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TK421
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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s view of patriotism brings together love, criticism, and repentance in a deeply theological view of man and nation.
Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn witnessed – and endured – a time of tremendous upheaval in his native Russia. Born in 1918 to a Christian family in the southern Russian town of Kislovodsk, he spent his youth under the lengthening shadow of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. His own odyssey brought him from simple childhood faith to Communism and then back to a mature faith forged in the crucible of loss – an experience that gave him a unique understanding of the spiritual and moral gutting that Russia had suffered.
One of many issues that he addressed with his potent mix of philosophical and political wisdom was the question of patriotism in Communism’s wake. What does patriotism mean for a pulverized nation, at once oppressor and oppressed? Can we be patriotic when we are also guilty? Can patriotism be part of the path of redemption? Excerpts from his writings shed light on these questions, and may illuminate the question of patriotism in our nation as well…
aleteia.org/2017/05/29/what-a-russian-dissident-can-teach-us-about-true-patriotism-on-memorial-day/
Enjoy.
Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn witnessed – and endured – a time of tremendous upheaval in his native Russia. Born in 1918 to a Christian family in the southern Russian town of Kislovodsk, he spent his youth under the lengthening shadow of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. His own odyssey brought him from simple childhood faith to Communism and then back to a mature faith forged in the crucible of loss – an experience that gave him a unique understanding of the spiritual and moral gutting that Russia had suffered.
One of many issues that he addressed with his potent mix of philosophical and political wisdom was the question of patriotism in Communism’s wake. What does patriotism mean for a pulverized nation, at once oppressor and oppressed? Can we be patriotic when we are also guilty? Can patriotism be part of the path of redemption? Excerpts from his writings shed light on these questions, and may illuminate the question of patriotism in our nation as well…
aleteia.org/2017/05/29/what-a-russian-dissident-can-teach-us-about-true-patriotism-on-memorial-day/
Enjoy.