PATRIARCH
KIRILL
VOTES FOR AMENDMENTS TO RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION
Interfax-Religiia,
25
June 2020
Patriarch
of Moscow
and all-Rus Kirill, on Thursday morning, supported amendments to
the
fundamental law of Russia, having voted for them early in his
residence in the
St. Daniel's monastery of Moscow.
Addressing
journalists,
the patriarch noted that these amendments have "very profound
worldview significance" and may lead to "very important
spiritual and
moral consequences" for the life of the people. He explained
that he has
in mind, in the first place, the amendment that mentions God.
"For
believing
people, God is the absolute value. Well, people who do not share
these
convictions also may vote safely for this amendment, because
without absolute
value there is no starting point. We always make a choice
between good and
evil, but in order to make that choice it is necessary to know
clearly what
good is and what evil is. So you see, for nonbelieving people,
God should
simply be equated with good," the church primate thinks.
He also
noted the
importance of the amendment that asserts the historical
continuity of modern
Russia. "We are not simply people who have fallen into the
historical
arena from out of nowhere. We are linked through our parents and
our culture,
through art, through our faith with many, many generations that
preceded us.
This speaks of something very important, because the
revolutionary events of
the 20th century tried to destroy this continuity," the
patriarch noted.
In his opinion, voting for this amendment says that "we are
linking the
present-day Russia with the whole millennium-long history of our
fatherland."
Patriarch
Kirill said
that the amendment that defined marriage as a union of a man and
a woman was a
"very important innovation," and he expressed the opinion that
"an absolute majority of our people will vote with great
pleasure"
for it. In the
opinion of the head
of the church, 20 or 30 years back nobody would have thought
that it is
necessary to clarify such questions in the fundamental law. "But
today
marriage has been placed in doubt. And if marriage is destroyed,
the family is destroyed,
and if the family is destroyed, the moral foundation is
destroyed," the
patriarch thinks.
In
conclusion he
expressed the hope that the updated constitution will become the
foundation for
the further development of Russian legislation and will
facilitate the
spiritual, moral, and material development of Russia. (tr. by
PDS, posted 27
June 2020)
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