"We Russians are a people ... who have passed through the difficult stages of denial of God's existence and ... have now turned to God - and what we see is wonderful."
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
This short excerpt is a particularly good example of the almost daily sermons the head of the Russian church, Kirill, gives as he travels around Russia. They are all broadcast on Russian Christian TV channels and on the internet and reach a wide audience.
Kirill is a remarkably good speaker. Here, he puts into a nutshell the stark spiritual divergence of Russia and the West.
Very interesting, and very revealing.
We are not sure of the date of this recording, but it is relatively recent.
Full transcript follows below:
Full Transcript:
We know that some developed and powerful countries, using their wealth and power, are trying to uproot faith from their societies.
That does not mean that the people of these countries no longer have faith, rather it is just harder and harder for them to confess it.
We are a people, Holy Rus, Russia, who have passed through the difficult stages of full denial of God's existence and any presence of God in people's lives, have now turned to God and what we see is wonderful.
We see big changes, including in our young people's consciousness. No generation of young people was subjected to such temptations which distort moral nature as this generation. It is God's miracle that more and more people link their lives to God.
They have hope in him and are forming ways and methods of resisting the Devil's temptations and build their lives according to God's law. It's a manifestation of God's mightiness.
And when people who trust more in human ability look at our trust in God with a condescending and ironic smile, we respond to them with prayer for the whole world, not with irony or malice, because we understand that prayer is stronger than money, stronger than power, and stronger than weapons.
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
Anyone is free to republish, copy, and redistribute the text in this content (but not the images or videos) in any medium or format, with the right to remix, transform, and build upon it, even commercially, as long as they provide a backlink and credit to Russia Insider. It is not necessary to notify Russia Insider. Licensed Creative Commons
Our commenting rules: You can say pretty much anything except the F word. If you are abusive, obscene, or a paid troll, we will ban you. Full statement from the Editor, Charles Bausman.