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Moscow Patriarchate Official Calls for Arming Young to Fight "Orange" Threat

Thread ID: 20051 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2005-09-06

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Petr [OP]

2005-09-06 20:10 | User Profile

[I]"Vsevolod Chaplin"... Pretty interesting Russian name. [/I]:tongue:

[url]http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/090505Russia.shtml[/url]

[SIZE=5]Window on Eurasia: Patriarchate Official Calls for Arming Young to Fight "Orange" Threat[/SIZE]

B

Paul Goble[/B][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]

Tartu, September 5 – [B]A senior official of the Moscow Patriarchate has urged priests to join forces with the civil authorities to provide paramilitary training to young people in order for the latter to be in a position to defend Russia against efforts to carry out an „Orange”-style revolution there.

In an interview published last week, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the deputy head of the Patriarchate’s Department of External Affairs, suggested that parish priests should take the lead in teaching young people about both „the law of God and military arts” to meet such challenges[/B] ( [url]http://www.radonezh.ru/analytic/articles/?ID=1284[/url] ).

Specifically, Chaplin argued that „our congregations must become centers of social action, although the clergy ought not to get involved in party politics. The establishment of youth groups, military-patriotic groups, and the organization of youth camps – all this will help create a community of literate and responsible laypersons.”

And he continued, „One of my old friends went to serve in a workers’ settlement in the Izhevsk eparchate. He has organized a beautiful military-patriotic camp where young people study both the law of God and the military arts, [something he has done] by the way with the active help” of the local authorities. Both the venue and the content of Chaplin’s latest statement are intriguing. His interview, although widely reported by mainstream Russian news agencies, first appeared in „Radonezh,” a publication which has promoted a kind of Russian nationalism so radical that until very recently the Moscow Patriarchate had kept it at arm’s length. But it is the point of view Chaplin expressed that is most deserving of attention. While the Russian Orthodox Church has a long history of organizing youth camps, Chaplin’s remarks are the clearest indication yet that the Patriarchate fully blesses the idea that these camps should have a military component and be directed against an „Orange” threat.

In his interview, Chaplin says that Russia may indeed face the threat of an „orange” revolution, something he defined as „a definite political technology or, using the language of the military, a special operation, with the help of which can be undertaken another attempt to destroy our statehood and an effort to change the historical path of our people, its faith, its culture, its manner of thinking and its way of life.”

[B]Such revolutions, he continues, have „very little in common” with the free choice of the people, even though many talk about such actions as if they did. Instead, they represent an effort to impose Western values on Russia even at the price of destroying Russia’s national uniqueness.[/B]

One of the very best means of opposing such revolutions, Chaplin says, is the construction of a genuine civil society, one not based on Western values but on Russian ones. Such a society will allow those who love their country and its history to influence elites and thus to block the spread of an „orange”-style revolution.

Unfortunately, he suggests, many in the current Russian political elite are afraid to insist on such a national definition of civil society lest it infuriate the West which has a very different definition of that form of social organization or cost those people their Western grants. And consequently, the Church and its members must work to promote it.

[B]That is all the more the case now, Chaplin argues, because „genuine democracy means the power of the people” and „Western democracy today is ever more acquiring the aspects of a police regime.”[/B]

But even while making this argument, Chaplin insists that Russians „avoid radicalism.” On the one hand, he says, „any revolution would be a tragedy for Russia” as its own „color revolution” in 1917 demonstrated.

And on the other, any instability inside Russia might give the West a pretext for intervention there in the name of restoring order.

But many in both Moscow and the West are certain to view Chaplin’s remarks as anything but a contribution to stability. Indeed, in his concluding comment, Chaplin acknowledges as much but indicates that the Church must push forward anyway to block what he sees as the dangers from an „orange” threat.

„We must strive for contact with the civil authorities,” he says, not because we agree with them in all things but because „it is very important that as a result of this contact, the authorities finally understand that they must work with real forces and not with virtual social organizations which they can create and disband at will.”

And even though t´government leaders will find it more difficult to work with real organizations, they must be forced to do so because in Chaplin’s view that is „the very best defense against revolutions of any color” in Russia now and in the future.[/FONT] [/SIZE]

mwdallas

2005-09-06 21:32 | User Profile

[QUOTE]One of the very best means of opposing such revolutions, Chaplin says, is the construction of a genuine civil society, one not based on Western values but on Russian ones. Such a society will allow those who love their country and its history to influence elites....[/QUOTE]This is a very healthy perspective.

Kevin_O'Keeffe

2005-09-06 21:48 | User Profile

So if I understand this "Orange revolution" concept, they're basically saying they would like to take measures so as to facilitate Russia's avoidance of the fate Ukraine recently met, more or less?

Faust

2005-09-06 22:04 | User Profile

May they crush many Bolshevik skulls.

Quantrill

2005-09-06 23:19 | User Profile

[QUOTE=Kevin_O'Keeffe]So if I understand this "Orange revolution" concept, they're basically saying they would like to take measures so as to facilitate Russia's avoidance of the fate Ukraine recently met, more or less?[/QUOTE] And Belarus. Yes, they are trying to avoid the Soros-financed, globalist, 'spreading democracy and freedom' fate of those other countries. God bless 'em. Religion and nationalism -- two great tastes that taste great together!

Okiereddust

2005-09-07 05:02 | User Profile

[QUOTE=Petr]But many in both Moscow and the West are certain to view Chaplin’s remarks as anything but a contribution to stability. Indeed, in his concluding comment, Chaplin acknowledges as much but indicates that the Church must push forward anyway to block what he sees as the dangers from an „orange” threat. Including, one presumes, the publisher of this piece, the council of Jews of the Former Soviet Union.

We must strive for contact with the civil authorities,” he says, not because we agree with them in all things but because „it is very important that as a result of this contact, the authorities finally understand that they must work with real forces and not with virtual social organizations which they can create and disband at will.”

And even though t´government leaders will find it more difficult to work with real organizations, they must be forced to do so because in Chaplin’s view that is „the very best defense against revolutions of any color” in Russia now and in the future[/QUOTE] Sounds to me like he doesn't trust any of them really, Putin's party, Yushenko's Party, the Belurus guy, whoever, but sees the need to work with whoever's in power.

Its interesting of course. David Duke in Ukraine leans toward Yuschenko. This guy leans against him.

Radonezh sounds like an interesting organization. It obviously isn't a westernophilic organization though, there isn't any english language materia on it available, either externaly or internally. This [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_of_Radonezh]Wilkpedia entry[/URL] is about all I can find.