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Divine Faith

Before the Bolshevik take-over, Russia was a God-fearing country where thousands of pilgrims marched from one monastery to another on a never-ending tour because the number of holy places was so immense.

The Communists put a quick stop to all this. Churches were destroyed, the priests were shot or sent to Siberia and atheism reigned supreme. During this time if someone admitted he was a believer or much more worse – a church-goer , it was a sign that he didn’t care about his job.

In spite of the decades of Communism, Russians are still on the whole a religious lot, though this doesn’t mean that large numbers attend church. In fact, the time is rapidly approaching when parishes will fight one another for their flock.

The thousand-year-old Russian Orthodox branch of Christianity is opposed to all the other branches, above all to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Orthodox Russians think they are the only true believers and that there is absolutely no hope of salvation for anyone else.

In fact, even infidel Muslims are considered better than those Western dissenters from the faith of the forefathers. Strange though it might seem, for all their religious differences, Tartars and Mongols (who as Russians are taught at school were once their cruel oppressors) are treated either in a friendly way or with indifference, while Christians in the West are looked upon with suspicion and distrust. the explanation is that Catholic Christians’ favourite figure from the Scriptures is the active and efficient Apostle Peter, while Russians would rather side with the wise philosopher John the Divine (of Revelations). It’s a division that illustrates the main difference in the national character of Russians and Westerns.

Ancient churches in Russia are part of the nation’s cultural pride and many of the thousands that were ruined under Communism are being restored. In almost all of them, on the Western gallery wall there is an impressive fresco of the Last Judgement in which sinners in Oriental turbans and Pilgrim Father type tall hats are obediently walking into the eternal flames where abominable looking devils are ready to torture them, while saints clad in Russian style garb are welcomed by the benevolent Apostle Peter jingling his keys of Paradise. The frescoes prove that all but Russian Orthodox believers will burn in hell.


Date: 2015-04-20; view: 849


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