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| Gospodnya |
Probably one of the biggest changes that
resulted from Khrushchev leaving office was the re-emergence of religious
practices. This also opened opportunities for the restoration and
reconstruction of historical places of worship, monasteries, convents, and rectories.
And Orthodox churches are among the most beautiful, both inside and out. One of
the questions that arises when visiting these sites is, ‘What is the difference
between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church?’ There are
literally hundreds of websites that talk about the differences in belief
associated with Catholicism and with Orthodoxy, some with truly heated debates
of the issues. The DifferenceBetween.net
provides a rather succinct list without assigning value to either side. There
isn’t quite as much vitriol about how the church governances are structured:
the Catholic Church is headed by the Pope in Rome, the Russian Orthodox Church
(ROC) is headed by the Patriarch in St Petersburg (Leningrad). Although the Russian
government has been accused as making the Russian Orthodoxy the ‘official
religion’, we
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| Saint Basil's Cathedral |
Russia, home of onion domes and Czars, palaces
and Red Square, poets and dictators, contemporary art and traditional ballet,
the dour and the goofy, the ancient and the modern: it’s a study in change and
one of the places I’d go back to simply to see how much it has changed, again. Since
I’ve been three times in that number of years, I’m consolidating those trips
into the next few postings. Right now Moscow is a sad place, with the people
nervous and anxious, their welfare hanging on how the world sees them and how
they can interact with neighbors who supply them with food and something as
nebulous as that missing southwestern influence that seems to soften hard
edges. At least that’s how it appears to me, having been there before and
during the war with Ukraine.
Before you travel learn at least how to say, ‘Please’,
‘Thank you’, ‘Hello’, ‘Pardon me’, ‘Where is…’ and so forth. Most folks you’ll
interact with will have some English, particularly if they are less than 40
years old; as with all places you visit, people appreciate your efforts to be
polite. Russians may appear dour and unfriendly, but given a chance to
interact, most are helpful and have a good sense of humor. Currently, the
country is experiencing unrest so the people are not as out-going as in
previous years, but they still want travelers to like their home.
