Viktor Aksyuchits assessed the “imperial wedding” and the prospects of the Russian monarchist movement
“The imperial wedding”, “The Romanovs are returning” … St. Petersburg , with which the monarchist press is full (more precisely a certain part of it), suggest that it was not just a wedding. It is a political action. Philosopher and politician Viktor Aksyuchits shared with the Ministry of Culture his ideas on the ceremony and prospects of the Russian monarchist movement.
Vladimir Putin at the end of the inauguration. Kremlin, May 7, 2018. Photo: kremlin.ru
Aksyuchits Victor Vladimirovich. Philosopher, theologian, publicist, politician. Born in 1949 in the village of Vardomichi, Molodechno, Belarusian SSR. He studied at the Naval School in Riga, served in the USSR Navy. In 1978 he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Moscow State University.
In 1990 & ndash; 1993. & mdash; Deputy of the People of Russia. He created and led the parliamentary group of Russian Unity. In 1990 & ndash; 1997. & mdash; leader of the Russian Christian Democratic Movement.
In 1997 & ndash; 1998. & mdash; leader of the group of advisers to the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov. State Councilor of the Russian Federation, 1st Class.
& mdash; I am a staunch monarchist and, of course, I hope that sooner or later the monarchy will be reborn in Russia. However, I believe that the Kirillovichs, Maria Vladimirovna and her son, have no right to call themselves the Russian Imperial House.
Photo: From the personal archive
& mdash; Yes, if you strictly abide by the laws of the Russian Empire, then members of the so-called Russian Imperial House cannot claim the throne. However, this is not the only point.
After a completely unique, unprecedented terror in world history, undertaken against the Romanov family & mdash; all the tsar's relatives to whom the Bolsheviks could get were physically exterminated, & mdash; There is no point in demanding complete legal purity in this matter.
It is clear that if we want to find one of the Romanovs as a monarch, we will have to go beyond many provisions of the Act of Inheritance. Including closing your eyes over some morganatic marriages. The extraordinary terror justifies it.
But then another question arises: what are the applicants like in the human, moral, spiritual and state sense? How worthy to be heirs to the throne of the Russian Empire?
I have been following the activities of this family for many years and I have long come to the conclusion that they do not have the right moral qualities. Their unbridled ambitions and lack of sense of proportion are startling.
To give an example: in 1998, when preparations were under way for the funeral of the remains of the royal family, Maria Vladimirovna sent a letter to the government requesting that they be granted special status & mdash; like the Russian Imperial House.
That means they had to be met by some iconic people, they had to stand next to the president, communicate with him … And in the same spirit. The government naturally replied that there was no legal basis for this. Then they refused to attend the ceremony. By the way, almost all Romanovs took part.
I cannot imagine that there could be people on the throne who refused to attend the funeral of their relatives, the family of the Russian emperor.
And this ambition is to be felt in everything. What is the division of the so-called imperial orders by them! They explain their behavior by carrying a cultural tradition. They pretend nothing more. But all their actions & mdash; including pompous to vulgar wedding & mdash; talk about something else.
Note the bride wears a train dress with a Russian coat of arms. And this coat of arms spreads across the floor, practically trampled underfoot. But, of course, she was particularly outraged by attending an honor guard ceremony, which can only be attended at state ceremonies. This means that no matter what they say, they apply for state status.
This wedding brings the Kirillovich a new level of activity. With the help of loved ones, a political party has indeed been formed, which seems to intend to seek to restore the monarchy, albeit limited, symbolic, & mdash; under the leadership of Georgy Romanov-Hohenzollern.
& mdash; Agree. I remember that orders from the hands of Maria Vladimirovna received a lot of top government officials of modern Russia & mdash; ministers, deputies, military leaders, governors, judges of the Supreme Court … Although I would not exaggerate the importance of this lobby. Look: none of the representatives of the Russian government were at this wedding. As well as important representatives of the Russian cultural class.
We haven't seen really famous, high-ranking people. By the way, no one came from the Romanovs either. The position of the Association of Romanov Family Members, as Alexei Andreevich Romanov told me & mdash; great-grandson of Ksenia Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas II., & mdash; remains unchanged: “ Organization & # 39; & # 39; Russian Imperial House & # 39; & # 39; does not act on behalf of the ruling Romanov house. “
This means that the event, for all its pomp, cannot be considered a success. It is no coincidence that this wedding had such a negative response in Russian society. In fact, it was a provocation against the revival of the monarchy in Russia. It is strange that the Kirillovich themselves did not feel it.
& mdash; The participation of church hierarchs in this show is not honored, it is said that the patriarchate is also involved in the political game. But it didn't start yesterday. As early as the early 1990s, the leadership of the Church began to list Maria Vladimirovna with dignity at their official addresses, “ Your Imperial Majesty“.
This practice was started by Patriarch Alexy II and continued by Patriarch Kirill & mdash; despite the fact that there were no reasons for it and there are none. The church is not a source of power, it cannot appoint emperors. In addition, decisions to support the tsarist ambitions of the Kirillovich were made only by the patriarchs, without coordination and consultation with the laity and the clergy.
Maria Vladimirovna and Patriarch Kirill. Photo: patriarchia.ru
& mdash; Well, now they will have to admit it. But it was, of course, a shameful chapter in the history of patriarchy. I emphasize & mdash; not the whole church, but its individual hierarchs. When these hierarchs declared that the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the authenticity of the remains, they replaced the terms. No the church did not recognize & mdash; it was they, Patriarch Kirill, and his entourage who did not know it, because they had all the evidence of authenticity in their hands. Likewise, their attitude towards the imperial house is inadequate.
& mdash; I only spoke with Leonida Georgievna (Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Mukhranskaya, mother of Maria Vladimirovna, died in 2010. & mdash; A.K. ). That was in 1997. At the time, I was the leader of a group of advisers to First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov. Leonid Georgievna asked Nemtsov to meet & mdash; agreed.
During this meeting, she raised the issue of the status of the Russian Imperial House. She began to say that in many European countries that had left the monarchy, the royal houses had official status. That it is not a claim to the throne, but a historical, cultural phenomenon.
She asked Nemtsov to ask the president to grant the same status to the Russian Imperial House. They say it would make it easier for them to come, stay here and work for the good of Russia. The Germans told me there: “ Victor, prepare a presidential decree. & # 39; & # 39; Leonida, by the way, immediately promised me nobility.
& mdash; I don't know. I myself heard about it for the first time from Leonida Georgievna. But I was a black sheep in power structures. The Germans himself told me that everything & mdash; and Yeltsin and Tatiana Dyachenko and Yumashev and Chubais & mdash; expressed dissatisfaction with my appointment. That's why I didn't dive into these intrigues. I just wasn't informed about them. I dealt only with Nemcov's orders. Most of course, the fact that it was associated with enormous work on identifying and burying the remains of the imperial family.
& mdash; It just doesn't mean anything. It was in Němec's style: he always made quick decisions.
& mdash; Now I can say: it was my fault. I began to study the problem and saw that this family had neither legal nor moral reasons to call itself the Russian Imperial House. Yes, and the monks of Optina Hermitage, where I traveled regularly, also instructed me in this regard.
In one word, I concluded that it was not possible to accept the appearance of the decree. And he introduced a provocation: he talked about this project at a meeting of the Orthodox community, he knew well what the consequences would be.
Most Russian monarchists already had a sharply negative attitude towards the Russian Imperial House, Maria Vladimirovna and her son, who, strictly speaking, was not Romanov but Hohenzollern. There was a terrible scandal and the question, as they say, was calmed down.
& mdash; First of all, the official registration of this organization, its recognition by the state as a cultural and historical institution. This would open up opportunities for interaction with various government agencies and public organizations and for various initiatives.
In addition, Leonida Georgievna directly said that they expect to receive a building as an official residence. By the way, the meeting took place in the state roof, which was given to them for use during their visits to Russia. At first glance, it all looked pretty harmless. But who knows how things would turn out later.
& mdash; I was also credited with participating in this Kremlin project, I had to come across similar publications. I declare: I had nothing to do with it.
& mdash; I don't have exact information. But judging by what we know, such a project existed. Along with other projects. After the 1996 presidential election, Yeltsin and his entourage were in a state of panic & mdash; they understood that they had not won this election, they knew the real attitude towards the president among the people, & mdash; considered various options for transferring energy to their control.
& mdash; Most likely yes.
& mdash; Hard to say. There are pros and cons. On the one hand, the number of supporters of the monarchy is gradually increasing & mdash; and in the ruling class and among the people as a whole. On the other hand & mdash; activities of Maria Vladimirovna and her family, discrediting the very idea of a monarchy. “ Are these our future kings? & mdash; people ask themselves. & mdash; Not really! & # 39; & # 39;
But in general, I think we are still moving forward, albeit more slowly than we would like. The more what I call national self-awareness revives in the ruling elite and society, the sooner we will understand that the monarchy is Russia's most organic form of statehood.
& mdash; In addition to the Kirillovichs, there are other Romanovs. In total, there are about a hundred people scattered around the world. Descendants of Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III … Since, I repeat, as a result of the Bolshevik terror, the Russian Imperial House was largely exterminated, in searching for a candidate for the throne it is necessary to take into account not only hereditary aspects but also moral, spiritual aspects. .
The vast majority of Romanovs do not even speak Russian, they are almost completely assimilated. The degree of their ignorance of Russia and their alienation from the country is completely disproportionate. One of the family's representatives, who was present at the burial of the remains of the royal family in 1998, later said that when they were asked to stand against the walls of Peter and Paul's Cathedral and take a picture of it, it frightened her. : Wouldn't they be shot now? It's a fact. But this meat may have its exceptions.
& mdash; I will not name names to avoid mythology. But I know there are such people. They are good young people who can be considered candidates for the throne. But only, I emphasize, as candidates, and not as ready-made candidates. Here the procedure should be the same as in 1613, when the dynasty was founded: the election of a tsar in the Zemský Sobor was preceded by a relatively lengthy search for a worthy candidate.
Wedding ceremony of Georgy Romanov and Rebecca Bettarini. Saint Petersburg, St. Isaac's Cathedral, October 1, 2021. Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
& mdash; If the question of choosing a tsar came right now, I would say that President Putin & mdash; the most optimal candidate.
& mdash; My answer is: it's unlikely, but real. The fact is that we, I mean all of humanity, are currently experiencing a global historical collapse. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow, especially the day after tomorrow. Things can change quickly & mdash; as it was 30 years ago, in 1989 & ndash; 1991. Do you remember how it was? Circumstances changed quickly, people and their consciousness changed quickly.
We are now approaching a period of similar turbulence. It cannot be ruled out that the situation will develop in such a way that the only way to save the Russian state will be to create a monarchy with the consent of Vladimir Putin as monarch.
& mdash; For 30 years, since 1991, we have been instilling the Western model of democracy. And completely unsuccessfully. In general, all Western “ vaccinations '' were catastrophic for Russia, starting with Peter's so-called “ window cuts to Europe ''. He didn't actually cut any “window”. His father and grandfather cut it.
But Peter did something else & mdash; abolished traditional Russian forms of popular self-government and established an absolute monarchy of the Western model. From Peter I, the emperor belonged to all the fullness of state power & mdash; legislative, executive, judicial, military and religious. The whole elite, the whole ruling class, spoke foreign languages from birth and focused on Europe.
All of this eventually led to the catastrophe of 1917. And the result of the current “ grafting & # 39; & # 39 ;, if this process doesn't stop in time, will, I'm afraid, be exactly the same.
& mdash; Overall, Western countries have not yet experienced real democracy. Let us remember the last presidential election in America, what happened there during and after the vote. Is it democracy ?! Democracy in this oasis is called the endless struggle of spiders in the bank, a constant confrontation between two oligarchic parties: the national, the republican and the supranational & mdash; democratic. Democracy in the West & mdash; it is a fig leaf in oligarchic mode. Do you propose to borrow it?
& mdash; The Romanov dynasty eventually lasted 300 years. And the immediate cause of its collapse was another Western “ graft & # 39; & # 39; & mdash; an attempt to establish multilateral parliamentary democracy. I repeat this: European, North American and the models of state structure that imitate them are not democratic, but oligarchic. Maybe oligarchic regimes are really more viable there. But in Russia, as history shows, authoritarians are more stable.
Yes, in a monarchical system much depends on the personality of the monarch. Therefore, I believe that we need not only a monarchy, but what Ivan Solonevich called a people's monarchy, & mdash; a form of government that combines a hereditary monarchy and popular representation, the broadest local and public self-government. I talk in detail about this model of government in my work, which you quoted.
This model protects both against the dangers associated with one-man's rule, including fatal accidents of dynastic heritage, and against the arbitrariness of social elements. In other words, it protects the country from tyranny and from a weak ruler and from chlorocution.
& mdash; Of course not. This cannot be called a utopia, simply because a similar model existed in our history, in pre-Palestinian Russia. Before Peter I, the tsars coordinated their decisions with the highest aristocracy, the Boyar Duma and the people's representation of the Zemský Sobor. The level of development of local government was also very high.
& mdash; Of course, I do not propose to fully reproduce this historical model. It would be impossible. I propose a concept based on the works of famous researchers of the Russian state tradition, which takes into account the experience of all periods of our history and meets the challenges and requirements of modern times.
& mdash; I'm sure we'll figure it out. Only a human monarchy, in my deep conviction, can ensure the stable development of Russia.