“I am a Satanist,” the teenage son categorically declares to parents indifferent to religion, thereby plunging them into shock. "Vampires" and "dark elves" among schoolchildren - what are they? A fashion game or a serious spiritual choice? Abbot Sergiy (Rybko), who knew "Satan" and "Judas" firsthand, told Pravda. Ru about the "diabolical" youth subcultures.
“At a young age, it is better to be a fighter against God than to be indifferent to religion. If a person strongly opposes God, then he is not indifferent in this regard. He is interested in it. Perhaps he will meet a worthy interlocutor who will refute his arguments, some established clichés, said Father Sergiy, rector of two Moscow churches and founder of the club of contemporary music in the name of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg.
In the opinion of the abbot, “of course, one should knock down the arrogance and bravado characteristic of young people, but not with rudeness and rudeness, but with authority. If a person rebelles, it means that he has an interest in this issue, this is already good. Most often they rebel because of ignorance and ignorance."
Most often, protest mysticism - Satanism, black magic, the aesthetics of vampires or "drow" - is carried away by adolescents from families where parents are indifferent to religion or perceive it at a purely everyday level. Extremely leftist ideology often becomes a form of protest against "everyday Orthodoxy" - young people take Marx and Engels and even Trotsky, long forgotten by their parents, from dusty shelves. Children from families of "everyday Muslims" are attracted by Wahhabism - their parents have not read the Koran and do not know, and from the video lectures of the terrorist Said Buryatsky, who was killed in March 2010, one can glean many interesting philosophical ideas and find answers to questions about the meaning of life.
“Both in good and in evil, the young man is unstable. He may suddenly zealously begin to go to church, to gather in a monastery, but only time will tell how firm it is in him. Rebellion against God, the Church, and order is also superficial, often happens out of ignorance, ignorance. A young man needs an authority who can tell and reveal these things in an accessible language,”Father Sergiy said.
On the other hand, in his opinion, "some representatives of the Church are to blame themselves." “When the state authorities in Belgorod, for“Orthodox”reasons, announce a ban on rock music, while forgetting to ask the opinion of the Orthodox Church, I understand the reaction of young people, and, moreover, I share it,” he said.
“Missionary work should be there, but it should be literate. I think that not even every priest will be able to engage in missionary work in such a way as to spread the Word of God, and not a negative opinion about the Church. "Do not become many missionaries." This is a special calling, a special skill, a special charisma. The work is hard enough. People who cannot carry out this work correctly do harm,”stressed Father Sergiy.
“When people, including Orthodox, gathered at a youth forum, a priest came up to the guys from our club several times and said: 'You are Satanists, because you have long hair, you play the guitars.' What did he want? Unclear. They are the same Satanists as I am the Pope. He turned these guys against himself. Since some of them were not in the Church, their attitude towards the Church also became negative,”he said.
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According to Father Sergius, “modern young people in general have a very negative attitude to the imposition of anything. It is necessary to work very carefully and delicately with young people, on an equal footing. As Grebenshchikov sang: "Where can I find a priest who would speak not to me, but to me."
»Unfortunately, the mentor tone is often tolerated. One young man told how he came to one holy place on a pilgrimage with his mother, and they wanted to swim in the holy spring. The priest saw the tattoo on his shoulder, immediately called him a Satanist, scolded for a long time. But, since the guy still really wanted to immerse himself in the source, we found a compromise: his mother put a T-shirt on him so that the tattoo would not be visible, the hegumen continued.
“Perhaps the tattoo is not very good, but who authorized this shepherd to dishonor this young man so much? Yes, this is a sin, but not that serious. You never know what a 12-year-old man could do out of stupidity,”he said.
As Father Sergius noted, “since we now have a church of neophytes, the priests are also neophytes. Without experience, they take up what they don't know. Rigorically assert: black and white, right and left. Among our own people this passes, but when you turn to outsiders, you need to act without offending anyone, as did equal-to-the-apostles men and wives."
“Friends wanted to invite me to perform at a rock festival in one regional city. When they turned to the administration of the festival, they said: “No, please, don't. We already had one precedent when we invited the priest to speak. They were expecting a sermon from him, the Word of God, and he came out and said that we are all Satanists here and must immediately disperse. Nobody interrupted him, they listened to the end. But, naturally, people were then at a loss. Although the musicians and their listeners have nothing to do with Satanism, they are normal Russian people,”the hegumen said.
“And what did the father achieve? I think he included this speech in the report - so, he spoke, exposed yet another evil spirits. Although, in fact, he pushed people away from God for several years. And then I was not allowed to speak, because there was already a precedent,”he complained.
Anti-church young people came to Fr. Sergius many times to argue. “I will not say that after talking with me they immediately came to believe in God, but they were already leaving. Their appearance changed, and their aggressiveness disappeared somewhere, some kind of respect for the Church was felt,”the priest noted.
“I remember one girl wrote me a letter: 'I am 24 years old, I am a former Satanist, now, by the grace of God, an Orthodox Christian. I have a big request to you - never reject Satanists. These are young people, on average 16 years old, mostly seekers. Well, somewhere someone in the church offended them, told them something wrong, and they got into a pose. These are normal young people whose religious search results in such a negative experience,”Father Sergiy said.
OLGA GUMANOVA
