Church Official Says Russia's Future Hinges On Outcome Of Pussy Riot Discussion
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Ulan-Ude, 3 August: The Russian Orthodox Church believes that Russia's future depends on the outcome of public discussion prompted by the (protest) action by the Pussy Riot (punk band) in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral (in February).
"The discussion that has now emerged is very important for society. The moral conscience of our people and future of the country depend on its outcome," the head of the Synod Department for Relations between the Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, said on Friday (3 August) during a business trip to the city of Ulan-Ude (Republic of Buryatiya).
file photoThe priest believes that it was "a stupid event which provoked not the most intelligent of the discussions", but at the same time he was happy that the event and the discussion that followed "prompted society to talk about the most important things: where the borderline that divided morale and the law was; what role religion played in society; whether society and the state should respect feelings of religious people and their dearest values; what could be done in public and what could not".
The representative of the Church was not happy that these questions were discussed because of that scandalous event, although he was satisfied that they (the questions) nevertheless had become the focus of public attention.
"For 20 years, we have been ignoring these questions, avoiding them. Officials and even some journalists told us not to touch them," said the priest, stressing that it was necessary to discus issues to do with the rules of living together.
He also called attempts to exert pressure on court ahead of a ruling on the Pussy Riot case inappropriate and quoted President Putin's recent comments on this case (in London) as a model example.
(Passage omitted)
Father Vsevolod recalled that often different forces, in the 1990s as well, had urged the Church to put pressure on high-profile court cases.
"Some people said that the Church should drive the last nail into the coffin of communism. Others said that the Church should condemn the authorities of the 1990s and the market reforms," the priest recalled.
According to him, the Church always refrained from putting pressure on courts regarding such pressure immoral. Nevertheless, if the Church believed that a court verdict was not fair after it had been passed, it appealed to various bodies, asking them for clemency.
"One thing is to show clemency after a court ruling was announced, and quite another is to run a public campaign to influence the ruling," the representative of the Church asked to keep in mind.
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