ONE of the best-known publishing houses of the Russian Orthodox
Church, Sergiev Posad, located at the historic Holy Trinity
monastery, near Moscow, has printed a calendar for 2014
commemorating Stalin (right). It recounts his life in
detail, and is lavishly illustrated.
It was produced on behalf of a third party, a group called
Dostoinstvo ["Virtue"], but this has not prevented many believers'
claiming that this is yet another public-relations disaster for the
Moscow Patriarchate.
There have been several of these recently, not least its refusal
to accept the apologies of the Pussy Riot women for the offence
they caused, and - originally - its call for a maximum sentence for
their act of "hooliganism" in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,
Moscow (News, 24 August
2012).
Many Orthodox believers are expressing their dismay. One, on the
website of the radio station Echo of Moscow, ridiculed the Church
for "including the executioner of millions in their prayers".
The calendar does not represent the official view of the Church.
In 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion, in charge of the external relations
of the Church, said, through his official spokesman, Fr Filipp:
"Stalin established an inhuman system which no one can justify. . .
[Our achievements] came not from Stalin, but from our
multi-national people."
There is an alternative view, however, that yearns for the past.
It was expressed by President Putin when he called the dissolution
of the Soviet Union - the creation of Lenin and Stalin - "the
greatest geo-political disaster of the 20th century".
The Patriarchal press may have produced the calendar for
commercial gain. At a cost of 200 roubles (£3.67), it appears to be
designed for wide distribution. Now it may have to offset this
income against the impression that the Church is trying to
rehabilitate its own chief persecutor.