To “Matilda”: a new oprichnina and the idea of sacred terror in modern Russia

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До "Матильды": новая опричнина и идея сакрального террора в современной России

In connection with the controversy over the film “Matilda” directed by Alexey Uchitel in the field of view of the General public has got corrupt radical fringes of the movement, received in the media called different names, the most memorable of which should recognize the “Orthodox Taliban” and “Orthodox Islamic state.”

The face of this many of the new and unexpected power of the movement was Natalya Poklonskaya, a State Duma Deputy and a symbol of the “Russian spring”. Crimean symbolic capital, much tarnished in 2014, still allowed her to lead the monarchist opposition “to the right” and to mobilize Orthodox voters, eager implementation of the state program of cleansing the country from the enemy forces, hindering the restoration of the theocratic ideal of the Russian Empire.

However, it should be recalled that religious-political opposition, acting on behalf of Orthodoxy with a sacred program of control over the political and cultural field that emerged long before Natalia Polonskaya and mass protests against the movie “Matilda”. This opposition has existed since the beginning of 1990-ies as a religious underground, largely critical against the policy of the ROC authorities. The institutional centre of this movement are few, but active in the media space “oprichnina brotherhood”, the most famous of which – the Union of Orthodox standard-bearers (SPH).

SPH was established in 1992 and is headed since inception by Leonid Simonovic-Niksic. A great resonance in Russian society caused the trial 2010 against the standard-bearers for the distribution of artistic products techceram symbol and the slogan “Orthodoxy or death”.

In the last decade, members of the brotherhood, speaking in a terrifying way warrior monks, spetsializiruyutsya on artistic-political protests against contemporary art and gay pride parades. Wide the fame of this community have brought their symbolic inquisitorial performances, such as the funeral of a toy monkey as a symbol of Darwinism and atheism in 2007, the public burning in 2008, “day of the Oprichnik” and “Sugar Kremlin” Vladimir Sorokin, the burning of books about the Royal family, Edward Radzinsky and “the gospel according to Solovyov,” the famous TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, and now ritual burning of a poster of “Matilda” and photos directed by Alexei Uchitel. All these works declared neopytnoj blasphemy, degrading Russian history, Orthodoxy, Russian God-bearing people and the Russian kategoricheski state.

Today, in the face of Natalia Polonskaya this monarchical counter-culture found support in the Supreme legislative body of the Russian Federation. Despite distancing Poklonskaya religious extremism, its veneration of Nicholas II as a ritual sacrifice for Russia brings her closer to the ideology of neoprene.

Neoprene doctrine

Modern neoprene doctrine goes back to the idea of Russian theocracy and tradition of sacralization of the monarchy (see Uspensky B. A. the King and Patriarch: charisma of power in Russia. The Byzantine model and its Russian rethinking,1998). The revival of the monarchical ideal of oprichnina is directly related to the rehabilitation and active work of several Church and civic organizations in the early 1990s, the years of the canonization of Ivan the terrible the founder of the Russian monarchy. The requirements of canonization terrible in neopytnyh texts are always accompanied by the requirements of the canonization of Grigory Rasputin, and in the 1990s, and the canonization of Nicholas II and the Royal family (canonized in 2000).

Apologetics of Ivan the terrible in the ultra-conservative Orthodox circles dates back to journalism, Metropolitan of Petersburg and Ladoga John (Snychev) (1927-1995), particularly his book “the Autocracy of the spirit”, released in 1994. So neoprene theology called the Doctrine of the Metropolitan John. According to neobreznoy theology, the status of the Orthodox monarch is higher than the status of the Church hierarchy. In this theological doctrine is the principle of the Symphony of secular and ecclesiastical power, therefore, the ROC klassificeret neopreno as the heresy of carabietta.

Oprichnina is described in the writings of Metropolitan John and other ideologists of carabietta as the way the armies of heaven, as the Orthodox ascetic ideal and the sacred instrument in the eschatological battle with the Antichrist, where all means are good. Sacred terror aimed at dealing with the enemies of Orthodoxy and the Russian state, is the main purpose neoprene unions and brotherhoods.

The ideology of neoprene distributed a number of publications, which include literary-the art almanac “the Sacred banner” newspaper “Orthodox Russia”, “Protectress” and “Russian folk line”. One of the leading authors neoprene publications – historian, former press Secretary to Metropolitan Ioann, Konstantin Dushenov. Despite the fact that Dushenov was sentenced for extremism (in 2010 sentenced to three years in prison for anti-Semitism on article 282, released on parole in November 2012), his book can be purchased in the Church’s bookstores, he’s a popular video blogger, runs his program “Spiritual conversations” on network TV, “Day TV”.

Dushenov, like most national-patriots, had high hopes for Putin’s third term and began the process of “nationalization of elites”. On the pages of the newspaper “Tomorrow” from may 7, 2013, he writes about the need for a new oprichnina and the new “Black Hundreds”:

“The Kremlin today desperately needs its own Oprichnina. Its Black hundreds. Your “order of the knights of the sword” sort of “Orthodox Russian NKVD” twenty-first century. […] The Kremlin needs the Black hundreds of the XXI century. Need a massive people’s force, which could confidently rely in case of any disasters, any shocks, any attempt to bring down the Russian state, how would such efforts have not proceeded from the outside or from the inside. And the Kremlin seems to understand this”.

Prayer vigils, processions, marches and performances are the areas where neoprene the most active and visible. Substantial body of religious practices of carbonica is writing services Ivan the terrible and the creation of his iconic image. Russia of the future is conceived as the state of the monastery, headed by the Tsar-Abbot. Terrible in pseudoionones of neoprints interpreted simultaneously as a humble monk, whacky, and as a formidable military commander, leader of the Third Rome.

It should be noted the important social aspect of neoprene – the dogma of the absolute equality of all before the king-Abbot. In conditions of severe social and economic inequality in contemporary Russia, the oprichnina dogma has significant mobilizing force.

ROC vs

Neoprene militant movement represents a serious challenge to the official Orthodoxy. Despite the small number of active organizations, oprichnina itself a worldview is quite common. According to political scientist Alexander Shmelev:

“Do not think that all of this – something “marginal”. On the contrary, in some sense marginalized are the so-called “basic social concept” of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, although adopted at the bishops ‘ Council 2000, but not cause any real theological and journalistic activity do not produce fruit. While the doctrine of Metropolitan John is actively fruiting, and to verify this, just go to any Church bookstore.”

The Russian Orthodox Church is trying to deal with the counterculture and the theocratic doctrine of the Metropolitan John. Exposing people’s worship of the terrible and Rasputin devote their articles and speeches deacon Andrei Kuraev, a priest and a missionary Daniil Sysoev (1974-2009), a well-known researcher of sectarianism Professor Alexander Dvorkin, theologian Alexey Osipov. In 2004, the Synodal Commission on canonization refused to canonize Ivan the terrible and Grigory Rasputin, and negatively spoke about the so-called “national honor” and the attempts to revise the accepted historical understanding of their activities.

However, complete dissociation from activities of neoprene brotherhoods from the official Church there. For example, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin refers to the activities of the Union of Orthodox standard-bearers:

“I cannot subscribe to their every action and every speech. The organization is creative, she loves to respond to different events of social and cultural life of the community. Consists mostly of classical intellectuals, although appears in the “demotic” form”.

The duality relations of the Russian Orthodox Church and the official authorities to neoprene and increasingly dynamic process of rehabilitation of Ivan the terrible, started radical monarchists in 1990-ies, we see in the controversy over the establishment of monuments of this king. It is symbolic that the campaign on the part of carbonico against the movie “Matilda” coincided with the opening of the monument to Tsar Ivan IV.

In the context of studying the processes of politicization of history and transformation of historical memory in contemporary Russia is the phenomenon of neoprene seems to be very relevant and worthy of careful study. As we can see Russian history as a symbolic resource in great demand today not only the current government, but the new “civil society” – a radical political, religious and social movements and communities.

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