Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes confrontation of civilizations inevitable

Natalya Mihailova | 25 June 2014
Moscow, June 24, Interfax - Head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes that the clash of various values systems will end in forceful confrontation.
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes confrontation of civilizations inevitable

“Unfortunately, confrontation of civilizations is inevitable. We didn’t want it. We offered a dialogue of civilizations, coexistence of countries with different systems of values and different political systems, but our call hasn’t been heard,” Father Vsevolod Chaplin said at a round table in Moscow.

He said that Christian values for him “are much more important than which country will realize them.”

“If tomorrow Kiev says that the country includes Christianity in its Constitution as a foundation of social arrangement and considers Christian values basic, that country will become more important for me than Russia,” the priest confessed.

He pointed out that “Islam and Orthodoxy don’t consider an earthly life as a basic value.”

“Our people have certain will, especially a will for freedom, for collective freedom, for independence from alien centers of power, from alien ideologies. This appeared to be stronger than any project,” the church official said.

He said that people understand that they will either be free, but this freedom will cost them much, or they will live under “under someone’s heel, but many people will ask, and they will be right: then why live.”

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