Russian patriarch: don't forget positive achievements of Lenin, Stalin eras [CWN]

[CWN_News]

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has encouraged his fellow Russians not to forget the positive achievements that took place in the 1920s through the 1940s, when Vladimir Lenin and …

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[DaveBj]

This article is very cursory and sparse on details, but it does link to an Interfax article that is much more comprehensive:

interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=12472

I found the Patriarch’s comments to be quite balanced. He promoted recognition of the positive achievements of the Soviet era, without overlooking the negatives:

“Where there was will, strength, intellect, political decisiveness, we call it doubtless success as in case with the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and where there was blood, injustice, and sufferings, we say that it is unacceptable for us, people of the 21st century,” the primate said.

“We do not identify ourselves with these bloody pages, we give these historical personages to God’s judgement, but these negative things should not give right to exclude all positive things that were done, at the same time, all positive things done by certain people should not exclude critical attitude to crimes committed by them,” he said.