| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Speech by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Russia’s religious communities. On 25th October 2023 a meeting took place at the Saint Catherine Hall of the Moscow Kremlin between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Russia’s religious communities. Participating in the meeting was His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus " . After the presentation by the Russian President, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the Russian head of state and all those gathered. “Vladimir Vladimirovich, I express my gratitude to you for the initiative of holding this meeting and for the words which you have just addressed to us. This is indeed a much-needed and urgent meeting. I am especially concerned over the many new conflicts which have arisen with renewed force in the eastern mediterranean. The attention of the faithful of the Abrahamic religious traditions has been focused on this region for centuries. Jerusalem was and remains a holy city for both Christians, Jews and Muslims. Palestine and Israel are territories making up the Holy Land where the most important events in world history took place, primarily events directly tied to the encounter between God and the human person. Russia has historically supported the closest ties with the Holy Land, it strives to retain a Russian presence there, the history of which is exceptionally replete with facts and events. The many written testimonies and cultural artifacts point towards the fact that pilgrimage to the Holy Land was one of the most desired and significant events in the life of God-fearing Russian people. It was the securing of the opportunity of visiting the Holy Land for a great number of our compatriots that was one of the main goals of establishing more than 140 years ago by Emperor Alexander III the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. This organization has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to supporting the Palestinian people, primarily in the educational and social spheres. Schools, homes and hospitals were built, which is to say that great charity work was done aimed at supporting the local population. |
| Accettare Il sito utilizza i cookie per aiutarvi a visualizzare le informazioni più aggiornate. Continuando ad utilizzare il sito, l " utente acconsente all " uso dei metadati e dei cookie. Gestione dei cookie Putin al Concilio dei Vescovi Il 1 dicembre 2017 il presidente della Federazione Russa Vladimir Putin ha parlato alla riunione del Concilio dei Vescovi della Chiesa ortodossa russa, svoltosi a Mosca nella Cattedrale di Cristo Salvatore e programmato per il centenario della restaurazione del Patriarcato in Russia. Al Concilio dei Vescovi, che è l " organo supremo della Chiesa, partecipano i vescovi del Patriarcato di Mosca in Russia, Ucraina, Bielorussia, Moldavia, Azerbaigian, Kazakistan, Kirghizistan, Lettonia, Lituania, Tagikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, e in più di 20 altri Paesi, dove ci sono diocesi della Chiesa ortodossa russa. Le sessioni plenarie del Concilio dei Vescovi della Chiesa ortodossa russa si sono svolte dal 29 novembre al 2 dicembre. Sono state discusse questioni di attualità della vita della Chiesa ortodossa russa e problemi internazionali, in particolare lo scisma della Chiesa in Ucraina e la persecuzione dei cristiani in Medio Oriente. Durante l " incontro, Vladimir Putin ha presentato in dono al Patriarca Kirill l " icona di San Nicola di Mozhajsk, copia dell’«immagine rimasta indenne» di San Nicola il Taumaturgo della Torre Nikolskaya del Cremlino di Mosca. Il Concilio dei Vescovi si è consluso il 4 dicembre in occasione della festa della Presentazione al Tempio della Madre di Dio e del centenario dell " intronizzazione del Patriarca Tichon, con la celebrazione della divina Liturgia. Discorso del apresidente Vladimir Putin alla riunione del Concilio dei Vescovi della Chiesa ortodossa russa Santità! Stimati partecipanti al Concilio dei Vescovi! Prima di tutto desidero ringraziarvi sinceramente per l " invito a partecipare al Concilio dei Vescovi della Chiesa ortodossa russa, programmato per il centenario della restaurazione del Patriarcato – un evento che è diventato decisivo per la vita della Chiesa ortodossa russa, per il nostro popolo, per l " intero Stato. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Speech by the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin before the Participants of the Episcopal Council of the Russian Orthodox Church On the 1 st December 2017 the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin visited the session of the Episcopal Council of the Russian Orthodox Church which is being held in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. The head of state spoke before His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and all of the Council’s participants. Your Holiness, esteemed participants of the Council, First of all, I would like to thank you sincerely for the invitation to take part in the Episcopal Council of the Russian Orthodox Church which is being held to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the restoration of the Office of Patriarch – an event that has become defining for the life of the Russian Orthodox Church, for all of our nation and the entire country. More than four hundred years ago in 1589 the Office of Patriarch was instituted in Old Russia, becoming the embodiment of a more significant role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Orthodox world, the recognition of her authority and the ministry of great spiritual deeds of her First Hierarchs. The wise words of the Patriarchs of Moscow strengthened the faith of the people, inspired people to creative deeds and heroic endeavours in the defense of our Fatherland; they taught righteousness, kindness, mercy and justice, united representatives of various social classes and helped people to withstand times of tribulation. The names of the Patriarchs of Moscow and All Russia Hermogenes and Philaret, their courage and steadfastness in faith, have become for our fatherland a symbol of the vanquishing of the inner turmoil and the foreign invasions of the seventeenth century and a symbol of the spiritual and national renaissance of Russian statehood. |
| The June 20 Gray Falcon commentary “Failure to Communicate” has this excerpt, that led me to an extremely anti-Russian and anti-Serb article, from a venue which has previously slanted in that direction: “The latest example of this ‘flipping the script’ is a New Republic feature comparing Putin to Milosevic. In reality, it is the West acting towards Russia the same way they acted towards the Serbs two decades ago. I’ve argued before that Putin is aware of this, though the Russian public and media in general may not be.” Whether the issue is the Caucasus or Ukraine, bombing Russia hasn’t been considered, unlike what Serbia hypocritically faced. Russia’s nuclear power stature provides it with more cover. Contrary to what the aforementioned New Republic article “History Repeats Itself” of this past June 19 suggests, the disputes involving Russia and Serbia, haven’t been simple instances of sinister action by the two against less culpable others. On the subject of Serbia and in contrast to that New Republic piece, I’m reminded of the August 1999 First Things commentary “The Condescension of the Christian West“, which is written by someone who has supported the so-called “Orange Revolution” and more recent Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. (The First Things article is mentioned without necessarily agreeing with everything said in it.) The New Republic article in question underscores the prevailing biases evident within neoliberal and neoconservative leaning circles. Its negatively inaccurate analogy between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Yugoslav/Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic is nothing new. Former Clinton administration official Christopher Hill had previously spun that image. He’s by no means alone, among Western foreign policy establishment sources, who’re essentially providing cover for the extreme nationalism that patriotically reasoned Serbs, Russians and some others oppose. The New Republic article’s comparison between the Russian and Serb Orthodox churches (viewed with negativity), with the Croat Catholic and Ukrainian Greek Catholic variants (spun more favorably), is one of several examples. The WW II period and thereafter have seen noticeable pro-Ustasha sentiment in the Croat Catholic Church, which has included Jasenovac concentration camp head Dinko Sakic and key Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic being openly lauded by some Croat Catholics. Similarly, pro-OUN/UPA sentiment in the form of lauding Galician Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, is noticeably evident within the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. |
| Moscow monument to Prince Vladimir provokes ire in Kiev The unveiling of a monument to Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus, in Moscow has caused a painful reaction in Kiev, which has accused Russia of a " hybrid appropriation " of Ukrainian history. Moscow points out that Vladimir brings people together with the help of Orthodoxy. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has responded to the erection in Moscow of a monument to Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), the man who brought Christianity to the medieval Russian state, by claiming that Russia is indulging in historical revisionism. " In these days, yet another monument has been opened: In the Kremlin, near the unburied Vladimir Lenin, they unveiled a monument to our equal-to-the-apostles Prince of Kyiv Volodymyr. This is yet another attempt of a hybrid appropriation of history, " said Poroshenko on Nov. 8 following the emergence of the 24-meter monument to the prince in the Russian capital. The monument to Prince Vladimir on Borovitskaya Square in Moscow, near the Kremlin, was unveiled on Nov. 4 in an official ceremony attended by senior officials and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Unveiling the monument, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that " this choice [Orthodoxy] has become a common spiritual source for the peoples of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. " According to Putin, Prince Vladimir is a particularly revered saint, statesman and warrior, as well as the spiritual founder of the Russian state. ‘Kind reminder’ from Kiev The emotional reaction of the Ukrainian authorities to the installation of the monument to Vladimir followed within a few hours after the ceremony in Moscow. Ukraine's official Twitter-account published a photo of another monument to Vladimir – the Kiev one – and a message in English: " Don't forget what the real Prince Volodymyr monument looks like. Kyiv brought Orthodox Christianity to the [sic] Rus. Kind reminder to @Russia. " |
| On 4 November 2015, the feast day of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God and the Day of National Unity, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia led the opening of the 14th Public Forum and Exhibition, this year called " Orthodox Russia. My History. From Great Upheavals to the Great Victory " organized by the Patriarchal Council for Culture with support of the Moscow City Government. The " She Who Reigns " icon of the Mother of God has been brought to Manezh from the church of the Kazan icon in Kolomenskoye. The head of the state and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church put candles at the miraculous icon and venerated it. President Putin addressed those gathered at the opening, saying: " Your Holiness, dear friends, I congratulate you on the opening of the annual exhibition in the Orthodox Russia cycle, timed to commemorate the Day of National Unity. " This educational project is the result of a big joint effort by the Russian Orthodox Church and leading research organizations, archives and libraries, and is evidence of the growing deep and real interest in Russia’s history and in our spiritual roots and origins. I want to thank sincerely the organizers and participants for their work. " This extensive exhibition’s central theme is the period from 1914 to 1945, a time of World Wars, revolutions and upheavals. It was the time when old foundations shattered, destinies crumbled and millions of people became the victims of cruel social experiments. " But even in those hard and difficult conditions people lived, created, made discoveries and achieved breakthroughs, always remembering what was most important when our homeland was in danger. They understood the importance of unity and drew strength from, eternal values and lofty moral ideals. Ideological stereotypes faded before the real historical Russia. " Love for the Motherland was the strongest and all-vanquishing emotion. It inspired, helped and saved. This was how our people came through the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War and not just survived, but preserved and strengthened our statehood and brought peace and liberation to the enslaved peoples of Europe. |
| The most unexpected example comes from Russia, once the quintessential source and financer of covert operations to inundate the free world with Marxist atheist propaganda. Nobel Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, who raised great expectations when he revealed to the world that he had been baptized, is actually more of a pantheist with New Age leanings. But today’s Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly spoken up in defense of common assumptions which the West is no longer able to take for granted, in the name of what many in Russia are starting to consider their country’s God-given mission to lead Europe back to its Christian roots. It is well-known that Putin’s background is that of a former KGB (and FSB) agent, and the allegations against him with respect to political assassinations such as the death of Anna Politkvskaia or Aleksandr Litvinenko have never been laid to rest. Nevertheless, whether he be motivated by cynical expediency or an actual bonafide change of heart, his opposition to the culture of relativist and materialist secularism is a bulwark that the secularists can not simply wish away. Putin’s defense of the family cost Russia the Western leaders’ boycott of the Winter Olympic games in Sochi in February 2014, and among his most controversial acts are: the banning of all pro-abortion ads, forbidding the subjecting of minors to gay propaganda or to statements that condone “nontraditional” relationships, the prohibiting of the adoption of Russian-born children to couples or single persons living in countries where same-sex marriage is allowed, down to lesser politically incorrect stances such as criticizing other countries for even thinking about legalizing marijuana. On the occasion of the 1,025th anniversary of the conversion of the Russian people to Christianity, Putin stated that “If Russia has become a world power, we owe it not to a czar, a war or a political party: we owe it to Christianity.” Conversely, at a meeting at the Valdai Foundation last year, when Russia was still a respected member of the G8 superpower consortium, he assessed the West’s “moral bankruptcy”, pointing to, among other things: |
| Archive Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion speaks at the opening of the V All-Russian Theology within the Scientific and Educational Expanse conference 2 December 2021 year 16:28 The V All-Russian (with international participation) Theology within the Scientific and Educational Expanse: The Theory, History and Practice of Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue within a Situation of Global Challenges conference opened in Moscow on 1st December 2021. The conference is being held with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. The basic events of the conference are taking place in Moscow on the 1st and 2nd December at the federal institutes of the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhi) (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economic and Public Administration (RANEPA) and the Higher School of Economics (HSE). All preventative measures as recommended by the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Protection and Human Rights Wellbeing aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus disease have been taken. The conference is also taking place online with the use of video conference link technology. More than three hundred and fifty people were registered for the conference. Greetings fr om the Russian president Vladimir Putin were read by senior official of the Presidential Administration for Home Policy A. V. Tretyakov. In the greetings it was noted in particular that “theology performs an important mission in forming peoples’ outlook on life, enables inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and plays a role in countering the terrorist threat.” Greetings fr om His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill were read by the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, the rector of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Institute for Post-graduate Studies and the president of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion. “An important event,” the greetings states, “was the holding of a federal competition for grants in the field of theology. The Congress of Theological Journals and the Forum of Young Theologians also took place within the framework of the current year’s conference. I would like especially to note the work of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association, which at present brings together seventy leading Russian universities and colleges.” |
| A Two-Pronged Attack on Orthodoxy and Russia As US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet in Helsinki, all eyes are on what generally are regarded as the “usual” political issues that divide the world’s two foremost military powers: Ukraine, Syria, sanctions, claims of election interference, and so forth. This reflects the near-universal but erroneous view that this current, second Cold War is not ideological, as opposed to the first Cold War that pitted atheistic Soviet communism against America’s “in God we trust” capitalism. (Leave aside whether “capitalism,” an anarcho – socialist term popularized by Marxists, is the proper description of contemporary neoliberal corporatism.) No, we are told , the current Washington-Moscow standoff is a turf war, nothing more. Unlike the 1945-1991 rivalry it “lacks an ideological dimension” beyond the authoritarian determination to elevate “the Russian state, ruled by him and his clan.” Such a view totally dismisses the fact that following the demise of communism as a global power bloc there has been an eerie spiritual role reversal between East and West. While it’s true that during original Cold War the nonreligious ruling cliques in Washington and Moscow held basically compatible progressive values, ordinary Christian Americans (mainly Protestants, with a large number of Roman Catholics) perceived communism as a murderous, godless machine of oppression (think of the Knights of Columbus’ campaign to insert “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance ). Conversely, today it is western elites who rely upon an ideological imperative of “democracy” and “human rights” promotion to justify a materialist global empire and endless wars, much like the old Soviet nomenklatura depended on Marxism-Leninism both as a working methodology and as a justification for their prerogatives and privileges. In that regard, promotion of nihilist, post-Christian morality – especially in sexual matters – has become a major item in the West’s toolkit. |
| The last Emperor: 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union July 16, 2013 Participants of meeting and public prayer commemorating murder of Tsar’s family in Kiev, 2002. Source: Alexander Polyakov/RIA Novosti Russia has been marking the 400 th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty , whose rule ended dramatically and tragically after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. How do modern Russians view the royal legacy and what are their perceptions of the last Tsar, Nicholas II ? Public attitudes towards him have undergone several shifts since the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago, with the most recent studies showing an increase in appreciation of the monarch. A survey of 1,600 Russians by Moscow’s Levada Center polling organization found that 48 percent viewed Nicholas II positively. He still trailed Soviet-era leader Leonid Brezhnev as Russia’s most popular 20 th Century head of state, and even marginally behind Lenin and Stalin, but polled far more highly than either Boris Yeltsin , independent Russia’s first president, or Mikhail Gorbachev , the last Soviet leader, who polled 22 percent and 21 percent respectively. Nicholas also had the lowest negative rating among those questioned. President Vladimir Putin recently asked Russian historians to develop a cohesive – or as he put it “consistent” – history of Russia for use in school textbooks. How Nicholas’s rule will be judged is not yet clear. Consequently, the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov house is being celebrated quietly this year, without a major cultural or official program. At the same time, the Kremlin has opted for prominent commemorations of another jubilee, the approaching centenary of the beginning of World War I, since military issues and the “prowess of Russian weaponry” is easier to fit into the present ideological requirements. Russia has yet to reconcile fully with its past and its history is not so much a “home” as a “battlefield”. Perceptions of the last Tsar already look different when compared with a survey in 1994 that asked which past leader could be regarded as a true Russian patriot. Only 5 percent of respondents chose Nicholas II, who did not even make the top ten. |
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