Self-development 

Is love for the motherland compatible with love for God? Saints of the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill on love for the motherland

Apostle Paul: “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

St. Filaret Drozdov: "The state is a big family."

Saint Philaret of Moscow: "A thin citizen of an earthly fatherland and a heavenly one is unworthy."

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt: “Remember that the earthly Fatherland with its Church is the threshold of the Heavenly Fatherland, therefore love it fervently and be ready to lay down your soul for it.”

Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) about love for the motherland: « Each of us is a son of our native land... Can a son be indifferent to the groans of his suffering mother? But she, our dear, once a saint, and now having sinned so much before God, she groans, exhausted, tormented by her own children - our unfortunate brothers. What would you do loving son, if your loving brother began to beat, torture your common mother, mock her, dishonor her? Oh, of course, nature itself would cry out in you with the words of the commandment of God: what, love, take care of your mother, protect her from the mad brother, deprive him of the opportunity to harm her! If your brother, deprived of his mind, having lost his conscience, began to mock, like Ham, at your father, would you really begin to look at these mockeries with indifference? Would you not silence this mad brother? But look: your dear mother, your dear Russia, her unfortunate mad children are tormenting, they are going to tear apart, they want to take away from her the cherished shrine - the Orthodox Faith, they are trampling into the mud everything that she has hitherto lived, strengthened, flaunted ... can your heart be calm at the same time, Russian man? Isn't it bitter for you, doesn't it hurt to endure all this? Does not your heart seethe with jealousy, does not your whole being shake with indignation, just indignation? What are you to do?..

Again, ask your conscience. She will remind you of your loyal oath. She will tell you: be ready to die for the Tsar and for Russia. Remember how your ancestors fearlessly died for Him. Remember how a simple townsman, in the current tradesman, Kozma Minin Sukhoruk raised Nizhny, and after him all of Russia, to defend his native land. Look at how he, on his monument, nobly energetically points to the native, cherished, so sacred for the Russian heart Kremlin to the ailing Prince Dimitri Mikhailovich Pozharsky. Remember how the ever-memorable Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin, with joy and courage, laid down his soul for the Tsar, chopped to pieces by the Poles. Not everyone was judged by God to be such heroes, but he commanded everyone: honor your father and your mother. Honor the king, love the brotherhood of the people! Christ the Savior Himself gave us a touching example of human love for His native city, native people. Remember how He wept and sobbed, looking at Jerusalem and predicting its death in those solemn moments when the people of Jerusalem shouted loudly to Him: “Hosanna.” Should we not love the lands of our fathers? After all, she is all watered with Russian blood, soldered by her; after all, we ourselves, with our bones, will lie down in it, mixing our ashes with the ashes of our ancestors ... "

One of the high reliefs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior depicts St. Sergius of Radonezh blessing the Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo and giving the prince two hermit monks to help: Alexander Peresvet (the future combatant) and Oslyabya. To his right is the boyar Mikhail Brenko. It was to him, this boyar, that the prince gave his armor in order to mislead the enemy. From that moment on, Mikhail Brenko became, as it were, doomed to death, because the main goal of each of the thousands of Tatar warriors was the murder of the Grand Duke. The beloved confidante of the prince, "who laid down his soul for his friends" - in the clothes of the Grand Duke died heroically on the Kulikovo field, and his family subsequently gave the Fatherland the future saint and ardent patriot, Bishop Ignatius (Bryanchaninov).

From the Letters of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov written during the next world war against Russia to N.N. Muravyov-Karsky, commander of the army conducting military operations on the territory of Iran - an outstanding military and statesman: “… I call upon you the abundant blessing of God. In time of peace you laid down your sword, took up the plow; when the military thunderstorm began to accumulate - you left the plow, took up again for the sword, took for him with Christian humility, they took it, driven and guided by true devotion and love for the Tsar and the Fatherland. In blessed Russia, in the spirit of a pious people, the Tsar and the Fatherland are one, just as in a family their parents and their children are one. Develop in Russian soldiers the thought that lives in them, that they, sacrificing their lives to the Fatherland, sacrifice it to God and are numbered among the holy host of the martyrs of Christ ... May your weapons sound and at the sound of it may the chains fall from Christians! .. What I said it is said from sincere love for you and from love for the dear fatherland, which I pity - I pity!

It is common for every Orthodox Christian to wish for all sorts of blessings, First of all, Orthodox fatherland, Secondly, of the same tribe and all Orthodox peoples, finally ( in the third place- auth.), to all mankind.

The special fate of the Russian people! No Napoleons can do anything where the hand of God is at work ... May the precious blood of heroes not be shed at the foot of the vile European politics.

During the years of Russian unrest, Hieromartyr John Vostorgov called out: « Our Lord lives, and His Church lives, and Holy Russia lives! Millions of her sons have not bowed and will not bow their knees before Baal, they can neither be intimidated, nor purchased, nor deceived by the enemies of Russia.

Note "for official use" : The words of the holy martyr were addressed to the troublemakers who apostatized from Orthodoxy, but could both Father John and St. Sergius of Radonezh, and St. Joseph Volotsky, and St. Philaret of Moscow, and St. rights. John of Kronstadt and many other luminaries of the Russian Church, that the time will come when words of condemnation of love for the Fatherland, words of condemnation of the struggle for the Orthodox Fatherland will sound from among the Church itself - from the lips of its pastors?

Based on materials from Orthodox Internet resources

The Russian Orthodox Church often speaks of love for the Fatherland. In Russia, patriotism in general is traditionally perceived as a Christian value. However, in the Bible, the Motherland, in our understanding of the word, at first glance, is not given special significance. We can recall at least the words of the Apostle Paul, that in Christ "there is neither Greek nor Jew."
How to combine the worship of the one God for all peoples with patriotism, which encourages a person to love his earthly Motherland with its mistakes, injustices and sins? And what is the peculiarity of Russian patriotism?

Russian without faith turns into a beast

– Nikita Sergeevich, most of your films are permeated with love for the old “Bunino” life of a noble estate. In the soul of the viewer, this causes a strong emotional response, although for the majority it is rather only literary associations. After all, most of them went to the Soviet school and were brought up on the romance of “commissars in dusty helmets”, and not on exploits St. Sergius Radonezh and not on the image of an inextinguishable lamp in front of the icon ...

- Probably, for the majority, this response is really primarily associated with literature. At the same time, I deeply believe that there are things that do not disappear - no matter how they are corroded. And we can't manage it easily. You can burn faith with a red-hot iron, you can put people in prison, kill priests, blow up churches. But the history of our Motherland shows that Orthodoxy, as the basis of the moral foundations and way of life in Russia, like grass through concrete, will still grow. In general, I believe that today Orthodoxy is the youngest religion in the world.

- Orthodoxy is now gaining a second wind, new life. Christianity in the West is no longer hot: it is too familiar, too traditional ... There everything ends with a family dinner with parents at Christmas or a card for a name day. We are different...

- So you mean first of all Russian Orthodoxy?

- Certainly. Moreover, not only the ritual part of life in the temple. In general, I am now talking about Orthodox culture as such, about Orthodox tradition. Therefore, this is the same, Bunin's. It is impossible to imagine the same Bunin or Shmelev without the lamp you mentioned. She was part of their life. And when they began to take away and destroy this life, it became the main part of their life: their pain, their passion, their suffering ... Until there was even a danger of extermination, many did not even think about this basis. As one of Bunin's heroines said, "I'm like air to you - you can't live without it, but you don't notice it." And while the lamp was burning, they did not see it. But when it went out - everyone noticed it. This, probably, is a very accurate image of Orthodoxy: while in power, it was like a natural breath. But as soon as the persecution began, faith immediately strengthened, and the desire to re-ignite this icon immediately increased, because without it there simply is no Russia. And today it burns with new force.

– You said “Orthodox culture”. Some sociologists say that the Orthodox revival is primarily about culture (cultural identity), but not about religion. That many of our compatriots who consider themselves Orthodox do not really believe in God. Do you agree with this? Is this good or bad?

“You know, it’s not my job to judge whether anything is good or bad. I don’t think that faith can be measured in any way, that sociologically it’s easy to look into a person’s soul. But for me it is quite obvious: when we talk about Orthodoxy, Orthodox culture, we are talking about the Church and Christ. I will say more: a person without faith is not interesting to me. I had such a case. I was giving a press conference in Vologda and noticed how some angry, pale young man was nervously and displeasedly writing down something. When I quoted the words of Vasily Rozanov that a person without faith is not interesting to me at all and that a Russian person without faith turns into a beast, he was simply indignant. After the press conference, a young man came up to me and asked if I really thought that a person without faith was uninteresting. I said that I fully agree with Rozanov. Then he says, “I don't drink, I don't smoke, I never cheated on my wife, I never killed anyone, I never gave false witness. I don't overeat and I don't get drunk. I lead an almost holy life. But I don't go to church and I don't believe in God. And you're not interested in me?" I thought about it and said, “Absolutely not.” He really was not interesting to me - deeply, essentially. Do you understand? .. It seems to me that it is completely pointless to be afraid of different religions. One must be afraid of the unification of atheists - those people who are convinced that they are the masters of life.

- Nikita Sergeevich, what about this question: Russian culture is a national culture, and Orthodox Christianity– supranational religion (“in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew”). How to combine it?

– Of course, Orthodoxy, even Russian Orthodoxy, cannot be associated only with blood, only with nationality. We know from history a huge number of examples when the Tatars adopted the Christian faith and served the Russian princes, fought for Russia and for Russia. And the Germans ... Here, rather, an inverse relationship. Orthodoxy has created a special type of culture on our land, our Orthodoxy has a special taste, or something ... All this is in an almost intangible sphere. The same Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov felt this very precisely. One Russian person winks at another with a sly eye - and everything is clear. That's what's impossible with a foreigner. That is, you can, of course, wink, but not everything will be clear. Or rather, nothing will be clear. And the point is not in dislike for foreigners, but in the fact that this basis lies outside the rational consciousness; this is the metaphysical realm of life. Although, of course, the “mysterious Russian soul” will be speculated for a long time, because it is very convenient for someone who does not want to do anything.

And one more thing: Orthodoxy, it seems to me, is the only religion that can reconcile the steppe and the forest. Therefore, the Lord so ruled that it was Orthodoxy that became the fundamental religion of Russia, which by right is the only real bridge between East and West. Russia perceives both Western and Eastern culture with equal ease.

Armed evolution

Let me return to the beginning of our conversation. As a child, together with the future viewers of your films, you went to a Soviet school with its “patriotic upbringing”, you were taught that a Soviet person sounds proud. Did you feel like a patriot at that time? If so, then a patriot of what: the departed Russia of your grandfather's house, Soviet Russia, or some kind of Russia of your own?

- It so happened that, oddly enough, I had the rarest opportunity not to separate one from the other. Of course, the upbringing of my mother affected here. She was born in 1903, 10 years older than her father. Mom never joined the party, she always went to church, she had a confessor, and icons hung at home. If questions arose, the father said to the authorities: “Well, what do you want, she was born in 1903, an elderly person.”

Thanks to my mother, confession and communion were a natural part of life for me, although I understood in my head that this was the rarest exception, and I was very careful. I remember a very shameful story for me that happened on Easter, I was then twelve or thirteen years old. In the temple, someone approached me and said quietly in my ear: “We are baptized under a jacket!”. It was true. Although at the same time it was such a feeling of almost catacomb Christianity ...

Therefore, despite such a “double” life, for me Orthodoxy as such, the culture of confession and communion were organic. Most of my contemporaries had no such experience. And now, when the shackles are thrown off and people come to the temple, it is not so easy for many to find themselves. One young FSB general confessed to me: “When I go into a church, a Buddhist temple or a synagogue and feel like a tourist there, this is normal, I don’t need more. But when I realize that Orthodox church I stand and don’t know anything, that here I am a tourist, it’s hard for me. But I can't just make the sign of the cross over myself. I should know, understand, feel, why do it, but I was not taught. After all, I did not serve Brezhnev or Chernenko, I served the Motherland. Protected her the way I understood this protection. And I understand that this is a tragedy. Finding faith for such people is a very painful process. But today their coming to the Church is a very serious matter. I am convinced that those who came and did not retreat, who, despite their age, despite all their upbringing, are trying to perceive and perceive the true values ​​of Russian Orthodoxy - these are people who have accomplished a serious feat. And this is the young Orthodoxy I was talking about.

– How many of them are there today? Can we responsibly say today that in different social groups, including those in power, are there patriots who love their homeland and learn to love the Church?

- Lots of. I can name and name names. And even among those who are often unfairly called "candlesticks".

– And when you come, say, to the Diveevo Monastery on August 1 and meet a lot of officials, politicians and businessmen there, do you think that most of them sincerely try to understand and feel the joy of the Liturgy?

- I am completely convinced that those who came there not to see the governor coming to the meal, and not to see the authorities, but passed procession or they came in the morning, defended the service, then to venerate the open relics of Father Seraphim - even if they are not churched according to the deep account, they are on the way to this. And I respect and appreciate their way very much.

– Nikita Sergeevich, you made a documentary film “Russian Choice” about the fate of white movement and Russian emigration. In one of the interviews after the film, you said about your characters: “Looking at them, you understand what Russia could be like.” What is it?

- I am aware that history in the subjunctive mood is a meaningless thing. But we must at least know and understand what and why we have lost. And the point, of course, is not in the events of the 17th year, it all started much earlier.

The seer Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov said about the Decembrists: “The fluctuation of minds is not firm in anything.” Stunning image. And an amazing verdict! We deal with this all the time. Unsteady minds are, first of all, unsteady in faith. And from unbelief - nihilism, the constant loosening of the foundations, about which Stolypin said: “You need great upheavals, but we need great Russia". Russia was destroyed precisely because they understood that it could come out of this vast country with incredible natural and human potential, strengthened by faith. A single nation sanctified by a God-chosen monarch...

What could Russia be like?.. You know, I understand that now I will say things that are blatant and old-fashioned for the liberal democratic consciousness, but if we imagine that the tragedy of 1917 did not happen, then - I am absolutely convinced - there would be no Second world war. I do not know how and where the world would develop, but there would be no war. However, the revolution prevented evolution. By the way, if we talk about the formula of this Russia, then, in my opinion, this is an armed evolution. An evolution that is protected.

– Political scientists say that one of the fundamental characteristics of Russian political culture is the indistinguishability between the Motherland and the state. your creativity, public performance create the image of a statesman, a sovereign. For you, love for the Motherland is love for the Russian state?

- Undoubtedly. Another conversation: I can not always and not everyone love. But not the state, but a certain part of those who consider themselves entitled to act on its behalf. But this does not change my attitude in general.

I am convinced that Russia is a cross, where the vertical is power, and the horizontal is economy and culture. And then that very harmony arises - when what you want coincides with what you can.

- Another important setting of the Russian consciousness is the image of the Motherland as land, territory. But, say, for the Americans, the territory is much less relevant. First and foremost is freedom. What is the relationship between Russian people and freedom?

- In very bad ones, because for him freedom is will, although in reality they are different things. Paradoxically, when a Russian person has three ties, he starts to get lost. I don't think it's good, but it is. Maybe it's our misfortune, but not our fault. You are right about the earth. For a Russian person, for national character geography is very great importance. Boundlessness gives rise to a feeling of free open breathing. Boundlessness... But that is why, unfortunately, Russian people often take freedom for chaos, for permissiveness. The real spiritual and moral limitation for the Russian people in this sense was the Church. Russian people haunted the gospel. For all the hierarchy of the Church, real inner freedom and equality have always been in the temple. Because in front of the altar and the emperor, and the student, and the cripple, and the soldier were absolutely equivalent ..

Unfortunately, the word “equality” is misunderstood in Russia. After all, the well-known triad - "freedom, equality, fraternity" - are completely mutually exclusive concepts. Equality, by definition, cannot and should not be. There should be equality, and then - how you studied, how you were baptized, what God gave you. We often have the following idea of ​​equality: if you have something, but I don’t, well, come here, share it! You studied at the institute, pored over books, and I “soured” under the bridge. And then you made money, and I wanted to “take everything and share it” ... This is that terrible distortion that gave rise to a monstrous confusion in people's heads, fluctuations in minds, not solid in anything. This is how the concept of equality was interpreted by the Bolsheviks. It is from here that envy, mixed with contempt for the successful, wealthy, originates; that is why we have so weakly protected any private property including intellectual.

Save Private Ivanov

- If we continue the American theme ... At one time you noted the film "Saving Private Ryan". At least they said that this is a patriotic movie, that the Americans are ahead of us ...

- I didn't say that. I posed the question: “What would today’s liberal criticism do to me if I made the film “Save Soldier Ivanov”?” About how Marshal Zhukov sends a special detachment to the front in order to take soldier Ivanov from the front, because he last son with his mother in the village of Irkhino, Kubinsky district, Vologda province. And they let him go home from the front, because mother was left alone. What would they do to me?

- They would say that the sovereign Mikhalkov came up with all this ...

- Yes, they would just crush me into flour! Why? Because the greatest resistance to everything that is real respect and love for our Fatherland, we get it inside our Fatherland! And “Saving Private Ryan” is a completely patriotic picture that tells the world about how the Americans won the Second world war. And the world believes in it.

– What is the difference between American and Russian patriotic paintings?

“They have a completely different audience. Hollywood created America. Sheriffs walk the streets of the States, who are like two drops of water similar to the characters created by the movie - not vice versa. In this lies, with all the closeness, our perfect opposite. The American viewer easily believes what he is shown.

And the most amazing thing, what I envy: not a single world picture of the High Quality made outside of America cannot be as successful in the States as paintings made by Americans themselves for Americans. That's what I dream about. Thank God, today our viewers are starting to return to their films.

– What should modern patriotic cinema look like? How much is it needed?

- I believe that patriotic cinema is the kind of cinema in which patriotism exists in capillaries, and not in slogans, not in words. When he (patriotism) is essentially deep, and not ostentatious and hypocritical.

- As in "Kalina Krasnaya", for example ...

- Certainly. “Kalina Krasnaya” is an amazingly patriotic movie. Absolutely correct. Although, it would seem, the opposite is true ... Love for the Motherland, in general, love in Russia is a state of mind. And it cannot be simulated. The feeling of the motherland is little story Bunin " Sunstroke”, although this is a love story of one night, or “The Life of Arseniev”, or the works of Shmelev - this is what is poured into the air, this is love that does not require formulation. When I ride through the fields along the banks of the Oka, I have a desire to sing all the prayers that I know. I'm not doing this for anyone. How to explain it? What it is? Is it possible in Spain - for me? God knows, hardly. It seems that the field is the same... And the horse is the same... But, as my grandfather Konchalovsky said: "It is important that the right color be put in the right place."

Under the dome of the temple

- You have said more than once that you feel more at home in the provinces than in Moscow. And what has changed since Pushkin's "Moscow, Moscow, I love you like a son ..." and Tsvetaevsky's "Moscow - what a huge hospice! Every homeless person on earth - we will all come to you ”?

- I loved Moscow endlessly and still love it. Today I was driving and rejoiced: what an amazing city! It's not about that. How can you tell? We recently returned from Nizhny Novgorod. Night. Late. And we pass the Pechora Monastery. I say: "Come on, let's go!". The time is eleven o'clock in the evening. As you know, with the sunset any Orthodox monastery closes. We arrived there. They knocked. I called myself and asked to open. And they let us in. Father hegumen, unknown to me, gave us the opportunity to venerate the open relics - the head of St. Macarius of Zheltovodsky. And then we left ... Nothing can compare with this - no worldly joys and high appreciation of my work - nothing can stand next to the opportunity to come to any Russian monastery, and they will open the door for you. All. Dot. Do you understand?

After all, this abbot does not know me personally, but he treats me not as an artist, Nikita Mikhalkov, but as an Orthodox person who feels, or rather, tries to feel that deep and most important thing that lives the spirit of a Russian monastery. I perfectly understand how far I am from the spiritual beauty and purity of Orthodox monasticism. But I feel the power and significance of their feat.

- I witnessed such an attitude towards you in Diveevo, when people approached not just their beloved director Mikhalkov, but their own, an Orthodox person ... who believes, just like they do, and also came to Father Seraphim ...

- ... This, according to a deep human account, absolutely erases everything that can annoy, interfere or give a feeling of your inferiority in the society of city life. When you understand that these people, who do not depend on you in any way and are not externally connected with you in any way, show such trust ... Open the monastery at night! You know, it's a lot...

I do not like Moscow, but the Moscow crowd that spends its life inside the Ring. But when you experience what I experienced in this Pechora monastery, then all this generally ceases to have any meaning whatsoever. And this is not sentimentality, this is that very deep state of the soul, which is called Russian love. This is what every Sunday is united by the Liturgy, which is under the dome of a single church - the spiritual dome of the nation. What is called a family is in the national sense.

- I recently spoke with a friend - just about Diveevo. She is a person who is very sincerely trying, it seems to me, to meaningfully enter the Church. She loves Diveyevo very much, but she cannot reconcile herself to the fact that there are just parishioners, and there are guests who serve separately on the choir. What would you answer her?

“Do you know what I said to her?” In the temple, my dear, do not look around! You didn't come here for that. Have you come to see who is where? Then do not say that you want to comprehend the essence of churching. You came to the temple - do what you came for. Then these questions will not arise at all. What difference does it make where you stand in the temple? This is important for people who come to the temple for a meal or to see the authorities. Right hand or not from the boss, and how they showed you on TV - they saw you standing next to him or they didn’t see you. It's all about something else.

– We are now talking about Orthodoxy as the basis of Russian patriotism. But not Orthodox person maybe a Russian patriot? Say Muslim?

I decided this question for myself about ten years ago. We were in the Nizhny Novgorod province, in the region where the Tatars live, at the Sabantuy holiday. I was offered to show the mosque. There are fields around, a birch grove, the Volga River ... We climbed the minaret. I say: “How long has the mosque been standing?” - "Seven years". “And the people who profess Islam have been living here for a long time?” “Eight hundred years.” And everything became clear to me: these people will defend this Russian landscape of mine with a machine gun just like me.

– The generation that grew up after 1991 is fundamentally different from all the previous ones: it is much less “rooted” in Russian history. And attempts at patriotic education often lead not to love, but to hatred: some of the feelings of youthful protest begin to hate everything Russian, starting with classical Russian literature, others - all “non-Russians”. But it is they who determine the future of Russia. How serious, in your opinion, is today's problem of fathers and children? What can be done (and is it possible?) so that the traditional divide between “fathers and sons” does not become fatal, so that it does not break again the thousand-year-old Russian history and culture?

There are very few real questions. Life, death, love, hunger, illness, childhood, old age. Sooner or later, such questions arise in everyone's life ... Tolstoy said: "Being is only then being when it is threatened by non-being." Unfortunately, for Russia, only trials become a reason for uniting the nation into a single whole. But everyone will still have to answer the main questions.

Another thing is that unbelievers are simply deprived of immunity, poorly protected. Because faith as such is a huge defense. The point, of course, is not that you asked - and He will give you. No. But when you have an inner feeling that you are under the shadow of faith, which was the fundamental force of life and spirit for hundreds of generations living and living on this earth, this should give you energy.

And I firmly believe that any person, trying to understand who he is and where he comes from, will inevitably come to faith. After all, the question “how to live?” you can get the answer only by asking yourself the question “why?”. Not earlier. Therefore, the sprout of faith will still break through the concrete of unbelief. I am convinced of this.

At the end of July and the beginning of August in 2016, there are days of remembrance for two of the most glorious of their exploits associations of the Russian Armed Forces - the Navy and airborne troops. Why do we treat the defenders of the Fatherland with such love? What did Orthodox saints and great people of the past think about their ministry? Today is the time to talk about it.

Dear readers, let me bring to your attention a small collection of wise sayings made by the Holy Fathers, Church leaders, scientists, generals, heads of state and writers and dedicated to military service, patriotism and the defense of the Motherland:

1.“The soldiers also asked him: what should we do? And he said to them: do not offend anyone, do not slander, and be content with your salary. Prophet John the Baptist (Luke 3:14)

2. “The Roman generals inflamed the courage of the soldiers many times, mixing memories of spouses and children with the name of the Fatherland. These tender commitments are indeed the school of mankind.” Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin

3.“The cruel truth of war is not in the word “die”, but in the word “kill”. I did not use the term "instinct", but appealed to it, to the mighty instinct for the preservation of life. I sought to excite and strain him to win the battle.

The enemy is coming to kill you and me. I teach you, I demand: kill him, know how to kill him, because I want to live too. And each of us tells you, each orders: kill - we want to live! And you demand from a comrade - you must demand it, if you really want to live - kill! Homeland is you. Motherland is us, our families, our mothers, our wives and children. Homeland is our people.

Maybe the bullet will overtake you, but first kill! Eat as much as you can! This will keep him alive, and him, and his comrades in the trench and rifle! I, your commander, want to fulfill the command of our wives and mothers, the command of our people. I want to lead into battle not to die, but to live! Alexander Beck, Volokolamsk Highway.

4."Disdain the enemies of God, defeat the enemies of the Fatherland, love your enemies." Saint Philaret of Moscow

5.“For the sake of the fatherland, even glory should be sacrificed.” Fabius Maxim

6.“It is impermissible to kill, but to exterminate the enemy in war is both legal and worthy of praise; therefore, those who distinguished themselves in battles are awarded great honors, and monuments are erected to them, announcing their merits. Saint Athanasius the Great

7.“Is the military rank devoid of hope of salvation? Is there not a single pious centurion? I recall the first centurion, who, standing at the cross of Christ and realizing his strength by miracles, when the insolence of the Jews had not yet cooled down, was not afraid of their fury and did not refuse to proclaim the truth, but confessed and did not deny that he truly was God's Son. I also know another centurion who knew about the Lord, when he was still in the flesh, that He is God and the King of hosts, and that one command is enough for Him to send benefits to those in need through ministering spirits. About his faith and the Lord confirmed that it is greater than the faith of all Israel. But Cornelius, being a centurion, did he not deign to see an angel and, finally, through Peter, did he not receive salvation? Saint Basil the Great

8. "A people who do not want to feed their own army will soon be forced to feed someone else's." Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte

9. “Not to be a warrior is a sin, but to fight for theft is lawlessness.” Saint Ambrose of Milan

10. “Wars are ignited most of all for the sake of acquiring other people's property. But one should not blame all those waging war; those who initiated either the infliction of offense or theft are justly called destructive demons; those who avenge moderately should not be reproached as those who acted unjustly, because they are doing a lawful deed. Rev. Isidore Pelusiot

11. "Victory decides military art and the courage of the generals and the fearlessness of the soldiers. Their chest is the protection and fortress of the Fatherland. Emperor Peter I the Great

12. “God loves a good-natured world, and God blesses righteous warfare. For since there are non-peaceful people on earth, it is impossible to have peace without military help. Honest and trustworthy world for the most part must be conquered. And in order to preserve the acquired peace, it is necessary that the conqueror himself does not allow his weapons to rust. Saint Philaret of Moscow

13. “They fight for the love of their own, so that they are not subjected to captivity and violence by the enemy. What did the French do in Russia? And how was it not to fight with them? Saint Theophan the Recluse

14. “While fighting for freedom, we must be careful not to violate the freedom of conscience of others, always remembering that God is the judge of the hearts of people.

I am quite sure that no one should hesitate for a moment to resort to weapons to protect the priceless gift of freedom, on which all good and evil in life depend, but the weapon, I dare add, is the last resort. George Washington

15. "A thin citizen of the earthly Fatherland and the heavenly one is unworthy." Saint Philaret of Moscow

16. « The best remedy to instill in children a love for the fatherland is to have this love in the fathers. Charles Louis de Montesquieu

17. “Remember that the earthly Fatherland with its Church is the threshold of the Heavenly Fatherland, therefore love it fervently and be ready to lay down your soul for it.” Righteous John Kronstadt

18. "The true warrior of Christ is the one who, in addition to earthly weapons, also has the weapons of God - living faith, firm hope, unfeigned love for the truth and Christian humility." Saint Innocent of Kherson

19. “The fatherland is that mysterious, but living organism, the outlines of which you cannot clearly define for yourself, but whose touch you constantly feel, because you are connected with this organism by an uninterrupted umbilical cord.” Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin

20.“Going to battle with adversaries, it is appropriate to beware of all unkind words and deeds, direct your thoughts to God and create prayer and fight in a clear consciousness, for help is given from God to bright hearts. Not from greater strength victory in battle, but in God a fortress. Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius, Slovenian teacher.

21. "Only one fatherland contains that which is dear to all." Mark Tullius Cicero

22. “There is no higher idea than how to sacrifice your own life, defending your brothers and your Fatherland.” Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, paraphrase of the Holy Scriptures

23. “Whatever is ordered that is not contrary to the law of God, listen and do it: otherwise do not listen, since it is more fitting to obey God than men. This is what the holy martyrs did... if [the commander] orders to do wrong, offend, steal, lie, and so on, do not obey. If he threatens to punish him for this, do not be afraid. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk

24. “A good name belongs to every honest person, but I concluded a good name in the glory of my Fatherland, and all my deeds tended to its prosperity. Self-love, often a submissive veil of fleeting passions, never controlled my actions. I forgot myself where it was necessary to think about the common good. My life was a harsh school, but innocent morals and natural generosity facilitated my labors: my feelings were free, and I myself was firm. Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov

25. “Fortitude is one of the first virtues of the army, both earthly and spiritual. Warriors experienced in battle consider a brave attack on an enemy formation as a sign of courage, but incomparably greater - silent standing with gloomy firmness under the cannonballs and grapeshot of enemy batteries, when the general plan of the commander requires it. It is on such warriors that he can rely the most, on such warriors our ascetic Jesus Christ relies most and crowns them with spiritual crowns. Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)

26. “You are a future warrior! The business of a warrior is to stand cheerfully and always be ready to engage in a fight with the enemy, not sparing himself and not pleasing the enemy. Saint Theophan the Recluse

27. “As long as we burn with freedom, As long as our hearts are alive for honor, My friend, let’s dedicate Souls to our homeland beautiful impulses!» . Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

28.“The Church desires that the person who wears military uniform, was enlightened by the light of the Truth of Christ, so that the Lord Himself would guide this person both in peace and in war time. The Church believes that if a soldier gives his heart to Christ and is led by the Lord, then he will not go astray, but will sincerely and sacrificially defend his neighbors, honorably fulfill his military duties. Patriarch Alexy II

29. “Don't think about yourself, think about your comrades; your friends will think of you.
Here is the first military commandment. General Mikhail Dragomirov

30. “Christ our God commanded us to pray for those who offend us and to be pleased with them; but He commanded us: there is no greater love than that a man lay down his life for his friends. Therefore, we endure the insults that you inflict on each of us separately, but in society we defend each other and lay down our lives for our brothers, so that you, dragging them into captivity, do not captivate their souls along with their bodies, inclining the pious to your evil and ungodly deeds." Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, Slovenian teacher

31. “Many who lay down their lives in battle will surely receive the remission of sins, and many will be crowned with incorruptible crowns of heavenly glory, while those who remain, their neighbors, and indeed everyone in general, suffering about this in their hearts and enduring great need, will involuntarily leave luxury and be established in faith ". Venerable Macarius of Optina

32. “When I met face to face with Russian wounded soldiers, I became convinced what an abyss of Christian love and selflessness lies in the heart of a Russian person, and nowhere, perhaps, they appear in such amazing strength and greatness as on the battlefield” . Reverend Seraphim of Sarov

Andrey Segeda

In contact with

patriotic idea in last years became the main bargaining chip of modern politicians. Patriots are people of very different worldviews and value orientations.

Against this background, the ideological struggle over the attitude to Orthodox Church, which, by virtue of its historical origin in our country, has always occupied the position of the main apologist and founder of the principles of patriotism. It is amazing how furiously politicians of a seemingly patriotic orientation, but atheistic views, hinder any attempts to restore reliance on Orthodox values ​​in state ideology and education.

In this context, the deployment of the topic “Russian patriotism and Orthodoxy” requires, first of all, an answer to the fundamental question: “Is Russian patriotism possible without Orthodoxy?”
Consider in this vein what approaches to the concept of patriotism can be. It is unlikely that in today's realities the meaning that the ancients laid down is relevant. Let's remember Tyrtheus:
“The land is to leave the native, who nursed you, and bread
Asking strangers is the bitterest lot.”1
Today, emigration rather than life in Russia gives economic well-being, and, accordingly, a cosmopolitan outlook rather than a patriotic orientation.

For many, patriotism is a great-power pride left over from the feeling of the super-power status of the USSR. The feeling is quite real, but fruitless, due to the lack of objective reality the state in question. It seems that it was precisely this understanding of patriotism as pride in the past glory that caused the impartial definition of L. Tolstoy: “Patriotism is last resort scoundrels."

However, I would like to hope that the modern patriotic moods of our people are more in tune with the position of M. Voloshin. When he was offered to emigrate from civil war-torn Russia, he said: "When the mother is sick, the children are with her." And he didn't go anywhere.

Indeed, some sense of affinity with the earth, fortunately, is still among the people. Once, in one of the programs of the talk show “Hakuna Matata” (June 1999), a young man spoke, proposing to solve economic problems “to sell Russia” in literally of this word (he sat and cut off pieces from a map of Russia), the girls and boys present in the studio clearly felt uncomfortable. In general, the experience of trade in territories in world practice exists. In and of itself, it doesn't seem to be scary. However, the process of cutting the card seemed to cause rejection.

However, none of the participants in the conversation could clearly oppose anything to the question of the author of the idea: “Do you need taiga?” No one asked this man: "Listen, maybe you will sell me a leg?" Each nation, like any organism, grows and develops, reaching a certain size, spreading over a particular territory, just as one person can be very vertically challenged and the other is a giant. This has nothing to do with his internal maturity, but is an organic physical property, which does not really depend even on the size of the people. at the time of birth and initial development the people could occupy a different space, but to reduce the territory that eventually developed to the original boundaries is similar to cutting off parts of the human body: it is impossible to make a five-year-old child out of an adult. You can only get a disabled person. Of course, there are times when you can sell a part of your body, but what is the price?

Apparently, in the feeling of the natural space of the people and their personal connection with their people lies the true patriotism on which the unity of Russia still rests.
Naturally, with such reasoning, the question arises: what about the USSR? Indeed, it seems to be the same situation. However, it must be taken into account that the territory of the people and the territory of the state are not the same thing. It is worth thinking about the age of the people, and about the natural boundaries of its settlement, which have developed by the time they reach the “adult” state.
The age of the Great Russian people, apparently, must be counted from the beginning of the formation of Moscow Rus (as according to L. Gumilyov), i.e. about 700 years, since from that time the tendency of gathering Russian lands begins, in contrast to the tendency of the decay of the dying old Russian ethnos.

Any current student who has studied a cultural studies course knows that researchers who focus on the biological characteristics of the development of an ethnos indicate the period of existence of a people within 1000–1200 years. Consequently, the Russian ethnos is now in a period of late maturity, when there is no longer any energy for growth and the period of maximum external activity has passed, but it is still far from aging and decay.

Looking back, it is easy to see that the Great Russian ethnos reached its “adult size” by the middle of the 17th century, growing without much resistance into its body numerous ethnic groups of the Volga, Urals and Siberia. At this time, the map of Russia looks a little smaller than the modern Russian Federation. It was then, before the Pereyaslav Rada, that the territory of the people and the territory of the state coincided as well as now. Only the Caucasus creates a problem that did not exist then. However, this does not change much.
The further growth of the state is associated with the annexation of lands on which ethnic groups were formed or existed earlier, possessing the energy of growth and attraction to their own statehood. They were drawn to Russia as a powerful magnet, but at the same time, they shaped the qualities of ethnic self-sufficiency. In general, the borders, although not controversial in terms of details, have developed correctly.

Starting from the second half of the 17th century until the early 1990s, Russia did not correspond to the ethnic state of the Great Russian people, as it took shape during the time of the first Romanovs. This is an imperial-type state, where the Great Russian people are cementing, but only one of the components.

The collapse of the USSR is a consequence of the normal process of the age-related decrease in the magnetic energy of Russia and the proportional strengthening of the trend of ethnic self-realization of those peoples who had the desire for their own statehood. Of course, this process is difficult, painful, but not tragic. The dismemberment, according to this logic, of the RF is a real sawing of a living body. We must not forget that still more than 80% of the population of our country consider themselves ethnic Russians.
Here the inevitable question arises: what factors should be considered sufficient to be considered as a single whole population, dispersed over a vast territory, different parts of which are in contact with very different ethno-cultural areas of the world and, perhaps, can exist in a certain mode of self-sufficiency. Obviously, neither economic, nor consanguineous, nor even political and administrative conditions are sufficient. Necessary spiritual unity, which allows each person to feel like a part of a certain whole, for the sake of which he is ready to give up part (sometimes a very large part) of his personal interests, opportunities, property.

Understanding the national self-sufficiency of Russia cannot be realized without the factor of spiritual determination. Unlike human growth, the growth of a people cannot be seen as a purely physiological process. People are aware of their commonality, first of all, spiritually. Naturally, Orthodoxy is the most important factor for Russia. In many ways, even now, when there are apparently no more than 12-15% of seriously churched people in Russia, to be Russian still means to be Orthodox. I became convinced of this when, while questioning my students, I asked a question about their religion. It was a big surprise for me that 80% identified themselves as Orthodox. After that, carefully analyzing the data of various sociological surveys, I found out. That this is how residents of different regions of the country identify themselves. It is amazing how 70 years of the most severe state atheism have not yet destroyed the Orthodox religious guidelines in our people. Despite the fact that the indicators of real appreciation are still completely different. Russia would not be able not only to grow to its current physical size, but also, in principle, to remain surrounded by strong hostile peoples, if it were not Orthodox. Events of the last centuries from the Old Believer schism to atheism Soviet era greatly complicated the situation, but now much can be corrected, since the anathema has been lifted from the Old Believers, and the period of irreligiousness of the state made many spiritual contradictions at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries irrelevant. Russia has remained Orthodox, albeit by tradition, by culture, albeit of little faith, but Orthodox. In any case, no other ideological core capable of cementing the country is visible.

Hence, there can be no motivated patriotism outside of Orthodoxy for the vast majority of the population. The patriotism of minorities is naturally motivated differently. Moreover, attempts to develop other ideas based on the political experience of the Russian Empire - the USSR in patriotic education cannot but be a catalyst for separatist movements and attempts to undermine the Russian statehood.
Convincing evidence of this is the ideology of modern nationalism of the closest people to us - the Ukrainians.

These views can be systematically analyzed by the recently published book by L. G. Lukyanenko “ national idea and national will. For the author, Russia is the main, in fact, the only enemy of Ukraine. To define our country, he knows only one formula - Russian imperialism. Moreover, Russia is an organic enemy, not a political one, but an organic one, because the Russian people are “Slavicized Finno-Ugric peoples with a strong Tatar element”, i.e. people who have nothing in common with Ukrainians. Speaking about the attitude towards the situation in Russia, he writes: “Nationalist parents could seek to send their son to Chechnya to help the Chechens to beat the bloody Muscovite empire, because until the second stage of its disintegration begins and the former autonomous republics will not become independent states, Ukraine cannot feel safe”3.
With regard to the pro-Russian citizens of Ukraine, whom, as the elections show about half of the population, Lukyanenko has the following point of view: “There are many such Muscovites living in Ukraine who organically do not accept the idea of ​​Ukraine’s independence… They are carriers of the idea of ​​great imperial Russia in Ukraine: this is the fifth column of Moscow imperialism, which, at the slightest opportunity, will stick a bayonet in the back of the Ukrainian state in order to restore Moscow's power over Ukraine ... only force acts on them. And there is no other advice with them, except to be strong and hold a powerful fist over them - then they will be submissive. And it would be even better to evict them from Ukraine in the order of an interstate exchange”4.
Understanding the religious unity of Ukraine and Russia, Lukyanenko unleashes his anger on Christianity: “I hate Christian humility and “non-resistance to evil by violence.” I like the pre-Christian principle of justice: force must be vigorously answered with force. Or, as the ancient Romans used to say, vim vi repellere licet. I hate the vile dogma that the creators of Christianity spread (not among themselves, but among Ukrainians): there is no power except from God. “Greek politicians, in order to weaken the princely state and reduce its threat to Byzantium, came to Ukraine in priestly cassocks, divided our people into adherents of their Christianity and defenders of paganism alien to them (a pagan is a nationalist) and thereby achieved their political goal - Weakened the Kievan Empire. “The Jewish Bible says: do not worship foreign gods! It's well said: christian god alien to us. Therefore, let's get back to the Native Ukrainian National Faith”7.

I would like to ask Pan Lukyanenko: where would the descendants of the ancient Russians be now. And in general they would have existed if St. Vladimir the Great Christianity. But our writer does not want to think about this topic. For him, Ukrainians are an unchanging constant.

However, in Ukraine there is someone to think about the place of Orthodoxy in the life of the country. Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor L. Grach in the article "How can we save the Fatherland?" writes: “Citizens former USSR, as the successors of the state-forming Russian people, who are primordially the bearers of Orthodoxy, today, through the efforts of the ideologists of the West, they are trying to instill perception and, as a result, take as a model instead of a spiritual person - an "economic person" as a qualitatively new progressive type. This is a prototype of the future ideal of a person - the bearer of the ideas of globalism in the new world order. “In the era of Prince Vladimir, the Orthodox faith was the only force capable of “rallying a fragmented state, breathing new life, giving a great future.” Orthodoxy must become the main state axis of Russia”8.
These words are especially valuable, in my opinion, because their author is the leader of the Crimean communists! This is how the situation had to change, so that the direct heir to the persecutors of Orthodoxy began to speak out in this way! Apparently, the professionalism of the historian turned out to be stronger than the party ideologist.

In any case, the processes in Ukraine give us a warning: if you do not have spiritual unity, it will be worse. What can unite us apart from Orthodoxy?!
Let's remember. As he prayed almost 1000 years ago, St. Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv in the "Sermon on Law and Grace"9:
“Let others not say, “Where is their God?”
do not let grief and hunger come upon us,
and needless deaths - fire, drowning.
May those who are not firm in faith fall away from the faith,
Punish a little, but have mercy a lot,
A little hurt, but mercifully heal.

1 Lyrics of ancient Hellas and Rome. - M., 1990. - p.58
2 Luk'yanenko L.G. National idea and national will. - K., 2006
3 Ibid. p.275
4 Ibid. S. 34
5 Ibid. S. 91
6 Ibid. S. 23
7 Ibid. S. 95
8 Kommunist, 2007, August 3
9 Bibliophile Almanac. – M., 1989. – P.199

Active love not only for the Orthodox Church, but also for the Fatherland, called patriotism, is the same moral duty of a Christian as love for one's neighbors.

Fatherland is the country where we were born, physically developed, strengthened and matured, where our parents live, but the historical Motherland is where our ancestors lived, where their ashes rest, where, perhaps, our ashes will lie, where they lived and live people close and dear to our heart; this is a society, a people, in the environment and under the beneficial influence of which we received upbringing and education, its customs, customs and, most importantly, the spiritual culture that we live in this world. The totality of all this is what is commonly called the Fatherland. Earlier in Russian Empire The Church determined the goals for the people, and the state ensured the implementation of such goals, one of the main of which is the salvation of the human soul from sin. Russia now, as before, preserves the Orthodox faith, pointing humanity to the Truth of God. You should distinguish between the country where you were born and where your ancestors come from, respecting both of these fatherlands.

Love for the fatherland is as natural as love for oneself, and every person has it in the bud. Patriotism is a universal phenomenon in the human race, and it is just as natural, legitimate and understandable as everything that is common and necessary in human life. There are peoples without any development, but we will not find such a people in which the feeling of love for their Fatherland would not manifest itself as lofty examples of selflessness. Love for the Fatherland cannot be separated either from love for the family, or from love for the Motherland, for its nature, for the city or village in which a person was born and grew up, the school in which he studied, for friends, for relatives, for countrymen , to fellow believers, to native customs, to the history of their country, to fellow citizens. The motherland, whose spiritual culture we grew up and matured, to a large extent contributed to the creation in us of a spiritual personality with certain views and concepts, a spiritual and mental mood and worldview, where Russian or rather Russian traditions and customs of the country where we grew up surprisingly intertwine.

Love for the Fatherland and countrymen is born and nurtured primarily in the family: having been brought up here, as love for parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, friends and comrades, then, with the entry of a person into life, it spreads more widely to a larger circle of people, to its own people, to the Fatherland.

According to father Mikhail Cheltsov, love for the Fatherland is a branching tree, the trunk of which rests with the roots of love inside everyone's heart, and the first sprouts of which will certainly appear even in the family and among the society of neighbors (2, p. 159).

root property true love- activity and sacrifice (or dedication). To love one's Fatherland with such a love should be a characteristic of every Christian. This love with him is the same love by which "a disciple of Christ is known," a love that, in the required cases, "gives his life for his friends" (John 13:15).

Christian faith points people to follow and many examples touching love and attachment to the Fatherland in the prophets Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Jeremiah, both in the captive biblical people and in Russian in modern times. Supreme example Love for the Fatherland is represented by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Being sent to earth for the salvation of the whole world, He first of all came to his fellow tribesmen, “to the sheep dead at home of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). He chose ungrateful Judea as the place of His preaching, in which he did not even have a place to lay his head, and, despite the fact that he saw only hatred and persecution from his compatriots, he tried to “gather them around Him, like a bird gathers its chicks under its wings”; but when they did not desire it, did not accept Him, hated Him, wanted to kill Him, He mercifully grieved and wept over their blindness, foreseeing the death that awaited them (Matt. 23:37). The love of the holy Apostle Paul for his people was so great that, grieving for them with his heart, he wished to be himself excommunicated from Christ and, if only it were possible before the judgment of God, he was ready to sacrifice his very salvation for his brethren, the Israelites (Rom. 9:3).

The history of the Orthodox Church presents us with many lofty examples of patriotism. The most instructive example of love for the Fatherland was shown to us by the first Christians. “They were hated, persecuted, tortured and killed by their pagan fellow citizens, compatriots. They uncomplainingly bore all civil duties, with all fidelity served in the army, never disturbing public peace, with all conscientiousness they carried out all state decrees, and only when they were forced to renounce the God of Christ, they told the pagans that it was necessary to obey God more, than people. For their Fatherland, they did everything that was only in accordance with the spirit of Christianity. No one brought as much good to the Fatherland as the Christians did with their good morals, charity, fidelity, patience and their prayers” (3, pp. 281-282).

The Russian people keep and sacredly honor, and especially at the present time, the memory and deeds for the good of the Motherland - the saints Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy, the Moscow saints Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip and Hermogenes, the Monk Job of Pochaev and Sergius Abbot of Radonezh and many, many other saints who shone in the Russian Land, the New Martyrs and Confessors of the New Russians. They were not only great ascetics of piety, but at the same time great patriots, active participants in the creation of the Russian state.

Patriotism or love for the Fatherland is opposed to so-called cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism preaches love for all mankind, meaning the whole world by the fatherland, preaches the so-called universal citizenship, not allowing any special love for one's Fatherland. Cosmopolitanism, dreaming of some common interests of mankind, inspires to love all the inhabitants of the earth, all countries and peoples with equal love, so it is akin to ecumenism, which is condemned by the Orthodox Church as a heresy of heresies. Such soulless cosmopolitanism has no basis for itself either in the natural mood of people or in the Christian religion. In the history of mankind, cosmopolitanism, as a result of the propaganda of globalism, has only now acquired the basis for the development of the modern economic world system. Previously, it was completely unrealizable, remaining just an empty dream, and now it remains extremely harmful and destructive to public and state life, because under the pretext of universal philanthropy it settles and nourishes in people one indifference, coldness and insensitivity to others and weakens all social ties and relations. .

Cosmopolitanism, "equal love for all", which does not understand either the people, or the tribe, or the nation, or language, or religion, in essence, is the denial of all the tasks of one's Motherland, religion, people, the renunciation of the wealth of one's knowledge, freedom, labor and glory of national peoples.

So cosmopolitanism is a distortion of Christian love. It lacks its essential feature - self-denial and relevance (that is, the concreteness of the vision of the world). Humane love is only in the language, one name, covered with a bright name, like on a Snickers for children, it is not an active love that denies selfishness. No "interests of all mankind" can replace love for the Motherland, for the family, for the home and relatives. The object of the cosmopolitan's love is "humanity" - an abstract concept, and not "man", "neighbor" or "compatriot". In this distortion of Christian love, there is neither God, the "Primary Source of Love", nor a "neighbor" for the manifestation of love in life, in the final analysis, a cosmopolitan person loves only himself and no one else.

Christianity recognizes as legal and by the will of God Himself created civil unions of people, or states. In this way, the Orthodox Church sanctifies the natural feeling in a person of attachment to the people, which for him is his own and of which he constitutes an organic part. Considering oneself a citizen of the entire human world is essentially the same, the same thing - not to consider oneself a citizen at all and to renounce all social duties. The separate existence of different peoples is predetermined by the Providence of God Himself (Acts 17:16). With the unity of their origin and main purpose, peoples each have their own special temporal task, and the better they perform it, the more they contribute to the common good of the human race. Thus, not cosmopolitanism, but patriotism serves as a true expression of love for neighbors, which the Orthodox Church gives us as one of the main virtues (3, pp. 283-284). Only a true patriot is at the same time a true friend of mankind and our best neighbor, and he who “does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8).

So the Russian Orthodox person has always lived according to the church charter and worried that his household and close neighbors would be called by God to salvation from the sin of this world.

Literature:

1. Bible. Moscow. 1987.

2. Prof. arch. M. Cheltsov. Christian worldview, part II. Petrograd, 1917.

3. Priest M. Menstrov. Lessons in Christian Doctrine, ed. 2nd, St. Petersburg, 1914.

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