“Relax and enjoy”, in Russian it means: “look simple at all things,” “do you really need it?” Relax, get high. And they spare no effort to reach the state of this joy, relax,” the patriarch told the participants of the 1st International Forum of Orthodox Youth in Moscow.
He stresses that such attitude contradicts the teaching of Christ, who taught that the one “who doesn’t take his cross” is not worthy of Him.
“And what is cross? Is it an instrument of burdening a human life, a tool of torture? No, the Lord has not brought us a tool of torture. He lifted up to the tool of torture in order to give us freedom and to call us to a different life, to tear us away from this perishable land up to the sky. Forget about Prometheus. We can’t even compare them. From the earth to the sky, from the swamp to the mountain tops. But the strength is needed to climb the top of the mountain,” the patriarch said.
Noting that there can’t be perfection without cross-bearing, he urged to get rid of all propaganda “when they tell us that “relax and enjoy” is the way to perfection. According to him, on the contrary “it is the way to degradation, not only to the degradation of a human personality, but of the whole human civilization.”
Patriarch Kirill said that only Divine commandments are “guiding stars,” and human happiness is impossible without moral foundation.
