Church calls for Lenin's works to be scrutinized for extremism
Alina Lobzina - Moscow News - themoscownews.com - 4.2.12 - JRL 2012-60
The combined works of past communist leaders should be probed for extremism, archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, told journalists on Friday.
file photoThe legacy of Lenin, Trotsky and other prominent Bolsheviks has to be reviewed from a legal point of view, as well as in "moral and political" terms, Chaplin said at a press-conference.
"How should we deal with them being re-released and deal with those who in practice are using the most radical bits of these texts for propaganda," he said, Interfax reported.
Calls for Red Terror
file photoNazi propaganda has become illegal, and according to Chaplin, the founders of the Bolshevik movement should be treated in the same way, as their works "justify mass repressions, and sometimes call for the Red Terror."
"The Bolsheviks not only ruined churches, but also mocked them, held dances in them and other sacrileges," Chaplin said. "People who can commit sacrilege, can also destroy churches," he added, referring to feminist punk band Pussy Riot, which are currently in jail awaiting trial for their controversial punk prayer performance in the principal Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
The controversial plea to Virgin Mary to expel Prime Minister Vladmir Putin from Russia, performed ahead of the presidential election, was earlier called the work of the devil by Patriarch Kirill. Three alleged members of the band are facing up to seven year in prison.
Many communists believe in God
The church's attitude towards today's Communists, however, is not hostile, according to Chaplin.
"We are positive about the Communist Party of Russia they have many believers [in God], and about the so-called new-leftists who are raising topics that need to be discussed in our society," the archpriest.
Chaplin didn't elaborate on his stance on the questions of the "social justice, the dominance of big business and corrupt officials."
Earlier he told Interfax that expensive items owned by priests, as was the case with the splendor of the church, were needed to show their "social prestige."
Keywords: Russia, Religion - Russia, History, Soviet Union -