Patriarch rejects accusations of clericalism against Church

01.11.2007, 20.53

MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia on Thursday rejected accusations of clericalism advanced against the Russian Orthodox Church. Addressing in Moscow on Thursday the conference Church Affairs held in the framework of the exhibition and forum Orthodox Russia, the patriarch supported the rapporteur, Metropolitan Kirill, who said, “The mission of the Russian Orthodox Church is to serve, not to rule; and this service must be public, not done in seclusion.”

“By your speech, Your Eminence Metropolitan, you have clearly and firmly answered those who accused the Church of clericalism,” Patriarch Alexy said. “The Church, in reality, refused itself at its assemblies from participation in the activities of the bodies of power. We observe unswervingly the principle of the separation of the Church from the state.”

The patriarch recalled that the merger of the Church with the state, uncharacteristic of the Church, existed for over 200 years from the moment Peter the Great abrogated patriarchy to 1917. For two centuries, he said, “the Church was actually part of the state apparatus.” “The situation is absolutely different now,” the patriarch stressed.

Last summer, ten prominent scientists addressed the country‘s leadership with the call to “prevent clericalisation of the country” and protect the area of education and science from the influence of the Church. The Moscow patriarchate rejected these accusations more than once, pointing to “the danger of attempts to drive the Church into a ghetto and isolate it from society.”

Meanwhile, far from everyone in the academic circles shares the concern of the authors of the “letter of ten.” Thus, Alexander Chubaryan, the director of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, does not go along with their assertion that Russian society “is plunged into clericalism.’ ”We have a spate of moral problems. The Church can do much toward restoring moral and ethical values, and this meets the expectations of society. Despite its strong polarization, society welcomes this idea,” the scholars said in the interview with the newspaper lzvestia.

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