1998, July 17: Romanov's Funeral

Funeral of Romanov aroused more interest in the West than in Russia. Russians after Communism are tired of formal acts, loud speeches ("national repentence" included.) The absence of Patriarch intrigued Westerners a lot, but in Russia it was understood very simple. Patriarch followed the will of President -- as he understood it. Many other high offficials have been caught in the trap created by Yeltsin's change of mind.

Second, now in Russia President is only a "lazy king." Major of Moscow Yury Luzhkov posses more money and power over 10 millions of Russians at least, he writes his own laws, violating Constitution, he wages his own foreign policy of most shauvinistic sort. Luzhkov suggested to bury Romanovs in Moscow and was furious when recieved refusal. Patriarch was more anxious to please Luzhkov than Yeltsin.

All other reasons for not attending St.-Petersburg's ceremony are of secondary importance. It is specially risky to overestimate connections of the Moscow Patriarchat with Communist. Patriarch cannot exclude possibility of Communist restoration, so he behaves with great dilpomatic mildness, but this is the result of fear.

Above all, Patriarch and Communist leaders belong to one ruling elite, formatted during the last 80 years, which is not less exclusive and elitist than British aristocracy. Communist ideology is dead, and Communist practice (first of all, prihibition of the private property on land and negation of the civil society and real market system) was never interrupted in Russia, it is common grounds for all Russian politicians and people.

Church leaders don't have nostalgia for the Communist past, nowadays they are much more wealthy and powerful, having replaced to some extent the system of Communist "enlightment." But they don't have any nostalgia for capitalism, they understand that in the free market society they will lost a lot of what they have now.

On one hand the situation is much worse than foreign observers think: most Russian Christians (not only Russian Orthodox, not only upper strata of the Church) are very "conservative," not running for economic and spiritual freedom. You cannot expect religios revival. On the other hand the situation is much better than Westerns thinks, because "revival" in itself is the term deeply alien to Russian Christianity. While it has big sense to speek on revival of personality during crusade, it is of small sense to speak on revival on national scale.

Personality is of primary importance, and Lord Jesus  didn't come to save "national" but personal. Russian Christianity was never dead, it have been alive all years of tsarism and Communism. Russian Orthodox Church has her problems, they are just the same as problems of all state or semi-state national Churches (like the Church of England.) These problems are of minor importance compared with the main fact: this Church is alive Body of Christ the Savior.