Moral values ​​and the future of man. To the opening of the XXVI Christmas Readings

26.01.2018

Morality is what distinguishes Homo sapiens from other living beings. Something given to us from above and defining our existence. It would seem that the foundations are unshakable, not subject to revision and revision. However, in our rapidly changing and, unfortunately, not always for the better, world, not everything is so simple and certain.

On Wednesday, January 24, the grand opening of “Moral Values ​​and the Future of Humanity” took place in the Grand Kremlin Palace.

In its own way it is unique event. The readings grew out of a conference of Orthodox teachers and were first held in 1993, when Russia was going through far from simple times. The decline of morality and culture, as well as the general decline of the entire Russian state, tragic events related to the shooting of the White House - all this happened exactly this year. Society painfully searched for an answer to the question of moral guidelines, which were replaced by immorality and outright disregard for both legal norms and spiritual values. Against this background, the church-public forum has become a unique project in the field of education, culture, social service and spiritual and moral education. The fact that today our society has overcome the largely negative aftertaste of the 1990s is largely due to those who directly took part in this authoritative international event all these years.

Traditionally, the forum takes place on the first days of the New Year after the celebration of one of the most revered holidays in Christianity, the Nativity of Christ. This is where its name comes from. The chairman of the readings is His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'. The head of the organizing committee is the chairman Synodal Department religious education and catechesis of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Mercury. More than 15 thousand participants from 16 countries were represented at the current Christmas readings.

At the ceremony at the State Kremlin Palace, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council N.V. Fedorov was present as guests of honor; First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma A. D. Zhukov; First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S. V. Kiriyenko; Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S. V. Lavrov; Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation O. Yu. Vasilyeva; Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation V. R. Medinsky; Russian Minister for Affairs civil defense, emergencies and consequences mitigation natural disasters V. A. Puchkov; Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation V. A. Kolokoltsev; Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District, Chairman of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Cossack Affairs A. D. Beglov; President of the Russian Academy of Education, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russkiy Mir Foundation L. A. Verbitskaya; Deputy Mayor of Moscow in the Moscow Government for issues regional security and information policy by A. S. Gorbenko.

The greeting to the International Christmas educational readings of the President of Russia V.V. Putin was announced by the First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation S.V. Kiriyenko. It said, in particular: “For many years, your authoritative forum has been one of the most anticipated and truly important events in the social, cultural, and spiritual life of the country, uniting around its noble ideas and goals large number participants and guests - caring, active people.”

At the plenary session, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' made a report.

There is the concept of “altered consciousness,” when they try to instill in a reasonable person ideas that are contrary to his essence, aimed at his gradual destruction and self-destruction as an individual in the full sense of the word. There is a substitution of concepts when “white” is said to be “black” and vice versa. Violated basic principles morality. Morality is interpreted as something amorphous and even optional.

This is done quite deliberately with the aim of suppressing the will of the individual, who ultimately loses the ability to think independently and objectively evaluate the reality around him.

Similar processes are observed today in the “enlightened” Western world, who considers himself a “model of democracy”, the custodian of certain “liberal values”.

“If previously they said that the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another begins, then at present the freedom of those who want to live and raise children in accordance with their traditional religious norms is often trampled upon by supporters of the so-called liberal values, who claim that the absolute value is freedom, and everything else is secondary. Increasingly, there are calls for a revision of moral values, including those with an evangelical basis, and even for a complete abandonment of them.”,” Patriarch Kirill noted with alarm in his report.

Further, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said: “We see how traditional Christian families are forced to abandon the words “father” and “mother” in official documents in favor of the ear-pleasing “Parent No. 1” and “Parent No. 2” for same-sex partners, and anyone can lose their job just for that he will openly express his condemnation of the sin of Sodom or even publicly read the corresponding text from the Bible, as was the case with one of the pastors in one of the European countries.”

Nowadays, this is rejected almost unanimously by representatives different religions. As Patriarch Kirill noted in his speech, “...the beliefs of different religions may differ markedly, but as soon as we move to the level of axiomatics, to the level of moral values, most religious traditions demonstrate a coincidence of views.”

Unity in the basic approaches to preserving the moral values ​​of humanity was reflected in the joint Declaration signed by the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church during their February 2016 meeting in Havana.

It is important to note that Russian Foreign Minister S.V. Lavrov, who was present at the readings, spoke from similar positions and, by the way, was greeted with prolonged and stormy applause from those present, bordering on ovation. Thus, the audience expressed support for the principled and consistent policy of our country in the foreign arena and personally for the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Here is a verbatim quote from the speech of S.V. Lavrov: “It is obvious that the revision of basic moral norms, permissiveness, and tolerance taken to the point of absurdity cause irreparable damage to the moral health of people and deprive them of their cultural and civilizational roots. For example, in a number of EU member countries, bans on religious paraphernalia are being introduced, parents are being deprived of the right to raise their children in the spirit of Christian morality, and other examples that were given in the opening speech of His Holiness. I would like to remind you that at one time the European Union refused to enshrine in its statutory documents the thesis that European civilization has Christian roots. I think that someone who is ashamed of his moral roots cannot respect representatives of other religions, just as he does not command respect from them for himself. This creates a breeding ground for xenophobia and intolerance and opens the way to the self-destruction of society. It is important to vigorously oppose pseudo-liberal approaches that encourage destructive patterns of behavior.".

It is obvious that the absence of morality means, in essence, the absence of a future. Humanity can return to its primitive state, when force replaced all morality and could only be challenged by another force. But this is a path to nowhere, a path to the cessation of the existence of the human race. Moreover, such an approach will inevitably affect those who carry it out consciously or due to their own misconceptions. Deputy Mayor of Moscow A.S. Gorbenko, who was present at the plenary meeting of the Christmas readings, rightly proposed to clarify their name by replacing the conjunction “and” with “dash”: “Moral values ​​are the future of humanity”.

Development in society of a dialectical pair: individualistic

and collectivist morality. Private education

property. The harmfulness of individualistic morality

for human civilization. It is appropriate to note that there is a danger of the destruction of humanity.

Salvation in communism. Should be aimed at

activities of the collectivist association, harmoniously

combining the personal, collective and social (communist-Marxists) - fighters against private property.

The roots of human morality are found in our animal ancestors, who led a herd lifestyle. To survive, our ancestors (and first of all, apes) had to act together, as a herd, helping each other, making sacrifices for the sake of the herd and not demanding compensation from it.
It is worth noting that the founder of the theory of evolution, the famous English naturalist Charles Darwin, in his book “The Descent of Man”, using specific examples, for the first time most thoroughly and fully showed that the morality of mutual assistance is common to all social animals; in their communities, social instincts prevail over personal ones. The famous Russian revolutionary, scientist, philosopher P.A. Kropotkin in his book on morality “Ethics” spoke on this occasion: “Nature is full of such examples, and in each class of animals it is the sociable species that are at the highest stage of development. Mutual assistance within the species will thus ... be the main factor, the main figure in what can be called progressive development” (P.A. Kropotkin. Ethics. M., It is worth saying - politizdat, 1991, p. 55)

Social moral norms were inherited from animals and to people, to their herds and primitive communal clans. And these norms of mutual assistance, like those of social, herd animals, contributed to human progress, as will be discussed below. We will call the original morality based on these norms collectivist.

With the advent of class society, new morals began to appear: selflessness began to be replaced by benefit, collective mutual assistance and self-sacrifice for the sake of the collective - by individual competition and hostility, etc. Let's call this new class morality individualist.

Each person initially contained and still contains both opposites: individualism and collectivism. The first is of biological origin, the second is of social origin, already present in its infancy in our ape-like ancestors, as well as other social animals. But although individualism has always “sat” inside a person, it received a wide opportunity to manifest itself only with the collapse of the primitive communal system and the emergence of class society. And here individualist morality actually became the morality of the ruling class, although for the sake of its dominance, he tried to instill it in the subordinate class in order to disunite it as much as possible, create competition within it and thereby make it easier for himself to rule over this class (according to the principle known since ancient times : divide and conquer)

This new (individualist) morality arose and was formed in society on the basis of the individualist’s desire to stand out from among their fellow tribesmen and rule over them, exploit them. And such a separation became possible when a person became so strong that he could survive on his own without the help of others, without whom he previously could not do. And he could stand out only by his wealth, which he appropriated for himself in one way or another from the community wealth (privatized, in modern language). Wealth gave him a better opportunity than other, poorer people of his kind-tribe to accumulate knowledge and provide for himself armed protection from enemies or their fellow tribesmen who would want to encroach on his individual independence, providing himself with the best tools of labor, leading to a more efficient accumulation of new wealth, etc. It is important to understand that it (wealth) became power in his hands, an instrument of his power over others and a means of subsistence at the expense of others. The individualistic separation of such wealth from communal property will be an act of creating private property. It is private property that will be the material, economic basis for the manifestation and maintenance of the individualism that each person has. Thus, with the advent of private property, a class of masters appeared, and next to it a class of those oppressed and exploited by them.

Initially, with the emergence of private property, collectivist morality was still predominant in such a class society. But with the development of class society, individualist morality becomes predominant. It is precisely this pattern that will exist in a class society of any formation (slave-owning, feudal, capitalist) - in any socio-economic formation, during its formation, collectivist morality prevails at the beginning, and at the end of its existence, individualist morality prevails. This pattern did not escape socialism, the essence of which was still class.

Individualist morality will remain most vivid and at the same time in its most dangerous form under capitalism. Here it is currently already affecting almost the entire society and finds its expression in the separation from society of the richer, stronger, more arrogant, more powerful, without honor, knowledge and responsibility due to the impoverishment, weakening, humiliation of others, leading to general aggressiveness towards everything around. This is clearly expressed at least in the pursuit of profit by the people of capitalist reality. A contemporary of K. Marx, the English trade unionist T. J. Dunning, characterized the terrible interior of this pursuit as follows: Capital fears the lack of profit or too little profit, just as nature fears emptiness. But when there is sufficient profit, capital becomes bolder. At 10 percent of the profit, capital agrees to any use, at 20 percent it revives, at 50 percent it is clearly ready to break its neck, at 100 percent it desecrates all human laws, at 300 percent there is no such crime that the capitalist would not risk, even under fear gallows (Daunning T.J.Trades'Unions Strikes. London, 1860, pp.35,36)

For some reason, the individualistic primary desire for personal and national material enrichment, for justice, first of all, in relation to oneself (for personal gain) will be the cause of the death of millions of people from hunger, disease and war, because of it, nature is robbed and the environment is destroyed habitat. It is because of him that families and entire states fall apart, debauchery and violence flourish, entire nations disappear from the face of the earth, and previously flourishing nature turns into desert.

The danger increases with the current deepening and expansion of knowledge, ᴏᴛʜᴏϲᴙto the deepest, most intimate foundations of life and the secrets of nature. This knowledge, which increases our ability to influence nature, in the hands of an individualist infected with the thirst for enrichment at any cost, which will be the hallmark of capitalism, becomes a deadly weapon that threatens to destroy not only all life on the planet, but also the planet itself. For example, the growth of knowledge about the structure of the atom and its nucleus under the conditions of capitalism led to the creation of atomic, thermonuclear, neutron and the like unprecedented in this country. destructive force, anti-humanity of weapons. Or another example: new knowledge about the human psyche can be used to transform most people into humanoid slave-robots, ϲʙᴏunshaped working cattle in human form, uncomplaining and obedient soldiers, etc., carrying out any will of the new modern slave owners for the sake of satisfying the depraved, anti-human needs for the immense growth of their wealth and power over the whole world (Hitler and his swarm of non-humans could only dream of such an opportunity)

The danger of capitalism increased a hundredfold with the collapse of the socialist system, which, before it was defeated by the virus of individualism, was a stronghold of collectivist morality and prevented the infection of individualism from spreading throughout human civilization. The current omnipresent capital, with its permissiveness and insatiability, satisfied not without the help of its material basis - technologies, devouring all the raw materials, energy, and mental resources of the planet, poisoning the soil, air, water and soul, is leading all of humanity to moral degradation, to the development of anticulture (a “culture” hostile to nature and corrupting, destroying the personality and health of a person) through the propaganda of violence, all kinds of horrors, banditry, debauchery, riotous life through television, cinema, print media, exhibitions, music and songs, entertainment clubs, casinos, brothels. Leads to the destruction of its habitat. And ultimately - to his death.

If at the dawn of human development collectivist morality was a factor in human survival, now its opposite - individualism - puts humanity on the brink of death. History already knows something similar, which happened more than once on our planet.

The first case of the harmfulness of individualism can apparently be considered the story of the disappearance of one of our ancestors - the Neanderthal. Herds of Neanderthals lived next to herds of Cro-Magnons. The first lived in separate families, were aggressive and, possessing significant physical strength, managed without much mutual assistance. On this basis, individualism prevailed among them. The latter were physically weaker and they could only survive in large herds with well-developed mutual assistance and collectivism. In the brutal struggle for life, the collectivism of the Cro-Magnons won and the individualistic Neanderthal disappeared from the face of the Earth. The human race was continued by the collectivist Cro-Magnon, to whom we consider ourselves.

Other examples of the destructiveness of individualism are the disasters that befell certain developed ancient and not-so-ancient civilizations. These were already class civilizations (slave-owning, feudal) and they were characterized, like any class society, by the growth of individualism and a relative decrease in collectivism. It is worth saying that in order to satisfy their individualistic needs, the pursuit of material values ​​that provide these needs becomes uncontrollable, wealth is accumulated for the sake of wealth itself.

In such conditions, the growth of material needs takes on a perverted form, since it is mainly not for the provision and development of the life of the entire society, but for the luxury of the ruling class, often precisely at the expense of the livelihood of the oppressed. The rapid greedy accumulation of material wealth, which people can do without in their lives and which only corrupts them, leads to their exorbitant extraction and the creation on this basis of unfavorable conditions for the environment, its destruction. Eventually, a moment comes when the ever-increasing consumption of a depraved individualistic society can no longer be provided by its environment (the people or nature it exploits, the resources of which have a limit). A conflict ensues between such a society and the outside world. An internecine struggle begins for the possession of resources that have become scarce. As a result, such civilizations, torn apart from within by individualism with all its attendant aggressiveness and debauchery, perished either under the blows of more collectivist foreigners, or under the blows of more collectivist forces within society itself. This is precisely the fate that befell, for example, Do not forget that Babylon, the Ancient Egypt, Maya, the Roman Empire, Kievan Rus, etc. Notable in this regard would be, for example, Sparta. For many hundreds of years, the Spartans did not know defeat, primarily because they lived as a single community, without using money, which could be a source of accumulation. The impossibility of their accumulation was caused by the fact that iron money was introduced by a specially adopted law (it was forbidden to use silver and gold coins), unsuitable for other uses (they were specially made fragile). It is worth noting that they cost so little and were so bulky that for Moreover, in order to keep several hundred rubles at home, it was necessary to build a large pantry and transport money into it on a cart. Thanks to such a coin, crime stopped in Sparta: who would dare to steal, take a bribe or rob, since it was impossible to hide the booty? In addition, this money could not be used in trade with other states and, thus, a barrier was placed on the import of wealth from outside. Against the accumulation and use of wealth, against luxurious life Other laws of Sparta were also aimed at, which, in combination with laws aimed at strengthening the health of body and spirit, collectivism, systematically resolved the issue of the existence of a stable, strong, strong state. Gold came into use by the Spartans after their victory over the Persians with their enormous wealth. After this, the decomposition of Sparta began and its death came in a military confrontation with the Romans.

The disasters that shook civilizations at that time were not disastrous for humanity, although dying civilizations often left deserts behind due to their destructive actions. After the catastrophe, the dying civilization was revived again mainly due to the forces that came to it from the outside or matured within it and brought into it new social relations and technologies, which gave impetus to new progressive development. If there were no such forces, then the revival of civilization with its further development never occurred, as happened, for example, with the Mayan state, which found itself lost in the jungle, or with the Babylonian kingdom, whose territory turned into desert.

Now we also have a case of the indicated catastrophe, but only for the capitalist civilization that has engulfed our entire planet. In the pursuit of maximum profit without any correlation with the production of material assets needed by society (huge profits, for example, are made from the production of weapons, drugs, porn products and others, which not only are not needed by people, but also kill them in the literal sense of the word) are destroyed our energy and raw materials resources, among which are the lungs of our planet - forests. Contaminated with industrial waste, vehicles water, atmosphere and soil of our planet, fertile lands are being destroyed. We have already talked about this in the section “Knowledge and the growing need for it” (specifically, see pp. 11-13). It is important to note that at the same time all sorts of obstacles are being put in the way of developing new technologies that would replace technologies for using energy and raw materials that are already being exhausted , from the extraction of which modern tycoons enrich themselves.

For the sake of exorbitantly growing profits, endless wars are being waged, “uncivilized” peoples are being robbed, spending on social programs is being reduced for most “civilized” (developed) countries, including spending on health care, education (in the USA, for example, millions of people are illiterate or even illiterate ) Wealth, which is not used to satisfy reasonable human needs and to which fewer and fewer people are allowed, can be used for entertainment that corrupts people and immoral actions. Due to environmental pollution, our body is weakened, conditions for the development of pathogens are improved, which leads to an increase in epidemics. For example, according to scientists, the restoration of the incidence of cholera and the annual epidemic of this disease in the south of Ukraine is due precisely to the pollution of our rivers. Environmental violations, which are caused by our barbaric, for the sake of money, attitude towards the environment, can lead to environmental disasters. Thus, pollution of the Black Sea increases the layer of bottom hydrogen sulfide and in some places it almost approaches the surface of the sea. During an earthquake flammable gas may come to the surface, ignite and explode with the power atomic bomb with subsequent catastrophic consequences. Military actions also lead to significant violations of the environmental situation. The recent wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia are reliable proof of this. A critical increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to global warming on the planet, and with it to increased melting of glaciers, which leads to increased humidity in the atmosphere, the number and power of atmospheric disasters, increased water levels in the seas, and so the process has already begun (remember, although increased heat or almost daily rains in the summer, warming winter) And another closest example of the destructiveness of individualism in the capitalist world. Most recently, Europe suffered a catastrophe as a result of an accident at a Romanian gold mine: toxic cyanide entered the Tisza and Danube rivers, resulting in the death of all living things in the area of ​​the accident. All the Danube states (Ukraine, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania) refused to provide compensation for losses, which would have gone towards restoring ecological balance in the region, while millions of dollars are spent in these countries on the entertainment of a handful of rich people.

The catastrophes described here, leading to the disappearance of early civilizations, were local in nature, since these civilizations occupied the territory of only individual states. Now the capitalist “civilized” world has a global spread and practically covers the territory of our entire planet. The catastrophe is becoming worldwide and the danger from it threatens the whole world.

Individualistic in its uncontrollable greed for enrichment at any cost, modern humanity is objectively doomed to destruction. Only a new, more collectivist community of people can survive here, which will replace the dying capitalist civilization, as has happened many times in the history of mankind. It is precisely such a community that will be communist.

To come to a new collectivist society, which will replace the dying capitalism, strength is needed, as it always was during the revival of one or another human civilization.

There is no one here from the outside to come to the aid of our civilization, since it covers our entire planet, and the arrival of collectivist-minded aliens seems not to be expected.
It is worth noting that we can only hope that within our society there will be people with collectivist morality, harmoniously combining the personal, collective and social, who will be able to prevent the destruction of humanity, just as the Bolsheviks saved Russia from destruction, and then and the whole world.

does not consider material enrichment to be the main meaning of human life;

loves nature, strives to cooperate with it and does not consider himself its master; in creative creative activity he does not strive to change objectively current natural processes, i.e. processes that follow the laws of nature, and not according to schemes invented by man without taking into account these laws;

ready to selflessly help everyone who needs it, selflessly cooperate with everyone who wishes the good of people and nature, help everyone who wants it to improve, and help prepare their desire;

ready to sacrifice himself, his condition for the sake of the happiness of others;

5) is ready to strictly observe the norms of behavior accepted in the association and dictated by the surrounding nature, acting on the principle: do not harm others, do to others as you would do for yourself;

6) ready to decisively expel from their ranks those who violate the moral norms of the association, as elements alien to it;

7) wishes to practically participate in the replacement of technologies that consume irreplaceable raw materials and energy resources, destroying the environment and man himself, with technologies of cooperation between Man and Man and Man and Nature, giving new breath to the development of humanity;

9) takes constant active, creative participation in moral activity, which is the basis for the formation and development of collectivist morality. And at the same time, not only to be kind, but also to do good every day and actively.

The backbone, the core of such a union will be the working class (in complete harmony with classical Marxism), since it is among the workers, due to the collective nature of their work, that collectivist morality is natural and will last in relation to other social strata to the greatest extent.

It has already been said that private property will be the economic basis for the existence of individualistic morality, aimed at selfish enrichment, without taking into account the interests and needs of other people and, naturally, at the expense of others and the surrounding nature. It is not without reason that all outstanding representatives of humanity, its spiritual teachers, from the biblical and other religious prophets to modern progressive writers and scientists, opposed private property. There are a lot of examples that can be given here. For example, the entire progressive intelligentsia of Russia in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from the Ukrainian Slavophiles to Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy, opposed private property. Let us give only some examples that relate to their negative attitude towards private ownership of land.

Taras Shevchenko in the poem “Cold Yar” narrated:

According to what is truthful,

Holy law

And the land given to everyone,

І warm-hearted people

Are you trading? Be careful

You will have a great time.

Leo Tolstoy in 1902, in a letter to Tsar Nicholas II on behalf of “one hundred million peasants,” spoke about the need to eliminate land ownership. Later, in letters dated August 1907 and September 1909, P. Stolypin spoke about this.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that even before the revolutionary October 1917, orders on land were adopted at rural gatherings throughout Russia. Based on these 242 local orders, the general “Peasant Order on Land” was compiled, which was published in August 1917. In this order it was written: “The right of private ownership of land is abolished forever. Land can neither be sold, nor bought, nor leased or pledged, nor alienated in any other way... All land: state, appanage, cabinet, monastery, church, possession, primordial, privately owned, public and peasant and etc. alienated free of charge, converted into national property and transferred to the use of all workers on it... All citizens (without distinction of gender) receive the right to use the land... who wish to cultivate it with their labor, with the help of their family, or in partnership, and only until then , while they are able to process it.” This text of the peasant mandate was then included in its entirety in the “Decree on Land”, adopted in Petrograd at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies on October 26 (November 8, new style) 1917. The Ukrainian Central Rada also supported this order and in 1918, in its Fourth General Assembly, expressed it in the following words: “In land rights, the commission, which was elected at the last session of the Central Rada, has already adopted the law on the transfer of land to the working people without purchase, shea as a basis reduction of power and socialization of the land in the species before our decision at the 7th session.”

Among the Western European opponents of private ownership of land, one can name J. Rousseau, who narrated:

“The first person who fenced a piece of land and said, “This is mine,” and found people simple-minded enough to believe, was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, murders, from how many misfortunes and horrors would the human race be saved by the one who would shout to those like himself, tearing out stakes and filling up the ditch: beware of listening to this deceiver, you will perish if you forget that food belongs to everyone, and the earth - to no one.”

Based on what has been said, the proposed association, in order to prevent the destruction of humanity, should direct its activities towards the destruction of the basis of individualist morality - the destruction of private property. According to the “Manifesto” Communist Party”, written a century and a half ago by the great collectivists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, such a task was set before the communists, since communism is a society without private property, when wealth belongs to all people and everyone can use it. Private property will disappear - there will be no breeding ground for the manifestation of individualist morality, the morality of which is “everyone for himself, only one god for all” or “everyone rows to himself, only one chicken from himself.” In an already communist society, as at the dawn of the birth of humanity itself (at the stage of the primitive communal system), the collectivist morality of goodness, selflessness, mutual assistance, cooperation with nature, spiritual enrichment will again become predominant, seeking to exalt not an individual person or all of humanity above all others, but to merge all people together with the surrounding Nature.

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Class hour is held to familiarize students with biblical history Christmas, expanding knowledge about the origins of the Christmas holiday, getting to know value guidelines in human life, creating conditions for the formation of socially significant personal qualities and value orientations in children, and nurturing a spiritual and moral personality.

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"Moral values ​​and the future of Russia."

Open class hour in grade 5 “B” as part of Christmas readings.

Objectives of the event:

Educational: familiarizing students with the biblical history of Christmas, expanding knowledge about the origins of the Christmas holiday, becoming familiar with value guidelines in human life;

Developmental: development of cognitive abilities, skills interpersonal communication, cognitive activity of students; development of mental functions of students: thinking, emotions, attention, will, memory; formation of self-control skills;

Educational:create conditions for the formation of socially significant personal qualities and value orientations in children, promote the education of a spiritual and moral personality, and provide an opportunity for the development of a culture of relationships.

Required equipment and materials:

• Multimedia installation
• Video “Children about Christmas”
• Video "Nativity of Christ" cartoon
• Phonograms of the song “On the road to goodness”, musical composition"Silent Night"
• Bible
• Pens, sheets of paper
• Cards for the game “Values ​​of Life”
• Cards for the game “Roads of Life”

Preparation:

• Children's performances (poems and parables).

Progress of the event

1. Emotional mood - motivation (5min)

Video "Children about Christmas"

Conversation with children.

- What is "Christmas"? What does this holiday mean to you?

1. Main part.

Conversation with a star

Boy : You until dawn
In the sky, little star, you are burning!
And when I go to bed,
You're blinking at me again.
Listen, little star, tell me,
Is it good to live in heaven?

Star : You're still just a baby:
You play during the day, you sleep at night
And you know little about God -
What mom said.
But I will answer you:
There is eternal joy in heaven.

Boy: Star, you have been around for many years
You shine for people on earth.
I'll ask you a question:
How was Christ born into the world?

Star: Oh, I remember everything perfectly!
That star, my sister,
I told everyone
That He came to Bethlehem.
It was so long ago
But I remember this night:
We, the heavenly bodies,
Shined brighter that night
And furtively, through the cracks,
They looked at the King of kings.
The angels sang wonderfully,
Don't forget this song
Unearthly voices...
If only you could hear for yourself!

Boy : I'm not a star, I'm a boy
And I'm not old enough...
You know, star, it’s a shame -
I didn't see anything:
No Savior, no heaven,
I haven’t been to Bethlehem either.
I would become a star like you
I could see everything from above!

Star : Head up, baby,
After all, you are sad in vain.
You are happier than many stars:
Christ is next to you!

2. Teacher’s story about the Biblical origins of the holiday “Christmas”(7 min).

Christmas is not just a holiday where gifts are given, it is the beginning new era, marked by the coming of God to us on earth to deliver us from evil, illness, death and give us eternal life. Let's listen to the story of the birth of Jesus, which is recorded in the very ancient book- Bible.

Reading a passage from the Bible: Matthew 1:18-25 with teacher's comments.

The birth of Jesus Christ was like this:
upon the betrothal of His Mother Mary to Joseph,
before they came together,
It turned out that She was pregnant with the Holy Spirit.

Joseph is her husband,
being righteous and not wanting to make Her public,
wanted to secretly let her go.

But when he thought about it, -
behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said: Joseph, son of David!
do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife,
for that which is born in Her is of the Holy Spirit;

will give birth to a Son,
and you shall call His name Jesus,
for He will save His people from their sins.

And all this happened
that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled,
who says:

behold, the Virgin is with child and gives birth to a Son,
and they will call His name Immanuel,
which means: God is with us.

Getting up from sleep,
Joseph did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him,
and he took his wife, and did not know her,
How Finally She gave birth to Her firstborn Son,
and he called His name Jesus.

1. Watching the cartoon “The Nativity of Christ”(5 min).
2. A conversation about why Jesus was born? (2 min)

This little boy grew up and gave His life for each of us. When he walked across our land, He healed, resurrected, wiped away tears and gave people hope.

In the Bible we read (John 3:16): “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1. Reading poems by students ( 5 min)

• Long gone out in the winter darkness
  Eastern star,
  But not forgotten on earth
  Birth of Christ.
  Like preaching love
  And the truth of the Divine,
  God was born again every year
  For the Christmas holiday

Preserving moral values, remembering every year the birth of Jesus, God, the savior, is our task. Our future, the future of our entire country, Russia, depends on what principles we follow in life. People, rejecting spiritual and moral values, risk living in a society where evil, theft, betrayal, and selfishness reign. What kind of society would we like to live in? Society, country - it's you and me. If you want to change the world, start with yourself.

Game "Moral Values"

On the board are cards with life values, real and false. Choose those that the guys would like to live by; false ones are removed. The choice is made frontally: the teacher touches a card with some value, the children clap if they agree to live by it, stomp if not.

1. Game “Chance and Choice” (6 min).

Divide into groups of 4 people (2 desks). Choose a card with a situation and determine what chance life sends, and decide whether to use this chance.
You have money, and the first spring flowers are being sold on the corner.
Your classmate came with tear-stained eyes.
A baby stands alone in the middle of the street.
You see a lady sitting in the first row on a broken chair.
During the lesson, a classmate offended the teacher.
Something falls from the bag of the person in front.
A lost puppy with a broken leash is running around the yard.
You found it in the school hallway cell phone.
Your little sister or brother broke your toy.

1. Parable about a wise man and his disciple (2 min).Prepared students tell the story (by role).

The sage and the disciple were sitting at the gates of their city. A traveler comes up and asks: “What kind of people live in this city?” “And who lives where you came from?” - asks the sage. “Oh, rude, evil, unkind people,” the traveler replies. “You will see the same thing here,” answered the sage.

After some time, another traveler came up and also asked what kind of people were in this city. “And who lives where you came from?” - asked the sage.

“Wonderful people, kind and sympathetic,” answered the traveler. “Here you will find the same ones,” said the sage.

“Why did you tell one that bad people live here, and the other – good people?” - the student asked the sage.

The sage replied: “There are good people and bad people everywhere. It’s just that everyone finds only what they know how to look for – good or evil.”

1. Final game “Road of Good” (5 min)

Each person has a sheet of paper on their desk; students use a marker to trace their palm and write their name on it in the center. And then it turns onsong "Dear Goodness".While it is playing, the children pass around a piece of paper with their name, when the song is interrupted, the passing of the sheets stops and the students write words of wishes on their fingers, then the song continues and they pass the sheets around again. At the end of the song, the leaves return to their owners.

1. Final words from the teacher (1 min).

The Nativity of Christ is a holiday, the meaning of which is to understand what the born baby Jesus did for humanity. He was born to show his boundless love for people. The grown baby - God - gave his life on the cross for each of us, so that we could become better people and have hope for eternity.

This holiday teaches us to believe, educates our hearts, so that we learn to forgive, sympathize, understand each other, tolerate the shortcomings of others - in a word, so that we learn to love the people around us.

On January 23, 2012, at the plenary of the XX International Christmas Educational Readings, the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate made a report “Moral values ​​and the future of humanity.”

The theory of planetary humanism

“If God did not exist, He would have to be invented,” said Voltaire, emphasizing the importance of religious faith for the moral health of a person and society. Today, in the era of globalization, many secular politicians harbor the idea of ​​“planetary humanism,” that is, the introduction of a single ideological standard for all people on the planet. This standard will be based on the so-called “universal human values,” that is, on the basis of secular morality, an integral part of which is not the traditional moral principle inherent in every religion, but the idea of ​​human rights as the highest value. The leaders of modern secularism, liberal humanists, reacting painfully to any religious symbols and mentions of God, insist, unlike Voltaire, on a different expression: “If there is a God, one must remain silent about Him.” God has no place, in their opinion, in the sphere of social life.

The history of mankind has repeatedly demonstrated the utopianism and disastrousness of such humanistic theories, which are built on a distorted anthropological paradigm, on the denial of traditional values, on the rejection of the religious ideal and the overthrow of God-established moral norms. Until recently, theories of this kind could only be put into practice in a single country. However, the idea of ​​“planetary humanism” is dangerous because it claims to world domination, declaring itself as a norm that all people should accept and assimilate, regardless of their national, cultural or civilizational identity. Let's try to understand what this can lead to.

Basic concepts of morality

In our opinion, humanity still exists only because there is a difference between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, between holiness and sin. However, modern civilization has begun to abandon these concepts, emphasizing the freedom of the human person. In modern liberal philosophy there is no concept of sin, there is only pluralism of the behavioral model: any behavior is considered justified and acceptable if it does not violate the freedom of another person. As a result of this approach, the boundary between good and evil is erased.

At the same time, the ability to distinguish good from evil is a moral sense that is endowed exclusively by man. His ability to direct his will towards good or evil is called freedom. However, the main value of freedom is not the ability to choose between good and evil, but the choice of good: “You were called to freedom, brethren, so that your freedom does not become an excuse to please the flesh, but serve one another through love” (Gal. 5: 13). Christianity has always emphasized that only following the path of moral life helps a person gain freedom (John 8:32).

Representatives of historical secularism (Renaissance, Enlightenment, revolutionaries) put forward the idea of ​​freedom, excluding the Christian meaning from it. Ultimately, there was an absolutization of human personal freedom, reducing it to freedom of choice, and therefore to the possibility of choosing in favor of evil. In practice, this absolutization resulted in moral and axiological relativism.

That is why modern secular consciousness does not know such a concept as “sin”. Although in his vocabulary there are terms such as “crime”, “violation of the law”, “guilt” and even “moral prohibition”. But the concept of “sin” for someone who does not and cannot have any absolute moral guidelines or criteria simply does not exist. The concept of sin cannot be expressed in terms of secular ethics; it cannot be reduced to elements of a system of moral guidelines, although it carries a pronounced moral content. Modern secular consciousness imposes on humanity the idea that there are no absolute moral standards like sin, that all morality is relative, that a person can live in accordance with the scale of moral values ​​that he creates for himself, and his scale can be different (up to opposites) from the conventional morality of the other.

However, man differs precisely from animals in that God has given him another inner strength that is not given to animals - a moral principle. If morality is separated from religion, from the Divine principle, it will disappear. Let's remember F.M. Dostoevsky: “If there is no God... therefore, everything is permitted.” From an atheistic point of view, it is impossible to explain the presence of a moral law within every person, whether he is a believer or not. True, there are attempts to explain the manifestation of morality by a person’s culture, the circumstances of his life, or something similar, but there is an understatement in them, because the difference between good and evil is the feeling of a person living anywhere in the world and over any period of time. historical era, this is the voice of his conscience, sounding throughout history. If we separate morality from real life, then people really turn into animals, driven only by instinct. In fact, why should someone sacrifice themselves for the sake of another, why should someone give something to another, when it is logical to strive for maximum acquisition?.. Morality that is not inspired by faith is flawed, because it relies on wavering and subjectively determined foundations, when a person strives to be “the measure of all things.” This view, which has a very long history, continues to serve as a rationale for liberal secularism.

There are many examples in history that prove the monstrous consequences of the introduction of “conditional morality”: the rise to power in Germany of the Nazis, who declared the destruction of Jews moral, the destruction of believers in Bolshevik Russia as “enemies of the people.” The perception of morality as a relative rather than an absolute category creates the potential for all kinds of conflicts, including armed ones. And when a person has something like this in his hands dangerous weapon, like atomic, moral pluralism can turn into a tragedy for humanity.

Christianization and de-Christianization of the world

Absolute moral values ​​are our common foundation. The entire human civilization developed on it until recently. Within the framework of the Christian value system, an idea of ​​the high dignity of man was formed. Thanks to the Christian attitude towards man, slavery was condemned and destroyed, an objective court procedure was developed, high socio-political standards of life were formed, and ethics was defined interpersonal relationships, science and culture developed. Moreover, the very concept of human rights arose not without the influence of Christian teaching about the dignity of man, his freedom and moral life. From its very inception, human rights developed on the basis of Christian morality. In Christian patristic anthropology, these two categories - freedom and morality - are inextricably linked. The absolutization of one of these categories to the detriment of the other inevitably leads to tragedy for the individual and society.

Today, before our eyes, there is a de-Christianization of life, a breakdown in the relationship between human rights and morality. This is observed in the emergence of a new generation of rights that are contrary to morality, as well as in the justification of immoral acts with the help of human rights. Traditional morality no longer matters, what matters is the freedom of human choice. But by not taking morality into account, we ultimately stop taking freedom into account. Morality is freedom already realized as a result of responsible choice, limiting oneself for the good and benefit of the individual or the whole society. It ensures the vitality and development of society, its unity. The destruction of moral norms and the promotion of moral relativism can undermine a person’s worldview, which will lead to the loss of spiritual and cultural identity and, as a consequence, an independent place in history.

A few examples. Look what is happening to family values ​​today. Famous religious and political thinker of the 20th century I.A. Ilyin wrote: “History has shown... great collapses and disappearances of peoples arise from spiritual and moral crises, which are expressed, first of all, in the decomposition of the family.” Before our eyes, the traditional family is being abolished as an outdated social institution. The ideals of family, marriage, marital fidelity, and childbearing are ridiculed and spat upon. In the public space, ideas of sexual promiscuity, debauchery, the permissibility of adultery, abortion, and homosexual relations are cultivated. Moreover, the latter are equated with traditional marriage. More and more often, the question is being raised: if a person is free, then why should the law limit the age of entry into sexual relations?

The destruction of a family is a time bomb that can undermine the moral basis of entire generations.

Sometimes it seems that we live in some kind of upside down world. In a world where the scale of values ​​is overturned, where good is called evil and evil is called good, life is death and death is life. Values ​​based on a religious moral ideal are systematically desecrated, and new moral norms, not rooted in tradition and contrary to human nature itself, are being introduced into the masses. Millions of unborn babies are being robbed of their lives, while the elderly and terminally ill are being offered the “right to die with dignity.” We are witnessing today an unacceptable attempt to level out the differences between vice and virtue, between good and evil.

The pledge of the future of humanity

In the life of peoples, faith, morality and culture are inseparable from each other. Violation of this organic unity leads to disastrous results. The moral component should always lie at the basis of human existence, and it is impossible without religion, since only religion gives a person a solid moral foundation, only in the religious tradition there is an idea of ​​absolute moral values.

Why does a person live, what values ​​is his life based on? This is the most important question for representatives of both secular and religious worldviews. And ultimately, the future of humanity depends on the answer to it: whether our nations will multiply or shrink and gradually disappear, whether sin and permissiveness will reign in society, or whether people will focus on absolute moral standards, which in the language of religion are called God's commandments.

The internal moral law implanted by God into human nature is irrational. It is recognized by the voice of conscience, which is stronger for some and weaker for others. It is thanks to religion that the internal moral law acquires specific cultural and rational categories and takes the form of human law: do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not condemn. All law is based on morality. If laws cease to correspond to the moral basis, then humanity abandons these laws.

The moral choice of a modern person always has an eschatological perspective, because the course of human history and its ending depends on whether he follows the path of life or death. Our task is to show to modern man and modern society that Christian values ​​are not abstract ideas or archaic superstitions, but truly principles of life, the rejection of which can lead to the collapse of culture, society, and personal human destinies. And the sooner humanity understands that morality is a way of survival for the individual, family, collective, society, and the entire human civilization, the less tragic its further history will be.

If we want to have a spiritually strong, morally healthy and economically stable society in the future, then it is very important, even in the younger generation, to form a system of moral values ​​that would be oriented towards ideas about absolute good and evil. The young years of any normally developing individual are the most difficult and responsible time in the formation of a human personality. This is a time of searching for a life ideal, this is a time of gaining moral support for existence, and finally, this is an acute rejection of injustice and imperfection of the world around us. Remember the words of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen: “I began to be afraid... terribly afraid of youth... Youth is retribution.” Children, teenagers and young people today are the part of modern society that is the most spiritually vulnerable and experiences the most dramatic moral overload. They, more than anyone else, need spiritual support today, because they have been morally disoriented from the very beginning. early childhood. And the development of our society in the future depends on what system of values ​​is embedded in them today.

That is why it is necessary to acquaint children and youth with the basic national culture of their people, which includes, among other things, religious culture. For many centuries, the Orthodox faith has been an organic part of the existence of our people. This was reflected in the exploits of Russian holiness, and in the customs of piety, carefully passed down from generation to generation, and in the patriotic exploits of the heroes of the Fatherland, and in the monuments of writing, architecture, iconography and church singing, as well as in native speech, permeated with biblical vision and understanding of the world and man. It is precisely from this national basic culture that a system of values ​​grows, national values ​​that shape both the individual and society.

The school has always participated not only in the intellectual education of the child, it also actively shaped his personality. Today, when the “Fundamentals of Religious Culture” is included in the educational framework, the school’s tasks have become even more responsible and broader. It is through religious education in school that the moral education of children can and should be carried out, which in turn will contribute to the process of creating a strong personality, strong family and, as a result, a reliable state.

Today the Church faces a huge missionary task, as the His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. It is also necessary to continue and expand educational and educational activities. In this work of public salvation, the Church and the school are natural co-workers. The task of modern education is to teach a person, on the one hand, to be sufficiently open to the perception of what the modern world brings to him, and on the other, to be able to preserve his national, spiritual, religious, cultural identity, and along with this identity, preserve the moral system of values .

To rescue the human personality from the embrace of anti-culture, anti-Christianity, and return it to God is an urgent task that faces us all today. I am sure that the 20th anniversary Christmas readings will make a worthy contribution to this matter.

"Moral values ​​and the future of humanity"
Art. Bryukhovetskaya, October 12, 2017

All-honorable fathers, brothers and sisters!

I am glad to welcome all of you - dear participants and guests at the V Michael-Arkhangelsk Spiritual and Educational Readings!
The eternity and relevance of moral values ​​is indisputable. At all stages of human development, the category of the concept of “morality” was comprehended from different angles and with different depths. The term “moral education” was interpreted differently: sometimes it was replaced by the concepts of “moral education”, “spiritual education”, “ social education».
Vladimir Monomakh, Grand Duke Kyiv, in his “Teachings” included in the Laurentian Chronicle, gave his sons and contemporaries a number of instructions: “... do not forget God, do not have pride in your heart and mind, respect old people, when you go to war, do not be lazy, beware of lies, drink and feed the one who asks... Don’t forget the poor, give to the orphan and the widow, judge for yourself... Honor the old like fathers, and the young like brothers... Don’t let a person pass without greeting him, and kind word tell him.” In the "Instructions" the prince says that he tried to build his life according to the same rules that he writes about to his sons. He is concerned about the problem of human moral responsibility, the preservation of such feelings and qualities as compassion, justice, honor, and hard work.
What can morality be compared to and what can it be likened to? Thinkers from different eras have interpreted this concept in diverse and imaginative ways. But we are closer to the one that says that morality is superlative human decency and virtue.
A system of prohibitions that arose as conclusions from experience human life, gives rise to moral laws. In the society of the first people, selfishness was curbed by the forces of the collective, labor interaction and mutual assistance developed. The criterion of good and evil was determined by what was beneficial or harmful to the clan and tribe. There were no courts, police, prisons - there was freedom of collectivism. On the other hand, man was not free from the despotism of the collective, from traditions, omens, rituals, and the elemental forces of nature that he worshiped - this is all among the pagans.
God's chosen people begin to live according to a set of rules and established norms that are based on the Law. Violation of these rules is punishable, not by society, but by this Law itself.
The adoption of Christianity gave a person the opportunity to liberate himself from the shackles of a sinful, corrupt world. A timid soul is seduced by the devil, and from this comes evil deeds. During prayer, a person realizes himself as a servant of God, and during the remission of sins he experiences freedom as freedom from sin. Christianity gives birth to the concept of spiritual freedom. And it is expressed in the fact that a person can make his own choice. If the choice is subject to certain rules, the mind dominates desires and feelings, a person sets the limits of what is permissible in his actions and determines what is unacceptable - this is moral freedom. Saints of all times, in the most different lands who beamed, amazed, for example, their tormentors with the freedom of their own choice, which their conscience dictated. For conscience is an internal judgment over oneself, moral consciousness human, encouraging a person to make a conscious choice in favor of good.
At present, the pendulum of history, after a long hundred-year cycle, is again beginning to move towards the recognition of Christian morality.
The spiritual and moral basis of man is a subject of study not only by philosophers and theologians. Many social reformers, public figures, as well as well-known politicians and ideologists actively sought to comprehend the category of morality in order to create an “ideal”, i.e. a truly moral human society.
Not many people today know that the main document on morality in the United States called the Jefferson Bible or “The Life and Moral Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth” of 1895, which formed the basis of the “Declaration of Independence”, is a set of moral principles that underlie American ideology and philosophy. This moral code was copied from the Gospel, but not verbatim, but rationally revised with the elimination of all spiritual artifacts confirming the divine-human nature of the Savior. Jefferson's Bible affirms priorities social principles and rational-pragmatic relations over spiritual ones. Jesus Christ, according to Jefferson and according to Americans, respectively, is not God at all, but an ordinary socially concerned, deeply moral “man” who cares about morality, social justice, equality and freedom.
In our country they also tried to create an ideal society. After the revolution, the Christian moral code was replaced by a revolutionary one, in which everything that was beneficial to the proletariat, but ultimately to its vanguard - the party, was declared moral. Even blood was justified in such a morality. Millions of people were sacrificed to this morality. However, such an anti-human moral code could not exist openly for long and - when it did its job, most of those not pleasing to the party were killed or put in camps, exiled - then the revolutionary code was replaced by the moral code of the builder of communism. This is another example related to the use of the gospel principles of morality, which has inspired Soviet people for outstanding feats and social achievements.
American and Soviet doctrines, forming a code of morality, lost God as the Primary Source of morality itself. How can one not recall the words of a character in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel that “if there is no God, everything is permitted.” Today we will not talk about the moral values ​​of Americans, who throughout their history have carried out military invasions (and not only) in many countries of the world. We know what happened to the Soviet Union.
Nowadays, morality is main way achievement of true spirituality and perhaps the only guarantor of preserving the foundations of the human personality from final destruction by egoism, which so often dominates relations between people.
Often conversations about morality irritate people: many are now concerned about other issues. In the public consciousness, other values ​​come first - benefit, profit. On the one hand, freedom must be a condition for a moral act; on the other hand, freedom is a condition for an immoral act. However, any freedom ends where it affects and violates the rights of others.
Militant propaganda of rudeness, sacrilege and shamelessness, cynically propagated by a group of people far from morality and morality, is aimed primarily at the destruction of traditional Russian spiritual, family, and human values, leading to the moral degradation of society. This provokes new mockery, bullying, trampling of shrines, and desecration of spiritual values.
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the revolutions in Russia, many compatriots were seriously touched by the film “Matilda”. MP State Duma Natalya Poklonskaya spoke about the flurry of appeals that she received on this matter, and not only from Orthodox believers in Russia. The abbot and inhabitants of the Orthodox monastery in the USA, Muslims from Dagestan, sent their petitions and appeals. Tens of thousands of people of different faiths consider it immoral that in a film made with taxpayers' money, main role Our Orthodox saint, Emperor Nicholas II, is played by a German porn actor, although he himself denies this fact, and the role of the Empress is also played by a foreigner representing British alternative culture.
Chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Bishop Tikhon of Yegoryevsk, is convinced that “artistic fiction should in no case be deception.” Vladyka Tikhon considers very good sign the fact that “a considerable number... of compatriots today... consider it important for themselves to stand up for the honor of their history, for the honor of their great and small fellow citizens who have long since passed into eternity...”. So that the story is in the minds of the audience royal family did not remain a monstrous myth of film scriptwriters and producers; caring Russians posted billboards with quotes from the correspondence of saints royal passion-bearers dedicated to love, marriage and family happiness, quotes from personal diary the empress and her letters to her husband. Thousands of similar leaflets have been printed and will be distributed by volunteers to spectators across the country. Isn't this a manifestation of the morality of our contemporaries?
Russian people have always solved the problem handed down to them from time immemorial: “How to live in order to be holy?”
Perhaps we will find the answer in the ark with the relics of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, which now resides in the Yeisk diocese. Today all participants in the Readings have the opportunity to venerate this shrine.
The life vicissitudes, especially of the newly glorified Russian saints, close to us in time, could form the basis of remarkable works of art for children and youth. The camps, exile, the internal struggle of these people - all this is an inexhaustible source for the creation of heroic images, so necessary for the younger generation. Here we can cite the lives of such saints as Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova, who in 1918 was thrown into a mine, doomed to death, wounded, she provided assistance to people suffering with her.

An example from another series is the ascetic life of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), professor of surgery, laureate of the State Stalin Prize, author of a textbook on purulent surgery, who, in the most difficult years, when one could pay for one’s faith with one’s life, took holy orders in 1921, then becomes a bishop. He suffered what any Russian Orthodox bishop of that time experienced: reproach, prison, camps, exile, expulsion, torture. In 1941, while in exile after many years in the camps, Saint Luke turned to the government with a request to send him to work in a hospital as a surgeon, and throughout the war he worked in Krasnoyarsk hospitals, performing the most complex operations and saving the most hopeless wounded. At the end of the war, he was even awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War.” After the war, the saint was completely blind, but continued to serve and gave consultations to doctors. He was buried in the city of Simferopol. Despite numerous church publications, his feat remains unknown to most of our adult compatriots, especially to youth.

And, of course, one cannot ignore the life of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All-Russia. It is no coincidence that his name tops the list of new martyrs and confessors of Russia. He demonstrated to the highest degree the feat of confession (a confessor is a Christian who endured torture for Christ, but for some reason was not executed). In the most difficult years, he took upon himself the burden of the High Priesthood and carried it unblemished through all the trials and hardships.
Today there are those who want to assure that “religion is a commercial project.” Well, people who are firmly committed to lying will lie in the face of any facts. But the feat of the new martyrs makes this lie obvious.
No country will be able to survive on any of the power of ultra-modern technologies and weapons if its people, even latently, do not live in the faith that our Russian Church established in them and supported even in the most brutal times of godlessness!
Morality is always closely related to religion. Faith contains a powerful moral charge, since, firstly, a person subordinates his behavior to the will of God, i.e. accustoms himself to obedience; secondly, through his own actions, external appearance and internal abilities, he strives to become like God and, to some extent, is transformed.
In modern Russia, the issue of reviving spiritual and moral values ​​is being resolved at the state level. There are youth structures public associations who create modern concepts, projects, programs of spiritual and moral content for young people. The most important condition for achieving high results on this path, according to many, is the participation of the Russian Federation in this matter. Orthodox Church.
For example, this summer, a cleric of our diocese took part in a multi-day bicycle trip, covering about two hundred kilometers on bicycles with teenagers. The daily setting up of a tent camp in a new place, testing the heat in the steppe, cooking food exclusively over a fire and informal communication with the priest served the youth as a spiritual exercise that in a short time raised the level of their moral behavior to the height of self-sacrifice. This is not an isolated example when priests, by their personal example, instill and preserve the moral immunity of the younger generation, so that it does not turn out that a person has a cross on his chest, but a zero in his soul. It is impossible to cultivate morality without faith.
Kuban is actively strengthening its position in the field of moral education. Teachers and educators, librarians and Cossack mentors lay the main guidelines in children's souls - eternal values who do not grow old, do not burn out, do not drown - this is an attitude towards elders and towards the Fatherland, goodness, conscience, truth, faith, Love.
An 8th grade student at one of the Kuban schools, Dmitry Likhmanyuk, wrote in his essay-reflection on morality: “I see Kuban as a solidary society. A society where the fate of some people is not indifferent to other people, where help and support of fellow citizens is the norm in relations between people. I see Kuban as a society where people are able to unite to solve common problems on their own, and not under coercion or orders.”
The state and the Church have common goals, and, first of all, the good of society and each person. The state declared the interests of the individual to be the main priority and enshrined this postulate in the Constitution of our country. Without touching on the political side, the Church cares about the same thing. Return to the 21st century generation Orthodox faith, which means morality, freedom, family will help Russia resist global norms of immorality and depraved morality.