We have been covering the issue of the construction of the so-called «Main Temple of the Armed Forces of Russia» for almost two years, considering it to be of great importance for Muslims in Russia (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=34970).
The reasons should be clear — in a formally secular and practically multi-confessional state, a church of only one religious denomination is being built as a temple of its armed forces. This indicates to representatives of other denominations and followers of other religious and non-religious beliefs their place in this country, which means that they cannot consider it their own country, at least in its present form.
And even more so, since such Muslims, as well as Protestants, Buddhists, Jews and representatives of other denominations, have a significant reason to avoid military service in the armed forces, which declare Orthodoxy as their only religion and themselves as Orthodox warriors. This has been clear for a long time, but now it has received symbolic confirmation.
However, closer to the opening of this temple, it faced criticism from an unexpected side, about which we also wrote (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=38477). Specifically, from many Orthodox individuals who have made it clear that they consider this temple to be a syncretic pagan shrine, not a Christian church.
Yesterday’s opening and consecration of this building in the presence of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and numerous military personnel with Patriarch Kirill, who himself became its guardian, confirmed these suspicions. (https://youtu.be/-zPBfB-Tneg)
In fact, the whole world had the opportunity to witness the opening of a great temple of a new religion — orthodox in form and completely pagan in content, with a mixture of various forms of paganism. Of course, any conscious Muslim, Jew, or Protestant cannot associate with such an army and such a state.
But it is encouraging that in this case the dividing line has not been drawn according to the principle of «religious minorities against the orthodox», but according to the principle of «true representatives of all traditional denominations and supporters of secular state principles against militant state idolatry».
Another circumstance is gratifying. Those who watch the video of the temple opening at the above link will notice that there was no spirituality or solemnity on the faces of the participants in this event, including the top officials. It seems that the artificial and formal nature of the whole show, incompatible with sincere faith or genuine patriotism, was felt even by them, not to mention the rest of society.
Some commentators recalled that history had already witnessed the opening of a grand temple in honor of another victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. It was called the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and things did not go well after that… The current building has a better chance to survive physically when Russian society undergoes another reassessment of values — after all, it is located in an inaccessible place that cannot be reached without special effort.
Therefore, if it is abandoned by the changing leadership of the state and the army, and by the renewed Orthodox Church, which will condemn the policies of its predecessors, it has a chance to be preserved as a museum monument of its era — a fallen into senile marasmus of Putinism.