Patriarch Kirill blames 1917 revolution on intelligentsia

File Photo of Revolutionaries Marching in Moscow in 1917, adapted from image at state.gov

MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has put the main blame for the 1917 revolution on the intelligentsia.

“What happened in the 20th century, that meat-grinder, which ground the entire intelligentsia, is it not an organic consequences of the horrible crimes that the intelligentsia committed against faith, against God, against their people, against their country?” he said at a meeting of the chamber of trustees of the patriarch’s literary award.

The patriarch said he believes that “the intelligentsia bore the main blame for the horrible events that occurred 100 years ago.”

The patriarch also said he regrets that “a war of historical arguments” now continues.

“Society has still not fully accepted the evaluation of the events that occurred 100 years ago. The interpretations will probably stay varied, but everything needs to be done to prevent their variety from causing new civil conflicts,” he said.

“Too much blood was shed, too high a price was paid for us to be able to overcome in our reality today the consequences of the past disturbance, rule out the possibility of its influence on our life,” the patriarch said.

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