Orthodox Church to Train Own Youth to Guard Faith and Country

Orthodox Church to Train Own Youth to Guard Faith and Country

www.themoscowtimes.com

Vladimir Batrakov, 45, a retired military officer, enrolled in courses on how to be an Orthodox youth leader because he was disappointed with the lack of young people in church.

After receiving his diploma last Friday, he started to work full-time at a Moscow church, where he is supposed to advise young people on religious issues and organize Orthodox youth rallies and other activities.

"The main aim is to divert young people from drugs, alcohol and sexual promiscuity," Batrakov said.

A second goal is to inform the public about the church's stance on contemporary issues through the

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Now this is a bit surprising , no ? A Russian Orthodox trained "youth group"?

And did you catch this bit , " What makes the new youth groups stand out is their planned promotion of a blend of religion, anti-Western philosophy, politics and patriotism — values that will be passed on by youth leaders "?

Can't wait to see what this evolves into in the next 3 to 5 years .


www.themoscowtimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 23-7-2010 by Max_TO]

Its a very very very delayed response to a centuries old issue. Russia became a world power because it copied French and English styles of society. This later caused anger of not having a culture of their own. Everyone wants to be unique.

In the end, what works works and what doesn't doesn't. The west developed the best system of secular society. Some want to try and keep religion in the mix. Iran was another attempt with some success, some failure. Statistically Iran is the greatest success as mixing religion with secular western government style.

reply to post by Max_TO

And did you catch this bit , " What makes the new youth groups stand out is their planned promotion of a blend of religion, anti-Western philosophy, politics and patriotism — values that will be passed on by youth leaders "?

I gotta say, after studying eastern orthodoxy for the last 5 years or so, I gotta say there is some really awesome stuff in there ....in between the cracks that is ....basically they are promoting spiritual enlightenment .......ego death, etc..

There is in a sense a good aspect about "anti-western philosophy" if it is in a spiritual sense .....because I see western philosophy as all about the ego, the me, selfishness, over-indulgence, a dumbing down effect ....but politics and patriotism is all relative so should be kept out.....