The starting point for talking about the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 and the danger of falling into such a scenario today were the famous words of Ivan Bunin from his “Cursed Days”: “The greatest country on earth was abandoned to the complete mercy of fate.”
Whether we could learn the lessons of history was the first question the journalists addressed to the author of the book.
We cannot change anything in the past, but we can change our ideas about it, considered Metropolitan Tikhon and called for responsibility for historical perception: our vision of the turning points in the history of Russia should be neither embellished, nor romantic, nor degrading
He suggests looking at history through the eyes of a medical geneticist and, reading the map of historical inheritance, suggesting that the descendants build their lives correctly.
Our national psychological genetics, says Metropolitan Tikhon, can program us to repeat historical crises. Therefore, there is no frivolity in the new stage of history, on the contrary, great responsibility for what is happening to us here and now.
Answering the question of the famous blogger Alexei Kostylev about whether there are preconditions for the current historical crises and what they are, Metropolitan Tikhon recalled that on the eve of the catastrophic year of 1917, Russia was a prosperous country that had nothing in common with the caricature . that had been instilled in us during many Soviet and post-Soviet years, in the mass consciousness of Russians. Citing research from the University of Cambridge, he described its GDP as third in the world (higher than England and France) and its industrial growth rate as first (“like China now”). Metropolitan Tikhon described everything, from the grain harvest to the fear of geopolitical neighbors that Russia would definitively become the first country in the world, as an experience of undoubted victory. He even became certain that we would definitely have won the First World War, but for this reason the Second World War would not have happened. Russia planned victory parades in Constantinople, Berlin and Vienna.
But there was a certain internal weakness: disorder in the elites and the conviction of “progressive society” that it was necessary to overthrow the tsarist regime, and it worked.
Referring to the lectures of the famous academician Pavlov, Metropolitan Tikhon spoke of the “psychopathological” causes of the revolution, the fruit of the mind of the intelligentsia and the self-confidence of the same “advanced society.”
“Adolescent negativism” and the “game of disobedience”, which were thus manifested, according to Metropolitan Tikhon, remain characteristic of the mood of Russian society.
Remembering the words of Semyon Frank that the majority of people then lived “according to one faith – faith in revolution”, and the existing political form seemed to the majority of the intelligentsia the only source of evil, he, following Frank , recalled that the main attention was not devoted to the future and its creativity, but to the past and present.
But what was even sadder was that the State did not oppose these regulations.
And the revolution was approaching in the genre of a real psychosis: the elimination of the existing government, the replacement of its institutions by simply “good people”, the abolition of military discipline and the collapse of the army caused by this, a blow to the vertical power in the provinces, attacks on the police and gendarmerie; referring to Bekhterev, Rossolimo and even after Pavlov, Metropolitan Tikhon continued to insist that Russia was in the grip of an “induced mass psychosis.”
In his opinion, something similar happened in 1991, when, after voting in favor of preserving the Soviet Union, it was dissolved a few months later.
Society is to blame for what happened in 1917 and 1991: its adolescent self-confidence and its seduction by protest ideas played a bad joke on Russia.
But the government is also to blame, says Metropolitan Tikhon, for not finding mechanisms for dialogue with society.
Responding to journalist Alexei Goreslavsky’s question about what would have happened in Russia if there had been no February or October revolutions, Metropolitan Tikhon replied that “Russia would have coped with the situation.” I once again remembered the planned parades in Constantinople, Vienna and Berlin, about the “heroes” sewn for this in the design of Vasnetsov, which later became “Budenovkas”, about Dmitry Mendeleev’s calculations that the population of Russia in 2000 will reach 600 million people. and then returned to the religious idea that “the spirit creates forms for itself.” But the spirit of the people, according to the testimony of people who lived in those times, was not at its best: this spirit was not inclined towards prayer in churches, nor towards a large family, nor towards great jobs. “And the Lord will give you according to your heart,” he recalled the words of Psalm 19…And he gave according to your heart.
Metropolitan Tikhon was asked many more questions, both about the reasons for the successes of the Soviet Union and about the participation of foreign powers in the revolutionary plots of Russian history, and he responded abundantly, even to unasked questions. Apparently, in the second half of December we will have interesting readings and perhaps deep discussions about what we read.
Meanwhile
The last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, was the most maligned figure in all of Russian history; In fact, the country flourished under his rule and the Bolsheviks in the USSR only used the rich inheritance they received. This opinion was expressed at the presentation of the book “The Death of an Empire. The Russian Lesson” by its author, Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea Tikhon (Shevkunov).
“Our wonderful publicist Ivan Solonevich said that “Russia was ruined by gossip.” And I think he is absolutely right, we are very anxious about gossip. <...> These false testimonies made the emperor the most amazing and wonderful person, perhaps the most slandered “The most slandered character in our entire history. Such slander that was hurled against him, both from the West and from Japan, from the East and from within the country , it was even unthinkable,” said the leader during the conference. TASS Moscow-Simferopol teleconference, talking about the figure of Nicholas II. In particular, for the Russian noble society of that time, Metropolitan Tikhon admitted that “being comme il faut”, complying with the rules of decency meant “deeply despising the sovereign and his entire family.” At the same time, he noted, before the revolution, Russia was a “prosperous country”, “the achievements were enormous”: there was no poverty, anarchy and “hopelessness”, which was always written about in Soviet and post-Soviet textbooks . . Thus, in terms of GDP, the Russian Empire was among the leading countries in the world, and in terms of industrial growth rates it ranked first. In 1913, Russia harvested more grain than Canada, Argentina, and the United States combined. In the first 15 years of the reign of Nicholas II, the author of the book noted, as many educational institutions were created as in the entire history of the country.
“Yes, the Soviet Union did a lot, but it inherited it. A gigantic and incomparable legacy fell on the heads of the Bolsheviks. <...> The potential that was already established and included in that [дореволюционное] time, he worked for many, many years,” says the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He said that his new book, taking as an example the events of 1917, reveals the mechanisms used to create revolutions in Russia, what mistakes its government and society make and how it all ends. The publication contains almost 300 references to scientific works and archival documents. “The story of the events of February. [1917 года] “This is the harbinger of many Russian cataclysms, including those that our wonderful partners are preparing for us,” the metropolitan added.
