Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin[1883-1954]

[ByzantophileTheodore]

Solzhenitsyn was different to Ilyin in several significant respects. Ilyin was a supporter of the White movement and ROCOR, while Solzhenitsyn was in the Red Army in WWII and a Sergianist. However, the Soviets threw Solzhenitsyn into the gulag when they found him criticizing Stalin in a letter. He later became a critic of the USSR and went into exile, but he sadly always promoted a MP-ROCOR union. Saint Philaret expressed suspicion at Solzhenitsyn’s intentions in one of his letters. Gulag Archipelago and the Harvard speech are good reading, but Solzhenitsyn seems to have fallen for the Perestroika deception.

[Barbara]

I had felt that this thread needed further amplification. Thank you, Theodore, for providing that !
I will return with comments and questions. Thanks again for the helpful clarifications.
Biggest shock : Putin doesn't like royalty ? I had no clue !
Especially dislikes the Royal Martyrs ? Fascinating. I thought he was in agreement with their holiness. I remember him talking about Grand Duchess Elizabeth at the opening of a monument to her, so I assumed he was favorable to all the inner circle of the Romanovs.
Can you explain more ?

Also about the Romanovs supporting the dreadful Revolution, we all know about that renegade Grand Duke Cyril. But - who ELSE pulled that kind of stunt with the red armband, and marching with Mensheviks or whatever faction it was with which he thus displayed solidarity ? I'd love to know of anyone else.
Funny I was just thinking this afternoon that my wish for a Royalty forum has as of yet gone unanswered. There's so much to talk about with ruling families, Orthodox or not, that to have a separate place where people who are interested can look to read would be a great idea, I think. So, at least i'm getting insight into THIS Royal Family.
I thought that was eye-opening, too, what you said about the rest of the Romanovs who escaped death from the Bolsheviks who evacuated to Europe.
So they became Westernized ? Really ? I didn't know that at all. Can you explain that part, too, Theodore ? I love to hear any examples as it gives me insight into this phenomenon of relocation to the West and its effect upon a person, especially these who i would imagine would remain steadfast in Russian Tradition and religion. The changes that happened are really interesting.
PS I never thought about the fact that only the Royal Martyrs STAYED !
I haven't read that book by Helen Rappaport [I think is her name?] about the efforts to get the Tsar and family to Britain or abroad.
Have you read that ? If so, is it good, or, like her others, not so good ?
I do want to understand what happened at that juncture so that the Tsar Martyr was abandoned to his sorrowful fate.

[Barbara]

St Philaret was dubious about Solzhenitsyn's ideas or plans ? Really ? That's something ! Do you recall around what Met Philaret's objections centered ?
I would trust Met Philaret 100%. His perceptions would have been the most high level.

Solzhenitsyn was also a closet Old Believer sympathizer, which may have affected some of his ideas. I may well have mentioned this earlier on Euphrosynos Cafe, but that fact is not much known about the famous philosopher/historian so i wanted to highlight it again.

I can't believe he was in favor of the MP - and therefore the absorption of Rocor into the MP. But we can't expect him to have the enlightened views that Met Philaret held, for as you pointed out, Solzhenitsyn's background was diametrically opposite to that of Ilyin or any conservative White Russian emigre of the era.

Solzhenitsyn BELIEVED in perestroika ? I didn't know that.

[ByzantophileTheodore]

The reply of St. Philaret to Solzhenitsyn:
https://www.rocorstudies.org/2012/11/30 ... zhenitsyn/

Solzhenitsyn wasn’t a bad person. In fact his books are good and he had a lot to say about Russia, but unfortunately he wanted ROCOR and the MP to unite. This letter of the Saint deals with that. I’m unsure of Solzhenitsyn’s view of Putin, but his views on communism may have softened because he moved back to Russia. He died in 2008.

I didn’t know Putin did a memorial for St. Elizabeth. Putin is a walking contradiction. The notorious neo-Soviet (National Bolshevik) occultist philosopher Alexander Dugin wrote an entire book called Putin vs Putin about how contradictory this man is. Putin has done interviews where he disparages the Russian monarchy, and I can link those. Putin has said that the biggest traitors in Russian history were Gorbachev (he hates the one who let the USSR collapse) and Nicholas II. His Sergianist Moscow Patriarchate doesn’t consider the latter a martyr, while True Orthodoxy does.