Author: Interviewed by Timur Utsayev, Grozny. Exclusively for VK
Talking about inter-confessional consent, the Chechen cleric says that the Grozny Temple of Archangel Mikhail sees more visitors every year. There used to be many older people, but now a lot of young people attend it. The temple authorities plan to build a religious complex on its territory and gather a community of Chechen Christians. Father Grigory, prior of the temple, told VK what clerics call for.
- Father Grigory, how should people co-exist peacefully when there are calls for contrasting national and religious identity?
- Jesus Christ fixed wrong view of people. Christ offered the perfect teaching, the teaching of love. According to that, a man should view anyone he meets as a brother. If he needs help he should help. If I see a man (regardless of his nationality and religion) with excessive power and violating the law, I must prevent any acts of evil, according to the law. It is the position of the church, we must try to preserve peace and love as much as possible. As a priest, I tell people that a man must save his soul, that is what he lives for. Holy Orthodox writings emphasize that everything in the Christ is single. National identity, as it is in Islam, dissolves. Interethnic conflicts are a game, intrigues aimed at making people live like wolfs, showing teeth to each other. Christianity has such virtue as judgment. People need to use own head, not use those of others. Imposed false stereotypes need to be sensed. In order to do that, a man needs to become a real believer, because in that case he would not call for driving someone out or infringing his rights. I often say that people practicing various religions must behave honorably. Our images of each other are often based on behavior. People should not give reasons for initiation of conflicts.
- How sinful, in the church’s view, is it to be involved in national or religious confrontation?
- There are certain people calling for steps, making false images, benumbing conscience of a perceiving man, which eventually starts to believe in lies. It is best to avoid taking such “food for thought”. Such information should be restricted. A man needs to get deeper into himself, his inner improvement. There are forces interested in weakening Russia. But they should be observed as enemies to humanity, supporters of the devil wishing evil to people. Revolutionary calls are satanic calls. Who was the original revolutionary? It was Satan, the fallen angel who used the most beautiful, but who rebelled against the God. Impartially, everyone has own passion and sins. We should be forgiving with them, should understand a man. He may be undergoing revaluation of values – in Christianity it is called penance. A man may change and we must always give him a chance to do so. It is sort of an amnesty. As venerable Seraphim said “obtain a peaceful soul and thousands will gain salvation around you”.
- In the spiritual crisis, what do you think people should do to become familiar with spiritual values?
- Today, people need inner impulses, motivation to affect a man’s personal life. At this point, I believe that a man needs to carry out some work. We had hard times, especially in Chechnya – first the Soviet government, then events of the last decades. It knocked the man out of the church. Believers need to gain a load of knowledge which would make them capable of confronting negative influence, keeping them ethic. It is an inner act a man may make at full scale when he feels influence of authorities. Clerics have a whole arsenal of means for that, but it takes a man’s will. Christianity, for example, says that every man, regardless of gender and age, is a warrior of Christ. He must always be ready to battle. The battle is not against flesh and blood, it is against the subcelestial evils. They need to be fought with. And a cleric arms a man with the necessary arsenal, means. We need to form the right motivation, promote life’s values we have in temples. Then consumer aspirations would become secondary.
When a man has the right mainstream of thoughts, proper motivation, he indeed gains a new vision of life. He may have a totally different image of such life. He may see it with different eyes, see what he could not see before. Thus, the man would attract attention of another man, who would see his view on life. There is such term as pastoral responsibility. I am responsible for churchgoers visiting our temple. But people need to be reminded that the church should not only be visited on holidays a few times a year, visits need to be more regular. A priest is capable of arming churchgoers with knowledge, giving them new readings offered by divine service. He must is responsible for the millstone of a man’s thoughts to be grinding the seeds of godsend that enters his soul after divine service.
