The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) acts to remove the body of Vladimir Lenin from the Mausoleum. This was stated by the Chairman of the Department for external Church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk in the program “Church and world” on TV channel “Russia 24”.
The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed that during the October revolution, “was the victim, and were the executioners”. “The names of the executioners, it is impossible to name the streets and squares, the names of the terrorists and revolutionaries should not perpetuate (…), the mummified bodies of these people must not be exposed for everyone to see,” said he.
At the same time, the decision about the burial of Lenin’s body in Russia “were late at a quarter of a century,” said the Metropolitan, “That’s when the monument to Dzerzhinsky square, Dzerzhinsk cleaned, that’s when I had to take the body of Lenin from the mausoleum.” A Church representative added that “we need to wait for the moment when around this issue in society would consent.”
“Tomb and mummified body is the relic of the past, from which one ought to refuse”, — said the Metropolitan. Thus, according to him, Lenin “it is impossible to bury in the Orthodox rites and traditions, because he was an apostate, a blasphemer, (…) himself excommunicated from the Church.” “It should therefore bury the ceremony that he deserved,” — said Metropolitan Hilarion.
In March, the Synod of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad (ROCA) called for the release of the Red square from “the remains of the chief persecutor and tormentor of the XX century”, which should serve as “a symbol of the reconciliation of the Russian people with the Lord.” In response, the Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee Vladimir Kashin said that the calls to remove Lenin’s body from the Mausoleum not comply with the Orthodox canons.
In April 2016 polls conducted among Russians poll whether to bury the leader of the October revolution. 60 percent of respondents answered positively, 36 percent are in a hurry with these authorities, and 24 percent offer to wait until the leave the last generation of people who Lenin was expensive.