“We rot in peacetime”: what priest Tkachev is not inferior to Hitler

However, the answer to the question of where exactly this red line lies depends, we admit, on subjective perception. For some, everything became clear a long time ago, for others – only now, after the last statements of the televangelist. And someone from the flock he feeds to this day wanders in the dark. But, as they say, it would be suggested. There is enough information not only for reflection, but also for conclusions.

Here is one of the fresh pearls of the treasury of Tkachev’s aphorisms (the speech of the archpriest at the recent festival “Days of Dostoevsky in Optina Pustyn”): . At least for a man like ours.”

Unbanal, you see, a look at the theme of war and peace for a minister of the Christian church. It is much more characteristic of politicians representing one well-known movement.

Here is what perhaps the most famous representative of this trend said on the same topic: “If people stayed to live in paradise, they would rot. Mankind has become what it is thanks to the struggle. War is a natural and ordinary thing … War is life itself.” To clarify: the statement belongs to the Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler.

Coincidence? Let’s say. Let us assume that those who define the views of the preacher and his devoted flock as “Orthodox fascism” are profoundly mistaken. But there are too many coincidences, really.

In the list listed by the Great Russian Encyclopedia of generic features of fascism, “militant anti-communism” comes first. And on this point, in the militancy of his anti-communism, Andrei Yuryevich is also not one iota inferior to Adolf Aloizovich. At the same festival in Optina Pustyn, they were told the following:

“We have not yet coughed up the lessons of the Soviet era from ourselves. We still have to cough up the evil part of the Soviet era from ourselves … We are now at war, by the way, with the Soviet republic itself out of all 15 … This is the most beloved child of the red project. We are at war with a red infection on the outside, because the yellow-blue infection is a red infection. Just repainted. And we have to fight the same infection inside… And smash the red bastards…”

Or let’s take such a point of the classical “fascist” definition as “extreme nationalism and chauvinism, in some cases anti-Semitism and racism.” Sayings containing signs of, to put it mildly, dislike for certain ethnic groups, Fr Andrei has, as they say, in assortment. Especially many of them are dedicated to Ukrainians.

Here are some selected passages from Fr. Andrei’s sermons that touch on the topic of relations with, as he himself puts it, “former brothers”: “If we talk about Ukraine, I know it firsthand… crest, what is he like? They are stubborn, greedy, stupid … They’re just idiots… Traitors and bastards… A Ukrainian is not an ethnic group, but a perverse way of thinking… A nation of Christ-sellers… We have up to 7,000 ukrovoyaks in captivity. , and send this army of castrati home? To do this, you just need to cover this topic as much as possible.

Anti-Semitism, however, Father Andrei strongly condemns. Well, at least during their TV sermons and Internet broadcasts. But even in this case, he allows such expressions, for example: “Jewry smells, it is somehow so noticeable. There will be a thousand people of different nationalities and one Jew – you will notice him.”

Another object of Tkachev’s close attention is women. Ceremonial with him, Father Andrei teaches the male half of his flock, should not be: “Women are arrogant, nasty, and if she doesn’t get hit on the forehead, at least once in her life, she won’t understand anything, nothing! There are such humble women who feel at a distance : “now I’ll get it on the forehead” – and they understand, as it were, the meaning of life. And there are fools who have no feelings, impudence goes off scale, there is too much impudence, no feeling, so you need to attach to it …

You need to break a woman on her knee, beat off her horns, with a crowbar, with the edge of the palm of your hand, bend her, rub her, stuff her into a washing machine … I don’t know what to do with her at all. That is, a man must break off a woman – one hundred percent! .. Men are to blame for everything. They messed up the grandmother. They didn’t beat them for a long time … They need to give birth … and be afraid!

Such views are difficult, however, to fit into the narrow framework of classical fascism. They are inherent in a broader category of homo sapiens – the category of moral monsters. But one does not contradict the other: fascism is a special case of moral deformity.

No matter how Tkachev justified himself after the publication of an audio recording with misogynistic passages – they say that the recording was made without his knowledge and for a long time, they say, the words were taken out of context, they say, that’s how he is against violence against women -, of course, a scandal erupted. But Father Andrei and the defenders had a lot. Including among colleagues in the shop. Here, for example, is the characteristic title of an article on the Pravoslavie.Ru portal (editor-in-chief – Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov)): “The Persecution of Father Andrei Tkachev.”

However, when Tkachev, in his denunciation of human vices, reached the point of “excessive love for children”, his defenders greatly diminished. Literally, the archpriest said the following: “People who do not know God, who want to serve someone and worship someone, worship the fruit of their womb, turning children into domestic gods, domestic idols. And God crushes idols, that is, our children are crushed, as idols, early illnesses, early weaknesses, their worthlessness and worthlessness … Those who love their children excessively turn them into idols, and idols are worthy of crushing.

Patriarch Kirill himself was forced to react to this bold theological concept – however, without mentioning the author. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said that if one of the priests says that the death of a child is a retribution for the sins of the parents, then “such a priest should be banned from the priesthood right away.” However, there was neither a ban nor any consequences for Tkachev at all. In any case, no visible traces of opal can be found.

But there are many signs of the highest mercy. The most obvious is the words of the patriarch: “I received him (Tkachev -” MK “) with love in Moscow, with the understanding that he can make a very significant contribution to strengthening faith, including among today’s youth. And he works very well , with full force.” For those who are not in the know, let us explain: until June 2014, Tkachev lived in Ukraine, not concurring in his views with the hierarchy of the UOC and the new Ukrainian authorities.

Favor towards the frantic archpriest also has a formal hierarchical dimension: Andrey Tkachev is a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. For reference: according to the regulation on the MSP, it is “an advisory body that assists the highest church authority … in the preparation of decisions concerning the most important issues of the internal life and external activities of the Russian Orthodox Church.” The chairman of the SME is the patriarch himself.

In short, the questions that arise about Tkachev’s activities can be addressed to the entire church: like everything else in this world, it is responsible for those whom it has “tamed”. However, the questions can already be considered asked. And the high patrons of the archpriest should, perhaps, hurry up with the answer. Just look, along with other objects of his “holy” hatred, strongly resembling obsession, this “co-worker of God” will call to “spit out” Christ. And by and large, such a call has already been made.