? By the way, about suicides. Many people treat euthanasia as an act of mercy and love for one's neighbor. However, the Church opposes this act.

? Here I think our position will be somewhat consonant with the position of Mahatma Gandhi. At one time, he opposed the construction of hospitals in India, he believed that it was impossible to help the sick, especially lepers. He had a religious-philosophical argument: one should not interfere with karma. If a person does not get rid of his bad karma in this life, then he will be reincarnated and suffer even more. Within the framework of karmic ideology, this is logical.

Our position in relation to the disease is not quite the same. We believe that a person should be helped. The Lord gave medicines, doctors, etc., but together with Gandhi, we believe that there is a depth of life that is not diagnosed by doctors. A person is a "thing in itself", and not everything that happens inside him is recorded with the help of encephalograms. There is a depth where his physical pain today changes something in him on a non-physical level. If the Lord does not remove the patient, does not erase him from life, it means that there is some kind of inner creativity going on there. Within the framework of this world, we may not notice this. But the dying person just leaves our world, rebuilds himself for another life. There is no need to accelerate his childbirth, there is no need to push him out.

- Even in the XV ? In the XVI centuries, in poor Russia, anyone was not allowed to paint churches. Theophanes the Greek, monk Andrei Rublev... It was a true feat in the name of faith. They fasted before starting work. Now contracts for the construction of Russian churches are received by visiting guest workers. It's good if not the Turks. Why?

- I know churches in Siberia that were built by Turkish workers. I don't see anything wrong with this. I believe that those Muslims who helped in the construction of our churches will not, like the Albanians in Kosovo, blow up Orthodox churches. I think that this is a good cure for extremism. But they kneaded concrete, and did not paint churches. I assure you, our artists are only Orthodox.

- Aren't the gilded Orthodox churches too rich against the background of the poverty of the general life of the people?

- Have you asked such a question to professional athletes? The maintenance of one professional club costs the city much more than the construction of a new church. The budget of the CSKA hockey club in 2004 amounted to $20 million.35 Previously, the boyars were proud of who supported which monastery. Today's boyars keep sports gladiators.

– Не хотите ли Вы своим аргументом усовестить Ваших эстрадных кумиров, берущих огромные гонорары за свою фанеру?

В России всегда избы с земляными полами соседствовали с золотыми куполами храма. В конце концов это выбор человека: вкладывает он средства в отделку своего санузла или в красоту, доступную не только для него. И храмы возводили не от избытка, а от нужды. От нужды в Боге, от нужды в надежде. Людям же, которые строят храм от сытости, храм не нужен. Им нужно стойло.

- Каков же, по-вашему, Божий замысел о России?