Staunton, June 15 – Every nation
chooses for itself its own epithet, an American poet wrote just after the end
of World War II. England, he said, was “merry old.” France was “la belle
France.” “And Russia was once called
holy.” Now, ever more Russians again are referring to their country in that way
– and commentators are seeking to define
just what that means.
Two Orthodox writers this week offer
both definitions of what “Holy Rus” means to them and perhaps especially
important what the return of Russians to that idea means for the country, its
government, and the world.
In an article on the Pravoslavie.ru
portal, Andrey Gorbachev asks: “Why of all possible epithets for the word ‘Rus’
only ‘holy’ seems to fit? Why,” the Orthodox commentator asks, “is England for
us old and good; Germany, great; France, beautiful; America, free; but Rus is
holy?” (pravoslavie.ru/put/79922.htm).
One can hardly say that it is
because of any “actual holiness of the Russian people, as since in Rus was
always strong.” Indeed, he continues, “it has sometimes seemed that the Russian
people is somehow especially inclined to sin” and that Russian saints have
spent a large part of their time struggling with the immorality of their own
people.
“In what then is the holiness of
Rus? Someone could say that it is in our saints,” Gorbachev says. “But there
were Orthodox saints in various countries – and in pagan and Muslim ones as
well. On the territory of Turkey there
lived a multitude of saints but it did not come into anyone’s head to call that
country ‘Holy Turkey.’”
Instead, he argues, “Rus is holy
because holiness is its imperishable ideal,” something that means that even
those who attack Rus know that “’there is a country where truth lives’ and that
any, even the worst sinner in Rus can be returned to this country.”
Russians, Gorbachev says, have
always been infused with “the ideal of holiness,” something that means that
they always “really recognize their fall” and always seek to repent and return
to God. In short, they more than other peoples recognize their own sinfulness
and they have faith that God is capable of lifting anyone up regardless of how
far he has fallen.
“Faith
and repentance are the foundations of [Russians’] spiritual life that convert
‘the original pagan Rus’ into Holy Rus,” he says; “and as long as we recognize
our sinfulness and preserve faith in the living and saving God, we have hope
that the expression ‘Holy Rus’ is not an historical anachronism for our time.”
A second perspective on this is
offered by Archpriest Sergey Karmyshev, a publicist for the Rybinsk bishopric,
in an article entitled “Holy Rus as a Political Reality” on the Russian
Orthodox and Russian nationalist Russkaya Narodnaya Liniya portal (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2015/06/15/svyataya_rus_kak_politicheskaya_realnost/).
The
core meaning of the word “holy,” Father Sergey says, is “set apart and devoted
to God.” By calling Rus holy, its
leaders signaled the commitment to devoting “our Fatherland to the service of
God.” Thus, “the holiness of Rus … does not mean its sinlessness.” Indeed, it
may very well be, he argues that “the Russians are the most sinful of all the peoples
of the earth.”
“In
order to understand the idea of the holiness of Rus,” the archpriest continues,
“let us reflect on the holiness of the Church.” There it is possible to believe
only that which is not obvious.” And so
it is with Holy Rus -- “Our sinfulness is obvious; our holiness is a matter of
faith.”
“We believe not
in our exceptionalism as do some who speak about the exceptional quality of
some nation or other but rather in the holiness of the task laid on us.” And because Russians do, he says, they
understand that “the closer an individual or a whole people comes to God, the
greater Satan’s anger is as a result.”
That is what is
happening with Rus today, Father Sergey says. Despite all its sins, Rus is “again
standing on the path of converting into life the divine will” and standing up
to the West whose “civilization has capitulated before sin.” That means that “Russia
is finding within itself the strength to swim against the general current” on
homosexuality and much else.
“When they spoke
about Holy Rus,” he continues, “our distant ancestors had in mind not only a
definite people but a definite state” because “in general, the state is the
means of the existence of a people in this world. It is the carcass” which
holds things together and allows for the preservation of faith.
“Only those who
live without laws and the godless can be gladdened by the destruction of
national states and the transformation of the unique peoples of the Earth into
a common all-human herd,” Father Sergey says.
When Rus was weak at the end of the 20th century, things were
moving in that direction rapidly. But now Rus is able to stand up and resist
not only for itself and but others as well.
“What is taking
place now in Ukraine is nothing other than a war of the unclean forces against
Holy Rus,” and Russians must be strong in hope and faith, he argues.
Half a millennium ago, Filofey told Moscow’s Grand
Prince Ioann Vasilyevich that the first two Romes had fallen, that Moscow was
the third, and “’a fourth there shall not be.’ Here he had in mind a state
which served as the external defender of the Holy Church.” But his prophecy has
not yet been completely fulfilled, Father Sergey says.
Not all former
Christians have turned to Rus as their defender, and consequently, “in these
conditions, Rus must correspond to the height of its calling – to be a light
for the peoples of the world.” Russians must imitate the lives of the saints,
and they must strengthen their state to prevent its slide “into a hellish
abyss.”
If they do, the
church commentator says, anyone who attacks “the fortress of the Russian state,”
regardless of “the beautiful words” he may use, will be defeated, and Holy Rus
will win out.
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