News Patriarch Kirill wants to go to space

[SiberianTiger]

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/12/01/36057215.html

Russia’s Patriarch blesses space research

Dec 1, 2010 15:47 Moscow Time

The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia could go to outer space if not for his holy order, the head of Russia’s Roskosmos space agency Anatoly Perminov told reporters on Monday. He noted that the Patriarch is a well-trained pilot and can perfectly operate MiG jet fighters.

The Patriarch also said that the Russian Orthodox Church approves of space research.

He has recently consecrated a church in the near - Moscow Star City , the training base for cosmonauts.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7974

Moscow, December 1, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has stated his interest in going to space, said Anatoly Perminov, head of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).

"The Patriarch would like to go to space if there is an opportunity. It turned out that he once carried out 19 training flights on a MiG [jet], performing various aerobatic stunts," Perminov said on Wednesday at a tea party with astronauts who will head to the International Space Station in December.

:facepalm:

 

[Urwumpe]

Well... if this brings him closer to his boss... what can be a better goal for a surface to air liaison officer?

 

[jedidia]

So... LEO is outer space now?

 

[SiberianTiger]

Well... if this brings him closer to his boss... what can be a better goal for a surface to air liaison officer?

It's a fact that, not a single one who went there before him, have seen the boss.

However, if you watch the recent Space as Obedience movie released by Roscomos, you learn, that...

It is said in the Holy Testament that our Universe has three skies. The lowest one in the Earth's atmosphere. The uppermost is the Kingdom of God. The space between them is called the second sky. And this second sky is inhabited by invisible evil demons - right at altitudes where the modern spacecraft orbits are.

"This is why we have to bless spaceships prior to launch", says chaplain of Cosmonauts Father Job (wordly name Talatz) - "to ask Lord for protection on the paths of celestial ordeals".

My wife grand-grandmother taught her about the same thing, and it suddenly turns out, she was right all along.

So I can conclude that Patriarch's mission is going to be very high-profile and dangerous, and his MiG-29 flying skill (which information we also owe to Perminov) is going to be vital in chasing the demons.

---------- Post added at 20:10 ---------- Previous post was at 20:08 ----------

So... LEO is outer space now?

Who said his Holiness is limited to LEO?

 

[Urwumpe]

How can I apply for a post-grad study of Astrotheology, maybe researching in interplanetary exorcism?

 

[SiberianTiger]

How can I apply for a post-grad study of Astrotheology, maybe researching in interplanetary exorcism?

Sorry, it looks like only the Orthodoxes can apply. :lol:

 

[JonnyBGoode]

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth...
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

 

[SiberianTiger]

There's a slight technical problem with Mega Orthodoxal Cosmonauts. It's difficult to pressurize the suit:

:rofl:

 

[statickid]

They should make a special beard-accommodating suit.

 

[dgatsoulis]

I don't want to be "mean" here, i think it's rather comforting to see a religious figure wanting to go to "Outer" Space. (ok, LEO).

We all know that in order to become a pilot or an astronaut, you must have a deeper (and deeper, respectively) understanding of science, than that of the average population.
I'm very supportive of science education figures in the general public,
I was born in a small town in Greece and the national dogma here is Orthodox too. (Yes, Greeks are brought up to believe that our God is better than yours! Russians and Serbs are ok, since they believe in the same God as we do. Hmm... i wonder where else in the world is this happening...?).

I'll be very interested to hear at what he'll say, when he makes the trip and then comes back down. If it's something that motivates a larger portion of the public to look at science as what it is, (an attempt to learn more, using logic and rational thinking), then i'll applaud him.

 

[Wishbone]

to dgatsoulis: Vade retro, Satanas.

 

[jedidia]

It is said in the Holy Testament that our Universe has three skies. The lowest one in the Earth's atmosphere. The uppermost is the Kingdom of God. The space between them is called the second sky. And this second sky is inhabited by invisible evil demons - right at altitudes where the modern spacecraft orbits are.

A very interesting interpretation, to say the least. I can't quite make a link to which scriptures they might possibly be refering to, but I'm sure it makes some kind of sense when you throw all of them together and forgett about the context...

If it's something that motivates a larger portion of the public to look at science as what it is, (an attempt to learn more, using logic and rational thinking), then i'll applaud him. But if he turns it into some mystical mambo jambo, then i'll say: if you really want to see God, don't waste taxpayers money to go to Space, just shoot yourself in the face!

Why can't it be both? Surely a trip to LEO and seeing the earth from above can be an emotionaly and spiritually intensive expierience, maybe even defining.

 

[Urwumpe]

to dgatsoulis: Vade retro, Satanas.

Wrong, it is : Vade retrograde, Satanas.

 

[jedidia]

Rule number one of interplanetary excorcism: NEVER force a demon to go retrograde in earth orbit. It will de-orbit, and certainly you can see how that is not a good thing!

 

[Pyromaniac605]

Rule number one of interplanetary excorcism: NEVER force a demon to go retrograde in earth orbit. It will de-orbit, and certainly you can see how that is not a good thing!

Not if you set it on a "steep reentry".

Darren

 

[Urwumpe]

And retrograde in interplanetary orbit means you go into the sun, which is about as close to hell as possible.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I don't want to be "mean" here, i think it's rather comforting to see a religious figure wanting to go to "Outer" Space. (ok, LEO).

We all know that in order to become a pilot or an astronaut, you must have a deeper (and deeper, respectively) understanding of science, than that of the average population.
I'm very supportive of science education figures in the general public,
I was born in a small town in Greece and the national dogma here is Orthodox too. (Yes, Greeks are brought up to believe that our God is better than yours! Russians and Serbs are ok, since they believe in the same God as we do. Hmm... i wonder where else in the world is this happening...?).

I'll be very interested to hear at what he'll say, when he makes the trip and then comes back down. If it's something that motivates a larger portion of the public to look at science as what it is, (an attempt to learn more, using logic and rational thinking), then i'll applaud him. But if he turns it into some mystical mambo jambo, then i'll say: if you really want to see God, don't waste taxpayers money to go to Space, just shoot yourself in the face!

I can agree to that if only he pays for his flight from his own bottomless pocket and go there as an ordinary Space Adventures customer. Being happily atheistic, I don't give a damn what kind of impression that would project on believers. However, I do care a lot about image of image of my country worldwide. I don't want us to be looking nuts.

But fortunately, this isn't going to happen because, according to Perminov, Kirill himself denied that possibility because that would be "inappropriate for his dignity". Nice, although I don't see how flying a fighter is compatible with his dignity and flying to space is not (the latter is more difficult to be made secret?) - but again, it's not my problem.

I have much greater problem with the happening onslaught of the Church on the every aspect of people's life in my country. They believe they have a God-bestowed right to teach every child religion as part of the mandatory education. They are enforcing religious mindset everywhere they have a say. At the same time, they are just as sinful, greedy and corrupt as most of the officials in this country. Kirill himself is infamous for wearing an expensive watch and riding around in luxury cars with the "blue beacon" and escort. I'm afraid to imagine how rich he must be.

He is also fighting through his little endeavour of acquiring the double power: in the clerical world (he clearly positions himself as equal to the Patriarch of Constantinople) and in the earthly world too: in addition to anecdotal evidence that he is a long-time FSB associate, he is a cunning politician and he mends closely with the ruling "tandem" of Russia (so to speak, trying to grow the third head on the Russian eagle).

I understand I'm a minority in my standpoint on this. Most of Russian people are happy to kiss the pastor's hand without giving a thought how oppressive a dogmatic obscurantism tied together with official power can be.

As a good illustration on how far religious onslaught have advanced in Russia, read a press release of the "Good Sense" fund promoting idea of secularism who tried to rent a billboard space for advertising in streets of Moscow a quote from Constitution of Russia stating that "Religious associations shall be separated from the State and shall be equal before the law". They couldn't achieve the objective because they couldn't find any official who'd approve this "offensive" PSA. Ruperth Murdock's advertisement agency wasn't of great help either:

http://www.atheistcampaign.ru/images/stories/PRESSRELEASE081110_ENG.pdf

So I'm saying: Kirill, go mind your business and pray God so He wouldn't punish you for Pride, Greed and Gluttony all at once. Perminov: stop playing idiot if you still can.

 

[Wishbone]

Can't leave this unanswered am afraid. You are mistaking clergy for the Church. Clergy can be corrupt, but they can also be self-abnegating. The Church is Holy, and any attacks of yours will never stain it. Also, please see Matthew 12:32.

P.S. You are using an expensive wristwatch as an extra element of the invective. Why? Surely any aspiring astronaut knows the usefulness of keeping track of time, doesn't he?

 

[Urwumpe]

Can't leave this unanswered am afraid. You are mistaking clergy for the Church. Clergy can be corrupt, but they can also be self-abnegating. The Church is Holy, and any attacks of yours will never stain it. Also, please see Matthew 12:32.

And you then mistake the church for the religion. The religion is holy, but a church has to repeat all the time, that it is holy, because otherwise, nobody would believe it.

The church is nothing else but the sum of all clergy and followers believing in the same religion.

And Matthew was part of the same clergy that is corrupt... didn't it ever bother you that the new testament had been so contradicting, with people telling stories about the same Jesus, claiming to have been one of his closest followers, but then, at the same time, all but one fail to write about their life with Jesus in a form, that suggests that they have really been there. 3/4 of the new testament had been written by clergy, who wanted to improve their position in the church by people, who had with certainty never met Jesus in their life - remember: They had been mostly Palestine fishers. Who suddenly write in the earliest accounts in the Ancient Greek of a scholar.

 

[jedidia]

Clergy can be corrupt, but they can also be self-abnegating. The Church is Holy,

You know, for someone without quite a thourough theological training itis almost impossible to seperate the institutional clergy from the spiritual church, and the clergy usually don't do much to help it, given that they want to be identified as the Church. We have very similiar stuff going on in Bosnia (just that here you got three diffferent clergies that try to grasp as much power as possble), and by now they have established the believe in their followers that they indeed are THE church, even more, the manifestation of the kingdom of god. In such a mess, you cannot really expect an atheist to divide between the power hungry institution that is the clergy and the spiritual concept that is the church, given the fact that they usually don't even believe in the second.