Moscow, 27 August: The secretary of the patriarchal council on culture, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), considers anti-clerical actions of the recent months a new phenomenon, which he has described as "velvet terrorism".

file photo "What we are dealing with today, an outburst of seemingly strange acts: aggressive outrages of a punk group in Moscow's churches, their dirty fun in a museum, vandalism of graves of the defenders of Motherland sacred to our whole nation and now the desecration of worship crosses. All that, of course, is not just hooliganism and not even ordinary anti-clerical acts, as they are sometimes presented. It is a new reality of our life, 'velvet terrorism'," he told an Interfax-Religion correspondent.

In Tikhon's opinion, as any terrorism, it is aimed at the destruction of the historical, spiritual and moral foundations of society and the state by way of sabotage, blackmail and fomenting fear.

"Essentially, (the convicted members of the Pussy Riot band) Mariya Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are the very same Shakhids (suicide bombers), who were thoroughly prepared and used by people behind them. Regrettably, one must admit that aided by internal and external sponsors, 'velvet terrorism' has success and followers in our country, often somewhat rash, but sometimes quite committed ones," Tikhon said. (Passage omitted)

"Now not only inexperienced and naive young people, but also quite successful and mature people may - willingly or unwillingly - easily find themselves to be accomplices of those 'velvet terrorists'. Here it must be said: no matter what reasons are given in one's justification, it is very bad for a person, even unexpectedly for oneself, to turn out to be a terrorist accomplice," Tikhon said.

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Moscow, 27 August: The secretary of the patriarchal council on culture, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), considers anti-clerical actions of the recent months a new phenomenon, which he has described as "velvet terrorism".

file photo "What we are dealing with today, an outburst of seemingly strange acts: aggressive outrages of a punk group in Moscow's churches, their dirty fun in a museum, vandalism of graves of the defenders of Motherland sacred to our whole nation and now the desecration of worship crosses. All that, of course, is not just hooliganism and not even ordinary anti-clerical acts, as they are sometimes presented. It is a new reality of our life, 'velvet terrorism'," he told an Interfax-Religion correspondent.

In Tikhon's opinion, as any terrorism, it is aimed at the destruction of the historical, spiritual and moral foundations of society and the state by way of sabotage, blackmail and fomenting fear.

"Essentially, (the convicted members of the Pussy Riot band) Mariya Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are the very same Shakhids (suicide bombers), who were thoroughly prepared and used by people behind them. Regrettably, one must admit that aided by internal and external sponsors, 'velvet terrorism' has success and followers in our country, often somewhat rash, but sometimes quite committed ones," Tikhon said. (Passage omitted)

"Now not only inexperienced and naive young people, but also quite successful and mature people may - willingly or unwillingly - easily find themselves to be accomplices of those 'velvet terrorists'. Here it must be said: no matter what reasons are given in one's justification, it is very bad for a person, even unexpectedly for oneself, to turn out to be a terrorist accomplice," Tikhon said.