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Paganism vs. Christian values. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin


https://ipn.md/en/paganism-vs-christian-values-op-ed-by-victor-pelin-7978_1077146.html

“The Orthodox Church of Moldova recently had the occasion to convince itself that it does not need any protection from the Moldovan politicians. The best protection for the prestige of the Church is to detach itself from politics.
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Danger of profanation of Christian values

In the campaign prior to the presidential elections, some of the candidates appeared as deeply pious before the voters. This would not be bad if these candidates behaved as decent faithful people do. Regrettably, we also have candidates who speak about the Christian values and their protection, but behave like conventional pagans. Moreover, the propagandists of these candidates cannot refrain from using the religious factor in their geopolitical struggle, invoking such sentences as: Two Romes have fallen, the third stands and there will be no fourth. The poor propagandist, who is almost a doctor of political sciences, for the sake of a sentence used elsewhere, repeatedly makes a fool of himself.

Anyone who is almost a doctor can convince oneself that the first Rome not only existed, but has flourished. The politician served by the propagandist went there to welcome the Pope and, possibly, to kiss his hand or the ring inherited from Apostle Peter. The second Rome is also fine, managing recently to remove the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from the jurisdiction of the third Rome. Even if it’s a great pity that the declared defender of Orthodoxy didn’t dare to oppose, at least verbally, the transformation of the jewel of the second Rome – Saint Sophia Church – into a mosque for fear of not angering sultan Erdogan, who repaired the Presidential Palace in exchange for seven unfortunate teachers. It was agreed so - the geopolitical struggle on the ground of plea in favor of the third Rome - and the fourth wasn’t even necessary.

But let’s return to our politician. The truth is the declared defender of Orthodoxy repeatedly slips to paganism, defying the faith of his ancestors. Ahead of the elections, he told the citizens that an elderly fortune teller told him he will become President after the first round of voting. He could become President, as we cannot know. But God protect us! This would mean that the forces of darkness contributed to the election of the President! Did we miss something like this only?  Doesn’t the declared defender of Orthodoxy know that using the services of fortune tellers is equal to communication with the forces of darkness?

And this is not for the first time that such strange things happen. We also remember the use of horoscopes so as to appear as pampered by fate: “It happened so that there are only Aquarius persons near me. My wife is an Aquarius. Grechanyi, Miller, German Gref of Sberbank, the head of the State Duma – they were all born under this sign of the zodiac. I look at them and see that a serious Aquarian team came together". It was easy to look up and find out that astrology is nothing else but a kind of pagan determinism, being condemned by the holy prophets.

Circumventing Constitutional Court’s decision

We all remember that in the presidential elections of 2016, the Orthodox Church was accused of involvement in the election campaign on behalf of the candidate who pledged to defend it. But when the election results were validated, the Constitutional Coot (CC) disapproved of the involvement of the Church in the political competition as the things that are Caesar’s should be strictly delimited from the holy matters. Namely in this regard, the CC issued Addressing No. 5 to Parliament, asking that the legislature should adopt clear regulations – mechanisms for promptly and immediately punishing, including criminally, for any attempt by the religious denominations to become involved in electoral campaigns.  

Currently, the clerics can see themselves if they acted correctly or not when they took sides with an electoral competitor who showed by concrete deeds that he has a predilection for the pagan values. This is indeed defiance after the CC ordered that the Church should be prevented from becoming involved in elections, while the given candidate resorted to the support of fortune tellers. The CC decision was this way circumvented, but the CC is absolutely powerless in fighting the involvement of the forces of darkness in the electron campaign.

Conclusions

The use of the religious factor in geopolitical struggles is a kind of outdated technique, as is geopolitics itself, together with its rhetoric about the switchover from the monopolar world to the multipolar world in which Russia represents a pole, together with a propagandistic branch in the Republic of Moldova. Currently, the Isborsk Club lays emphasis on the heliopolitical struggle that for now is bipolar, being represented by the competition between Ilon Musk and Dmitry Rogozin.

The Orthodox Church of Moldova recently had the occasion to convince itself that it does not need any protection from the Moldovan politicians. The best protection for the prestige of the Church is to detach itself from politics.