On November 28, 2024 in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow within the plenary session of the XXVI World Russian People's Council on the theme «Russian World: External and Internal Challenges» a new book by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill «Present and Future of the Russian World» was presented. The book was presented by Rector of the A.V. Shchipkov Russian Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian.
A.V. Shchipkov.
The book contains articles written on the basis of the speeches of His Holiness at the cathedral congresses of the World Russian People's Council in the period from 2009 to 2023. The edition is preceded by a foreword by A.V. Shchipkov.
«The articles of His Holiness the Patriarch reflect the logic of those changes in the public consciousness of Russia that have occurred during this time. They show how, at crucial moments in history, the Church anticipated the trends of the near future, contributed to the formation of sovereign national consciousness, and initiated a public dialog about the fundamental values of Russian tradition» — noted A.V. Shchipkov, presenting the book at the VRNS.
« — A.V. Shchipkov, presenting the book at the VRNS.
A.V. Shchipkov noted that in the period from 2009 to 2023 there was a struggle within the Russian public consciousness. It was a struggle with the damage of national self-esteem and national self-determination, which were oriented to Western standards, to the utopian idea of Russia's integration into the Western world on the conditions of loss of national sovereignty. After the painful atmosphere of the 1990s, society needed a change of discourse, a radical reassessment of values. The changes were very slow. But every speech of the Patriarch influenced political, social, and geopolitical processes in one way or another, sometimes pushing them forward. We began to realize that we — Russians. We began to realize that we are valuable for the world history with our unique civilizational face and our historical mission, — stressed A.V. Shchipkov.
He also noted that the return to national values was supported by the efforts of the Church and its Primate. And to trace these efforts one must keep the landscape of historical events of the last two decades in front of one's mind.
He also noted that the return to national values was supported by the efforts of the Church and its Primate.
The articles of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented in this collection are also interesting because in them the Primate of our Church points to the existential depth of the confrontation. «The fact that we are in a state of intercivilizational, and in fact, religious conflict. This was very clearly expressed, first of all, in the creation of a quasi-church in Ukraine, the so-called PCU, in the looting of the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra. This is — a kind of denial of the right of Russians to their own sacredness», — believes A.V. Shchipkov.
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The rector of the Russian Orthodox University expressed the hope that Patriarch Kirill's new book will become a starting point for overcoming the inertia in education, methods of management and teaching, which have been imposed on us by the liberal consciousness.
The cover of the publication features a portrait of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, painted especially for the release of the book by People's Artist of Russia Ivan Glazunov. At the end of the presentation Glazunov presented the portrait to His Holiness.
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