[mensforyouthis]

My wife and her family (who, though they had a relatively privileged position in Soviet Russia, were not among the elite if by 'elite' we mean the very top of society) say that they prefer to have the freedom of thought, speech and worship they now have even though the circumstances of life in Russia are now considerably worse for them and a great many people than they were before the collapse of communism. They wanted and expected a western European style system to follow communism but got corruption and banditry. But anger at the current system for its failures does not automatically mean they have nostalgia for the past.

My wife did say something interesting yesterday evening in connection with all this. She said that when she and her family visited churches and monasteries during the 1980s, even though most had not yet then re-opened, there was a feeling of grace in them which is not there anymore. I had some experience of this. About five years ago, we went to Pereslavl-Zalesskiy. Just outside that town is a small convent. We went in and found it had just been given back to the Church and was being renovated. I remember how full of grace it was. Now when we go to churches and monasteries which have had no expense spared in their renovation, one does not feel any grace. We worry that, as I have mentioned elsewhere, there is 'too much St Joseph Volotsky' and 'too little St Nil Sorsky'. I can't speak for other former communist countries but one cannot help sensing in Russia that the Church is in some danger from excessive patronage.