The theme of what I call “real time” was presented previously in post 25 (“Real time” in Victory Park).
This is effectively analogous to “liturgical time.” I describe this as, the “place” you find yourself in “time” when you are present as a harmonious unity of spirit, soul and body (i.e. “real I”) while in a state of trinitarian communion with “thy neighbors” (i.e. “loving thy neighbors as thyself”) and while maintaining a prayerful state (i.e., aware of your spirit being filled with the Creator’s love, which constantly rains down on us).
(a). The Kingdom of God is inside you. (Luke 17:20)
It goes without saying that “real time” is inherently subjective and distinct from the illusion of “objective time” measured by a ticking clock. And this contrast between “real time” and “clock-tick time” is particularly great within a social context of “mechanical capitalism” where “time-is-money.”
The effort of a sinner struggling to be Orthodox Christian, struggling to BE their prayer, can, in my view, be construed as an effort to LIVE in “real time” – this is a “place” inside yourself (always bearing in mind that “the Kingdom of God is inside you” Luke 17:20).
The inter-personal forces of the “gravity of flesh” will always tend to pull you out of this “place” inside yourself into the disharmonious condition where self-will, negative emotions and all manner of distractions drag your attention (which is your love) back into the Kingdom of Clock-tick. But, notwithstanding this inevitable tendency of the world around you, according to my experience, it is still possible to remain in “real time” through the very active work of “loving thy neighbor as thyself.”
(b). Sobornost is critical to Orthodox Christian society.
The central feature of the Orthodox spiritual work is that spirit transforms flesh. My metaphorical framework refers to the inter-personal energies of the flesh as the “black” and the energies of the spirit as the “blue.” So, the “blue” can transform the “black” and indeed this is precisely what happens when you “love thy neighbor as thyself” – according to my view, sometimes it is your own “black” that is transformed, sometimes it is that of “thy neighbor,” and often it is both. I like to think of this process as sharing the Creator’s love, which of course, does not BELONG to me.
In spiritually disjointed “mechanical capitalist” societies that promote egoism and a “time is money” “mechanical” way-of-life, it is almost impossible to live in “real time,” because the only way to do this is to “swim upstream” within the social context. (Discussed in post 5 “The Prayer of I am in Christ in the chest.”)
But because of the lingering remnants of “sobornost” in Russia, it is (at least for now still) possible to strive to live in “real time” while “swimming with the stream” of Russian society. This is, of course, infinitely easier to do than “swimming upstream.” And this underscores WHY maintenance, or more correctly, restoration of “sobornost” in Russian society is critically important – this is the path to restoration of a development trajectory towards a modern manifestation of “Holy Rus,’” where the Orthodox church and the people essentially merged into one.
(c). The restoration of sobornost in Russian society requires very active effort.
From my point of view, as an Orthodox foreigner living in Russia, I see how precious the lingering remnants of sobornost here really is – I see with my own experience how much easier the work to live in “real time” is here compared with the West. But I also see Russia on a trajectory towards exactly the same kind of “mechanical capitalism” that has turned Western societies into spiritual wastelands. The restoration of “sobornost” in Russian society to 1991 levels is going to require a very active effort on the part of church-going people who understand what “real time” is and the work they have to do with themselves to get there.
The work to live in “real time” while “swimming with the stream” of Russian society is one and the same with the work to BE the “measure of yeast that raises the whole” (Matthew 13:33) (discussed in post 17 The “measure of yeast” effect.) I describe this as the work to BE my prayer within the “blessed middle” which, because of the lingering remnants of “sobornost,” still exists in Russia but not in the “mechanical capitalist” West. The “blessed middle” is the more-or-less unified spiritual “space” between the “two worlds” of male and female, which are defined by the “gravity of flesh.” The “black” manifests differently between males and females. According to my view, at least in Russia, females tend to project themselves with their “blue” whereas their “black” acts as a kind of complementary “anti-black” towards males, who tend to project themselves in “black.” Males also have “blue,” of course. But within the structure of Russian society, the “two worlds” of male and female are defined by the “black” – according to my view, the females tend to “pull” the “black” into their own sense of their presence, whereas the males tend to (and in fact are OBLIGED to) project themselves in the “black” so as to complement the “anti-black” of the females. As a result of this fundamental difference, of course, one has to use different “methods of prayer” in “loving thy neighbor as thyself” depending on which of the two worlds “thy neighbor” is in. I am very sure that there exists no universal “method of prayer” in this context meaning that everyone has to figure out for themselves exactly HOW they do this.
I invite church-going people to actively work to BE “the measure of yeast.” Confident that the “blessed middle” indeed exists as a spiritual reality, you need only do the work of the liturgy everywhere you stand in order to arrive there.
But MORE than this alone, I invite these same people to demand of “the system” that it change course – to turn back from the current trajectory towards consumer-oriented “mechanical capitalism” that is indistinguishable from that of the West. This theme, the “anti-sobornost” effect of Russian “mechanical capitalism,” is discussed in post 26 (The Tsargrad Institute’s “Future 2050” plan is a misguided path toward “Orthodox individualism.”)
(d). Processions of the Cross as a powerful, transformative vector for change.
We see what is, in my view, the incipient formation of this demand from the people in the increasing popularity of Processions of the Cross in Russia. I recently participated in one such procession in downtown Saint Petersburg that was truly remarkable (115, 116). Around 90,000 people joined including literally hundreds of priests – people carrying icons, many holding simple ones others with larger ones; people bearing banners with iconographic images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Saint Alexander Nevsky and in some cases of the Holy martyr Tsareivich Alexei. There were flags, as well, of the Russian Federation, of course, but also of the Donestsk and Lugansk Peoples’ Republics. Someone would periodically shout out “Christ is risen” to which hundreds would answer “he is surely risen” or “We are Russian” answered by “God is with us.”
The procession originated at Kazansky cathedral (now restored from its previous role in communist society as a “Museum of Atheism”) and proceeded down the central street Nevsky Prospect to Saint Alexander Nevsky square and the Saint Alexander Nevsky lavra.
I participated in liturgy in Kazansky cathedral before the procession. This was packed with people such that simply moving within the assembly inevitably involved very close contact – a situation which, if it occurred within the American “cult of individualism,” would have been considered an aggressive “invasion of personal space” (Discussed in post 22 “Sense of personal space”- the fundamental spiritual illness of Americans.) The liturgy was served by (I think) 40 priests. The large choir comprised both female and male (mostly seminarian) groups aligned opposite each other within the nave. I will for the rest of my life always remember the PERSISTENT unity that we achieved within the Mystical Body of Christ during this service. This unity did not immediately dissipate once we left the church, as inevitably happens in the “mechanical capitalist” “cult of individualism” West.
To the contrary, this remarkable spiritual unity then carried out onto the streets of dowtown Saint Petersburg. The procession was, itself, a very powerful spiritual vector obviously “drawing in” onlookers. From within the procession, I, and I think most everybody else, experienced a prolonged sense of deep spiritual joy, and associated love for “thy neighbor” resulting in a sense of unity the likes of which I have never seen anywhere else in the world. I was very grateful to have been part of it, accompanied by two Orthodox friends, one of whom is an english speaking “spiritual refugee” like myself.
THIS is “sobornost.” THIS is the past and the future of Russia.
115. The religious procession has concluded. We present the most striking images, September 12, 2026, Fontanka.ru; see https://www.fontanka.ru/2026/09/12/76639587/
116. The entire religious procession on Nevsky Prospect in 13 seconds — video, September 12, 2026, fontanka.ru; see https://www.fontanka.ru/2026/09/12/76639616/
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