by Kevin Barrett, for American Free Press
In his New Year’s address, Russian president Vladimir Putin once again spoke of “the importance of traditional family values.” It is one of his most common themes. Two months earlier, Putin had angered Western liberalsby saying that teaching children “that a boy can become a girl and vice versa...is on the verge of a crime against humanity” and blasting gender confusion ideology that “seeks to eliminate basic human categories like mother, father, and family.”
On December 5, Putin signed legislation that bans propaganda promoting sexual deviance. The new law makes it illegal to “praise LGBTQ relationships, publicly express non-heterosexual orientations or suggest that they are ‘normal.’” The new law builds on an earlier one that banned homosexual propaganda targeting minors.
The intensifying culture war between Russia and the West is rooted in religious difference. While the West continues its stampede away from traditional faith, Russia is moving in the opposite direction. Since the fall of Communism in 1989, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and to a lesser extent other creeds have been making a comeback.
I have long loved the interpretations and depictions of Russian Orthodox Christianity in the works of the great 19th century authors Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. But what about today’s Orthodox spirituality? Who, I wondered, should I be reading to get a sense of what the Russian religious revival feels like from the inside?
I was advised to check out the 2011 bestseller Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov), a spiritual advisor to Vladimir Putin.