[aaus-list] FW: Window on Eurasia: 'Lenin is Worse than Hitler, ' Senior Moscow Patriarchate Official Says

[Vera Andrushkiw]

FYI,

Vera



>Window on Eurasia: ‘Lenin is Worse than Hitler,’ Senior Moscow 
>Patriarchate Official Says
>
>
>
>Paul Goble
>
>
>
>             Vienna, April 22 – Today is the 139th birthday of Vladimir 
> Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state whose body remains as it has since 
> his death in the mausoleum on Red Square, an object of veneration by his 
> supporters and an offense of varying degrees to those who see him as the 
> enemy of national tradition, freedom and faith.
>
>             This year, as in every year since Gorbachev’s time, there has 
> been the usual discussion on whether Lenin should be removed from the 
> mausoleum and buried as supposedly was not only his wish but that of his 
> family, with a growing number of Russians saying that they are willing to 
> support or at least not oppose such an action if the government takes it.
>
>             But one statement this year, by Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, 
> head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Relations with the Armed 
> Forces and Security Services, deserves particular attention because his 
> words likely reflect the views of many in the Church leadership and 
> because they could lead to a break between the church and some Russian 
> nationalists.
>
>             Queried by the Rusk.ru portal, which has close ties with the 
> Patriarchate, about what should be done with Lenin’s remains, Archpriest 
> Dimitry said that “the time for burying Lenin arrived already in April 
> 1870.” Indeed, the Church official said, “it would have been better if 
> this bastard had never been born” 
> (<http://www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=182479>www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=182479).
>
>             “For me,” Smirnov continued, “Lenin is worse than 
> Hitler.  The decision of the powers to bury him will not lead to any 
> social explosion.  When the body of Stalin who was ‘a living god’ was 
> carried out of the Mausoleum, no one got upset. What is there to talk 
> about [when it comes to Lenin]?”
>
>             After arguing that there is no reason to be concerned about 
> any popular reaction to removing Lenin from Red Square, Smirnov continued 
> with the observation that he “in general is an opponent of burying the 
> body of Lenin. Instead, he should be burned in an oven in Franz-Joseph 
> Land and thrown into the sea there so that his ashes will fall on Europe.”
>
>Or perhaps an even better idea, he argued, would be to bury Lenin’s 
>“corpse on the far side of the moon so that it would not shine on the 
>earth.” But whatever is decided, “one must not bury this evil doer in Holy 
>Russia,” after all the crimes Lenin and the system he set up committed 
>against the Russian people and the Russian church.
>
>Other clerics the portal questioned were more careful in their discussion 
>of the issue, noting the problems involved and the uncertainties of the 
>social and political situation in Russia as a result of the deepening 
>economic crisis, but Smirnov’s unrestrained comments attracted the support 
>of three of the most nationalistic of lay Russian Orthodox groups.
>
>  Not only did the Unions of Orthodox Brotherhoods, of Orthodox Banner 
> Carriers, and of the Russian People adopt an official declaration in 
> support of the archpriest’s declaration 
> (<http://www.pycckie.org/novosti/2009/novosti-220409-2.shtml>www.pycckie.org/novosti/2009/novosti-220409-2.shtml), 
> but they staged a small demonstration in Moscow in support of his ideas 
> (<http://www.pycckie.org/novosti/2009/novosti-220409.shtml>www.pycckie.org/novosti/2009/novosti-220409.shtml).
>
>These are three marginal groups, although their colorful signs and 
>language did attract some media attention, but Smirnov’s words, given his 
>position, are likely to matter a great deal more.  Not only is he a senior 
>official in the Moscow Patriarchate, but his proposal almost certainly 
>reflects the thinking if not yet the public position of other churchmen there.
>
>Indeed, it is possible that the archpriest’s remarks may be yet another 
>testing of the political waters by new Patriarch Kirill in order to 
>determine just how far the church can push the government on this issue. 
>It may even be the case that Smirnov’s “extreme” position will be used by 
>the patriarch to case himself as a moderate by calling for Lenin’s burial.
>
>But there is another consequence of Archpriest Dimitry’s remarks that may 
>matter even more.  His remarks are certain to offend those Russian 
>nationalists who have chosen to ally themselves with former and not so 
>former communists in order to press their own agendas.  And many of them 
>are likely to view the church with even more suspicion and distaste after this.
>
>Consequently, it is even possible that Kirill may find it expedient to 
>fire Dimitry in the name of broader political comity. But Dimitry has many 
>friends in the military, the interior ministry and the FSB, and their 
>power could make any move in that direction difficult, if not impossible.
>
>And thus even as the Duma is considering legislation that might make it a 
>crime to equate Hitler and Stalin during World War II, a leader of the 
>Russian Orthodox Church is going further and insisting not only that Lenin 
>remains worse than Hitler but that his remains should be removed from Red 
>Square and placed on the far side of the moon.
>
>

Vera Andrushkiw
Vice President for External Relations


U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
1701 K Street, N.W. Suite 903
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 223-2228 x 13
Fax: (202) 223-1224

E-mail: vandrushkiw at usukraine.org
On the Internet: www.usukraine.org  
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