“Holy Rus’”: From Ideal to Idol

The subject of Holy Rus’ has been studied extensively enough to reveal just how broadly this concept can be understood. Much like Dostoevsky’s understanding of the human being, which stretches from holiness to the demonic, its scope is so vast that one feels compelled to narrow it. To narrow it to the bounds of the image of God in which humanity was created, and to the narrow path that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13–14).

To narrow the concept of “Holy Rus’” to its one true meaning is not merely a matter of preference. The very word holy demands it.

Today, we are witnessing a devaluation of words and their meanings (I am referring here to what is happening within the life of the Church). This has always been the case, but it seems particularly evident now. We need not look far for an example: the Word of God, splendidly adorned, is solemnly carried out of the altar, read with reverence and solemnity, while the very words being proclaimed are disregarded.

What we are witnessing is a wholesale profanation of everything called holy.

That which is holy is set apart from everything else and dedicated to the service of God. Thus, God sanctifies the seventh day and commands people to dedicate it to Him. He sets apart the people of Israel to serve the one true God and blesses the construction of the Tabernacle, the sanctuary in which sacrifices were offered to Him.

In the New Testament, the Lord establishes the Church, a new holy people, inviting every person on earth who wishes to dedicate themselves to the service of God to become a member of this people. The Lord entrusts this world to His servants so that, working together with Him, they may sanctify it.

How, then, does the profanation mentioned above manifest itself?

Unlike sacrilege, understood as the deliberate desecration of something sacred, profanation does not necessarily involve an intention to desecrate. That which is meant to serve God begins instead to serve this world.

For example, in holy churches, political ideology is preached through words and sacred art, camouflage nets are woven, and funds are collected for a fratricidal war. Weapons are blessed with holy water, while images of the saints and of the Lord are carried, with the blessing of priests, by those who commit these acts of fratricide, and so on.

Let us return to ''Holy Rus''. What exactly should we understand by Rus’ when we describe it as holy? Perhaps a people, or several peoples, united by common historical, cultural, or geographical ties?

But this is impossible from the standpoint of the Church’s teaching, for the Church itself is the one people called to holiness, and belonging to it is determined neither by nationality nor by the state.

Rus’ can be holy in only one sense: just as Syria is holy in its saints Isaac and Ephrem, and Ireland in Patrick and Brigid, so Holy Rus’ is holy in the saints who have shone forth in this land.

In every other sense, we are dealing with the same profanation, expressed in meaningless appeals such as “Holy Rus’, preserve the Orthodox faith!” It is holy precisely because it has preserved that faith.

Yet the tragic reality is that the wide gate leading to destruction does not end there.

What is sacred can not only be desacralized and debased; it can also be turned into an idol.

In other words, instead of being used in the service of God, what is sacred is placed in the service of worldly passions and ultimately elevated to the place of God Himself. It becomes an object of worship, to which sacrifices are offered, including human lives.

Orthodox