Roman Lunkin. Shoigu and Chaplains
Published on the “Religion and Law” Portal (https://religionip.ru)
Finally, the Russian Ministry of Defense denies that religious communities are being formed in military units – their creation is currently prohibited by Article 8 of the Federal Law on the Status of Servicemen. What, then, will a priest build around himself? A retinue? And how many Orthodox believers will serve under orders, how many will be sincere, and how many will hate Orthodoxy?
Under Shoigu everything will be fine – and the army will become Orthodox, with hundreds of army priests appearing at once. Such hopes have been expressed by both Patriarch Kirill and the chief chaplain and head of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Armed Forces, Father Dmitry Smirnov.
I fully understand the desire of Orthodox priests to sustain the prayerful spirit of servicemen. I even support, in principle, the introduction of the chaplaincy institution in the army, but something else troubles me – who will educate the army and how.
Father Dmitry has repeatedly said that he is entirely against the concept of a “multi-confessional Russia,” that our country is simply Orthodox, and everyone must understand this. He has called for fighting against those of other faiths, practically with rakes and pitchforks, and for teaching “The Law of God” in prime time on television. It was Father Dmitry who authored the phrase: “The blood of the women killed in Kazan is on the conscience of those who supported Pussy Riot.”
Father Dmitry himself is the founder of a large parish complex, a strong community; he is a fighter against abortion and successfully runs numerous social projects.
However, it is unclear how each of the 170 candidates for chaplain will understand the instructions of Father Dmitry, as well as those of other Church spokesmen – Father Vsevolod Chaplin and even Patriarch Kirill himself. What xenophobic cocktail will take shape in the minds of young priests and servicemen?
One thing is clear – unconditional submission to the authorities will be ensured, since any opposition and the “Bolotnaya” protesters will always be “blasphemers” for the chaplains, and the imitation of “Western models” will be seen as a path to unrest (as Patriarch Kirill stated on November 4).
As several clergy members admitted to me in conversations, the chaplain’s position is not very cushy, and few want to take on these roles. They were promised 50 thousand rubles, and they will be paid 50 thousand. Even if it is 50 thousand, that is quite meagre compared to what one can earn in a parish. And on top of that you have to stay in a military base where parishioners will be herded into a church, and political officers and psychologists will obviously not understand what a priest is doing there.
Judging by the regulation on clergy providing pastoral care to servicemen, a chaplain indeed takes on many functions – including patriotic education, naturally, as he understands it…
And one more thing about pluralism. In 2010, when the first documents regarding chaplains were being adopted within the Russian Ministry of Defense, I, as the then director of the Institute of Religion and Law, sent an inquiry to Defense Minister Serdyukov regarding the compliance of this initiative with the legislation. The reply from the Main Directorate for Educational Work of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, dated March 23, 2010, No. 172/2/1347, stated the following: “In accordance with the Regulation, clergy may be appointed to the corresponding posts by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation upon the recommendation of religious associations. To date, such recommendations have only been received from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Decisions on introducing the said posts are being carefully elaborated, taking into account the level of religiosity and confessional affiliation of the personnel, about which the heads of the relevant religious associations are informed.
The duties of an assistant commander for work with believing servicemen, regardless of his confessional affiliation, include organizing pastoral care for believing personnel of other faiths.”
This means that the Orthodox will be obliged to provide spiritual care for believers of other confessions and religions as well. A separate question is how possible it is for imams or pastors to gain access to military units – when citing the experience of the United States and Europe, everyone forgets that chaplains there belong to different religions and different Christian churches.
Finally, the Russian Ministry of Defense denies that religious communities are being formed in military units – their creation is currently prohibited by Article 8 of the Federal Law on the Status of Servicemen. What, then, will a priest build around himself? A retinue? And how many Orthodox believers will serve under orders, how many will be sincere, and how many will hate Orthodoxy?
Such is the legacy inherited by Shoigu.
https://echo.msk.ru/blog/romanlunkin/949622-echo/ [1]
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