“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, taken by a woman and put into three measures of flour until the whole lot had risen.” (Matthew 13:33).
The profane “Prosperity Theology” of the Christian-Satanists “misses the mark” by 180 degrees: Christian spiritual well being is still possible in Russian society because of the persistence of “sobornost.” This has not yet dissolved into “every person for themself” consumerism precisely because the material level remains low within the Western-style economy forcibly created by the IMF in 1992. It is a truism that Americans will readily understand – a poor man will help you long before a rich man will.
It cannot be denied that, for now, the Russian economy is on a trajectory towards the same kind of “mechanical capitalism” that Satanized America. But it is still many decades behind the west in this regard. Median incomes remain much lower in Russia. Even in developed urban areas, the level is on the order of 1/3 that in the USA. And of course conditions are far more “ascetic” for Russians living within the vast, undeveloped interior of this expansive country or in the “lower tier” urban areas.
The Orthodox Christian Church re-emerged in Russia’s post-communist society, financed by contributions from the economically deprived masses, without the slightest help from prosperous American “Christians” (27) or “Radio Free Europe” or the IMF. The “yeast” is here in Russia and it is ready, willing, and able to “raise the whole.” But this will only truly flourish if Russian society is able to preserve and maintain “sobornost” in future generations.
We can predict with a probability of 1.0 that, absent conscious efforts to prevent this, “sobornost” will disappear as the material level of people in this economy rises. Russian society will begin to resemble America, “every man for himself.” The “last barricade” at which sinners struggling to become Christians can defend Christian spiritual well-being in Russia against the Satanic onslaught of “mechanical capitalism” lies in finding a solution to this problem—how can we preserve “sobornost” in future generations?
There are two different, not mutually exclusive, possibilities in this regard: (a) To change the political economic order and (b) to educate young Russians about what “sobornost” is and how they can maintain it in an ever-changing and fast-paced world.
As far as (a) changing the political economic order, Russians have no inclination for any more “revolutions” against “the system.” They have already endured horrific political mass murder and have had quite enough of it. They suffered the struggle between the “Red” and “White” Russians after the communist revolution. They suffered at the hands of their own “atheist materialist” communists. And of course they suffered literally 50 times as much death during WWII as Americans. (I note as an aside a particularly gruesome chapter in the history of civilian mass murder during WWII – the siege of Leningrad by Germany and Finland, now NATO member states who are, once again, massively re-arming in preparation for war against Russia.) (28)
It is indeed true that Russians are very much afraid to undertake any protests or actions directed “against” “the system.” Acts of “extremism” are literally criminal in Russia. And as for what, exactly, constitutes “extremism,” we turn to the distinguished legal scholar Humpty Dumpty – “the word means exactly what I want it to mean, nothing more and nothing less.”
And it is indeed true that “the system” in Russia in this time of war and sanctions is increasingly repressive. Some Russians speak with alarm about a process of “re-communization” incorporating all of the bad aspects of the Soviet system but none of the good aspects, such as virtually free housing for the masses.
Vladimir Putin is construed in the West as the evil face of “the system” in Russia. And this is ironic, since, in reality, Vladimir Putin is only the authoritarian formal head of a state that, in the words of Grigori Yavlinsky, is “not a public government per se but essentially a compromise between an executive head of state and representatives from influential economic and political clans who perform the role of intermediary between the peak of the power pyramid and its core backbone.” (29) “The system” in Russia was ultimately created by the West itself! We will never know what “might have been” if the US would have helped Russia after the fall of the communists, as urged by Richard Nixon, instead of demanding its “fire sale” privatization and a waiver of all claims to Russian lands that ultimately became incorporated within “Ukraine” (as a consequence of actions taken by Vladimir Lennin and Josef Stalin within the former Soviet Union).
But there is still time for “the system” in Russia to peacefully and voluntarily correct its course and thereby protect Russians from the self-inflicted spiritual catastrophy that befell Americans and that is rapidly overwhelming west Europeans. In other words, “the system” in Russia can still evolve into something that preserves and maintains “sobornost.”
As for (2) reaching the hearts and minds of young Russians with an understanding of and appreciation for “sobornost,” the “target audience” is, of course, not active participants in the “sacrament of the assembly,” who need no education on this question, but rather non-believers who are attracted to Western materialism and generally suspicious of the Orthodox Church apparatus.
My beloved godson, born in 1992, vanguard of the first post-communist Russian generation, is a “poster child” for this “target audience.” My efforts to “educate” him in this regard are presented in the next section of this work “Letters to my godson: On the work of the people and the future of Russia.” I respectfully submit that this work might also be helpful for Christian-curious Americans and for prospective recovering former Christian-Satanists.
Notes:
(27) To the contrary, all manner of well-financed Baptists, Evangelical and other Protestants came rushing in as “missionaries” rather than simply offering to help the Russian Orthodox Church.
(28) My spiritual home is the Church of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land located in Victory Park in St. Petersburg, where the remains of some 500,000 civilian victims of German/Finnish brutality are buried.
(29) Realeconomik: The hidden cause of the great recession (and how to avert the next one), Grigori Yavlinsky (2011) (In english)
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