Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Relics of Russian Saint Carried by Spacecraft
On October 19, 2016 Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur, the Russian-leased desert spaceport in Kazakhstan. The crew comprising Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhkov and Andrey Borisenko and US astronaut Robert Shane Kimbrough docked the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-months-long flight. The spacecraft carried a part of relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, one of the most renowned Russian monks.
Father Job, the rector of the church of the Transfiguration in the closed Star City, whom the astronauts call Space Father, is a founder of the tradition. For the first time in history, a spacecraft carried relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh in 2008. There was no reaction in the society as the news did not spread. This has changed in 2016 due to social media. Bloggers circulated the news and people responded, unfavorably, to say the least. Bloggers and commenters showed a universal consent on a clear delimitation of science and religion. On one hand, this is a legacy of Soviet ideology, which had proclaimed an absolute worship of science and rationality. Religion was declared enemy of progress. The theme still holds strong positions in modern media showing countries headed by clericals as backwards. This is not only true of Islam or the Islamic State, the embodiment of evil for the civilized world. It is true of Catholic church, where scandalous stories unearth from time to time. The result is a value system where science is higher in the hierarchy than religion.
Speaks Aleksandra Arkhipova, an expert member of Contemporary Folklore Research group:
“We remember the slogan “Gagarin did not see God.” These words have clearly placed Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space on one pole and the religion on the other. The two are contrasted.”
The other side of the debate over religious rituals entering the realm of cosmos are experts studying culture. They try to explain where this ritual comes from and why it sparks this reaction in the society. Alexandra Arkhipova explains:
“This is an archaic ritual of Eastern Slavic people. It aimed to protect space by encircling it with a sacred object. For example, in the Russian countryside a notable person or a “woman of knowledge” would go around the kettle in the spring with an icon to bless and shield it from danger. People in villages still observe a ritual of going around a burning house with an icon. The encircling of the Earth with the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov is an expansion of Orthodox values. These values metaphorically wrap the Earth to protect it.”
Russian church speaks forth as the third side of the debate. Represented by Abbot Job, the church proposes that it has always been on friendly terms with cosmonauts. People take with a grain of salt. Stories featuring Gagarin and Sergei Korolev, the lead Soviet rocket engineer add credibility to the claim. According to Abbot Job, “Gagarin christened his eldest daughter Elena before his first flight. His family always celebrated Christmas and Easter in their house hosting many icons. Sergey Korolev lost his faith, but through suffering found it again.” The message is clear: cosmos and the church are not as far from each other as people used to think. Father Job says that an astronaut and a priest strive for the same thing–the heavens. Only their means are different.
What does this debate tell us about the Russian society?
First, the interesting thing in this expression of support for science in the Russian society is that science is seen as endangered. This applies to the highly charged context of space exploration, where the Soviet system was seen as winning over its Western counterpart. Marrying of space and religion in our days is viewed as a demarche of the religion. At the level of myths governing people’s thinking, science is viewed as naïve. Associated in popular Soviet movies with the young scientist apt in science but unwitting in the intricacies of life, it is weak compared with religion associated with a cunning, elderly man. The vague memory of crimes committed against religion at the onset of the Soviet Union when many holy people were sent to GULAG, adds to the controversy. It is as if the religion has come back to revenge. This is the level of myths, unrationalized and uncorrected since the times of the Soviets.
Bloggers’ and commenters’ opinions are firmly rooted in these myths. Called “virtually absurd introductions of religiousness in our life” by one of them, religious rituals in connection with cosmos make people sure that “our scientific achievements are at risk”. Even the faithful were not excited over the details of the ritual described by the commander Sergey Ryzhkov, “During the six-month flight the relics will be placed in a special corner of the ISS but at take-off and landing the relics will be contained in a box on my chest.”
It is notable that most reactions take the form of teasing. The totalitarian regime preaching high ideals but accomplishing the opposite, has turned the use of jokes into a protection from widespread lies. Ironically, under the cynical appearance of puns, people preserved their sanity and their values. Alexandra says, “the teasing or cynical reaction comes from being powerless in making sense of what is happening”. As a result, people are likely to become huffy, resentful.
One of the most prominent features of Russian politics — problems integrating with other nations on equal terms is but one expression of this feeling of resentment in the general population. An interview with Vladimir Posner, a journalist best known in the West for appearing on television to explain the views of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, is a case in point:
Questioner: Vladimir Vladimirovich, which of the possible presidential candidates in the United States will work toward improvement of relations with Russia in your opinion?
Pozner: I will ask you just one question: why did you raise the issue of the US leader as a possible condition for improving relations with Russia? Why do you not include the possible change of the leader of Russia?
This story is a testimony to at least part of the society still under strong impression or, rather, attraction of myths fashioned after Soviet ideology. The attempt to fabricate other myths and rituals, rooted in Slavic identity has failed this time. People have recognized the trick and sabotaged it. The various enterprises to glorify the myth of Tsarist Russia have met the same fate. A need for new myths to help the society find its place in the modern world is obvious. It should help people look forward, not backward. The jokes that people tell could guide the efforts to create this more sensitive, honest and integrative story. That new story will win people’s hearts if it helps neutralize the universal feeling of injustice and resentment. It should turn the melancholic and mysterious Russian sole on a journey.
