20-Mar-14 World View -- Russian Orthodox Church splits

[John]

20-Mar-14 World View -- Russia's annexation of Crimea splits the Russian Orthodox Church

Ukraine capitulates to Russia in Crimea

** 20-Mar-14 World View -- Russia's annexation of Crimea splits the Russian Orthodox Church
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e140320



Contents:
Ukraine capitulates to Russia in Crimea
Russia's annexation of Crimea splits the Russian Orthodox Church


Keys:
Generational Dynamics, Ukraine, Crimea, Russia, Kiev, Moscow,
Prince Vladimir, Russian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodox Church

[Thucydides]

You say an odd thing concerning Vladimir I when you say, "Vladimir accepted Orthodox Christianity for himself and his people. Vladimir might have chosen Catholicism, and thus would one man have changed the history and the map of the world. In the centuries to come, the Slav culture moved east and formed the Russian Empire."

This is at odds with what you've written many times that "it's a basic principle of Generational Dynamics that even in a dictatorship, major policies and events are determined by masses of people, entire generations of people, and not by politicians. What politicians say or do is irrelevant, except insofar as their actions reflect the attitudes of the people that they represent, and so politicians can neither cause nor prevent the great events of history."

From the perspective of generational dynamics, what are the factors that caused this great event and forced the hand of Vladimir I in this decision?

[John]

> You say an odd thing concerning Vladimir I when you say, "Vladimir
> accepted Orthodox Christianity for himself and his
> people. Vladimir might have chosen Catholicism, and thus would one
> man have changed the history and the map of the world. In the
> centuries to come, the Slav culture moved east and formed the
> Russian Empire."

> This is at odds with what you've written many times that "it's a
> basic principle of Generational Dynamics that even in a
> dictatorship, major policies and events are determined by masses
> of people, entire generations of people, and not by
> politicians. What politicians say or do is irrelevant, except
> insofar as their actions reflect the attitudes of the people that
> they represent, and so politicians can neither cause nor prevent
> the great events of history."

> From the perspective of generational dynamics, what are the
> factors that caused this great event and forced the hand of
> Vladimir I in this decision?

Well, it's true that this was a "great event," but it's not like a war
or other major generational event. At the time, all it meant was that
some Orthodox churches were going to be built over the next century or
so, and those would not have affected the everyday life of most of the
people, except that there would be a different sign outside the church
door.

Still, if Russia were a Catholic nation, then the map of the world
might have looked different today, after a millennium has passed.

[Anon]

The maps have changed a number of times since WWII. Turkey has annexed the northern end of Cyprus, Morocco has the Western Sahara, Indonesia had Timor, Armenia has taken parts of Azerbaijan, Russia took part of Georgia, South Vietnam no longer exists. Global maps with political boundaries marked are always out of date in a decade or so. Usually less.

[JULLIEN1]

There is an amusing anecdote describing how the Russian Orthodox Church was founded in Kiev. The anecdote involves a pagan prince named Vladimir, who in 980 became ruling prince of the Slavs, headquartered in Kiev. And Prince Vladimir went religion shopping.

According to legend, he rejected Islam, because it forbade alcoholic drink. He sent commissions to visit the Christian Churches. The Bulgarians, they reported, smelt. The Germans had nothing to offer. But Constantinople (or Byzantium) had won their hearts. There, they said in words often to be quoted, "We knew not whether we were in heaven or earth, for on earth there is no such vision nor beauty, and we do not know how to describe it; we know only that there God dwells among men." Around 986-8, Prince Vladimir was baptized as an Orthodox Christian by a Byzantine emperor in the Greek colony of Chersonesos -- near Sevastopol in Crimea. Vladimir accepted Orthodox Christianity for himself and his people. Vladimir might have chosen Catholicism, and thus would one man have changed the history and the map of the world. In the centuries to come, the Slav culture moved east and formed the Russian Empire.

It would be interesting to know if Kievan Russia was at the time in an awakening era. I suspect Vladimir won't have converted if he was in a generational or a recovery era.