company against kleptomans... I can understand thefts! | | Monday, October 1st, 2007 | | 8:39 am |
KGB-journalism
Matthew Brzezinski, former correcpondent of "Wall Street Journal", published in "Los Angeles Times" article on defence of Kremlin. Kremlin is peaceful, West must not bother Kremlin and everything will be OK. Brzezinski doesn't write "Kremlin", he writes "Russia," "Moscow", but he thinks only about Russian power, not about Russia in general. He states that modern Russia is too rich to have any desire to wage a war. Moscow is overfilled with rich cars. What a Marxist point of view--as if poverty and economic problems are the main source of wars. Agression and proud are the main reasons of militarism, and Russia is overfilled with them. Moscow is very rich townn but who are "new Russians" with apartments which costs 50 million dollars (Brzezinski mentions this)? Generals, generals, generals. "Generals" for me includes Putin and other KGB-men, who usually colonels, but in Russian system colonel of KGB is higher than general of army. And oil-dollars from the West are used mostly to produce and buy weapons.
The article of Brzezinski is a nice example of "Munich-psycology." It will not go the "Hytler test": whether Brzezinski in 1936 will say that Germany is not going to begin a new World war, to kill 6 millions of Jews, that democratic countties must not irritate Germany? Yes... | | Sunday, September 30th, 2007 | | 2:47 pm |
Only one man can make a difference
Moscow center of Andrey Sakharov, the only one pont where any democratic initiatives can be waged on. September, 2007: exibition dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg under the motto "One man can make a difference." What an irony! The story Wallenberg who saved Jews in Hungary in 1944 shows that ONLY ONE man can make a difference. Team appeares ONLY after one man becomes a reality. Without One Man there can be no team, only an "organization," army, circle etc. West is first of all the land of One Man (or, certrainly, One Woman.) Certainly, there is a lot of archaism in the West also. For example, the Church is very often not a team, not an ecclesia, community, but the organisation head by Zero Man. Any dictator is a Zero Man.
I wonder whether this difference between One Man adn Zero Man will be understandable to Westerns--I don't know English well enought to predict whether I will find understanding without forther editing, especially when I try to save words and write in the same compact style as I do in Russian. | | Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 | | 8:29 pm |
Nonkilling society
www.globalnonviolence.org - greatweb-site is dedicated to promoting the nonkilling political science. The central person there is Glenn Paige. I've bought the Russian translation of his book on nonkilling society and I am delighted. The book is always on the brink of a dream without serious logic, but he never crosses the line. THe idea seems as mad as anarchism or Resurrection, but I think it is more practical for implementation. | | Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 | | 8:03 am |
Yurisdiction: update I try not to write about personal matters due to the combination of the old ideas of intelligentsia concerning humility (modesty) and even older ideas of Christianity concerning humbleness. Does this means that I enjoy speaking about myself and only restrain? Well, no difference! Freud must know his place (very moderate.) Still, recently I've changed jurisdiction. It happened so that in the "catacomb" Church where I've been ordained in 2002 one bishop became married. A sort of Milingo's case. -) The Pope punished Milingo for his marriage, and Rev. Gleb Yakunin (who is the spiritual leader of this branch of the Catacomb Church) behaved the opposite way. He insisted that Apostolic Russian Orthodox Church make the marriage of the bishop part of her tradition. I objected and left peacefully. Actually, I am not against married bishops or woman-priests. I am against reforms when they replace the real life or, better to say, when the lack of the real church life is "compensated" with reforms. What the sense to serve the liturgy in vernacular of there are no parishioners? First things first, and marriage of the bishop is not the firstiest thing at all. (I understand that "firstiest" is a neologism, but I don't understand whether it is suitable or felt like a mystake only; tell me, please.) In March of 2007 I was received as a priest into the jurisdiction of Archbishop Igo' Isichenko. He lives in Ukraine in Kharkiv, he is the bishop of the diocese of Kharkiv and Poltava (this is the eastern part of Ukraine.) The church situation in Ukraine is very complicated, Ukrainians are eager to have an independent national Church and Moscow opposes the idea. Bishop Igor' thinks that the case must be solved by the Patriarch of Constantinople, because Ukraine canonically never left jurisdiction of Constantinople. He recognize Metropolit Constantine Bagan of the Ukrainian Church in the USA as the spiritual leader, and Metropolit Bagan is under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople ( http://www.uocofusa.org/admin). Patriarch of Moscow several years ago made an official protest to the Patriarch of Constantinople: he asked to repudiate Bishop Igor'. Constantinople answered in the best Byzantine traditions: writing "yes" and doing "no." So during the liturgy I pray for the Patriarch Varfolomey of Constantinopole and for the Archbishop Igor'. | | Saturday, May 26th, 2007 | | 11:42 am |
God's Count
To be human means to do a lot of things which are absolutely superfluous, unnecessary for survival. To be a believer means to do a lot of things which exceed a norm. For example, the fast, although it is a reduction in weight of food is the increasing in behavior.
All unusual jests, rites, words which are intrinsically typical for religious behaviour, are unnecessary and can be eliminated. Nowadays they are really often eliminated even by sincere believers. ("Sincere" is the opposite to "true" in this context.)
The reason why superfluous is necessary lies in the one strange human quality. From time to time everyone had experienced in the shop problems with being paid back. May be some day credit cards will eliminate this problem totally, but here in Moscow I very often receive lesser money back that I was supposed to receive. The ladies at the cash register never make a mystake in the opposite direction: only lesser, never more.
God is a customer, and I always tend to give Him lesser. The only quick way to heal the situation is to give Him always more that I am sure I am obliged to. To pour into a lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. | | Saturday, May 19th, 2007 | | 6:31 pm |
Nota Bene: John Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics at the University of Nottingham, director of the theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk. Author of "Theology and Social Theory", 1990. Creator of the Radical Orthodoxy. Seems to be some "king's way" between fundamentalism and leftism. Cf. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milbank with links to some online texts. P.e., he criticizes the totalitarianism of self-sacrifice as a ultimate ethical good, stressing, that self-sacrifice is opposite to communication: "So, if attention to the other is central for a sense of the ethical, it would appear that convivial enjoyment of another is more important than suffering on his behalf. Moreover, if a person can only be known as other via communication, then I cannot remove myself as a participant in this situation. The German Roman Catholic philosopher Robert Spaemann has expressed this point very well: giving food to those in need, he observes, can occur as a one-way gift from those who have to those who have not, or it can occur in a feast, where all eat together." ( http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=3119) | | 8:33 am |
Power and Personality
"Power corrupts". But what is corrupted by power and what are the mechanism of corruptions? When Acton made this famous statement (describing the popes of XVIth c.), there was no conception of feedback (or whether any other term is better?) On the eve of human history lust for power corrupted unique human quality: to live through mutuality, to put questions and receive answers. There is Russian expression "to tear out legs" ("nogi vyrvat'") meaning "to punish," "to make one passive." Thus the the first and the last argument of power--tearing out legs of disobedient. To counterbalance this human must wash legs (foots?) of one's own brother or sister, neighbor or enemy. Some examples of such washing are known to historians. | | Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 | | 2:19 pm |
great site http://www.justwartheory.com - wonderful site, dedicated to the just war theory. I enjoy just war theory because it is the theory--it is impossible to imagine any war on practice which can satisfy any of the criteria of just war. For example, the first point: "All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified". Who can dare to say that "all" non-violent options have been exhausted? Especially if as Christians we believe in the strength of prayer... As Berdyaev put it--either You believe in H-bomb or in Almighty God. | | Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 | | 11:28 pm |
terrorism and resistance
I had a discussion with some friend concerning situation in Iraque and the problem of separation acts of terrorism from the acts of resistance. I've tried to find out any materials concerning the theme (who and how studies which acts of violence have been committed by terrorists and which--by resistance) and I failed. This may be my fault. But this can be the fault of those who try to hide the most important information in order to justify the continuation of the war. Who defines that this or that explotion is an act of terror and another--the act of insurgency? I'll be glad for any help. | | Sunday, February 18th, 2007 | | 7:27 am |
Jennifer Trafton in "Christianity Today" ( http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2007/001/3.6.html) writes about the interest of many Protestants to Benedictine monasticism: "In the midst of a frenetic, fragmented culture that glorifies independence, busyness, and material gain, many are seeking out a countercultural lifestyle that values prayer, silence, simplicity, liturgy, hospitality, community, and care for the poor." Life with Christ is not "a countercultural lifestyle." We must seek Christ. not "simplicity." Simplicity very often is only the lack of knowledge and hidden aggression towards culture. Everything material can become perversion. Even the liturgy or "spirituality" can be understood materialistically, as something which we are in need "to gain." Lord Jesus compares His Kingdom with material values in order to distract us from material values. But we must also distract ourselves from material means. All too often "Christian spirituality" is poisoned by the spirit of materialism: competition (with unbelievers, with co-believers) and power (under the pseudonym of "community" and "care for the poor"). Monasticism is only a material institute and very often it was a victim of corruption and a source of corruption in the Church. Individualism and independence don't oppose "community." They oppose opposes collectivism and slavery, dependence. Busyness and material gain don't opposes charity, it opposes lust for power. | | Monday, January 8th, 2007 | | 10:44 am |
Party present vs. Party past
Vatican to the last resisted attempts of perlustration of Roman Catholic Church in former Communist lands. Arch. Wielgus came out to be an agent of the Communist secret police: this was proven in 2006. Vatican denied the fact when it was published by some private person. Wielgus was appointed the archbishop of Warszaw, one of the key posts in Poland church. On January 5 Polish Historical Commission officially declared that Wielgus was a traitor. Even after that Vatican didn't dismiss Wielgus, but declared that his collaboration didn't make any harm to anyone and was purely symbolical. Still, Wielgus under the pressure of the Polish public opinion (secular) resigned. Even after that jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said:
"[T]he present wave of attacks against the Catholic Church in Poland does not seem to be a sincere search for transparency and truth, but rather a strange alliance between persecutors of the past and other adversaries, a vengeance on the part of those who, in the past, had persecuted her and were defeated by the faith and the thirst for freedom of the Polish people."
This is a typical rhethoric with which Communist propaganda explained that any criticism of Communist Party is only a dirty manipulation on the side of capitalists and their servants.
Father Lombardi explained that members of the Church must be faithful to the truth: "'The truth will make you free,' says Christ. The Church is not afraid of the truth and, to be faithful to her Lord, her members must be able to acknowledge their own faults."
A wonderful example of the hypocrisy. The Church hierarchs were not the first to say a truth about their collaboration with Communist secret service. They are not in a hurry now to find out who collaborated with the Russian Communist secret service, although it is obvious that such collaboration was very widespread. Vatican comes out to be an enclave of the Communist-style hypocrisy, newspeak and totalitarianism amidst the Western world. What a luck that "Vatican" is not synonymous to the "Church" and it is yet possible to be Catholic and to be honest person. | | Sunday, January 7th, 2007 | | 6:28 pm |
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