i am not looking for “rabid nationalists”. i am looking for communicative Orthodox Christians.

as a one-time slavophile, i realise that there is a lot for Russians to be proud of: great literature, heavenly liturgy, dazzling icons, spirited religious dissidents & underground artists, poets & musicians developed in the fiery furnace of persecution & the gulag years. i wouldn’t deny Russians any of that. God has challenged us westerners by such brave witness.

Russia doesn’t need to be “me-too” at all. it has a rich heritage, it just needs more translating & a willingness to share its spiritual treasures from those dark times.

slava tebeye Gospody!

The problem of the dissemination of information is, as I said, funding: not many Russian news agencies are able to translate their news into foreign languages.

I assure you that anyone of any “importance” in the Russian Church is not a rabid nationalist, if that is what you’re looking for. Many do speak of the reasons why Russian people should be proud of their country and history, but would you call this nationalism? Russia, like every country, does, in fact, have things of which to be proud.

here is a scarily long list of murdered journalists in wider Russia, going back to the beginnings of perestroika

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia

i am aware of the murder of Russian priests from Alexander Men onwards.
i am also aware of the different jurisdictions within Orthodoxy: the Old Believers, the True Orthdodox & Evangelical Orthodox viewpoints.

i was referring to need for Russian webmasters trying to be more accomodating towards Westerners, sympathetic to our need to learn & read opinion & news in a language that we understand.

As an aside: I may be wrong but I don’t think there have been 13 journalist killed in the past few years; I know of only two. Can you give me some examples? However, I do know that in the past five years there have been six Orthodox priests killed (including one whose wife and three kids were also killed).

In what way would you have the Russian Church criticize Putin? And does it really mean that the Church agrees with everything a political leader may do just because it doesn’t choose to speak about it as much as what many church figures in the West do? I think most priests are more concerned with their parishioners and what effects them. In my opinion, what the politicians do doesn’t really effect many people.

I guess I did not formulate that clearly: there are volumes and volumes of information concerning the Russian Orthodox Church (not all on the internet, of course), but if you’re looking for the latest news you will probably have to search a little more diligently.

Also, Eastern Orthodoxy is not just represented by the Russian Church; therefore, broaden your search a little bit.

I’m really not sure what you mean by saying that Eastern Orthodoxy would want a more sympathetic approach. A sympathetic approach to theology? What would that even mean?

i was referring to the way the Orthodox church appears to view Putin without much criticism.

some Westerners might be attracted to a “diligent search” of the web for Russian church sites with English buttons for non-Cryillic readers. but if Eastern Orthodoxy wants a more sympathetic approach, it will have to make much more of an open handed approach to woo us Westerners to their theology & outlook.

“there is much adulation of Putin.”
I don’t know what Putin has to do with the present subject, but concerning him, and, if you like, Medvedev, I’ll just say that decades of Soviet rule cannot be reversed overnight (or even in a short 20 years).

You are correct but there also has to be funding for English translations of news concerning the Russian Church. However, the Russian Church’s Department of External Relations recently redid their webpage and now have some daily news in English: http://www.mospat.ru/en/
Further, there are plenty of resources available concerning the Russian Church, one just has to be diligent in searching for it.
And further yet, if there is some particular news you think is necessary to know or a question you could email me at norespite(at)adams(dot)net and I will try to help.

it was pointed out to me that there was a lack of understanding & sympathy in the Christian West.

while in Russia i felt that there was a creeping nationalism in the Russian church. that is slightly scary to Westerners. there have been summary executions on Russian streets. there is much adulation of Putin.

what would help Western Christians to understand would be simple things, like English language options on Russian Orthodox church websites.

i wanted to read more on the SOURCE website. i cannot because i am not able to read the Cryllic alphabet. small gestures like language options on websites would draw in many of the curious, concerned & ecumenical Western Christians & intellectuals….

A wizened old woman standing, standing
(how many hours?) on a St Petersburg street,
dressed in a drab coat, a plain pinafore
& battered boots that had seen better days.
She is mutely, unobtrusively holding
five old-fashioned, colourful crocheted hats.

There is no mawkish plea uttered,
no beggar-plaintive pathetic sales pitch,
she holds no crude, cyrillic cardboard sign
begging for this tourist’s attention.
She has no hopeful smile,
neither has she a stubborn Soviet scowl
- just five old fashioned homemade hats.
Not one person pays her with any kindness,
not even this action-parayised sight-seer.

I curse my indecision, my thousand rouble note
( but why not lavishly buy all five handcrafted hats?)
& while i’m at it, indicate to keep the change.
She has been crushed by cruel communism,
lost her life savings, been pauperised by perestroika,
now conscripted into a heartless, hardcore capitalism.

My babushka, my grandmother, you should not have
to stand somewhat cowed on street corners
selling gaudily coloured woollen hats to survive.
Your witness to personal poverty righteouslessly
stabs all our consumer consciences alike.
I wince as I witness your dignified poverty,
a true proletariat of Mother Russia
beaten-down by misfortune,
oh-so-weary of the old empty rhetoric.

We tourists casually stroll up canal-side streets
to the Church of the Saviours Spilt Blood,
where haunting icons & frescoes almost reprimand.
Remind us of the higher calling, the eternal obligations.
Babushka, you were sadly absent on my return.
Did you give up after hours, in despair?
Did you faint on sore feet, from hunger?
Had you gone to weep & pray in pain
at the curiously empty Easter tomb
in a way that only widows know?
With a heavy, empty heart
I cursed the business-bustling neon-lit streets.

Suddenly, I spied your ghost, this time
selling small bunches of garden flowers:
mere daisys, clovers & ferns.
I bought her second last bunch
& bade farewell before change was offered;
an atonement of sorts; then I saw yet another,
gaudily dressed old icon-seller woman, closing up
a battered suitcase & I pressed a folded
note into her gruuby, creased palm with a prayer.

Oh – but from here, this plush sittingroom,
here I still ache (whatever happened to those
five unwanted old-fashioned crocheted hats?)
Where are you know, my worn-down Babushka?
Are you still standing on street corners, hopefully?
Can I forgive my ineptitude?
Who can i send to that St Petersburg street,
to buy five unwanted old fashioned hats?
May the wash of minor-key choral Slavic liturgy,
echoing from ancient Byzantium cleanse me
censing, ilumminating my heavy, dark heart.
O babushka, He will not break any crushed stem,
any feeble icon candle He will not blow out.

http://believeorcredo.wordpress.com/

greetz

Nice post!

The caller said no, he didn’t want to know what time the service began, but what time it ended, so he could time his arrival just before the end and come in and light a candle.

That’s interesting news, which I did not know. I would have to confirm it but I think the church here in Russia has the same system (in addition to the various saintly orders, which are given to laymen as well).

A few years ago the OCA established guidelines for priestly awards. After so many years the gold cross, after so many years the…. I thought it silly. Tenure alone provides all awards? I can see awarding some based on longevity, but others should be reserved for more qualitative, spiritual achievements. Finishing top of your class is not the same as receiving the attendance award.