Friday, June 24, 2022

the last book I ever read (Andrey Kurkov's Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev, excerpt five)

from Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev by Andrey Kurkov:

Friday 13 December

The Russian Orthodox Church has once again spoken out against the Maidan, this time through the mouth of Archpriest Andrey Tkachev, leader of the St Agapit Church. The simplest thing is to quote him in full: ‘Such a manifestation of anarchism does not, on the whole, please me. Because, for us, democracy is not direct; it is parliamentary, representative. If not, we have to destroy all the foundations of our state. I have never had representatives in power in all the twenty years of this country’s independence. That does not mean that I should go to the Maidan and yell. I will not go, and I will not let the children go, because it is futile. I do not bless anyone who goes to the Maidan. Because I do not believe that a million people with limited ideas will create the right decision simply by virtue of numbers. Once again, the question is asked of this country’s citizens: do you want to join Europe, or do you want to build communism in one country? In the same square are gathered people who simply want Europe, those who do not, and those who want something else altogether. They have only one point in common: they are all against the government. But anti-establishment minds do not produce anything creative.’

I wonder what creative thing the Russian Orthodox Church is going to produce.



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