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"It's not easy to remain a Russian"

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"It's not easy to remain a Russian"

29.01.2014

The traditional Christmas parliamentary meetings are being held now in Moscow as part of the XXII International parliamentary educational readings. A meeting that took place on January 29 at the State Duma was devoted to our compatriots abroad, to preservation of the Russian language and the memory of the historical motherland and the educational role of church centers.

The roundtable was moderated by Vladimir Nikitin, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for CIS Affairs and Ties with Compatriots under the State Duma of Russia. The participants included representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as well government and non-government organizations engaged in the support of compatriots.

One of the key issues discussed was interaction between religious structures, on one hand, and government and non-government organizations in the area of compatriots' support, on the other hand.

Collaboration of society, church and state

The meeting was opened by Management Board Chairman of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, Vyacheslav Nikonov, who elaborated about the Foundation's effort to support compatriots, preserve the Russian language in their families and also collaborate with the Russian Orthodox Church.

It should be noted that the Russkiy Mir Foundation is one of the few Russian structures which actively support the initiatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in its foreign eparchies. Back in 2009 the Foundation concluded a collaboration agreement with the ROC and since then this work has been constantly carried out. The effectiveness of such joint work was corroborated by another participant of the meeting: head of the Department of External Church Relations of ROC, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion. He noted the consultative participation of the Church representatives in considering applications for grants, which are processed by the Russkiy Mir Foundation as well as by the Russkiy Mir Assemblies – large-scale annual meetings of compatriots, organized by the Foundation.

The issue of collaboration between church and state in the cause of supporting Russian compatriots abroad did not emerge by accident. "Believers are most resistant to assimilation," stated Metropolitan Hilarion, "because their life is largely built around the church congregation, in the Russian-speaking community. The preservation of the Russian language and interest in their historic land, mother Russia, is also bolstered by Russian liturgies, participation in different community groups and teaching of the kids of our compatriots in Sunday schools in Russian. In other words, these people have strong motives and all necessary funds to preserve their Russian culture. Not in vain do many people open for themselves the Church only in emigration: here the congregation also becomes an island of the Russian culture, so necessary for a person severed from his or her roots."

It's not easy to remain a Russian

The opinion of Metropolitan Hilarion was corroborated by another church representative, this time from the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, archbishop of Geneva and Western Europe Mikhail (Donskov). A Paris-born émigré himself, speaking in clear and pure Russian, he stated: "Whoever stays with the church remains a Russian." The reverend explained his proposition by his rich experience of watching people, including from the old emigration. Those who leave the church, in his words, are gradually "diluted in the world around them."

At the same time the Reverend noted the difference between the old rather devout emigrants and those who arrived in recent 20-25 years, basically non-believers. Quite often people come to church only after a baby is born, to baptize it. "I am concerned," says archbishop Mikhail, "over why these people are not in Russia. They have both means and talent." The reverend noted that he never blessed anyone to leave the land of their fathers, having added: "It's not easy to remain a Russian."

Russian schools

The difficulty of remaining a Russian is especially true for children growing up in immigrant families, given that their life experience is not related to their historic motherland. And they do not have too many opportunities to learn the language of their forefathers: with the exception of their parents, people around them speak a different language. What can be done then? There's only one way out: teaching Russian to your child. But for this to happen, certain conditions are to be created, and the effort of NGOs and even the Russian Orthodox Church, at whose parishes Sunday schools often function, is not enough. All participants of the roundtable agreed that the government should be more actively involved in this work. It's rather rewarding to know that the government does not forget about this task. A short time ago head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that the Russian government would support Russian schools abroad. Lavrov's statement caused an unwanted stir, above all in the Baltic countries. Meanwhile, as the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Konstantin Kosachev explained, this is currently only a concept yet to be approved by Russian President. The main task in creating such a concept, according to Mr Kosachev, is getting the support of Russian schools abroad in order, which requires their certification.

Ukraine

The speakers certainly could not bypass the situation in Ukraine. According to Vladimir Nikitin, a war is being waged now in Ukraine, not a clash for territory or natural resources, but for the project of the future socio-economic system for all of mankind. The key actors in this controversy are the US and Russia and the latter, in his opinion, should counter the materialistic-mechanistic world view of the West with the unity of the material and spiritual worlds as the basis for further development of the human civilization.

And the head of Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of the Russian Abroad Viktor Moskvin was attracted by the positive experience of Ukraine, which actively supports its culture abroad. Meanwhile Russia does not do in Ukraine even what it could easily be doing without great financial effort, believes Moskvin. "Look at our museums, theatres, libraries. You won't find even a line in their plans about collaboration with Ukraine." The well-known historian complained about the inadequate development of human connections with Ukraine and other CIS countries.

"A more inclusive and profound effort is needed. Only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rossotrudnichestvo are not enough. It is necessary to engage the entire potential of Russian culture: theatres, museums etc." In his opinion, special attention should be paid to such names which connect Russia with Ukraine: not only Gogol, but also dozens and hundreds of workers of culture and science. As the nearest plan of what should be done, he proposed large-scale events for the return to the common cultural treasury such figures as scientist Alexander Chizhevsky, church historian and archpriest Vasily Zenkovsky, art critic and artist Igor Grabar.

Konstantin Kosachev also mentioned that the voice of the Russian world is not heard in Ukraine, despite the fact that those who think rapprochement with Russia would be the appropriate geopolitical choice for Ukraine are not fewer in number there than the proponents of "Maidan" and rapprochement with the West. The problem, Kosachev says, lies in the disunity of Russian compatriots, though according to him, they could be a solid buttress for Russia on the international arena. And so the organization he leads intends to start gathering the Russian diaspora in Ukraine. In particular, Mr. Kosachev announced the development by his organization of an integrated proposal of the Russian world consolidation as a backing for Russia.

In the diplomat's opinion, the slogan of protecting the Russian language outside Russia is already insufficient for meeting this challenge. According to Kosachev, it is necessary to aspire for more: that the Russian language would be interesting for the native speakers of other languages. One of the steps in this direction, according to him, is the Congress of Russian speaking intelligentsia in Issyk-Kul, devoted to the commemoration of Chingiz Aytmatov, which Rossotrudnichestvo intends to hold in August 2014.

Alexander Ryazantsev

   
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