21st World Russian People's Council speeches. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church chaired the plenary session of the XXI World Russian People's Council

On November 1, 2017, in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' chaired the 21st plenary session on the topic “Russia in the 21st century: historical experience and development prospects.”

During the conciliar discussion, the patterns of civilizational development of Russia over the past century, the causes of historical tragedies, geopolitical and social catastrophes, as well as the preconditions for the victories and achievements of our people during this period were discussed. A correct understanding of the lessons of the past will make it possible to form a holistic vision of the historical prospects for the country’s development in the 21st century.

Present on the presidium of the Council were: Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation V.V. Volodin, Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Diocese, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Deputy Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, Deputy Head of the VRNS, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation V.D. Zorkin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation N.V. Fedorov, First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S.V. Kiriyenko, Chairman of the Writers' Union of Russia, Deputy Head of the VRNS V.N. Ganichev, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation V.A. Kolokoltsev, Russian Federation Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief V.A. Puchkov, Chairman, Head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities I.V. Barinov, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science S.S. Kravtsov, Governor of the Moscow Region A.Yu. Vorobyov, Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society S.V. Stepashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs L.E. Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations S.A. Gavrilov, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' Korniliy (Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church), Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia, Grand Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia A.M. Beard, Head of the Department of National Policy and Interregional Relations of the City of Moscow V.I. Suchkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and the Media, Deputy Head of the ARNS O.A. Kostin and other officials.

The work of the Council was attended by hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, representatives of government authorities, leaders of factions of political parties of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, leaders of public associations, the highest clergy of traditional religions, scientists, educators and cultural figures, delegates of Russian communities from near and far abroad, representatives of the public.

The meeting was broadcast live on the Rossiya-24 and TV channels.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke with.

Then the First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S.V. Kiriyenko announced the greeting of the President of the Russian Federation.

“For many years, your authoritative forum has been gathering in Moscow representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, authorities, public and religious organizations to discuss the most significant humanitarian and civilizational problems,” the head of the Russian state noted in his address. — I am confident that the current forum, held under the motto “Russia in the 21st century: historical experience and development prospects,” will raise the most important and pressing issues of our time and inspire participants to meaningful discussions. Let me emphasize that Russia has always been strong in the traditions of national unity and cohesion, and has advocated strengthening peace, cooperation, trusting, mutually beneficial dialogue with its partners. And only by preserving this historical heritage, our moral and spiritual support, will we be able to move forward and achieve our goals.”

Next, the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation V.V. spoke. Volodin, who stated: “Today our country has chosen a creative and peaceful path of development. Revolutionary upheavals, including those occurring in neighboring countries, are regarded negatively by society, and certainly not as an example to follow. To continue to move forward, we need informed decisions. Decisions made in the interests of the entire society, united by the ideas of the national, political and economic sovereignty of the country.”

“It is important to follow the path of development and dialogue. This task is being solved on the basis of democratic choice and the principles of social responsibility and social guarantees,” continued the Chairman of the State Duma. — We must learn to appreciate and protect the existing way of life, to understand how our basic values are expressed in this way of life: family, faith, cohesion, the Motherland and, of course, justice, the lack of which can cause a split in society, create the ground for the activities of revolutionary outcasts and, ultimately destroy the seemingly unshakable foundations of statehood.”

“It is on these principles that we need to build the legislative process. When adopting laws, it is important to take into account the opinions of broad sections of society: people with different cultural traditions and religions. Only through a comprehensive discussion and dialogue with the expert community, civil society institutions, and confessions do laws receive broad support,” emphasized V.V. Volodin.

Head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs I.V. Barinov announced the greeting of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, whose address, in particular, said: “Your forum has been meeting every year for more than 20 years. His agenda includes the most important problems of the country’s public life, things that concern every person. This time you will have to discuss a complex, multifaceted topic - what Russia should be like in the 21st century. And of course, turn to our history. After all, knowing its lessons and drawing conclusions from the past is necessary in order to analyze the present, predict the future, learn from mistakes and not make new ones. The great scientist Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky has good words: “History teaches even those who do not study; it teaches them a lesson for ignorance and neglect.” There have been different eras in our history - revolutionary upheavals and wars, creation and creativity, advances in science and culture. And the main thing that helped to overcome any trials, united people from century to century, from generation to generation, was love for their Motherland, mutual respect, the desire to live in peace and harmony, to do everything for their country.”

The Head of Government in his message expressed confidence that the free discussions traditional for the Council will serve a common goal - the successful development of Russia.

At the plenary session, speeches were made by representatives of government bodies, traditional religions of Russia, leaders of political parties, and representatives of the public.

The report was made by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation V.D. Zorkin.

Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia, Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia A.M. addressed the audience. Beard.

Deputy Head of the VRNS, Bishop Savva of Voskresensky, announced the greeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrova.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

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Congratulations from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation G.A. Happy 75th birthday to Zyuganov [Patriarch: Greetings and addresses]

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. The meeting of the XXI World Russian People's Council (VRNS) took place on Wednesday in Moscow. The participants - religious figures, leaders of political parties, government officials, public figures and creative intellectuals - discussed the key topic of the meeting: "Russia in the 21st century: historical experience and development prospects."

As Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' noted, society, having gone through the schisms and conflicts of the past century, is beginning to realize the value of national reconciliation and unity. “This unification and reconciliation gives us confidence that the country and society will not stumble and fall into a historical abyss, as happened in early 1917,” he said.

According to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, revolutionary events begin from the moment the ruling elites cannot adequately respond to current challenges and tasks. The Patriarch emphasized that “the elites and the people must be an inseparable, single whole.”

The theme of public unity was also supported by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. In his speech, he called on “to draw conclusions from the past in order to move forward more confidently and effectively solve the problems of the country’s development.”

Volodin expressed confidence that, since the structure and characteristics of Russia were formed as a result of the thousand-year history of the cohabitation of hundreds of peoples with different cultures and religions, sustainable and evolutionary development based on dialogue and mutual understanding is extremely important for the country.

The future of the country belongs to educated people

VRNS participants could not help but touch upon the issues and problems facing the Russian education system. Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, head of Rosobrnadzor Sergei Kravtsov expressed the opinion that Russian universities need mandatory examination of textbooks and suggested paying more attention to the moral education of students.

“Obviously, it is necessary to address this issue based on the values that unite the multinational peoples of Russia, based on the historical development of our country, family values. I want to emphasize that the moral education of students and youth is an extremely important task for the sustainable and effective development of our country,” - he said.

In turn, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' noted that the development of our own scientific and teaching schools, taking into account global trends, will help preserve the country’s independence in the 21st century and called for “restoring and developing our own scientific and teaching schools, promoting our methodological developments.”

“This will cause resistance from supporters of global education standards, but there is no need to be afraid of this, because at the same time it will attract keen international interest. Russian education can become a model, the same as Russian science or Russian literature,” added the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Relying on one’s own cultural developments and one’s way of thinking while taking into account global trends and achievements of science and technology will allow one to maintain sovereignty in the 21st century,” he emphasized.

National question and intercultural dialogue

During the meeting of the World Russian People's Council, much attention was paid to the development of interethnic and interfaith interaction and the prevention of conflicts on this basis. As the head of the Federal Agency for National Affairs, Igor Barinov, emphasized in his speech, speculation in matters of national policy is unacceptable, since “national policy in our country is an extremely sensitive area, affecting the most personal and intimate that is in each of us.”

He added that the unifying force for the residents of the country today is the concept of all-Russian identity. “A feature is a multi-level identity - national, religious, cultural. But in strengthening peace and harmony, the leading one is still the all-Russian identity, which allows a person throughout the vast territory from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok and from Chechnya to Chukotka to feel like a citizen of Russia,” Barinov emphasized .

Unified moral value system

“When I listened to the speeches today, I realized that despite all the differences in views, we are all like-minded, because we start from the same single moral system of values. Now, if, God forbid, we cease to have this common moral basis, if we have different value systems, then the people will lose their unity and the country will not be held back by any laws or force,” said Patriarch Kirill, concluding the meeting of the 21st World Russian People’s Council.

According to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the main significance of the Russian People's Council is that, with all the diversity of views, approaches, and points of view, we can clearly demonstrate that in the deepest foundations of our existence, our people are united."

Representatives of the highest clergy of all traditional religions, delegates of Russian communities from near and far abroad, politicians, scientists, educators and cultural figures take part in this authoritative forum. This year the Council is dedicated to the theme “Russia in the 21st century: historical experience and development prospects.” Those gathered will share their thoughts on how they see the present and future of our country, and will also discuss the causes of geopolitical and social problems.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', participants, organizers and guests of the VRNS. The telegram from the head of state, in particular, says: “I am sure that the current forum<…>will raise the most important and pressing issues of our time and inspire participants to meaningful discussions. Let me emphasize that Russia has always been strong in the traditions of national unity and cohesion, and has advocated for strengthening peace, cooperation, trusting, mutually beneficial dialogue with its partners. And only by preserving this historical heritage, our moral and spiritual support, will we be able to move forward and achieve our goals.”

Opening the Council, Patriarch Kirill noted: “Despite the fact that the number of conflicts, wars and revolutions in the world is growing rapidly, Russia nevertheless has the strength to remain an island of stability in this dangerous stream, to follow its own historical path.” According to him, today our “society is consolidated”, there is no tragic civil split in it, “we are again learning to rejoice in national unification and reconciliation.”

“The history of Russia does not go in circles. We learn from our own mistakes. We have acquired immunity to all types of political radicalism; consensus is more important than ever for us, common values are important. What matters is what unites, not what divides. By continuing to cultivate and increase peace at home, Russia can be an example and moral support for everyone who wants to survive the current crisis,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is confident.

According to him, today the world community “has come close to the historical line beyond which a new era begins - an era when a lot will change in the lives of peoples, mainly the worldview.” “Both in the life of an individual and in the life of a people, faith in social institutions and legal mechanisms is dead without moral action, without the ability to act according to conscience. In this case, it only leads to a mad pursuit of chimeras, of elusive mirages of happiness and freedom. And to innumerable human victims,” the Bishop emphasized.

Speaking about the historical upheavals in Russia in the 20th century, he noted that ordinary people are not organically inclined to revolutionism, “on the contrary, they are the custodians of tradition.” “Both disasters were caused by the fact that the national elite was unable to adequately respond to the challenges of the time. The separation from the people and the fascination with ideas that have no roots in Russian reality made themselves felt. Here the problem of the quality of the elite arises, which must be loyal to the people and be replenished with talented people from below, and not be bound by the interests of external, global players,” the Patriarch pointed out.

“Today in Russia they are looking for an image of the future. I think the image of the future is the image of the people and the image of the elite who have achieved complementarity. The elite are not those people who have risen “above the people.” The real elite are those who have accepted responsibility for the fate of the country, who identify personal interests with national, state interests. The elites and the people must be an inseparable, single whole. Therefore, it is impossible to “appoint” elites artificially: we need a base from which today’s elite can be drawn. To educate the elite, you need to educate the people, educate society, and invest resources in it. If we do not educate our own people, others will educate them,” added the Bishop.

Therefore, according to him, in such an important area as education, it is important to restore and develop our own scientific and pedagogical schools, to promote our methodological developments. “This will cause resistance from supporters of global education standards, but there is no need to be afraid of this, because at the same time, it will attract keen international interest. Russian education may well become a model, the same as Russian science and Russian literature. Relying on one’s own cultural developments and one’s own way of thinking while taking into account global trends and achievements in science and technology will allow one to maintain sovereignty in the 21st century,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is confident.

The Patriarch also stated that the traditional family is the basis of the state. “The family is a structural unit of a stable, healthy society, the main element of a solidary society. The preservation of the people, culture, language, state - all this is carried out through the family, since the mechanism of transferring experience along the chain of generations is connected with the family. If you look at this process from the outside, you can give it an accurate name: tradition. Not any specific one, but tradition as a method of connecting generations in a mode of common activity,” he noted. “The family is a mechanism for transmitting traditions... Parents invest in their children: they finance their education, pass on family traditions, photographs, heirlooms, rules of behavior and good manners, the skills of their favorite profession - this is how dynasties of teachers, military men, athletes, builders, and priests arise. But the same applies to the entire people, to all of Russia: we preserve and pass on history, language, culture, religion, professional and everyday experience to future generations. We pass it on - understanding, feeling that the family is not only us and our children, but also future generations who will not see us, but will certainly know about us,” says the Bishop.

“That’s why, speaking about society, we can say: society is also a big family, a family of families. Therefore, society is threatened by the same thing that threatens the family: the extremes of juvenile justice, same-sex marriage, the establishment of transhumanism, any attempts to give a distorted definition of the concept of “person.” A person needs care, self-improvement, spiritual development, but not for his nature to be changed. Since this nature was created in the image and likeness of the Divine, changing it in any other direction means changing God himself,” the Patriarch added.

“Today society must strive for that solidarity ideal, an ideal very close and understandable for Christians, where unity and brotherhood reign, where people consider each other brothers and sisters. In its most perfect and sublime form, this ideal was realized in the community of the first Christians, about which St. The apostle and evangelist Luke says this: “The multitude of those who believed were one heart and one soul,” said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and added that “the 21st century threatens to call into question even those values that for centuries have seemed unshakable.”

“Revolutions always claim to create a new man, they strive to break the traditional, Christian in him - to “reforge” man. Hence the struggle of revolutionaries with tradition, religion, culture. But this is a dead-end path; it leads to denial and fragmentation. Revolutions are made on denial, on destruction, and the desire for eternal life does not deny anything, but permeates everything. This is the desire for love and for God,” the Patriarch pointed out. - If we want to be a prosperous country in the 21st century; a country that is respected by other countries; a country that has a future, if we want to avoid revolutionary disasters and civil confrontation, we must not forget our historical experience, abandon our historical destiny. If we are all guided by a common goal, then any, even the most difficult challenges will be overcome, and our descendants will be able to speak with gratitude about the achievements of our people in the coming century and live in peace with each other.”

In turn, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin named the basic values on the basis of which parliament should build legislative work. “We must learn to appreciate and protect the existing way of life. Understand how our basic values are expressed in this way of life: family, faith, unity, Motherland, and, of course, justice, the lack of which can create a split in society, create the ground for the activities of revolutionary marginalists and, ultimately, destroy what would seem to be unshakable foundations of statehood,” he said. “When adopting laws, it is important to take into account the opinion of broad sections of society: people with different cultural traditions and religions. Only through a comprehensive discussion and dialogue with the expert community, civil society institutions, and confessions do laws receive broad support,” the politician added.

“Only with mutual respect and harmony in society can a state be strong and develop successfully. Our country is unique. Its structure and features were formed as a result of the thousand-year history of the cohabitation of hundreds of peoples with different cultures and religions. That is why sustainable, evolutionary development, based on dialogue and mutual understanding, relying simultaneously on national traditions and modern institutions of democracy is extremely important for us,” the Chairman of the State Duma emphasized.

He also revealed the highest mission of the authorities in Russia: “to strive for consensus on major issues and seek public compromises on controversial topics and their solutions, preventing them from developing into serious problems.”

Based on materials from the website of the President of the Russian Federation, the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, Interfax, Channel 1.

Plenary session of the XXI World Russian People's Council on the topic “Russia in the XXI century: historical experience and development prospects.”

Present on the presidium of the Council were: Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation V.V. Volodin, Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Diocese, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, Managing Director of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, First Deputy Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, Deputy Head of the VRNS, Bishop Savva of the Resurrection, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation V.D. Zorkin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation N.V. Fedorov, First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S.V. Kiriyenko, Chairman of the Writers' Union of Russia, Deputy Head of the VRNS V.N. Ganichev, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation V.A. Kolokoltsev, Russian Federation Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief V.A. Puchkov, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and the Media V.R. Legoyda, head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities I.V. Barinov, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science S.S. Kravtsov, Governor of the Moscow Region A.Yu. Vorobyov, Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society S.V. Stepashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs L.E. Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations S.A. Gavrilov, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' Korniliy (Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church), Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia, Grand Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia A.M. Beard, Head of the Department of National Policy and Interregional Relations of the City of Moscow V.I. Suchkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and the Media A.V. Shchipkov, Deputy Head of the ARNS O.A. Kostin and other officials.

The meeting was broadcast live on the Rossiya-24, Soyuz and Spas TV channels.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church made a report.

Then the First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S.V. Kiriyenko announced the greetings of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin. Next, the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation V.V. spoke. Volodin.

The report was made by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation V.D. Zorkin.

Deputy Head of the VRNS, Bishop Savva of Voskresensky, announced the greeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrova.

Greetings from the Mayor of Moscow S.S. Sobyanin was read by the head of the Department of National Policy, Interregional Relations and Tourism V.I. Suchkov.

Then the head of the faction of the political party “United Russia” in the State Duma of the Russian Federation S.I. spoke. Neverov, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science S.S. Kravtsov, head of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov.

A speech was made by A.V., member of the Bureau of the Presidium of the VRNS, First Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and the Media. Shchipkova.

Theater and film actor and film director A.I. addressed the audience. Merzlikin.

Also speaking were the head of the faction of the political party “A Just Russia” in the State Duma of the Russian Federation S.M. Mironov, Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society S.V. Stepashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs L.E. Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations S.A. Gavrilov, Deputy Head of the ARNS V.N. Ganichev.

At the end, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill again addressed the participants of the meeting.

On November 1, 2017, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' spoke at the opening of the 21st World Russian People's Council, dedicated to the theme “Russia in the 21st century: historical experience and development prospects.”

Your Eminences and Graces, venerable participants of the World Russian People's Council, brothers and sisters!

We have gathered at a historical moment when we have the opportunity to summarize the experience of an entire era, full of events significant for our country’s destiny, and talk about the future. It seems as if today the words with which the prophet Jeremiah exhorted people in ancient times were spoken: “Thus says the Lord: Stand still in your ways and consider, and ask about the ancient ways, where is the good way, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” "(Jer. 6:16).

Over the past century, our society has acquired a certain maturity and reached that historical distance in relation to the events of 1917, which allows us to talk about them in a balanced and substantive manner - without avoiding assessments and without getting carried away by excessive politicization.

It is difficult to deny that the revolution was a tragedy. A fratricidal civil war, the death and expulsion of millions of people, huge losses in the spiritual and economic spheres. The worst thing is that during the revolutionary struggle, the seeds of hatred and evil were sown in the souls of people. And today we can observe with pain how the same hatred is being revived in different parts of the modern world: both in distant countries and among nearby peoples, among our brothers.

But this hatred today wears different ideological clothes and is associated with the drawing of new and deepening old dividing lines on the planet, with the growth of global inequality and its ideological justification, with the cultivation of artificial differences in society. These processes are no longer connected with the ideas of the previous revolution; they have different ideological foundations.

Despite the fact that the number of conflicts, wars and revolutions in the world is growing rapidly, Russia nevertheless has the strength to remain an island of stability in this dangerous flow, to follow its own historical path.

Today our society is consolidated, it does not have that tragic civil split that divided the people in half. On the contrary, today we are learning again to rejoice in national unification and reconciliation. This unification and reconciliation gives us confidence that the country and society will not stumble and fall into a historical abyss, as happened in early 1917. The history of Russia does not go in circles. We learn from our own mistakes. We have acquired immunity to all types of political radicalism; consensus is more important than ever for us, common values are important. What matters is what unites, not what divides. By continuing to cultivate and increase peace at home, Russia can be an example and moral support for everyone who wants to survive the current crisis.

The world community today has come close to a historical point beyond which a new era begins - an era when a lot will change in the lives of peoples, mainly their worldview. A new era is inevitably coming due to the fact that the limits of globalization have been reached and a crisis of its unifying criteria has begun. This does not mean that the values of democracy, humanism, and human rights will completely disappear from our lives. But they will no longer depend on certain abstract, global standards. Each cultural and historical subject will be forced to look in its own tradition for the support necessary for development and movement forward, to look for its own model of modernization, the origins of its own system of social institutions.

Both in the life of an individual and in the life of a people, faith in social institutions and legal mechanisms is dead without moral action, without the ability to act according to conscience. In this case, it only leads to a mad pursuit of chimeras, of elusive mirages of happiness and freedom. And to countless human casualties.

We know eloquent examples of faith without works and works without faith - both in the history of Europe and in our Russian history. These are world wars and revolutions unleashed by the powers that be. Starting with the French Revolution, which cemented new values in the minds of European peoples, and ending with a series of revolutions of the 20th century. This topic is all the more important because revolutions today are on stream. The so-called “color revolutions” have become a technological concept that denotes a forceful change of power and justifies the violation of the constitution and international law.

However, despite the fact that the revolution has become an everyday technology, its ideologists still rely on quasi-religious rhetoric and try to justify the revolution as a spiritually sublime, morally justified act. At the same time, modern revolutionaries, like their predecessors, by the very logic of the revolutionary process always sacrifice part of their own people for the sake of achieving abstract benefits.

The selective approach of such revolutionaries and their curators to international norms indicates that behind the beautiful façade of legal formulations, double political standards are increasingly hidden, the desire not to submit to the force of law, but to subjugate others by the right of the strong, to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states.

Revolutions, as a rule, are carried out from above, by the elite, which captivates the people with the energy of destruction. This is either our own elite, divorced from tradition, or an alien elite, preoccupied with colonial interests. The common people are not organically inclined towards revolution; on the contrary, they are the custodians of tradition. Which does not prevent him from wanting social justice.

Both catastrophes that befell our country at the beginning and end of the 20th century were caused by the fact that the national elite was unable to adequately respond to the challenges of the time. The separation from the people and the fascination with ideas that have no roots in Russian reality made themselves felt.

Here the problem of the quality of the elite arises, which must be loyal to the people and be replenished with talented people from below, and not be bound by the interests of external, global players.

Today in Russia they are looking for an image of the future. I think the image of the future is the image of the people and the image of the elite who have achieved complementarity. The elite are not those people who have risen “above the people.” The real elite are those who have accepted responsibility for the fate of the country, who identify personal interests with national, state interests. The elites and the people must be an inseparable, single whole.

Therefore, it is impossible to “appoint” elites artificially: we need a base from which today’s elite can be drawn. To educate the elite, you need to educate the people, educate society, and invest resources in it.

If we do not educate our own people, others will educate them. Therefore, in such an important area as education, it is important to restore and develop our own scientific and pedagogical schools and promote our methodological developments. This will cause resistance from supporters of global education standards, but there is no need to be afraid of this, because at the same time, it will attract keen international interest. Russian education may well become a model, the same as Russian science and Russian literature. Relying on your own cultural developments and your own way of thinking while taking into account global trends and achievements in science and technology will allow you to maintain sovereignty in the 21st century.

Social solidarity and the inseparability of the interests of the elite and the people will ensure the structuring of society according to the model of a large family. It is unlikely that the popular belief that society consists of individuals or so-called “small groups” (that is, neighbors, colleagues at work, hobby friends) is true. No. Society is based not on small groups, but on the family.

The family is a structural unit of a stable, healthy society, the main element of a solidary society. The preservation of the people, culture, language, state - all this is carried out through the family, since the mechanism of transferring experience along the chain of generations is connected with the family. If you look at this process from the outside, you can give it an accurate name: tradition. Not any specific one, but tradition as a method of connecting generations in a mode of common activity.

The family is a mechanism for transmitting tradition. How does this happen? Parents invest in their children: they finance their education, pass on family traditions, photographs, heirlooms, rules of behavior and good manners, and the skills of their favorite profession. Then dynasties of teachers, military men, doctors, athletes, builders, and priests arise. But the same applies to the entire people, to all of Russia: we preserve and pass on history, language, culture, religion, professional and everyday experience to future generations. We convey - understanding, feeling that “family” is not only us and our children, but also future generations who will not see us, but will certainly know about us.

Family is also important from a spiritual and religious point of view. Family is the first experience of love in a person’s life. That is why John Chrysostom said about the family that it is a small church. In the family, a person learns love, and through the love that is God, a person is saved. Family is a school of love, and therefore a school of salvation.

Without the desire for love as the highest value, neither family nor society will be able to exist in history. If tradition is the path along which society goes, then love is the ultimate goal of this path. It gives strength and desire to live, fills life with meaning at every moment of history.

That is why, speaking about society, we can say: society is also a big family, a “family of families.” Therefore, society is threatened by the same thing that threatens the family: the extremes of juvenile justice, same-sex marriage, the establishment of transhumanism, any attempt to give a distorted definition of the concept of “person.” A person needs care, self-improvement, spiritual development, but not for his nature to be changed. Since this nature is created in the image and likeness of the Divine, changing it in any other direction means changing God himself.

Today, the struggle for the future is a struggle for anthropology. It is a struggle to define what a “person” is. This includes questions about biotechnology, the progress of human nature, artificial immortality.

The rapid development of medical and genetic technologies appears to be a serious challenge. Futurologists are already predicting the imminent division of humanity into two races. Some predict the greatness of superhumans, others predict the fate of their subordinates. Representatives of the global elite dream of using expensive technologies to transform their bodies so that death for them will be postponed for many decades. And for the vast majority of people this will be impossible.

Such a terrible prospect also contradicts the Christian view of man. To avoid bringing dystopia to life, you need to abandon selfishness and indifference to the misfortune of others. We need to ensure that advanced biotechnologies primarily serve not those who are willing to pay the most, but those who risk leaving the world too soon.

And here, in the development of solidarity medicine of the future, the experience of our country is valuable, since it was Russia that was the pioneer in creating a system of free public healthcare.

Global challenges - be it the problem of extra people in the age of robotization or the division of humanity with the help of biotechnology - can only be overcome in one case: by relying on the solidarity of people.

And today society must strive for that solidarity ideal, an ideal very close and understandable for Christians, where unity and brotherhood reign, where people consider each other brothers and sisters. In its most perfect and sublime form, this ideal was realized in the community of the first Christians, about which St. The apostle and evangelist Luke says this: “The multitude of those who believed were one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32).

It seems that the pursuit of such an ideal should not be controversial. But the 21st century threatens to question even those values that have seemed unshakable for centuries.

“What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him?” - asked the holy king-psalmist David. Today, three thousand years after these words were spoken, we have to answer this question again.

After all, voices are already being heard that modern technologies are capable of creating artificial intelligence and artificial organs. That soon it will be possible to modernize our mind and our body in such a way, to change relations in society so much that new beings will arise that are superior to people. It is no coincidence that the ideology of this process is called transhumanism - that is, existence on the other side of man, beyond the limits of humanity.

Faith in technology is today what faith in progress was. This is also a kind of quasi-religion. This is a person’s belief that with the help of science and technology one can achieve perfection and immortality, complete power over one’s body, over nature, over life. But this is impossible. Because the source of improvement is within a person, not outside. All this leads away from the main Christian path. Ultimately - towards dehumanization, hypertrophied individualization, and therefore the destruction of society and the end of history.

For us, Orthodox Christians - and at the same time for the entire Russian society - recognition of the differences between people is balanced by the awareness of their similarities. The similarity, I repeat, is no less important than the difference.

This is one of the reasons for the most important role that we assign to public dialogue, for the sake of which we have gathered today at our Council.

For a quarter of a century, the World Russian People's Council has been conducting a serious dialogue with representatives of various political parties, including those present in this hall. With representatives of different national and religious communities, representatives of science and culture. Dialogue with young people and the older generation is especially important. In other words, a dialogue that unites all parts of our society with one solidary desire - love for our Motherland.

Revolutions always claim to create a new man, they strive to break the traditional, Christian in him - to “reforge” man. Hence the struggle of revolutionaries with tradition, religion, culture. But this is a dead-end path; it leads to denial and fragmentation. Revolutions are made on denial, on destruction, and the desire for eternal life does not deny anything, but permeates everything. This is the desire for love and for God.

If we want to be a prosperous country in the 21st century; a country that is respected by other countries; a country that has a future, if we want to avoid revolutionary disasters and civil confrontation, we must not forget our historical experience, abandon our historical destiny. If we are all guided by a common goal, then any, even the most difficult challenges will be overcome, and our descendants will be able to speak with gratitude about the achievements of our people in the coming century and live in peace with each other.