Moscow, March 22, 2018
Screenshot from channel "Spas" Attempts to artificially reconcile the Whites and Reds in Russia will go nowhere—it is a matter only for God, and not for man, according to His Grace Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), reports Russian Line.
Bp. Tikhon, the abbot of Sretensky Monastery and Chairman of the Patriarchal Cultural Council, addressed the topic of conflicting beliefs in Russian history and today on the program “Parsuna” on the Orthodox television channel “Spas” on Sunday.
“Last year we remembered the 100th anniversary of the revolutionary events. And there were people—cultural figures, journalists—who said: Let’s try to reconcile those who were in terrible, bloody enmity with one another a century ago. Some even proposed having a procession carrying portraits of Whites and Reds side-by-side—such a symbolic reconciliation,” His Grace said, speaking on the topic of forgiveness.
As the head of the Patriarchal Cultural Council, Bp. Tikhon continued, he categorically rejected this idea. “I answered then: It’s impossible; it’s not our prerogative; we can’t do it; we cannot reconcile Denikin with Trotsky, Kamenev and Bukharin with Wrangel, and I’m not even talking about the New Martyrs, understood? And what does it mean to reconcile? The New Martyrs forgave them, but to reconcile with Bolshevik ideas, none of the New Martyrs were even close to doing this, of course. There wasn’t even any talk about it,” Vladyka Tikhon explained.
“It’s none of our business. If it happens, it will only be by the power of God, not by our little efforts. Our task today, knowing our entire history, is to all together—people of all kinds of convictions—conservatives, liberals, traditionalists, and modernists—build the future of Russia. This is where our task is—not in babbling, but in a real common cause,” the archpastor concluded.
