Russian peace: a step-by-step recipe for spiritual rottenness

Exclusive. We live in an era when, instead of an honest conversation about values ​​and responsibility, we are pushed a shiny tinsel of surrogate ideologies.

One of they are called "Russian Peace" — loud, impressive, almost sacred. But one only has to look closely, and under this sign one finds a murky mixture of imperial phobias, religious simulacra, and cold hatred of man as such.

This ideology does not offer a future— it only reproduces the old, sick cult of the state, which more than once in history has led to camps, wars and millions of broken lives. Her supporters shout about "tradition", but by tradition they understand everything that justifies violence. They talk about "spirituality", but do not notice how their own construction supplants the Gospel itself, replacing living faith with a set of slogans.

Today, when this postmodernist cocktail again they are trying to sell the world as an "alternative to degradation", it is especially important to call a spade a spade. Find out what this imperial chimera is made of. Show where the rhetoric of "spiritual revival" is hidden banal neo-Nazism. And the main thing is to remind that this tradition does not destroy a person, but protects him.

If we don't call this ideology by its true name, it will continue to grow — fueled by fear, hatred, and impunity. Therefore, let's start from the very root of this lie. And we will bring it to light.

The ideology of the so-called "Russian world", the term for which was once introduced by the head of the ROC MP Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev), is a carefully constructed cult of the state. Here, the state is not just the most important value — it is declared a sacred principle standing above society, above history, and above Christianity itself. In order to cover this statism with a theological smokescreen, a pseudo-theological construction is created within the church environment: the Russian state is interpreted as "retaining" the coming of the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:6–7).

To enhance the effect, early Christian texts are used, where the speech was really about the Roman Empire, and then a set of speculations about the "Third Rome" is hung on top of it all. The mechanism is simple: if the state declares a mystical barrier before the end of the world, then any loyalty to the authorities automatically turns into a religious debt. This is how the religious-philosophical justification of statism is built, where the slogan "without Putin, the antichrist will come" becomes not hyperbole, but actual dogma.

Against this background, the concept of "traditional values" plays the role of a smoke screen of the second level. Its origin not religious at all. The term arose from the need to understand the place of religion in fascist Italy. Mussolini and his ideologue Gentile were atheists, but it was profitable for them to use the church as an instrument of propaganda of "correct" social attitudes. In modern Russia, this scheme is reproduced almost verbatim. Only if in classical fascism "traditional values" still had at least some content, then in today's Russian Federation they have degenerated into a set of empty slogans designed to serve a single task - the formation "enemy centrism".

This ideology lives in a state of constant hysteria: "enemies are everywhere", "enemies want to destroy us", "enemies are undermining foundations". Such a picture of the world creates a convenient justification for any act of aggression, which is disguised as "self-defense." And if behind the slogans there is fear, then behind the fear is the thirst for expansion.

The further goal of this construction is not hidden: the restoration of control over the space of the former USSR, and more broadly, over the territories that, in the imagination of the ideologues of the "Russian world", are still considered a natural extension of the Russian Empire. The result is a postmodernist cocktail characteristic of our time: scraps of imperial mythology, bloodied religious terms, fragments of propaganda - all this is mixed without taste, but with a clear political task to return the past at any cost.

In essence, the "Russian world" rests on two unchangeable anti-"dogmas" (to put it briefly and very simply: the real dogma is an element of the doctrine of God, that is, we see another cunning substitution here).

First: the Russian state is infallible, holy and historically legitimate in all its actions.

Second: the empire must be restored - within the borders of the USSR or in another suitable shell, but with the same sense of historical mission and the same disregard for the sovereignty of neighboring nations. These two dogmas form a closed system, where any doubt is declared as treason, and any question is an attempt to undermine the sacred order.

Therefore, there is no question of any dialogue with the bearers of this ideology.

In principle, the design does not assume steps back, does not allow for evolution and knows no compromises. She lives by ultimatums — and only by them. Each challenge from the outside only strengthens her confidence in her own rightness, because the outside world is automatically marked as hostile.

And it is precisely here that the feeling of anxiety arises, from which it is impossible to escape: the concept of "traditional values", imitating religiosity, gradually supplants Christianity itself and replaces the Gospel with a set of political incantations. Eta a mixture of statism, imperial fantasies и pseudo-Christian preaching becomes a convenient foundation for the future pseudo-religion, in which the state plays the role of a deity, and faith turns into a justification of power. The louder slogans about spirituality sound, the more obvious their atheistic nature becomes, and the more noticeable is the process of replacing not faith, but its external decorations.

This is how an ideology is formed, which knows neither doubts, nor repentance, nor development. She asks with fear, breeds hatred and demands obedience. And that is why it is so dangerous: its logic is directed not to peace, not to dialogue and not to creation, but exclusively to the expansion of its own shadow.

However, one cannot fail to note the second important point: what today is called the "ideology of the Russian world", is not a complete doctrine.

This is not a system of views, but a chaotic set of incompatible narratives - from mystical fantasies to household propaganda clichés. The most vivid illustration is the demonstration of the film "Barba" on the ultra-Orthodox channel "Tsargrad" as if it were a "spiritual" event. This dissonance is not an accident, but the essence of the phenomenon: ideology, which lacks structure, easily adapts to any need for power, from pseudo-religious ecstasy to pop culture presented as a "struggle for values."

Academic society inevitably tries to systematize everything. For the researcher, chaos is unacceptable - he will build a model, look for internal logic, select classifications. But when it comes to totalitarian regimes, this instinct can be misleading.

A dictatorship does not need a solid ideology. And the 20th century proved this with exhaustive clarity. Constitutions, programs and party tracts can remain on paper, while real life is built on short, primitive slogans that are hammered into the masses daily.

Communism in the USSR already under the first leaders turned into a set of crude formulas that did not require education or thought - only obedience. Dictatorship has nothing to do with ideology as a worldview scheme. Such a scheme requires time and reason. But ideology in the form of a cliché vinaigrette is ideal: it is easily replaced, adapted, exacerbated. Instead of a party lecturer - a loud TV propagandist, instead of "Antiduring" - a hysterical stream of incoherent threats. This format has become the standard in modern Russia.

Therefore, all academic models of the "Russian world" in the strict sense are inadequate to reality.

Scientists are inevitably looking for a system where chaos is consciously cultivated. And "Russian peace" is not a doctrine, but a ritualized smoke screen that allows you to cover up any arbitrariness with references to "values" that change their content depending on the moment. Yesterday it's "spirituality", today it's "struggle with the West", tomorrow it's anything else, up to advertising seasoned with apocalyptic rhetoric.

But the main question requires more than sociological analysis.

If the "Russian peace" is a dangerous, primitive and false construction, then how does the benevolent "pax Romana" or any other imperial project of the past differ from it? Does the imperialism of a "healthy person" exist? Is there a nationalism that does not turn into a cult of blood and soil?

The answer is simple and does not require complex theological schemes.

Any political model that aims at the welfare of people and operates by means that do not turn a person into raw material for a "higher idea" is legitimate and acceptable. Imperialism can be creative, nationalism protective, statehood blessed. One difference decides everything: is there a person purpose or means? A regime that sacrifices people for the sake of a fictional historical mission automatically turns any "ism" into the ideology of maniacs. A regime that puts people above its own self-presented grandeur avoids this trap.

In this sense, Comrade Gundyaev's nonsense is almost a textbook of perverted political propaganda.

The constant sounding formula "the highest goal justifies any means" is the direct opposite of Christianity, where man is the image of God, not the building material for an empire. Dictatorship always turns ideology into an instrument of criminal justice. The maniac creates a "mission" for himself so as not to see his own nature; the dictator does exactly the same thing. The Angar murderer assured himself that he was "cleansing the world." Putin justifies the destruction by the "fight for civilization". The ideology of the "Russian world" in this context is not a worldview, but a justification mechanism designed to hide cruelty under the guise of a "spiritual mission."

The same applies to the church shell of the current ROC MP named after Stalin. From the point of view of the church tradition, it is so far from the authentic images of Orthodoxy - from German of Alaska, from Nicholas of Japan - that they can only be compared for the sake of contrast. It's like comparing the Heidelberg man with Dr. Joseph Goebbels. There is formal similarity, but no spiritual kinship.

The Russian Orthodox Church needs deep rehabilitation, a return "ad fontes", to the sources of faith, to ascetic Christianity, which does not use the state as an idol. But today there is not even a hint of awareness of the need for such cleaning.

And that is why the further movement of theological thought should be directed to the revision of the main questions: what is the purpose of the political system? What is the real blessing? What means are permissible? Where is the border between Christian political thought and its substitutes? Since political theology exists, it means that its heresies also exist. And that ideological vinaigrette, which is called the "Russian world", fits well under this definition. This is precisely the theological heresy - not just a false teaching, but a false teaching that prevents salvation, because it turns the state into an idol, and a person into sacrificial material.

This is how the overall picture emerges: "Russian peace" is not only politically dangerous, but also spiritually destructive. He replaces faith, perverts theology, makes the state the standard of truth and builds a cult that demands endless sacrifices. And in this change is his true essence.

When Vladimir Gundyaev once again declared that the "Russian world" was allegedly closer to Islam than to European Christianity, it sounded not only ridiculous, but also indicative. Because Islam — with all the diversity of schools — is completely unambiguous in one thing: the cult of the state as a deity is idolatry. And no mufti will worship an official depicted in the glow of glory, as unconditionally as Gundyaev does before the Russian government.

If you look for religious parallels with his "teaching", they are found in completely different places. The Shinto cult of the imperial genius or the deified Caesar of Rome - this is where the associations lead. The state as a sacred object, the ruler as the bearer of a supernatural mission is neither Islam nor Christianity. This is ancient political shamanism, which is passed off as the Orthodox faith.

But in order to understand the depth of decomposition, it is enough to perform a small thought experiment.

Let's say that I am a naive believer in the "Russian world", deeply convinced of "special operations", a holy believer in the fairy tale about "Nazi drug addicts". Even in such a state of consciousness I wouldn't feel comfortable here are the priests who, on camera, call to interrogate prisoners, kill without hesitation, and do it with drunken pride. Tkachev shouted "kill", and today he looks disgusting, but if I seriously believed in "Russian peace", then his hysterics would have unleashed much more hatred than now. Because he is drowning not only the remnants of his own conscience with his cries, he is also drowning the very "Russian world" that he is trying to portray.

But, oddly enough, people who consider the Russian Orthodox Church their native Church react to all this with enviable indifference. Although in the Russian Orthodox Church there are many priests who are sincerely against the war, who are sincerely horrified by the crimes that are happening before their eyes. They exist. They pray. They whisper the right words. But do they do at least something to stop their own colleagues who have turned into preachers of violence?

It's nothing.

And this "nothing" there is the most terrible sentence. Because they continue to validly exchange the "kiss of the world" with the words "Christ in our midst", smack, smack, everything is as it should be. And they do it with people who literally the day before demanded to question the prisoners. At the moment when it would be necessary to stand up and say: "You are a false teacher, you disgrace the faith, you are destroying the Church" - they choose to raise watercress in order to pass by more carefully.

Old man Hobbes once aptly observed: a system is determined by the reaction to a mistake. And if we apply this to today's ROC, then it has only one reaction - the absence of any reaction. What community, incapable of self-purification, can be considered alive? None. Everything that came out today - aggression, crazy theories, occultism, domestic violence, anti-Semitism - did not appear on February 24. It seethed there for years. Kuraev's anti-Semitic pamphlets? There were Conspiracy theories? There were "The Redeemer King" as an object of worship? Was Pop, calling on wives to "make sense" with their fists? Was And how many pastors opposed it then? The answer is already known: again - no one.

Therefore, the old phrase that "for the triumph of evil, the inaction of good people is enough" should be hung over every entrance to the ecclesiastical institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church. The author of this phrase is unknown, but it long ago became an epitaph for those communities where moral decay managed to become the norm. Permissiveness is the main ally of the criminal. And when permissiveness becomes a lifestyle, decay begins, which can no longer be hidden by beautiful robes or liturgical singing.

And in this combination - the deified state, maniac priests, silent "good people" and academics trying to find a system where there is none - the true nature of the "Russian world" is revealed. This is not a faith, not a culture, not a public idea. This is a tool for justifying violence, as vile and convenient as the self-justifying monologue of a criminal who convinces himself that he "purifies the world." There is no tradition, no spirituality, no mission here. There is only emptiness that has learned to speak loudly.

Likewise, all this postmodern vinaigrette under the name "Russian world" has nothing to do with peace or any "Russianness". This construction is an empty ideological simulacrum in which words exist solely to mask aggression.

And here it is important to draw a clear conceptual line between Ukrainian patriotism and "Russian peace".

Ukrainian patriotism/nationalism is based on a simple but fundamental truth: in the center stands the Человек. Not a "superman", not a bearer of a messianic mission, not a trophy for the state - just a person whose dignity is not canceled by any historical circumstances.

The state in this worldview has a strictly instrumental character: it exists so that people's lives are protected, and their rights are guaranteed. This is a tool. Never the goal.

But "Russian peace" is the antithesis. This is contempt for man as such, elevated to an ideological principle. This is a religious cult of the state, to which a person is obliged to serve, suffer and die. This is state messianism with a claim to "fight against universal evil", where "evil" always conveniently coincides with neighbors who do not want to live in an imperial cage. There, a person is a consumable, and the state is an idol to which everything is allowed.

Therefore, it should not be surprising that war, lies, and open hatred easily hide under this state messianism. When the state is turned into an idol, and a person into a sacrificial raw material, there is no crime that such a construction does not consider "necessary." Everything that the authorities want is instantly declared a "sacred obligation," and any resistance is "universal evil."

But this is only the surface of the phenomenon. Behind loud slogans, behind myths about a "spiritual personality" and a "historical mission", a much darker and cynical reality is hidden. What today is called the "Russian world" is only the visible part of the mechanism, where religious simulation, imperial psychopathology and moral relativism, pushed to the limit, are mixed.

And it is about this deep structure, about its real origins, consequences and spiritual mutations - we will talk further. This is only the final point of the first part. Then the most important thing begins.

To be continued.

Martin Skavronsky, for Newsky