March 26, 2012
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)
Your Holiness, Patriarch!
A fervent and sincere prayer can never be a mockery, no matter its form. Therefore it cannot be said that we jeered at or mocked the shrine. What troubles us is that the very shrine that you consider so defiled is so inseparably linked to Putin, who, as you say, returned it to the cathedral. And this is why you perceive our prayer—asking our Holy Mother to drive out those who defile the brightest ideals of human life in Russia, and all possible precepts of the Orthodox faith—as a mockery of the sacred.
In the prayer in question, we expressed our grief—shared with millions of Christians—that you had allowed the religion to become a weapon in a dirty political campaign, that you had urged the faithful to vote for a person whose actions are far removed from God’s truth. We simply cannot believe the representative of the Heavenly Father if he acts against the values for which Christ was crucified on the cross. As Pushkin said, “It is impossible to pray for King Herod; the Mother of God forbids it.”
You were greatly mistaken when you stated in your sermon that we do not believe in the power of prayer. Without believing in the power of prayer, would we have prayed so desperately and fervently in the temple, even in anticipation of the severe persecution that might fall on us and our loved ones? Would we pray in the face of this repressive apparatus of earthly power, which bides its time to avenge itself against anyone who takes a stand on behalf of a civil society?
The power and truth of our prayer did not shame the faithful, for surely the faith of a true believer, like the feelings of Christ, are too deep and universal—too filled with love—to be shamed. Our prayer shamed only Putin and his henchmen, and because of that, three women have been thrown in prison, taken away from their young children, and subjected to daily insults by the state’s bureaucracies. It is the non-believer Putin, who, through domination and division, needs to keep the women in jail.
You say that we believe only in propaganda, the media, lies, slander, money, and weapons. But we don’t have faith in any of those things that today rival even the power of King Herod, on whose behalf you called on us to vote, and to pray, and in whose name you associate the prosperity of the Russian soil.
First the pervasive and false propaganda on state television wrested a victory for Putin away from the people, and then, through outright falsehood, these same forces are trying to assure the people that women with young children should be kept in custody for “violation of the laws of the church.”
On whose side are propaganda, the media, lies, and slander? On whose side is the belief in money? On which side are the performers of Pussy Riot, whose lives exhibit the asceticism necessary for creative thinking? Or does the faith in money reside with those who invested in the empty values of unprecedented government-sponsored luxuries for any high-ranking man? With those who also have faith in weapons? With those who call for murder in the name of religious feeling? Or with the men who hired the armed gang that shouted and wielded weapons during the raid on March 3, on a mission to arrest two women suspected to have been in the temple and of having asked the Virgin Mother of God, loudly, to get rid of Putin?
We believe, contrary to what you preach to the congregation, only in the power of prayer, only in the power of art, only in the power of words, and only in the power of the love of our friends and loved ones—that is the extent of our faith, and in its service we possess nothing more than our songs and our prayers. For those who threw three women in prison, and for those who demand continued repression, further arrests, and additional criminal cases, indeed, for all those entities that you associate yourselves with—for you, it’s money, guns, lies, slander, the media, and propaganda. For us, there is only a burning desire to bring to our people the truth.
We will pray for those who would wish many years of prison and torture of Nadezhda, Maria, Yekaterina, and the rest of us. We do not believe, in today’s world, that it is possible to remain a Christian and demand prison and savage punishments for those whose prayer sounds different or rises from a non-canonical place. We admire the humanity and tolerance of Jesus, and his ability to save and uplift people, and to this ideal we should all strive, regardless of our faith. After all, even the most hardened atheist cannot help but recognize the enormous contributions to human ethics that Christ’s teachings delivered.
What would Christ say upon learning that some people, who call themselves His followers, did not object that on Forgiveness Sunday, Putin’s henchmen brought a criminal case against prayer as if it were a serious crime? What would Christ say, knowing that in the sad days of Lent some Christians rejoice that three women have been detained in a terrible prison for praying?
We have explained thirty thousand times that our prayer could not be “a mockery of the most holy,” because we prayed to the Virgin in defense of our sacred land. We pray that Our Lady should give courage and strength to our people to drive out King Herod and his servants, and banish them to make their lives in accordance with the human conscience.
—Pussy Riot
Patriarch Kirill, who has taken a vow of poverty, has repeatedly been seen wearing a $30,000 Breguet timepiece that he has long denied owning. In early April 2012, shortly after this letter was written, Kirill became the butt of jokes throughout Russia when an obviously doctored photograph appeared on the church’s official website showing the Patriarch’s sleeve-covered wrist above a clear reflection of the watch in the tabletop.