Ghost of Nicholai

With the approval yesterday of Russia's emigre Eastern Orthodox Churches that fled Moscow after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to unite with their Mother Church in Moscow, a significant and historic event is emerging as the religion of Russia is becoming more and more reunited with the State.

From Radio Free Europe:

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad today adopted a historic recommendation that would accept the Moscow patriarch, Aleksy II, as its head. If it receives final approval from its leaders, the resolution will end more than 80 years of bitter separation.

The All-Diaspora Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which comprises both clergy and laypeople, overwhelmingly voted to reunite with the Moscow Patriarchate at a synod held today in San Francisco.

The Moscow Patriarchate today hailed the resolution. "The decision of the All-Diaspora Council is an event of great significance," said Father Nikolai, the secretary for inter-Orthodox relations at the Moscow Patriarchate. "It is an important step toward restoring full unity between the Moscow Patriarchate and the part of the Russian emigration that was isolated from it as a result of the revolution, the civil war in Russia, and the ensuing impious persecution against the Orthodox Church."

Just a month ago Radio Free Europe also reported on the growing importance and influence of the Orthodox Church to the Russian State under Vladimir Putin.

At a recent convention, Russian Orthodox Church and political leaders spoke of their vision of Russia redefining its place in the world. But is it a vision everyone agrees with?

In particular, the 10th World Council of Russian People, an umbrella organization of national patriotic and public organizations, focused on two topics: the Russian Orthodox Church's interpretation of human rights and Russia's mission in the 21st century.

The council, created in 1993, brings together Russians from home and abroad and is under the aegis of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin.

With the absense of the communist party as the all-guiding demi-god of Russian culture, the Orthodox Church has flooded back in as the moral force behind Russian ambitions throughout Russia as well as on its periphery. Is it possible the coming unification of Church and State in Russia portends the ressurection of the Czar?

Opening the council on April 4, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Aleksy II, set the anti-globalization and anti-Western tone of the event. He spoke of the "unique" historical coexistence of different confessions and nationalities in Russia. And he also questioned the concept of Western human rights.

Addressing the conference the next day, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "Russia's uniqueness" should be defended amid the "drive of globalization." Lavrov said that Russia should transform itself into an "independent force in international politics, which fits in with its national and religious uniqueness."

Also on the agenda were discussions about the Western concept of human rights. In UN documents, human rights are natural and inalienable rights of every person from birth. But the Russian Orthodox Church contends that human rights are granted by God or by state and therefore are not inalienable.

Metropolitan Kirill, the author of the Russian Orthodox Church's human rights declaration, said that Russian clerics reject the concept of "moral autonomy" and do not consider the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1949 to really be universal as it originated in the West.

Kirill also condemned homosexuality, abortion, gambling, and euthanasia and said the Russian Orthodox Church does not accept the liberal thesis that "human rights prevail over the interests of society."
He said that church believers and atheists have a very different understanding of notions such as "human dignity" and "rights and freedom." Slizka, speaking at the convention, accused the West of "imposing on the world the values of Western society."

Clearly the Russian Orthodox Church considers the rise of Hellenism in the West as a distinct threat to Russian identity and I suspect will serve as the basis to rally all Russians to support the ancient homeland against the real and perceived threats that Moscow feels coming from their ancient and most dangerous enemy: Europa.

The most striking provision of the document says that "freedom of choice leads to self-destruction and damages human dignity." According to the document, the church itself will be the arbitrator of good and evil: "it is the religious tradition [that is designed] to distinguish between the good and the evil."

The council perhaps shows how the Russian Orthodox Church is positioning itself to be the "ultimate guide"that the Communist Party once was in the Soviet Union. In a welcome statement to the council, President Putin endorsed that role.