Orthodox Revivalism in Russia by Milena Benovska

Author:Milena Benovska [Benovska, Milena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Ethnic Studies, Research, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781000203851
Google: TG76DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-10-12T05:04:29+00:00

Sudden conversion: “The model of St. Paul”

The interview with Ostap Kirillovič, remarkable in various respects, was held in a place where an intimate conversation about personal religious devotion could be least expected: in the open city space in the ideal center of Kaluga, on a bench in the garden in front of the Theater Square, in the immediate vicinity of the large urban fountain. As I mentioned in the Introduction, the tape recorder caught the murmur of the fountain-, and the voices of many passersby.

I contacted Ostap Kirillovič, then 50, on the advice and advocacy of one of my main interlocutors. Like Ostap Kirillovič – the person who referred me to him was closely related to the local clerical elite. This, apparently, was not enough to establish confidence; the meeting was delayed for a long time and the negotiation for it lasted almost a month. During the telephone conversation in which Ostap Kirillovič agreed to meet, I heard clearly Orthodox chants in the background of the conversation. Extremely embarrassed by the thought that I had disturbed him during a church service, I apologized. It turned out, however, that he was at work. It was just that he listened to church singing while he was working! For some reason, he did not accept meeting either at his workplace or in other nearby places (such as the Belinski Library) and offered the Theater Square as a meeting place.

I recreate these details from the fieldwork to give an insight into the amazing personality of Ostap Kirillovič and the extent of his immersion in Orthodoxy and its history and culture. The text of the interview, which had to be autobiographical, spoke eloquently in that direction. The interlocutor mentioned the facts of his personal story in a very laconic way. As a compensation, the whole story was a series of stories of martyrdom in the name of faith and of miracles related to the interlocutor’s activity as a member of the Kaluga Diocese Canonization Commission.5 In the context of this, it is not surprising that the account of his transformation follows the emblematic model of the conversion of St. Paul: from a hardline atheist to a passionate follower of Orthodoxy, a church activist, and a religious entrepreneur. I quote verbatim:

I’m 50 years old, I was born into the family of an engineer, my mother is a medical doctor. I was born in an atheistic family. And I stayed for a long time [in the condition of an atheist] … well. I received higher education, well, I graduated from Donetsk University – also being atheistic. After the university, I graduated from a more specialized one – such were the years – the University of Marxism-Leninism at the Department of Atheism and Religion. (Question: In Kaluga or elsewhere?) In Kaluga.

And then, so to say, with God’s help, by His great mercy, He, so to speak, directed my mind to the right side, overturned me, upside down – put me on my feet. Here is my consciousness and my mind … it may take a long time to tell how this happened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.