Russian Orthodox Church attacks Stalin nostalgia
Thursday, 6th March 2008
George Conger

THE ORTHODOX Church has denounced Russia’s growing nostalgia for Stalin and Stalinism. Speaking on March 5 --- the 55th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin --- the secretary for public relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, Fr Georgi Ryabykh told the Interfax news agency Russians should not look to the Stalinist era as a guide for the country’s future.

"Present and future Russian citizens should be aware of what Stalin's era really was and should not be painting idealistic pictures of the time," he said. While the Stalinist era was of “great historical significance”, that era “should never return." the rest