...over the years so many prayers have been offered up "for the conversion of Russia". And for decades after 1917 the official Soviet Russian newspaper Pravda sneered at religious belief and took a staunchly atheist line, and people were savagely punished for open affirmations of Christian faith, and churches were closed or destroyed, and children were blocked from taking part in any religious activities, and pictures of Lenin were mandatory in schools and offices and all public institutions, and even private homes were expected to have their "Lenin corner", and so on and so on...
And now, conversion. Extraordinary things, scenes unimaginable in the Russia of the 20th century, are the stuff of Russia in the 21st. Look here, and here...
I suspect that Russia's government and bureaucracy is in the hands of rogues and there is plenty of Mafia-like activity across the country. But, golly, when it comes to the official approach, and to the sheer numbers packing out the churches (which I noted on a visit to St Petersburg a couple of summers back, too), well, Russia's conversion is there all right.
Makes you think...Fatima...John Paul...the consecration in 1984...a promise kept...
3 comments:
That is wonderful. I loved those pictures. There is still hope for Europe and western culture to turn around.
"Follow Pravda on Twitter". That's got to be the most surreal thing I've seen this year! Yep - things aint wot they used to be!
Well, I suppose it is must mean something when a sociopath like Putin and an apparatchik like Medvdev have to show up in Church to maintain appearances. Maybe someday the Russians (or the US or UK) will get leaders with genuine faith.
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