Putin’s Russia vs Holy Rus

S Yesenin: If the Holy army yells, "Abandon Rus and live in paradise, I'll say, "I don’t need paradise, give me my homeland".

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly quoted the verse while celebrating his victory in the presidential race. "I don't need paradise, give me my homeland" looks like a good slogan for a party (or a movement or a social group) with the name “Stable Putin’s Russia”. I don’t know why Sergei Yesenin attributed to “the holy army” that strange call to abandon Russia. It could be more comprehensible if the country was totally possessed by devil.

Currently quite a few intelligent and talented people leave Russia. No one would go away seeking for better life if there were conditions suitable for decent life. It seems like there finally appeared a man, who is sincere in his plan to change the situation and who is ready to offer a real alternative to the present political system. As it was stated in Mikhail Prokhorov’s pre-election ad, it’s time to build new Russia with a new president. Shall we call the population of Russia “new Russians”? J

And who are we anyway? Irina Prokhorova in her interview to “Moskovskii Komsomolets” said that Russia is perceived by the rest the world as some kind of gangster state.  I want to believe that it isn’t so. But it isn’t enough just to believe. It is necessary to prove to the world, and most importantly to ourselves, that we are that great and culturally sophisticated country, that (according to I Prokhorova) we keep talking about at book shows when we present Russia.

And here is the question: how does M Prokhorov envisage the revival of the Russian cultural tradition? Humanism and individualism, based on west-European philosophical doctrines turned out to be less than perfect. M Prokhorov wants to integrate Russia into the European Union . I like the idea. However it doesn’t mean that we have to completely embrace all their values. We, as a great culturally sophisticated country, have something to offer. It might be sufficient to remember the heritage of Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Gogol and Russian religious philosophers of the 20^th century. After all there is such thing as “Holy Rus”. I’m far from supporting monarchism, but I really like the way Holy Rus is described by prince Peter Lopukhin (look here http://www.dorogadomoj.com/dr62svj.html#p1 ) This is what he wrote:

Every nation has its own gifts that determine the nature of its aspirations, interests and lifestyles. In accordance with the gifts nations self-identify and give themselves a name. So based on its strive for power and wealth Britain called itself Great, Germany called itself “learned” and France called itself “La Belle” for its love for elegance and beauty.

The Russian nation, that is especially gifted in the religious sphere, named itself (due to its special love for Holiness) “Holy Rus”…

…She (Holy Rus) wants to make sure there is no indifference to good and evil “in the air”. She wants the struggle against evil to carry on. She wants to see no society split or one group ruling over the other. She wants to have no temptations and strong sinful desires at all or to see them being fought against. Holy Rus wants the authorities to possess orthodox Christian beliefs or philosophy so that the authorities, and hence all public life directed by them, could clearly identify the objective of the struggle against evil.

If Europe doesn’t impose any values that contradict the principles of Christian morals, joining EU will be a desirable thing. I hope these principles are appreciated not only by Slavophiles but by Westernizers as well and can consolidate the society within the country and on the global scale. Holy Rus is not paradise but it sure can help us find the way there. Lies and corruption that we see in the present day Russia will take us nowhere.