Russian patriarch: revive positive aspects of Communist era

January 27, 2015

In an address to Russia’s parliament, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church called for a revival of what he sees as the positive aspects of the nation’s Communist era, which lasted until 1991.

“Whenever we start talking about the Soviet times, some idealize, others demonize them,” said 68-year-old Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, according to the Interfax news agency. “Yet was there something that generated those times and that today we can boldly accept and incorporate in our own philosophy of life? There was: solidarity.”

“We must never forget the achievement of the Soviet people, and not just the military,” he added. “What about those Komsomol [Communist Party youth division] members who gathered crops, built the BAM [a railway] without getting awards or privileges in return? It is a sense of teamwork, a sense of desiring to join efforts and do something good for your country.”

 

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Further information:

• Russia needs to revive Soviet-era sense of solidarity - Patriarch Kirill (Interfax)
• Russian Patriarch calls for abortion ban in first-ever address to Duma (CWN, 1/26)