Metropolitan Tikhon of Novosibirsk and Berdsk: “This unity needs to be stored!”

The metropolitan Tikhon of Novosibirsk and Berdsk at the request of our portal answered a number of questions, concerning the increased interest in society to history of Russia, problems of its teaching, attention to idea of integration:
- I am not the historian, but perfectly understand that if the person doesn't know the past, he has no future. The next year we will celebrate the great date: the 700 anniversary since the birth of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. But if you ask the youth today about him, many simply won't find what to say … They don't know neither the history, nor the culture.
And it everything isn't casual, certainly. Remember. How many we had different sects in the 90th years. The matter is not whether all this was any deliberate action of the West, but that our many people accepted it.
The ignorance of own history led to all this. The person has to realize himself: who is he? For what does he live? And what does he realize if doesn't know about the sources, the roots.
Therefore he becomes a toy in various hands, even misanthropic ideologies. And still we didn't pull out them with a root, but pleases that the attention to national history grows. This is, certainly, positive phenomenon: our people started realizing themselves in line with history of the Fatherland, instead of any alien, imposed schemes.
- Now there is a work on the uniform textbook of history. There is no book still, but so many copies round the idea are broken …
- You know, we speak more about teaching of bases of orthodox culture at school. We consider that the Russian culture and the Russian spirituality have to be studied at school. And the president repeatedly spoke about it.
Our education has to be ethnoconfessional: each ethnos compactly living in any district has to study own language, history, spiritual culture. The country is big and there is a lot of people in it!
And I think that the state history textbook has to be one for all. But the children need to be brought up so that they knew that it is only an outline! We can and have to comprehend what in our country occurred from the height of lived. Therefore, the education system has to induce pupils profoundly to study the history.
In the childhood the grandmothers and mothers read fairy tales to us. And what did the fairy tale in Old Slavic language mean? It is also the history! We were given positive lessons in a fantastic form. The history gives all of us a moral lesson. And political lesson too and economic lesson …
The Orthodox Church has thousand-year experience of education, and if it takes part in work on such textbook in any form, it will do only the good. For example, the secular historian won't be able to estimate a contribution of Orthodox Church for the benefit of Russia. The church is after all the mother of the people in the history of Russia! We had many sacred and not all of them were the monks. Remember Alexander Nevsky and Feodor Ushakov.
- Nevertheless, such point of view is stated in many mass media: today the church has too much influence on processes in public life, on country development. And, as they say, it is not good…
- Well, it is what to understand in the form of development! Ascension or degradation? Our country is free, all opinions are presented. Everyone can profess any ideology. And if you want that Russia was only the raw region that culture level not dews, but decreased, then act under brand: everything has to be as in the West. Therefore don't want that the people studied own history, that he realizes himself and then will start not only asking inevitable questions, but also to look for answers.
Now we can come to moral accident. The reason of it is quite obvious: degradation begins with that the disorder in the heads of people sets in, they don't realize the meaning of the life of the person, people life. And it is very bad! It is necessary to remember that in Russia the conciliarity was a priority from time immemorial! People always tried to support and help each other.
Certainly, there were the poverty and defects … But it wasn’t in such scale as now.
There are those who don't want that Orthodoxy was studied by children. But here after all there is an obvious juggling! We don't speak about teaching of any church subjects at all. They are studied only at Sunday schools, in seminaries. And the native history, native culture and native literature have to be studied at usual schools. Here what is a speech about!
The juggling becomes not casually – they want to convince society that the church suggests to study religion … But I will remind that the subject “basis of orthodox culture” is entered by the government. And you won't see any priest at school that he taught something … And the textbook, by the way, passes state examination. Nobody teaches prayers, any asceticism. Now east asceticism is known much more, than orthodox … Even politicians argue now about aura and karma.
- Today not only in Russia speak about integration. How the Russian Orthodox Church treats such ideas?
- It is a political question. And the churches have to solve it. But we, of course, can express the opinion: is it necessary to collect the country or not? The matter is not in the Soviet Union, not in the name in general … If we can keep centrifugal forces, if the people want it, that clearly will be! But not the church people have to solve it, but our political power.
Certainly, a lot of things were lost because the country was divided – it never does the advantage. But always positive sees at distance – people understand a lot of things only the years later …
Remember, at least, conversations that Siberia should separate from Russia. And now they still meet. But the Holy Patriarch Kirill told about it: how is it possible to imagine Russia without Siberia and vice versa?! It is simply impossible. The power of Russia, really, grows by Siberia! People are strong, a subsoil rich; and if we start all this dividing, nothing remains from Siberia, from Russia.
- Traditionally the Russians are interested in a situation in Ukraine. There are a lot of problems in the relations… And in Ukraine there is also a problem of the actual split of orthodox church. There since 1992 there is the Ukrainian orthodox church of the Kiev patriarchy which is not recognized by any of initial orthodox churches …
- The name Ukraine tells a lot of things. It always was the border earth. During various historical disturbances Ukraine passed from hand to hand – certainly, all this left the trace. And after all there is the root of the nation and belief root! I want to tell that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is highly esteemed in the people. And many magnificent temples are under construction there!
But, as they say in the Scriptus, where is a sin, there is the good fortune … Perhaps, Philaret (Denisenko) took offense at something, maybe, he had any personal ambitions. The motives are not important – it is important that it did huge harm. After all it is necessary to think not of yourself first of all, but of unity of the people. There is no more important task!
Yes, the split in Ukraine remains in the history, but how?! It won’t be written down by gold letters as someone, probably, hopes. Herostratus burned the temple that his name remained in the history but what he was remembered by mankind?! Only as the extremely negative example.
Orthodoxy of Russia and Ukraine unites a name of sacred prince Vladimir. We find unity and understanding at Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgian – they are all orthodox people. And the unity needs to be stored! And dissenters will achieve nothing.