History of Orthodoxy in school. What to do if your child is forced to study “the basics of Orthodox culture”

For the last two weeks, schools in Sarov have been holding parent meetings in third grades, at which priests and laity talk about the module “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture.” This is how it happened at Lyceum No. 3.

Before this, in each of the three third grades, parents were pre-interviewed which module of the ORKSE course they were choosing. The three teachers leading these classes have also made their choice - they are going to teach the basics of secular ethics. Parents are guided by the teacher, but still some of them signed up for the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” (OPK). Despite the fact that so far there are few volunteers, all the parents of third-graders were gathered at the school, and Fr. Alexander Bryukhovets, director of the Orthodox gymnasium N.V. Suzdaltseva and primary school teacher O.N. Baryshnikova, who has been leading the educational training at Lyceum No. 3 for two years and is the chairman of the method association of ORKSE teachers.

O. Alexander touched upon all three course modules that parents in Sarov choose. He explained that the module “Fundamentals of World Religious Cultures” tells a little about all religious cultures, is encyclopedic in nature, but does not fulfill the task of raising children in their national culture. This subject would be more appropriate in high school, when children have already formed their worldview. And the module “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics” talks about the rules of behavior, but is silent about faith in God; in fact, this is an atheistic subject and, by choosing it, we are continuers of the atheistic tradition established after the revolution.

Let us not be strangers in our own land

O. Alexander:“Why are my children studying the basics of Orthodox culture, and why do I recommend this module to you? We live in the same country, and our culture is based on Orthodoxy. The purpose of the OPK module is to introduce children to the main concepts that underlie culture.

Parents are often prejudiced about this subject and are afraid that their children will be forcibly taught the faith. In fact, only you, the parents, see the priest. Children are not taught to pray, and will not be taken to the temple (unless, at your request, on an excursion). A teacher works with the children, and the subject is not religious, but cultural in nature, talking about Orthodoxy as a cultural phenomenon. Is it bad if a child understands what an Orthodox church is, what is depicted in a picture or icon, what Orthodox Christians believe? We live in a historically Orthodox city, but sometimes we are like strangers in our own land. When people come to church to baptize their children, they cannot answer the most basic questions, making the excuse: “We were not taught this in childhood.” And now is a time when the basics of Orthodoxy can be taught at school. And children and their parents can learn about this.

The second prejudice of parents is that the class at this lesson will be divided into two parts and, if the child is in the minority, he will somehow suffer. And the parents begin to rush about in their hearts: they choose Orthodoxy with their hearts, but act like the majority. I assure you, these are all empty fears. The choice must be made according to conscience.”

Parents asked questions: “Why is it not a priest who teaches the basics of Orthodox culture?” or “Why is the question raised so harshly: Orthodoxy or atheism?” Some were even indignant that they were believers in the Komsomol. O. Alexander said that this was not the time to debate and gave the floor to the teachers.

Nurtures the heart and sense of beauty

N. V. Suzdaltseva: “When people from the education department come to our Orthodox gymnasium, they say: “Well, of course, your children are angels. So calm, quiet...” I explain that these are ordinary children, but they don’t believe me.

In fact, when children come to the first grade, they still scream, run and play pranks, but by the fifth grade something changes in them. When we continually tell a child “you can’t”, we say it unmotivated - it’s impossible because it’s not accepted, because it bothers me. But achieving good behavior without internal motivation is impossible. It is not available in municipal schools; they often cannot explain to the child why it is not allowed. And Orthodox culture provides such an opportunity. - “Why can’t I steal if I’m a child and won’t go to jail?” - “Because this is a great sin that destroys your soul.” Orthodoxy provides a reserve of other words, other motives. And I noticed that children who come to us from church-going and large families, paradoxically, learn better. Why this is so, I myself am trying to understand...

Speaking about the textbooks of the ORKSE course, you need to understand that secular ethics is not the ethics of the builder of communism, but the ethics that is now taking shape in our state, where there is not yet a single national ideology, such concepts as freedom, conscience, good and evil are not precisely defined . It is this unsettled ethics that is conveyed to us through textbooks. And Orthodox culture is nourished by a thousand-year-old tradition.

In our Orthodox gymnasium (as in all schools) they also teach the ORKSE course. We purchased textbooks on the defense industry by A. Kuraev, which seemed empty to me due to the lack of theory. It would seem, what can this give us if we study Orthodoxy in depth? And I allowed the teacher to use this hour at his own discretion, perhaps to read the Gospel with the children.

At the end of the first quarter, I asked what they were doing. It turned out that the children are studying according to the textbook by A. Kuraev; this author reveals moral concepts through instructive stories from life. Some cases, for example, during the Great Patriotic War, really hit home. This is very close to ten-year-old children; they begin to reason, come up with stories and parables. This textbook educates their hearts, teaches them to empathize and have compassion for their neighbors.

There are other textbooks on the defense industry, for example, by A. Borodina, which brings up the aesthetic principle. When I leafed through this textbook, I admired how beautiful our culture is! And this is thanks to Orthodoxy. Saint Prince Vladimir chose Orthodoxy precisely for its beauty. The textbook talks about Orthodoxy in architecture, fine arts, music and literature. As a teacher of Russian language and literature, I would really like my child to study this only in order to later better understand the works of Russian classics.

At one time, it was a discovery for me that Tolkien’s film “The Lord of the Rings” was deeply Christian in its content. It is not about hobbits or orcs, but about the eternal confrontation between good and evil. Just like the film “The Chronicles of Narnia” based on the work of C. Lewis, which our children love to watch. In this film, the lion Aslan is a prototype of Christ. If children understand this, they can see depth and not just a fairy tale. This increases their overall cultural level. Thus, Kuraev’s textbook on the military-industrial complex fosters morality, and Borodina’s textbook fosters a sense of beauty, which we are catastrophically quickly losing...”

Gives a foothold in life

O. N. Baryshnikova works according to the textbook by A. Kuraev. She drew the attention of parents that, despite the fact that all modules belong to the same ORKSE course, there are discrepancies in them. For example, which would be more accurate: NOT to do harm to others or to DO as you want to be treated? The difference seems small, but it is significant. It is not without reason that the motives for the behavior of Russian people, the “mysterious Russian soul,” are often incomprehensible to foreigners. And the secret of this riddle lies in the values that originate in Orthodoxy.

The most important thing for parents is to teach their children to live independently in this world. And for this they need to be given all possible points of support, a core that will help them not to break in life. The teacher asked the parents a question: “What is ethics?” - “These are norms of behavior.” - “Actually, external standards of behavior are called etiquette. When to take off the cap, in which hand to hold the fork... We teach this too, but the result is not always the same. And sometimes it hurts us to see what a child is like, even if he follows the rules of etiquette...”

O. N. Baryshnikova: “Orthodox culture teaches us to live in such a way that there is peace, order, and tranquility in the soul. A huge part of our life is based on Orthodox culture. And if I, a parent, do not understand anything about this due to my worldview, should my child not know this either? In my opinion, the more a child understands, the better. In our lessons we don’t teach you how to cross yourself correctly, but we teach you to understand yourself and the world around you. Unfortunately, under the influence of consumer society, our children also have this: “give, give.” Therefore, parents must make decisions carefully, based on the interests of their children...”

Soon after the parent meeting, I came back to Lyceum No. 3. I (as the mother of students at this school) was asked to participate in an event dedicated to a healthy lifestyle; tell students in grades 5-7 about what spiritual health is. I talked about the fact that in addition to the body, a person has a soul and spirit, what it is, and what diseases they suffer from. She talked about how to take care of the purity of the soul and the cultivation of fortitude, about what it means to love your neighbors. She supported her statements with examples from her life. I was struck by how intently and with intense attention the teenagers listened. I remembered how I once attended a defense-industrial complex lesson with Oksana Nikolaevna Baryshnikova. Her fourth-graders were so eager to answer, they stretched out their hands so much that they jumped out from behind their desks. I have never seen such enthusiasm and sparkling children's eyes in a lesson before. What's the matter?

I think children need this kind of conversation, they are drawn to it, but people don’t talk about it with them. Many parents and teachers themselves are poorly versed in the issue of spiritual values. Therefore, lessons in the fundamentals of Orthodox culture are very important for children and, especially, from those families who do not go to church.

Topic: Peculiarities of teaching the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”

in 4th grade "A" MBOU "School No. 154"

Slide 1,2 The new Federal State Educational Standard (FSES) for primary general education, in section 1.2., says: “All areas of spiritual and moral development and education are important, complement each other and ensure personal development on the basis of domestic spiritual, moral and cultural traditions.”

Teaching knowledge about Orthodoxy and its systematic study in secondary schools is an integral part of a full-fledged education.

No matter what faith a student of a Russian school chooses for himself, no matter what worldview his parents have, the centuries-old Orthodox culture remains the most valuable asset of all patriotically educated citizens of Russia. The issue of spiritual and moral education of children is one of the key problems facing every parent, society and the state as a whole.

Defense-industrial complex is a subject that is expressed in the study of the culture of spiritual life using the example of Christianity and its moral values. By studying the history of Christianity, the Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox culture, which is directly related to Christian spiritual experience, the child will have a reason to think about what country he lives in, what values his ancestors adhered to, why people, without hesitation, went to death because of their religious, spiritual and moral principles. And most importantly, he will understand that there is something else in life besides food, sleep and pleasure. Acquaintance with spiritual culture cannot be limited to one subject. It should pass through a single meaningful line through such subjects as literature, Russian language, history, music, fine arts, etc.

A primary school teacher stands at the very first step of the spiritual and moral revival of our people. It is we, teachers, who, not only in a separate lesson on “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture,” but in all other lessons, as well as in extracurricular everyday activities, spiritually strive for children’s hearts and souls. And children expect us, adults, to show them the path along which they can build their lives. This path is inextricably linked with spiritual tradition - with the foundations of Orthodox culture. Every teacher is obliged to know these basics in order to convey to children the history of the Fatherland correctly, objectively, and to comprehensively explore and teach the work of brilliant writers and poets.

Slide 3 The main goal of the course “The foundations of Orthodox culture” I consider the formation of a spiritual and moral personality through the acquisition of spiritual experience based on the traditions of Orthodoxy.

Slide 4 To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the followingtasks:

1. Establishing the student’s personal connections with Orthodox culture. It is important that Christian values become the personal values of the student; only with such an internal restructuring of views can good results be achieved.

2. Disclosure of the spiritual foundations of national culture. Russian culture is thoroughly permeated with Christian teaching, since mostly Russian classics were deeply religious people. Discovering these basics will help students integrate more easily into the Orthodox environment.

3. Education of patriotic feelings. Orthodoxy is closely connected with patriotism, because Fulfilling one's duty to God, Motherland and parents is fundamental for a Christian. Therefore, Orthodox and patriotic education are inseparable from each other.

4. Getting children interested in creative activities. Through creativity and creation, children learn to know God, the main Creator of this world.

The formation of the foundations of Orthodox culture occurs in stages: from preparation for the perception of Orthodox culture to the search for the hidden meanings of Biblical stories and the dogmatic teaching of the Church.

The development of the spiritual and moral culture of pupils is based on the followingprinciples (on slide 5)

The forms of organizing spiritual and moral education are different: integrated lessons - military-industrial complex and literature, military-industrial complex and the world around us, military-industrial complex and fine arts, music, technology.The main methods of my work in this direction include the teacher’s story, work with illustrative, audio and video material, and texts. The children perform many independent creative tasks; They enjoy visiting the temple, they know how to behave in the temple.

Before introducing the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school, certain preparatory work was carried out with students and their parents. I was pleased with most of the positive survey results. Since an important criterion for introducing a new course is its voluntariness.

MY EXPERIENCE

Our acquaintance with Orthodox culture began much earlier than my children (today 4th grade) began studying the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture.”

Slide 6 Still in 2nd grade Having organized an excursion to the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin together with my parents and visiting the St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral as part of it, I saw with what interest the children listened to the guide and sometimes asked questions that were not childish. And then I realized that I myself don’t know enough about Orthodoxy, even though I consider myself a believer who is interested in Orthodox culture. I think it was then that both the children and myself became interested in studying this subject.

Slide 7 At a parent meeting (it was the end of the school year) I raised this topic and showed photographs of the children in the temple. Parents had a positive attitude towards such an area as spiritual and moral education through the study of Orthodox culture.

Slide 8 We spent in classphoto competition "Orthodox churches of Nizhny."

Slide 9,10,11,12 During the summer holidays children and their parents visited different places associated with Orthodox shrines: Diveevo, Murom, Vladimir, Suzdal, etc. I myself visited the monastery on the island. Valaam, I visited the Makarievsky Monastery, I wanted to find out more myself and tell the children. During class hours in September, children shared their impressions: some talked about a small church in their village, others visited the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Turkey. We worked on the projects “Road to the Temple”, “My Guardian Angel”. The last project gave me the idea to visit the Chapel of St. Xenia the Blessed in St. Petersburg, venerate the relics, and learn more about her life.

Slide 13 Took part in the city literary competition of Christmas tales"Crystal Deer 2015" ( Slide 14) city choir competition "Christmas Star". For the bright holiday of Easter, we held a reading competition in the classroom “Spring is coming, full of miracles! Christ is risen! Christ is risen!”, took part in the school competition “Easter Card”. All these activities can be considered as a preparatory stage for studying the defense industry course.

15 Since the beginning of this school year, we have begun to study the subject, the children already know quite a lot about Orthodoxy, many have begun to get acquainted with the Children's Bible. Our lessons are not limited to reading a textbook and listening to the teacher’s story; children themselves prepare messages and presentations on various educational topics, sharing their knowledge and experience. For example, Asriyan Susana spoke about the features of the Armenian Church, customs and holidays.

16 In October we visited the Church of St. Panteleimon in Shcherbinki II , Pechersky Voznesensky monastery. Took part in the all-RussianOlympiad for schoolchildren in the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture “Russian World in Orthodox Culture” - received diplomasIAndIIdegrees. Parents support their children’s interest in the subject and help in preparation, because each of them is interested in their son or daughter growing up as kind, well-mannered, merciful, spiritual and moral people.

conclusions

I have been working as a teacher of Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture for a very short time, but I can say with confidence about the need for this subject in school. Children come to our school not just to learn to read and write, to broaden their horizons, but to understand why they need knowledge and how it can be applied in life. Instilling spiritual principles in the hearts of the younger generation is our direct responsibility. When I was preparing for the speech, I decided to conduct a survey of students on the topic “How does the military-industrial complex course influence the spiritual and moral development of their personality.” I asked students to answer the question (Slide 17) “What do you learn in ORKSE lessons?” The vast majority of students in their answers talk about acquiring skills of moral behavior:

– "I'm learning to be good"

– “learning to be cultured”

– “learning to respect others”

– "learning to be friends"

– “help people”, “be attentive and merciful”

– "respect parents and elders"

– "try not to do bad things"

– “learning love and patience”

Such answers from children indicate that the lessons of the military-industrial complex are useful and interesting for children, the assigned tasks are being solved, and therefore the goal: the formation of a spiritual and moral personality through gaining spiritual experience based on the traditions of Orthodoxy is achievable.

18. I want to finish my story with the words of the Russian teacher - Christian Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky: “The main goal of a person’s upbringing can only be the person himself, and in a person the goal of education is the soul. Christianity gives life and indicates the highest goal for everyone education"

19. Thank you for your attention

“The introduction of the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” is one of the most important issues on the agenda of church-state relations, which is largely decisive for the fate of domestic education and directly affects the interests of millions of parents and their children” (Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' from the Report on the Diocesan meeting of the city of Moscow on December 23, 2011)

Why did His Holiness Patriarch Kirill say that the introduction of a new school subject, “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture,” is of decisive importance for the fate of Russian education? - Because modern domestic education is not only in a state of protracted reform, but also in a deep spiritual and moral crisis.

It’s awkward for the school itself (principals, teachers) to talk about this crisis: it’s the same as criticizing their own educational work. And from the outside we don’t want to condemn our own long-suffering school. She has so many problems! Take, for example, the problems of financing, the ever-increasing complexity of requirements for learning conditions, the wave of various new regulations for schools...

Continuous school reform can be compared to continuous relocation. Imagine the situation: a family (or organization, or enterprise) has been moving for two decades. Before they have time to take root, settle down, settle down, as they already say: if you please, we have to move again... But reforms are inevitable, the school does not choose them. Therefore, critically discussing the reform of school education is as unproductive as proving to ourselves that the Unified State Exam does not contribute to improving the quality of school education. But the spiritual and moral education of schoolchildren depends not so much on the Minister of Education A.A. Fursenko, how much from the school itself: from the director, from the teacher. Here it is appropriate to once again quote the words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill that the introduction of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools is of decisive importance for the fate of Russian education.

What are the problems of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture at school?

Here is a short and approximate list of them.

1. Insufficient awareness of parents about their right to choose the desired module of the complex course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” (ORKiSE). Most parents do not know about the purpose and objectives of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” (OPC). They are persistently recommended “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics,” or at worst, the so-called “Fundamentals of World Religions.” So, most often there is a situation that can be described as “choice without choice.”

2. Unsatisfactory training of teachers of the complex course of ORKiSE, and therefore of teachers of the defense industry. Preparation was carried out in incredible haste, often formally, without taking into account the specifics of the subjects (so-called modules) of the new educational field.

3. Problems with financing ORKiSE: lack of pre-provided payment for teachers for conducting lessons on ORKiSE, including OPK. Schools have to restructure and optimize their financial capabilities in order to carve out something from the total amount of funding.

4. The notorious shortage of “hours”. By reducing which subjects should ORKSE be introduced? A question formulated in this way can turn anyone against teaching the fundamentals of religious culture at school. To strengthen the anti-religious position, it is sometimes added that schoolchildren are already overloaded with subjects and lessons.

5. The presence in the class of a small number of those who chose the OPK. If, for example, there are only two or three such children in a class, and ten to fifteen in a school, then it is easier to enroll them in the “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics” than to deal with the problem of dividing schoolchildren into subgroups, searching for a teacher in the defense industry, a place for conducting classes and etc.

6. Lack of premises for separate teaching of ORKSE modules. The “exit” is usually the same - enroll all children in “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics”, and then there is no need to look for additional premises for classes in the “small” module.

7. Lack or absence of educational and methodological aids on ORKiSE, including defense industrial complex for those who have chosen this particular educational subject (module).

However, all these problems are not insurmountable: over 20 years of painful reform, the Russian school has accumulated such a wealth of experience in overcoming difficulties that sometimes it seems that this is the main task of our school - to overcome difficulties, and not to teach children a good life and give useful knowledge.

Archpriest Boris Pivovarov

All of the above problems can be resolved only under one condition - if the most unfavorable conditions for teaching “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” are eliminated at school.

It is known that every business is realized under certain conditions: very favorable, favorable, not very favorable, unfavorable, very unfavorable. For the military-industrial complex, a regime of greatest unfavorability has formed at school.

Why and how did this situation arise? - In my opinion, the first and main problem of introducing a comprehensive ORKSE course into schools is the targeted opposition to the normal introduction of OPC (within the framework of the specified comprehensive course) on the part of opponents of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture.

What and how was this opposition revealed?

From the very beginning of the testing of the comprehensive ORKiSE course, opponents of introducing “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools threatened the experiment with risks.

Their first fear was formulated as follows: “The clergy will come to school!” And this, according to opponents of studying Orthodox culture in school, “would be a direct violation of the Russian Constitution.” At the same time, a sly reference was made to the Constitution:

“Article 14 of the Basic Law of our country states that religious associations are separated from the state and are equal before the law. Persons with special pedagogical education and professionally engaged in the training and education of schoolchildren on a permanent basis can work in state and municipal secondary schools. Parish in state and municipal schools of clergy is excluded by the provisions of the Constitution of Russia, as well as by existing norms of professional and pedagogical activity" ("Book for Parents". M.: "Prosveshchenie", 2010. P. 5).

What is the untruth and deceit of this “fear”? - In an arbitrary broad interpretation of the Russian Constitution.

AND I. Danilyuk, the compiler of the quoted “Book for Parents,” states: “The entry of clergy into state and municipal schools is excluded by the provisions of the Constitution.” But if someone himself reads the entire text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, he will not find such words there. He will not find them there for a simple reason - they are not and cannot be in the Basic Law of our country.

Why? - The answer is given by paragraph 2 of Article 19 of the Constitution itself: “The state guarantees equality of rights and freedoms of man and citizen, regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, affiliation public associations, as well as other circumstances. Any form of restriction of the rights of citizens on the basis of social, racial, national, linguistic or religious affiliation is prohibited."

“Everyone is equal before the law” (clause 1, article 19). This means that the statement of A.Ya. Danilyuk, intimidating parents with the idea that “clergy will come to school!” is unconstitutional. Clause 2 of Art. 19 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the state guarantees equality of human rights and freedoms regardless of “official position”, “attitude to religion, beliefs”, as well as other circumstances.

AND I. Danilyuk, apparently, is counting on the fact that his parents, busy with their own problems, will not check his references to the Constitution, but will take him at his word. Perhaps the author also counts on the fact that in the minds of many teachers and parents the position that has lost its legal force still remains - “the school is separated from the Church.” There is no such provision in the current legislation of Russia. Consequently, it is not the arrival of a clergyman to school that contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, but the anti-church statement of the compiler of the “Book for Parents”.

Opponents of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture arbitrarily and broadly interpret clause 5 of Article 1 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”: “In state and municipal educational institutions, bodies exercising management in the field of education, the creation and activities of organizational structures of political parties, socio-political and religious movements and organizations (associations) are not allowed."

The coming of a clergyman to school is not prohibited by either the Constitution of the Russian Federation or the Law “On Education”. As for the regular teaching of any subject at school by a clergyman, including “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture,” there are no legislative prohibitions here either. Moreover, if a clergyman or other representative of the Church has the appropriate qualification category and training, then prohibiting him from teaching at school is a direct violation of the Russian Constitution.

If we mention Article 14 of the Constitution of Russia, to which the “Book for Parents” refers, then we should not forget the 28th Article of the Basic Law of our country: “Everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with others any religion or not to profess any kind, to freely disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them.”

Let us note that this article of the Constitution does not contain a clause that its effect does not apply to state and municipal educational institutions, that is, to schools. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the President of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev on July 21, 2009, at a significant meeting with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and the leaders of Russian Muslims, Jews and Buddhists (at which a fundamental decision was made to introduce subjects on spiritual and moral culture into the Russian school) collectively brought the 14th and Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

One of the principles of state policy in the field of education is “the protection and development by the education system of national cultures, regional cultural traditions and characteristics” (Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”, paragraph 2 of Article 2). Orthodoxy, as the Law of the Russian Federation “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” (1997) states, has “a special role in the history of Russia, in the formation and development of its spirituality and culture.” Since this Law has not been repealed, in order to protect and develop the Orthodox culture of the peoples of Russia, it is necessary to study the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in school.

But opponents of Orthodox culture are afraid of the revival of the historically priority position of the Orthodox Church in Russia and do not want to notice evidence of the current legislation about the special role of Orthodoxy in Russian history and culture.

Another important principle of state policy in education is “freedom and pluralism in education” (Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”, paragraph 5 of Article 2). But what kind of freedom in education can we talk about if parents of schoolchildren are intimidated by the fact that “a clergyman can come to school”?! (It turns out that freedom and pluralism are only for atheists?)

What's scary for a school if an Orthodox priest comes to school for a lesson on the basics of Orthodox culture? Is it really scary that he will introduce children to the commandment to honor their parents, teach them to always thank their teachers, refrain from bad words, explain the meaning of the word “sacred” in the National Anthem of Russia or in the song “Holy War”, and also talk about church-state holidays? Is this what schools should be afraid of?!

The second “concern” of opponents of teaching Orthodox culture in school: “Will this course turn into direct propaganda of Orthodoxy?” ("Soviet Siberia". No. 217, November 17, 2011).

Let's pay attention to what we are talking about. The newspaper is not even talking about the module of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture, but about the entire comprehensive course of ORKiSE! The fear of opponents of teaching Orthodox culture of “propaganda of Orthodoxy” exceeds all reasons in favor of a comprehensive ORKSE course. And in order to “not take risks”, at the very beginning of the experiment they were ready to abandon the entire comprehensive course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics”!

What do the words “propaganda of Orthodoxy” mean and where do they come from? - This phrase was borrowed from the times of open persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church and believers, when N.S. Khrushchev was given the task of eradicating religion in the USSR. Proclaiming plans for building communism, this atheist declared: “We will not take religion into communism!” And to confirm his plans, he promised to soon show “the last Soviet priest on television.”

Khrushchev announced his militant atheistic plans to the whole world - and soon he was released from power. And by the end of the 20th century, as a symbol of the revival of Orthodox culture in Russia, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was recreated in Moscow!

Last year, when the Athonite monks brought the Belt of the Virgin Mary to Russia, more than three million people rushed to this great Christian shrine. It's a pity that A.Ya. Danilyuk, the author of the “Book for Parents,” did not ask Muscovites standing in line at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: do they want their children and grandchildren to study “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?

But this also begs the question: “Have millions of Orthodox parents, who have already introduced their children to the Orthodox faith and culture through Holy Baptism, not thereby made their ideological choice and determined what path in life they want to direct their children to?” Ask a question at any school parent meeting: “Which parent has baptized their children?” - You will see a forest of hands. Then ask them the following question: “Would the parents who raised their hands want their baptized children to study the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?”

If a parent meeting is held in this way, the percentage of parents who chose “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” will be incomparably higher than now. And you won’t have to rack your brains over inventing a mechanism for selecting an ORKiSE module. Moreover, if the school thus expresses respect for the ideological choice of parents, then Protocol No. 1 of November 1, 1998 to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will be actually implemented, Article 2 of which states: “No one "The right to education may be denied. The State, in carrying out any functions it undertakes in the field of education and teaching, shall respect the right of parents to provide such education and training as are consistent with their religious and philosophical convictions."

Religion does not share atheistic interpretations of what is not yet known to science (problems of cosmogony, zoogenesis and anthropogenesis). Religion does not share the beliefs of representatives of so-called “scientific atheism”, who believe that only they have the only true materialistic worldview. But to instill in a teacher that religion contradicts science means continuing to fight religion while declaring that there is freedom of religion.

On page 8 of the “Book for Teachers” there is another attack against religion: “...religion can also have destructive potential if religious activity is directed against the foundations of social life, the accepted order and norms, as well as against the physical and mental health of a person.”

A good description of religion! Who will want to teach the basics of religious culture after this?! Let us note that the compilers of the “Book for Teachers” deliberately replace one thing with another - it is not religion that is destructive, but sectarian and terrorist pseudo-religious teachings and movements.

The quoted “Book for Parents”, “Book for the Teacher” and the insertion of such a phrase as “propaganda of Orthodoxy” into the public discussion on the issue of approbation of ORKiSE - all this indicates that there is a deliberate opposition to the revival of Orthodox culture in Russia.

The school fights (must fight!) against drugs, against drug propaganda, against crime, against the propaganda of violence. And the newspaper "Soviet Siberia" is worried about "propaganda of Orthodoxy." Here one involuntarily recalls another dogma of militant atheists that scourges religion: “Religion is the opium of the people.” But while the USSR was fighting against religion for 70 years, real opium entered our country, into school, into life, and on such a scale that it is difficult to compare this disaster with anything.

It is appropriate to recall what the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation A.A. said about the risks associated with the introduction of ORKSE. Fursenko at the XIX International Christmas Educational Readings (January 25, 2011): “This course is still actively discussed. His Holiness said a lot about it today. Indeed, we often talk about the risks inherent in this course. We talk much less often about about what risks would exist if this course did not exist, but in fact, these risks are definitely not less, but greater.”

What are the measures taken by educational authorities and directors of general education institutions “to overcome these “concerns” and “risks” during the testing of ORKiSE”? - Vigilant control over compliance with the “secular nature of education”!

How is this control expressed?

In preventing clergy from entering the school; is that the cooperation of teachers of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church is more symbolic than constructive; There are still no methodological associations on the fundamentals of Orthodox culture (all existing methodological associations are only for all six modules at once, and thanks to this there is no progress in improving the teaching of defense education).

In the virtual absence of free choice of the subject (module) of the foundations of Orthodox culture by parents (legal representatives) and students.

The fact is that explanatory work in the media is carried out “with one goal” - in favor of secular ethics.

This is how a regime of greatest unfavorability was formed for the introduction of the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools.

And this is at a time when tension and anxiety associated with the spiritual and moral crisis of all humanity are increasingly manifested in school. The mass departure of children into computer worlds and the refusal of live communication with loved ones is becoming threatening. Children's blind trust in information posted on social networks allows their minds to be manipulated. The school becomes an institution providing “educational services”. As a result, the traditional Russian image of the school as a hotbed of enlightenment and spiritual and moral education is involuntarily lost.

Who can be a teacher of the subject "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture"? - That teacher who has not only completed course training and (or) retraining at the APKiPPRO or NIPKiPRO, but also received a recommendation from the relevant centralized religious organization of the region.

In support of this principle, on November 3, 2011, the Interreligious Council of Russia, formed in 1998 as a public body uniting representatives of four religious traditions of Russia - Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, spoke out. The Interreligious Council of Russia recognized the importance of providing centralized religious organizations with the opportunity to recommend teachers of educational courses, subjects, and disciplines of a religious and educational nature.

In the Novosibirsk region, the centralized religious organization of the Russian Orthodox Church is the Novosibirsk diocese. Consequently, to improve the teaching of “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” in schools in Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk region, a teacher of the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture needs a recommendation from the Novosibirsk Diocese.

The practice of a recommendation from a religious organization to a teacher who wants and is preparing to teach subjects of a religious and educational nature takes place in many European countries, for example, in Germany. And because of this, neither Germany itself nor the country’s state education system lost its secular character. Here in Russia, the lack of practice of a recommendation from a religious organization to a teacher who wants and is preparing to teach the fundamentals of Orthodox culture is a relic of the ideological dominance of atheism in the general education system.

In pursuance of the order of the President of the Russian Federation to introduce the “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” curriculum in all educational institutions of the country in 2012, the organization of work to introduce the new academic subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools in Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk region needs to be improved.

To do this you need:

Provide parents with a free choice of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture,

Provide teachers with high-quality methodological material, and students with teaching aids,

Organize information and methodological support for the introduction of the foundations of Orthodox culture,

To improve the organization of the work of educational institutions themselves that teach the fundamentals of Orthodox culture,

To create generally favorable conditions for the successful introduction of the freely chosen academic subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into the school curriculum.

So far, unfortunately, there are no favorable conditions for the realization of the right of Orthodox parents to fully educate their children in the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in general educational institutions.

What word should be used to characterize the created unfavorable regime for the selection and teaching of “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?

The exact word was found in the “Diaries” of the writer M.M. Prishvin for the years 1918–1919: not recognized!

“Fundamentals of Orthodox culture” is not yet recognized as a subject in school!

Not prohibited. Not cancelled. But simply - it doesn’t admit it!

“Fundamentals of secular ethics” and “Fundamentals of world religious cultures” are recognized, but “Fundamentals of Orthodox culture” are not recognized.

Being a teacher comes with great responsibility. Some teachers feel responsible before God for the children entrusted to them for raising and teaching. Those who are not given this feel their responsibility to their native history and the future of Russia. But, unfortunately, there are also teachers who deliberately separate teaching from upbringing: they limit themselves to imparting only a certain amount of knowledge to students. The crisis of the Russian education system will become irreversible if the majority of Russian teachers belong to the third category.

The Russian Orthodox Church is trying with all its might to help the Russian school get out of the current crisis, but, unfortunately, the anti-religiously understood “secular principle” of education, like heavy weights on the legs, does not allow the school to move towards spiritual and moral recovery and transformation. It is necessary to regulate church-state relations in the field of education, in particular - a precise definition of the areas of responsibility of the parties when solving organizational, managerial and substantive tasks when introducing the foundations of Orthodox culture and the distribution of competencies between interested parties.

January 17, 2012 will mark a year since the Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation Policy of the Novosibirsk Region and the Novosibirsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in the field of education and spiritual and moral education of children and youth of the Novosibirsk Region. It also contains provisions on cooperation in terms of testing the defense industrial complex. But, unfortunately, this document remains unknown to most schools and teachers.

In the meantime, atheistic “secular ethics” dominates the school. What is "secular ethics"?

The textbook “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics” for grades 4–5 (M.: “Prosveshcheniye”, 2010) states: “Secular ethics presupposes that a person himself can determine what is good and what is evil” (Lesson 2. P. 7).

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill in his current Christmas Message said:

“Today, the main trials are taking place not in the material, but in the spiritual realm. Those dangers that lie on the physical plane cause damage to bodily well-being and comfort. While complicating the material side of life, they are at the same time not capable of causing significant harm to spiritual life. But it is the spiritual measurement reveals the most important and serious ideological challenge of our time. This challenge is aimed at destroying the moral feeling inherent in our souls by God. Today they are trying to convince people that they and only they are the measure of truth, that everyone has their own truth and everyone determines for themselves what what is good and what is evil. They try to replace the Divine truth, and therefore the difference between good and evil based on this Truth, with moral indifference and permissiveness, which destroy the souls of people, deprive them of eternal life. If natural disasters and military actions turn them into ruins external structure of life, then moral relativism corrodes a person’s conscience, makes him a spiritual invalid, distorts the Divine laws of existence and disrupts the connection of creation with the Creator.”

In conclusion, I would like to express the hope that the anniversary XX International Christmas Educational Readings in Moscow, dedicated to the theme “Enlightenment and Morality: the Concern of the Church, Society and State,” will help resolve the problems associated with the introduction of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools. Free teaching of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in Russian schools, as His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said, is largely decisive for the fate of national education and directly affects the interests of millions of parents and their children.

Boris Pivovarov, archpriest

Quoted from: "Novosibirsk Diocesan Bulletin". January 2012. Special issue for the XV Novosibirsk Christmas Educational Readings. pp. 3-5.

Why did His Holiness Patriarch Kirill say that the introduction of a new academic subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools is of decisive importance for the fate of Russian education? - Because modern domestic education is not only in a state of protracted reform, but also in a deep spiritual and moral crisis.

Continuous school reform can be compared to continuous relocation. Imagine the situation: a family (or organization, or enterprise) has been moving for two decades. Before they have time to take root, settle down, settle down, as they already say: if you please, we have to move again... But reforms are inevitable, the school does not choose them. Therefore, critically discussing the reform of school education is as unproductive as proving to ourselves that the Unified State Exam does not contribute to improving the quality of school education. But the spiritual and moral education of schoolchildren depends not so much on the Minister of Education A.A. Fursenko, but on the school itself: on the director, on the teacher. Here it is appropriate to once again quote the words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill that the introduction of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools is of decisive importance for the fate of Russian education.

What are the problems of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture at school?
Here is a short and approximate list of them.

1. Insufficient awareness of parents about their right to choose the desired module of the complex course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” (ORKSE). Most parents do not know about the purpose and objectives of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” (OPC). They are persistently recommended “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics,” or at worst, the so-called “Fundamentals of World Religions.” So most often there is a situation that can be described as “choice without choice.”

2. Unsatisfactory training of teachers of the complex course of ORKSE, and, consequently, teachers of the defense industry. Preparation was carried out in incredible haste, often formally, without taking into account the specifics of the subjects (so-called modules) of the new educational field.

3. Problems with financing ORKSE: lack of pre-provided payment for teachers for conducting lessons on ORKSE, including OPK. Schools have to restructure and optimize their financial capabilities in order to carve out something from the general funding.

5. The presence in the class of a small number of those who chose the OPK. If, for example, there are only two or three such children in a class, and ten or fifteen in a school, then it is easier to enroll them in “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics” than to deal with the problem of dividing schoolchildren into subgroups, searching for a teacher in the defense industry, a place for classes, and so on.

6. Lack of premises for separate teaching of ORKSE modules. The “exit” is usually the same - enroll all children in “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics”, and then there is no need to look for additional premises for classes in the “small” module.

7. Lack or absence of educational and methodological aids on ORKSE, including defense industrial complex, for those who have chosen this particular academic subject (module).

All of the above problems can be resolved only under one condition - if the most unfavorable regime for teaching “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” is eliminated at school.

What and how was this opposition revealed?
From the very beginning of testing the comprehensive ORKSE course, opponents of introducing “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools threatened the experiment with risks.
Their first concern was formulated as follows:
“The clergy will come to school!” And this, according to opponents of studying Orthodox culture in school, “would be a direct violation of the Russian Constitution.” At the same time, a sly reference was made to the Constitution:
“Article 14 of the Basic Law of our country states that religious associations are separated from the state and are equal before the law. Persons who have special pedagogical education and are professionally engaged in the training and education of schoolchildren on a permanent basis can work in state and municipal secondary schools. The entry of clergy into state and municipal schools is excluded by the provisions of the Constitution of Russia, as well as by existing norms of professional and pedagogical activity” (“Book for Parents.” M.: “Prosveshchenie”, 2010. P. 5).
What is the untruth and deceit of this “fear”? - In an arbitrary broad interpretation of the Russian Constitution.

A.Ya. Danilyuk, the compiler of the quoted “Book for Parents,” states: “The entry of clergy into state and municipal schools is excluded by the provisions of the Constitution.” But if someone himself reads the entire text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, he will not find such words there. He will not find them there for a simple reason - they are not and cannot be in the Basic Law of our country.

“Everyone is equal before the law” (clause 1, article 19). This means that the statement of A.Ya. Danilyuk, who intimidates parents by saying that “clergy will come to school!”, is unconstitutional. Clause 2 of Art. 19 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the state guarantees equality of human rights and freedoms regardless of “official position”, “attitude to religion, beliefs”, as well as other circumstances.
A.Ya. Danilyuk, apparently, is counting on the fact that parents, busy with their own problems, will not check his references to the Constitution, but will take him at his word. Perhaps the author is also counting on the fact that in the minds of many teachers and parents there is still a position that has lost its legal force - “the school is separated from the Church.” There is no such provision in the current legislation of Russia. Consequently, it is not the arrival of a clergyman to school that contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, but the anti-church statement of the compiler of the “Book for Parents.”

Opponents of the teaching of defense and industrial complex arbitrarily broadly interpret clause 5 of Article 1 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”: “In state and municipal educational institutions, bodies exercising management in the field of education, the creation and activities of organizational structures of political parties, socio-political and religious movements and organizations (associations) are not allowed.”

What is not allowed by the Education Law? - Creation and activity of organizational structures, not only religious associations, but primarily political parties. In other words, clause 5 of Article 1 of the Law “On Education” prohibits the creation and activity, for example, of a branch of any political party or any religious association with all the positions and institutions necessary for their functioning.
Neither the Constitution of the Russian Federation nor the Law “On Education” prohibits the coming of a clergyman to school. As for the regular teaching of any subject at school by a clergyman, including “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture,” there are no legal prohibitions here either. Moreover, if a clergyman or other representative of the Church has the appropriate qualification category and training, then prohibiting him from teaching at school is a direct violation of the Russian Constitution.

If we mention the 14th article of the Russian Constitution, to which the “Book for Parents” refers, then we should not forget the 28th article of the Basic Law of our country: “Everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess, individually or together with others, any religion or not to profess any, freely disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them.”

Let us note that this article of the Constitution does not contain a clause that its effect does not apply to state and municipal educational institutions, that is, to schools. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the President of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev on July 21, 2009, at a significant meeting with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and the leaders of Muslims, Jews and Buddhists (at which a fundamental decision was made to introduce subjects on spiritual and moral culture into the Russian school ) collectively cited the 14th and 28th articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

One of the principles of state policy in the field of education is “the protection and development of national cultures, regional cultural traditions and characteristics by the education system” (Law of the Russian Federation “On Education” (clause 2 of Article 2). Orthodoxy, as the Law of the Russian Federation “On Freedom” says conscience and on religious associations" (1997), has "a special role in the history of Russia, in the formation of its spirituality and culture." Since this Law has not been repealed, in order to protect and develop the Orthodox culture of the peoples of Russia in school it is necessary to study the fundamentals of the Orthodox culture.

What's scary for a school if an Orthodox priest comes to school for a defense-industrial complex lesson? - Is it really scary that he will introduce children to the commandment of honoring their parents, teach them to always thank their teachers, refrain from using bad words, explain the meaning of the word “sacred” in the National Anthem of Russia or in the song “Holy War”, and also talk about church and state holidays ? Is this what schools should be afraid of?!

The second “concern” of opponents of teaching Orthodox culture in school: “Will this course turn into direct propaganda of Orthodoxy?” (“Soviet Siberia.” No. 217 of November 17, 2011).

Let's pay attention to what we are talking about. The newspaper is not even talking about the defense-industrial complex module, but about the entire comprehensive course of the ORKSE! The fear of opponents of teaching Orthodox culture of “propaganda of Orthodoxy” exceeds all reasons in favor of a comprehensive ORKSE course. And in order to “not take risks,” they were already ready to abandon the entire comprehensive ORKSE course at the very beginning of the experiment!

What do the words “propaganda of Orthodoxy” mean and where do they come from? - This phrase was borrowed from the times of open persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church and believers, when N.S. Khrushchev was given the task of eradicating religion in the USSR. Proclaiming plans to build communism, this atheist declared: “We will not take religion into communism!” And to confirm his plans, he promised to soon show “the last Soviet priest on television.”

Last year, when Athonite monks brought the Belt of the Virgin Mary to Russia, more than three million people rushed to this great Christian shrine. It's a pity that A.Ya. Danilyuk, the author of the “Book for Parents,” did not ask Muscovites standing in line at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: do they want their children and grandchildren to study “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?
But this also begs the question: “Have millions of Orthodox parents, who have already introduced their children to the Orthodox faith and culture through Holy Baptism, not thereby made their ideological choice and determined which path in life they want to direct their children to?” Ask the question at any school parent meeting: “Which parent baptized their children?” - You will see a forest of hands. Then ask them the following question: “Would the parents who raised their hands want their baptized children to study the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?”

If a parent meeting is held in this way, the percentage of parents who chose “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” will be incomparably higher than now. And you won’t have to rack your brains over inventing a mechanism for selecting an ORKSE module. Moreover, if the school thus expresses respect for the ideological choice of the parents, then Protocol No. 1 of November 1, 1998 to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will actually be implemented, Article 2 of which states:
“No one can be denied the right to education. The State, in carrying out any functions it undertakes in the field of education and training, respects the right of parents to provide such education and training as are consistent with their religious and philosophical convictions.”

Opponents of studying Orthodox culture in school set up not only parents against religion (see “Book for Parents”), but also teachers of the comprehensive ORKSE course. On the very first page of the introduction to the “Book for the Teacher,” an attack is made against religion: “Religion in many of its aspects does not share the foundations of natural science knowledge and even contradicts it” (“Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics. Book for the Teacher. Grades 4–5” M.: "Enlightenment", 2010). From the times of persecution of faith, the Church and believers, the compilers of the “Book for the Teacher” pulled out the mossy dogma of militant atheism: “Science is against religion.”
Religion does not share atheistic interpretations of what is still unknown to science (problems of cosmogony, zoogenesis and anthropogenesis). Religion does not share the beliefs of representatives of so-called “scientific atheism”, who believe that only they have the only true materialistic worldview. But to instill in a teacher that religion contradicts science means continuing to fight religion while declaring that there is freedom of religion.

The quoted “Book for Parents”, “Book for the Teacher” and the insertion of such a phrase as “propaganda of Orthodoxy” into the public discussion on the issue of approbation of ORKSE - all this indicates that there is a deliberate opposition to the revival of Orthodox culture in Russia.

The school fights (must fight!) against drugs, against drug propaganda, against crime, against the propaganda of violence. And the newspaper “Soviet Siberia” is worried about “propaganda of Orthodoxy.” Here one involuntarily recalls another dogma of militant atheists that scourges religion: “Religion is the opium of the people.” But while the USSR was fighting against religion for 70 years, real opium entered our country, into school, into life, and on such a scale that it is difficult to compare this disaster with anything.

It is appropriate to recall what the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation A.A. Fursenko said about the risks associated with the introduction of ORKSE at the XIX International Christmas Educational Readings (January 25, 2011): “This course is still being actively discussed. His Holiness said a lot about this today. Indeed, we often talk about the risks inherent in this course. We talk much less often about what risks would exist if this course did not exist, but in fact, these risks are definitely not smaller, but larger.”

What are the measures taken by educational authorities and directors of general education institutions “to overcome these “concerns” and “risks” during the testing of ORKSE”? - Vigilant control over compliance with the “secular nature of education”!

How is this control expressed?
- In preventing clergy from entering the school; is that the cooperation of teachers of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church is more symbolic than constructive; There are still no methodological associations on defense-industrial complex (all existing methodological associations are only for all six modules at once, and thanks to this there is no progress in improving the teaching of defense-industrial complex).
- In the virtual absence of free choice of the subject (module) of the OPK by parents (legal representatives) and students.
- The fact is that explanatory work in the media is carried out “with one goal” - in favor of secular ethics.
This is how a regime of greatest unfavorability was formed for the introduction of the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into the school.

Who can be a teacher of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”? - That teacher who has not only completed course training and (or) retraining at the APKiPPRO or NIPKiPRO, but also received a recommendation from the relevant centralized religious organization of the region.

In the Novosibirsk region, the centralized religious organization of the Russian Orthodox Church is the Novosibirsk diocese. Consequently, to improve the teaching of “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” in schools in Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk region, a teacher of the military-industrial complex needs a recommendation from the Novosibirsk diocese.

The practice of a recommendation from a religious organization to a teacher who wants and is preparing to teach subjects of a religious and educational nature takes place in many European countries, for example, in Germany. And as a result, neither Germany itself nor the country’s state education system lost its secular character. Here in Russia, the lack of practice of recommendations from a religious organization to a teacher who wants and is preparing to teach defense education is a relic of the ideological dominance of atheism in the general education system.

The education of schoolchildren largely depends on the worldview of teachers, their spiritual and moral level and patriotic mood. The younger the child, the greater the responsibility lies with the teacher. A course of spiritual and moral education is necessary, first of all, for the teacher himself to look at some things with a transformed look and think about the correctness of his judgments and actions. But “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics” does not require such work on oneself. Because “individual ethics,” according to the teachings of the compilers of the “Book for the Teacher,” “in modern society is separated from religion” (P. 16), and a person is free to “form his own scale of moral values and priorities” (P. 215).
In pursuance of the order of the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of the “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” curriculum in general education institutions starting in 2012, the organization of work to introduce the new academic subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools in Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk region needs to be improved.

To do this you need:
- provide parents with a free choice of military-industrial complex,
- provide teachers with high-quality methodological material, and students with teaching aids,
- organize information and methodological support for the introduction of the military industrial complex,
- improve the organization of the work of educational institutions themselves that teach military-industrial complex,
- create generally favorable conditions for the successful introduction of the freely chosen academic subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into the school curriculum.

What word should be used to characterize the created unfavorable regime for the selection and teaching of “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” at school?

The exact word was found in the “Diaries” of the writer M.M. Prishvin for the years 1918–1919: not recognized!

“Fundamentals of Orthodox culture” is not yet recognized as a subject in school!

Not prohibited. Not cancelled. But simply - it is not recognized!
“Fundamentals of secular ethics” and “Fundamentals of world religious cultures” are recognized, but “Fundamentals of Orthodox culture” are not recognized.

The Russian Orthodox Church is trying with all its might to help the Russian school get out of the current crisis, but, unfortunately, the anti-religiously understood “secular principle” of education, like heavy weights on the legs, does not allow the school to move towards spiritual and moral recovery and transformation. It is necessary to regulate church-state relations in the field of education, in particular - a precise definition of the areas of responsibility of the parties when solving organizational, managerial and substantive tasks when introducing the defense industrial complex and the distribution of competencies between interested parties.

In the meantime, atheistic “secular ethics” dominates the school. What is “secular ethics”?

“Today the main tests are taking place not in the material, but in the spiritual realm. Those dangers that lie on the physical plane are detrimental to bodily well-being and comfort. While complicating the material side of life, they are at the same time unable to cause significant harm to spiritual life. But it is the spiritual dimension that reveals the most important and serious ideological challenge of our time. This challenge is aimed at destroying the moral sense implanted in our soul by God. Today they are trying to convince a person that he and only he is the measure of truth, that everyone has their own truth and everyone determines for themselves what is good and what is evil. They are trying to replace Divine truth, and therefore the difference between good and evil based on this Truth, with moral indifference and permissiveness, which destroy the souls of people and deprive them of eternal life. If natural disasters and military actions turn the external structure of life into ruins, then moral relativism corrodes a person’s conscience, makes him spiritually disabled, distorts the Divine laws of existence and disrupts the connection of creation with the Creator.”

In conclusion, I would like to express the hope that the anniversary XX International Christmas Educational Readings in Moscow, dedicated to the theme “Enlightenment and morality: the concern of the Church, society and state,” will help resolve the problems associated with the introduction of the subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” into schools. Free teaching of the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in Russian schools, as His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said, is largely decisive for the fate of national education and directly affects the interests of millions of parents and their children.

Russia Orthodox

According to various sociological studies, 60-80% of the population consider themselves Orthodox. And when the time comes to choose for their children what is more important for them to learn from the “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics,” only 20-30% give preference to the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture.” This despite the fact that 90% claim that Russian culture is considered On the whole, it’s positive, and we don’t intend to leave Russia anywhere. What’s the matter?

First of all, the overwhelming majority of people who consider themselves Orthodox have a very vague concept of Orthodoxy. If just over half of the nominal Orthodox have read the Gospel, then what can we say about knowledge of theology. I don’t even have a desire to get to know him, why do I need to know that God is One by nature and Trinity in Persons? Or that the Church is understood as the Body of Christ? Or that every person bears the image of God? What does this have to do with my life?

The most direct thing. Because the doctrinal truths of a religion determine the culture of the people who profess this religion. Culture in a broad sense, not in the current simplified sense, when it is perceived as a collection of various arts. Culture as the totality of all manifestations of human activity, values, skills and abilities. As something that prescribes to a person certain ways of thinking and self-expression, determines a person’s life strategy and lifestyle, shapes the psychology of both an individual and the people as a whole.

The religious roots of a culture are not necessarily recognized by the bearers of this culture. "Hidden religion" is when a culture is built on ideas that were originally religious but have now become secular, and are the normal way of thinking and living for members of that culture. In Soviet times, when faith in God was almost completely excluded from public life, the Russian people continued to live by moral ideals stemming from Orthodoxy. Even the “Moral Code of the Builder of Communism” surprisingly resembled the Commandments of God. As Patriarch Kirill said in his speech at the First Kaliningrad Forum of the World Russian People's Council, the core of our civilization “in the spiritual sense... undoubtedly is Orthodox Christianity, which, in fact, formed a single centralized state in the Eurasian space.” The Russian world in which we live “grew” from Orthodoxy.

To draw up a portrait of a bearer of Russian culture, to understand what the psychology of a Russian person is, or more precisely, the psychology of “Russianness”, is very difficult. “You can’t understand Russia with your mind, you can’t measure it with a common yardstick, it’s something special, you can only believe in Russia.” This deep thought of the poet-philosopher F. Tyutchev has become for many a common explanation of the “mysterious Russian soul.” Which is perceived by some as a universal miracle, by others as a kind of absurdity that Russia represents in the world space.

The self-perception of the Russian person bears the stamp of church conciliarity. We feel like a single people, the words “Russia”, “Russian civilization”, “patriotism” are not an empty phrase for us, no matter who tries to devalue them. For real Russians, public interests are more important than personal ones: “If you perish yourself, save your comrades.” That is why “A friend is known in trouble” - if in trouble your neighbor betrayed you, abandoned you - he is not a friend, and not a real Russian! A true Russian person never betrays his neighbors.

A Russian person always feels like he is part of something larger than himself. He always lacks himself. Satisfying your own needs is not enough. A Russian always needs a big common goal. Without it, life is meaningless. This is how the Orthodox idea is manifested that the meaning of human life is beyond the boundaries of earthly life, in the Kingdom of God.

Russian culture is basically a communal culture, that is, it is built not on the idea of division and opposition, competition, but on the idea of unification. This is not a culture of loners, it is a culture built on interaction with all neighbors. In the depths of people’s souls there is an idea that we live not only and not so much for ourselves, but for others, and the meaning of life is seen in serving others. Russian people are characterized by openness, kindness, goodwill towards their neighbors, and a desire to serve and help them. Love and compassion, sacrifice and responsibility, solidarity and mutual assistance, perseverance in suffering and a humble attitude towards death have become firmly entrenched in our psyche. This is the action of “genetic” memory left over from the times when the Russian Orthodox people sought to imitate Christ.

Russian culture is built primarily on spiritual foundations; material values and the acquisition of earthly goods are not the main goal and meaning of life. For a real Russian person, “poverty is not a vice,” and wealth is something temporary, impermanent, sometimes even unkind: “The rich eat sweets, but sleep poorly,” “Sleep better without money,” etc. The overwhelming majority of Russian proverbs and sayings speak of wealth as a grief and condemn it. This is the embodiment of the gospel lines into everyday life : “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”(Matt. 6:19-21). We are pilgrims on earth, our home is in the spiritual world. And there, in the Kingdom of Heaven, no material wealth will save a person who does not believe in the Lord, who does not approach often I have His Body and Blood - that is, not having often and with God.

Representatives of Russian culture are characterized by moral purity, a deep need to believe in something significant, in goodness, in nobility, the need to serve something sublime. He strives for spiritual perfection, as the Gospel says: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect”(Matt. 6:48). The Russian world, when compared with the civilization of the West, is characterized by supra-mundaneity, otherness, and the predominance of spiritual life over carnal life.

It's an attractive portrait, isn't it? Only now it is no longer relevant for modern times, every Russian will agree with this. The people around us are completely different, and we ourselves are far from being like that.

And no wonder. Culture is acquired by a person when he lives in this culture. But our traditional society, based on Orthodoxy, ceased to exist a century ago. Of course, the value orientations of Christianity did not immediately disappear from public life. For several more decades, children were raised in families that preserved a way of life rooted in Orthodoxy. Therefore, a society approached the Great Patriotic War in which the ideals of Orthodoxy were alive. This is how historian Sergei Perevezentsev answers the question about what was the reason for the victory of the Soviet Union in this terrible war: “The Russian character, brought up in the Orthodox tradition, when your main enemy is not outside, but within yourself, since your main enemy is the enemy within. Defeat the enemy in yourself, that is, cowardice, fear, the devil that lives in a person - and this is your main battle. Having won it, you will defeat the external enemy. Even if you died, even if you understood that your life would end at that second, you still won, because you defeated the enemy in yourself. In other words, the main victory is spiritual in nature. This is the basis of the Russian feat - spiritual victory, absolute inner freedom and the Christian understanding that earthly life at some moments does not play any role, since the battle for eternal life is going on. This perception of heroism has been cultivated in our people for centuries, and I hope that this also persists among us.”

Is it preserved? Since then, three generations have grown up separated from their Orthodox roots. Only in recent decades have we begun to rediscover Orthodoxy. Almost from scratch, because behind us there is no generation of grandmothers who were churched in childhood, who could pass on their experience of spiritual life to their grandchildren. It is not for nothing that our time is sometimes called the post-Christian era.

And if only this was a problem. After all, experience is a gain. And knowledge about faith is now, fortunately, publicly available. We could handle it.

Europe Protestant

With the beginning of perestroika, Western civilizational attitudes and modern American-European culture, based on Catholic and Protestant ideas about God and the world, began to be introduced into Russia. The culture that was observed in the USSR only through the cracks in the “Iron Curtain”. The atheistically inclined part of the population recognized this culture as terribly progressive and envied its bearers. And so, they waited: “Do you still maintain your cultural identity? Then we go to you!"

The first perestroika Minister of Education of the Russian Federation E. Dneprov in the early 90s directly formulated the task-innovation of the then pro-American reformers: “the school should become an instrument for changing the mentality of society”, designed to form “market culture and market consciousness”! Education in a reformist way was supposed to become “one of the main sources of a new social ideology capable of changing the mentality of society, a new cultural matrix that will determine the type of personality, the type of people.” It was, in fact, an open treacherous call to turn children away from their national identity, culture, history, and spirituality.

For almost three decades now, on our territory and before our eyes, there has been a battle between two civilizations, Russian and Western, American, European - the names are different, but the essence is the same. And our victory in this spiritual war is somehow not visible.

Western civilization grew out of Catholicism and Protestantism, other denominations of Christianity. And the deep essence of Western culture lies in the Catholic and Protestant vision of God, in their religious doctrines.

Catholic dogma, primarily the perception by Catholics of the dogma of the Holy Trinity, has led to the fact that Catholicism turned out to be much more focused on external, earthly human life than Orthodoxy. It is Catholic countries that are the birthplace of such cultural phenomena as the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Scholasticism was born there, the goal of which was to raise faith to the level of knowledge. In the depths of Catholicism, an idea was formed about the high importance of human individuality. God seems to fade into the background; interest in man, faith in his limitless capabilities and dignity prevails. From now on, man himself acts as a creator, the master of his own destiny and the arbiter of the destinies of the world. A cult of the universal and independent personality arose. The current understanding of humanism comes from there.

Protestantism, which emerged in Europe in the first half of the 16th century as a rejection and opposition to the Roman Catholic Church, continued the separation of people from God. The idea that the Lord does not interfere in human affairs became key to the faith of the reformers. God created people, predetermined the fate of everyone - who was destined for salvation and who was destined for destruction, and stepped aside... And man is forced to solve his earthly problems on his own. This idea largely determined the development of Western civilization.

How to understand whether a person has been chosen by God or rejected? The criterion chosen was the level of a person’s prosperity in society, the level of his wealth in the first place. Now those who wanted to be saved for eternal life began to make capital in earthly life. On this basis, capitalism was formed, which, according to Protestants, was supposed to play the role of the Kingdom of God on earth. It all came down to the construction of a hedonistic civilization focused on limitless consumption.

Everyone wants to be among the saved, so people begin to strive for earthly success, pushing others aside with their elbows. And here is one of the roots of individualism, which has already become the hallmark of European culture. Protestants are saved alone, Orthodox Christians are saved in the Church of Christ.

Almost all Protestants insisted that the salvation of the soul was possible only through personal faith. This means that a person can save his soul only through his own efforts. Here is another reason for the atomization of modern European culture, the lack of human unity there, which still persists in Russia.

Such realities of modern Western society as democracy, liberal values, tolerance, human rights, etc. are also based on the teachings of Catholicism and Protestantism. But when the coveted “paradise” on earth was, at least “to a first approximation,” built, the religious foundations of European society turned out to be superfluous. Religiosity, even as “lite” as that of Protestants, requires a person to exert internal strength and a certain self-restraint. And in a consumer society, the requirement of self-restraint has become “bad form.” Gradually and imperceptibly, sin ceased to be evil, and a sinful life began to be considered respectable. Something has broken down in the Europeans; it’s as if the organ responsible for communication with God has atrophied. As the French culturologist Jacques Baudrillard says: “We now truly have a kingdom of freedom - universal non-attachment to anything, to no one.” -duties, not-believing-in-anything.”

Each great civilization lived on average from 1.5 to 2 thousand years. Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Babylon, Mayan Indians, Aztec tribes. The collapse of civilizations occurs according to the same scenario: the achievement of material well-being, the beginning of great cataclysms and the appearance of barbarians. European civilization is now 2015 years old and has exhausted itself, having essentially turned away from Christ. We are now witnessing the “Decline of Europe,” which, according to the prediction of the German philosopher Oswald Spengler at the beginning of the 20th century, will occur in 2018. The global historical process of changing civilizations is going its own way.

“Perestroika” in Russia set one of its main goals to change the traditional cultural paradigm to the Western one. There is no need to describe the results; they are visible to anyone who can see. It is now completely clear that if we lose the foundation on which our civilization stands, we will lose Russia. And to protest against studying “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” in school means to come to terms with the fact that Russia will very soon join the ranks of peripheral European states that “fall short” of the liberal-democratic ideal. Instead of strengthening our powerful and deep culture, natural and holistic, the culture of authentic human existence.

But this is not the worst outcome for Russia if we lose our cultural identity, which is based on the Orthodox faith. “This is just a saying, a fairy tale lies ahead.”

Global expansion of Islam

Europe is already giving in to Muslims. The number of adherents of Islam in European countries was 6-8% even before the invasion of migrants from the Middle East, which has been intense in recent years. In addition, the birth rate among Muslims is several times higher than the birth rate in Europe. The integration of Muslims, even in 2-3 generations, into European culture is not happening. Danish psychologist Nikolai Sennels, who studied this problem, answered the question: « Is it possible to integrate people of Muslim origin into Western societies?” answers with a resounding “no”: “The psychological explanation is actually simple. Muslim and Western cultures are fundamentally very different. This means that Muslims need to undergo major changes in their identity and values in order to become capable of accepting the values of Western societies. Changing basic structures in one personality is a complex psychological and emotional process. Apparently, very few Muslims feel motivated to take it.”. That is, Muslims are not planning to integrate at all; they are maintaining their cultural identity. According to a 2013 survey conducted by the Berlin Center for Sociology among 12 thousand migrants in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria and Sweden, two-thirds of Muslims in Europe put religious regulations above the laws of the countries in which they live. According to some forecasts, the number of Muslims in Europe will approach 50 percent of the population by 2030. According to Mikhail Delyagin, director of the Institute of Globalization Problems, the United States of America plans to create an Islamic caliphite (state) in Europe by 2030. This is, in brief, the state of affairs in the global socio-political space.

No religion these days attracts as much attention or causes as much controversy as Islam. It can be called the most powerful and viable religion of our time. No other religion has so many believers who are passionately and selflessly devoted to their faith. They perceive Islam as the basis of life and the measure of all things. The simplicity and consistency of the foundations of this religion, its ability to give believers a holistic and understandable picture of the world, society and the structure of the universe - all this makes Islam attractive to new adherents. Despite the abundance of different movements in Islam, among all Muslims there is a strong idea of belonging to a single community of people united by a common faith, common traditions and common interests in the modern world.

The dogma of Islam is simple. A Muslim must firmly believe that there is only one God - Allah. Allah is an absolute value, but something external to man.

Islam does not know the grace of God, given by the Holy Spirit, with the help of which an Orthodox person can fight sins and show sincere obedience to God. He does not know the way to say “no” to temptation, as the Orthodox ascetic does. This means that temptations must be physically excluded from human life. Therefore, Islam is characterized by normative regulation of a person’s entire life - from birth to death. This regulation is carried out with the help of Sharia (“the proper path”) - a set of moral norms, law, and cultural regulations that determine the entire life of a Muslim. Both the personal and family life of Muslim believers, and all public life, politics, legal relations, court, cultural structure - all this must be entirely subordinated to religious laws. Islam for Muslims is not just a religion, but their way of life.

In Islam, only a fellow believer is considered a “neighbor” - in contrast to Orthodoxy, where this concept extends to all those in need of help, no matter what their faith. The reason for this difference is that Islam does not know the life-giving idea of sonship with God, which fills the relationship between God and man with true warmth and love. For a Muslim, everyone who professes other religions is an infidel (they call themselves true believers). In the Islamic tradition there is an arrogant sense of superiority and intolerance towards infidels. According to Islamic law, non-Muslims are not full citizens in Islamic countries, even if they are native residents of those countries. An Islamic State is obligated to differentiate (i.e. discriminate) between Muslims and non-Muslims. Sharia nevertheless guarantees the infidels some specified rights, in exchange for which they do not have the right to interfere in the affairs of the state, since they do not support its ideology. True, an infidel can become a full-fledged citizen - if he accepts Islam, along with the Muslim way of life (polygamy, lack of rights for women, five daily prayers, etc.). But there will be no turning back - rejection of Islam is punishable by death.

In Europe, where traditional religions - Catholicism and Protestantism - are weakening and being replaced by postmodern ideology, the implementation of a carefully developed Sharia concept of building a "World Islamic Caliphate" is already beginning. A significant part of one and a half billion Muslims share the position of the Egyptian mullah Salem Abu al-Fut: the “Nation of Islam” will return and conquer new positions, no matter what, not the crisis, despite the arrogance of the West. The West cannot but be destroyed. In due time, Allah destroyed the Byzantine Empire, destroyed the Persian Empire, and Allah will also destroy the West. This is an unequivocal promise. Islam will not just conquer Western countries, they will definitely be Islamic....” The "decline of Europe" has already begun.

Islam in Russia

The age of Russian civilization is about a thousand years. We should have another 500 - 1000 years left. But the people’s departure from their Orthodox roots and the adoption of post-Christian European values makes us vulnerable to the actively spreading Islamic civilization.

The processes of Islamization of the population have already been launched in Russia “on an industrial scale.” The expansion of Muslims into Russia has been going on for a long time, and the areas of residence are clearly not chosen by chance. Their numbers are growing, for example, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, part of the Tyumen region, which accounts for more than half of all Russian oil production. There is already a massive adoption of radical Islam by Russian teenagers and students of secondary schools. Monk John (Izyaslav Aleksandrovich Adlivankin), a leading specialist at the Counseling Orthodox Center of St. John of Kronstadt, has been studying this problem for more than 10 years. Below are a few quotes from his analytical research. The full text can be found at the link http://dpcentr.cerkov.ru/pravoslavie-i-islam/ It is very worth reading for those parents who believe that their children do not need to know the basics of Orthodox culture.

The author's expert assessment: the number of Islamic population and people from the Caucasus in one of the cities is 20-25 percent of the total number of residents, and in the educational environment - about 40%... Similar statistics are in the region as a whole.

« History shows that the Islamization of a country begins when a significant number of Muslims appear and they begin to assert their religious rights and demand privileges. And when a politically correct, tolerant and culturally fragmented society begins to follow the lead of Muslims in their demands, some other trends begin to appear.

When reaching a level of 2-5% of the population, Muslims begin to proselytize among marginalized sections of the population, ethnic minorities, and in prisons.

When they reach 5%, they begin to try to influence the socio-cultural atmosphere in proportion to their percentage share in society. Namely: they begin to promote the concept of “halal”, produce and sell products for Muslims, thereby providing jobs for themselves, organize retail chains, restaurants “for their own”, and cultural centers. At this stage, they also try to establish contacts with government agencies, trying to negotiate for themselves the most favorable conditions for the implementation of Sharia norms».

When the Muslim population reaches 10%, they begin to resort to illegal methods to achieve their privileges.

When reaching 20%, local citizens should be prepared for the start of Islamic raids on the streets, jihadist patrols, and the burning of churches and synagogues.

After the 40% mark, the remnants of the people may become victims of periodic terror. When Muslims become the majority - more than 60%, non-Muslim citizens will begin to be persecuted, persecuted, ethnically cleansed, their rights will be curtailed, they will begin to pay additional taxes, and all this will be legally based on Sharia provisions.

When it reaches 80%, the state is already completely in the power of Muslims, Christian and other religious minorities will be subjected to regular intimidation, violence, and state-sanctioned purges will be carried out in order to expel the “infidels” from the country or force them to convert to Islam.

And when these historically proven methods bear fruit, the state will come closer to becoming completely Islamic - 100%, it will become “Dar-al-Islam” (home, land of Islam). Then, as Muslims believe, they will have complete peace, since everyone will become Muslim, the madrasah will be the only educational institution, and the Koran will be the only scripture and guide to action at the same time.”

“Three or four years ago, among students in the cities of Ugra that I visited, I observed a certain confrontation - a completely natural confrontation of different mentalities and cultures, but in the last year or two there has been almost none. Not because it does not exist, but because the status quo of forces is already sufficiently defined. Today we can already say: it is definitely not in favor of the Slavic, Russian population. Let me emphasize: we are talking specifically about the world of children and adolescents.”

“Teenage “debates” on religious topics, as a rule, end in complete fiasco for Russians who know very little about their faith and culture. Not only does post-Soviet indifference to religious issues play a role, but even it is not customary for believing Orthodox Christians to bring their internal beliefs to external discussion, unlike representatives of Islam. His young followers also do not possess any theological knowledge, but use the terminology of their reactionary polemicists, who in various ways implanted chopped up anti-Christian phrases and concepts into their fragile minds. In specific conditions, all this takes on purely ethnic meanings. Already today, in the minds of Islamic teenagers, the concept of “Russian” is completely identified with “Orthodox” and “Christian.” This is a classic of Islamic radical hatred. Of course, those Russian and Slavic teenagers who were converted to Islam - radical, in the vast majority of cases - are especially distinguished by their aggression.”

“The processes in question are part of the global confrontation. This is a well-known tactic, practiced over thousands of years: the Janissaries were, as you know, children of Orthodox Greeks and Slavs raised in Islam. It can be argued without any metaphor that in the quiet, “orderly” cities of Siberia hundreds of such “janissaries” are already living and operating - young people from Russian families who converted to radical Islam and vehemently hate their former fellow tribesmen and their once native country. Their number is constantly increasing, because it is on them that the political stake is placed...”

“A modern young man, brought up by endless violence from television screens, deprived of the attention of his family and surrounded by misunderstanding, needs support, POWER. And this “power” appears ghostly in the clouded consciousness of some such seekers in Islam: an aggressive self, multiplied by a sacred idea and group support, may seem like an ideal option. But this is still not Islam, not a religion that gave the world a great culture with its doctors, architects, thinkers and mystics. This is not about faith, but about self-affirmation. Young people in these conditions identify themselves as members of gangs - which is what often happens in the end.”

“Today, even the subconsciously operating mechanisms of “tolerance” and “liberalism” play a special role, exported by all possible means into the consciousness of the younger generation. Liberalism, which defends the absolute human right to independent choice, leads modern young people to a position that fatally belittles the social and state institution of continuity and education. And the model of “tolerance” attached to this extends this right to everything, even to things that in a reasonable civilized society do not have this right in principle. The aplomb of the young personality formed by all this is ready for “exclusiveness” even in religiosity.

And even the shocking foundations of the traditional family world today, “juvenile justice,” which is an organic part of the package of liberal values, provoking a controlled rebellion of children against their parents, ultimately transforms it into a rebellion against religious tradition. And this new “culture of intergenerational relationships” also requires a new ontological basis - a religious basis. Our time has reversed everything: at first religion shaped culture, now culture shapes religion. Wahhabism, like many other inadequate forms of religiosity, fully satisfy this request.”

“The prospect of social claims of the masses of migrants is quite predictable; it one way or another comes from those religious views that are decisive in the prevailing Islamic movements. We can talk about two global ones, and they are both “part of one”: the creation of an Islamic caliphate and the ban on pious Muslims living on the territory of a non-Islamic state. We already know the implementation of the first in the form of Wahhabism, and the second, in its modern interpretation, simply involves the rapid Islamization of newly opened living spaces.”

All this happens not somewhere far away and not some time in tomorrow, but here and now. In modern Russia, centers are being formed from which the future Islamization of the country will proceed. Are you sure this doesn't apply to you? What about your children? Do you still want to talk tolerantly about the rights of migrants in a European way?

Monk John writes: “I don’t dare propose small measures here to solve global issues. Yes, this is impossible, I understand well - the indicated situation is a dead end. But then, perhaps, we should use other potentials and remember that Russia is an Orthodox country, just as representatives of Islam always remember their faith?!”

Meanwhile in our schools...

"Education" is a term derived from the word "image". Image of God. The purpose of human life is to awaken the Image of God in oneself, to become like (as far as possible) the Lord. As St. Basil the Great wrote: “Our world is a school of rational souls.” Schooling shapes a person's worldview.

In recent decades, Russia has been striving to become part of the West. We are throwing away our traditional values in order to reshape all areas of life in a Western manner. The reform had a particularly painful impact on the education of children and youth. Education of rights has become more important than education of responsibilities. Multiculturalism and tolerance have overshadowed respect and friendship. Cultivating leadership and instilling a competitive type of relationship have almost eliminated care and mercy. Mutual assistance was replaced by consumerism, the feeling of unity with one’s people was replaced by the desire for selfish self-sufficiency, collectivism was replaced by individualism, patriotism was generally declared a relic of the “soviet”...

The Soviet education system - which, if anyone doesn’t remember, was recognized as the best in the world - is being reshaped to Western standards. Domestic education, with its centuries-old tradition of encyclopedism and fundamentalism, is being restructured into a purely applied education, into the training of either specialists of a narrow profile, or generally “qualified consumers”. Here is an excerpt from the document defining the strategy for Russian education reforms: it is recommended to establish “minimum standards of citizenship,” which boil down to “the ability to read maps correctly, give explanations in a foreign language, correctly fill out tax returns,” “a love of Russian art and literature, and tolerance of other social groups.”

The educational reform dealt a severe blow to the historical and cultural continuity of the Russian school, resulting in a deformation of historical memory and Russian identity, a change in the Russian mentality and a change in public consciousness. A sharp drop in the level of education and its quality - under the guise of its increase - has led (has already led, look around!) to the stupidity and cultural and psychological primitivization of young people, the formation of “fragmented”, “fragmented” thinking, an extremely narrow outlook on life, focused on adaptation and the search for success. As a result, the number of people who can think analytically and on a large scale, and even more so who are able to rise to the level of understanding state interests, is declining catastrophically quickly. But such people are easy to manage in the current information war. Look at the Ukrainians, who have surpassed us in education reform - how easily they managed to “fool their brains.”

As the main ideologist of modern Russian school policy said: “Every person has the right to such an education as will ultimately enable him to formulate his own moral code.”. In the Western world this has already been done. And we got a society of legalized bearded girls, legalized soft drugs, legally tax-paying brothels, legalized euthanasia, legalized “families” with three parents and other abominations of the “free” world.

Now, when international tensions are escalating, we absolutely need the revival of nationally oriented education, a school that would form carriers of Russian culture, patriots of their Fatherland, creators of Russian civilization. Moreover, this needs to be done urgently - the “point of no return”, if not yet passed, is very close. The Russian world is in danger of ending its existence “prematurely.” Our civilization, weakened by the adoption of European liberal values based on the doctrine of “human rights,” will be absorbed by the civilization of Islam, which is actively spreading its influence. Only a state built on the basis of our traditional Orthodox culture, a state whose ideology will be determined by Christian moral values, can resist this expansion. So Orthodoxy needs to be taught to both children and adults, and not as a cultural discipline, but as a worldview discipline, whether someone likes it or not. This is the only way to ensure the high spiritual and intellectual potential of our people, which is now a necessary condition for the survival of the nation.

But alas, it won't work. We have a secular society, religion is separated from the state, human rights will be violated... Well, well... Let's stock up on popcorn.

Galina Russo , candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences, catechist