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by Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) –
\nWhat is especially admirable about Charlie Kirk is his willingness to go and speak about the Kingdom of Heaven, about traditional values, about conservative principles in the very places that seemed most unsuitable. <\/p>\n
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Just a week ago, the name Charlie Kirk was virtually unknown in Russia. Then, like a supernova explosion, he burst into our information space, unleashing a wave of both indignation and admiration. Some saw in him the embodiment of values they found unacceptable and reacted with open hatred and outrage toward Kirk: \u201cHow can an American (an American!) be like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Others\u2014astonished and grieved that he is no longer among the living\u2014discovered in him an unexpected kindred spirit. Death, without a doubt, became both the chief sermon and the pinnacle of Charles Kirk\u2019s ministry. It also illuminated his complete image\u2014one filled with faith, resolve, and Christian love\u2014refuting the slanders of those who read the Gospel with their soul\u2019s eyes shut, failing to understand that the bold defense of Gospel truth is love in action.<\/p>\n
The murderer\u2014and all those who stood behind him\u2014are powerless to place a final period on the existence of a man who believes in Christ.<\/strong> And in the hearts of millions of his like-minded followers and friends, Charlie\u2019s martyric death breathed new, greatly multiplied life in service of their goals, thoughts, and convictions.<\/p>\n In an age of post-truth, relativism, and libertarianism\u2014when reality is constructed by the media and social networks, and conformity has become the norm\u2014truth is drowning in a sea of political correctness. Charlie Kirk dared to go against the current. He acknowledged no shades of gray, no compromises, no deals with the conscience. He couldn\u2019t have cared less about what was fashionable, accepted, or dictated by the crowd. He allowed himself a luxury almost unheard of in our time\u2014to call things by their proper names, even if that meant that such a royal choice would, inevitably and without a doubt, bring a series of consequences, including the most dreadful ones.<\/p>\n What is especially admirable about Charlie Kirk is his willingness to go and speak about the Kingdom of Heaven<\/strong>, about traditional values, about conservative principles in the very places that seemed most unsuitable\u2014places whose inhabitants, for the most part, do not want to hear anything of the kind. He chose a \u201cmission field\u201d perhaps the most important, but\u2014as we now see\u2014far from safe, not unlike preaching somewhere among a tribe of cannibals. University campuses, the youth culture of Generations Z and Y. But Charlie Kirk, even among these young and often aggressive beings\u2014so dearly loved by him in a truly Christian way, each one of whom he saw as bearing the image and likeness of God\u2014was not afraid to be a \u201cblack sheep,\u201d was not afraid to go against the current, was not afraid to speak the truth as he understood it, even if it frequently provoked anger and rejection. <\/p>\n The example of Charlie Kirk is a lesson for us.<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is what Jordan Peterson wrote about him: Charlie came out of nowhere ten years ago and built the world\u2019s most influential organization of young conservatives. And he did that from scratch. He did that by going to universities, pretty much single handedly, setting up card tables, offering to discuss and debate all the issues that weren\u2019t being discussed and debated in these places, set up for exactly that reason, and iterating as he grew, establishing conservative clubs on campuses all across the United States, building a grassroots organization, learning how to debate despite the fact that he hadn\u2019t gone to college\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n We must not underestimate the great labor of countless Russian missionaries over the past decades. But\u2014this is no secret\u2014our nation has not yet overcome its centuries-old chronic weakness: the urge to imitate the West, which in its extremes becomes something contrary to true preaching. Some Orthodox missionaries, undoubtedly driven by the best intentions, after watching too many Western modernist preachers, try to please everyone and, in adapting to the tastes of youth, stoop to tasteless jokes and playful \u201cmissionary gimmicks.\u201d<\/p>\n The example and astonishing success of Charlie Kirk\u2014who, it would seem, comes from that very same Western culture, but used a completely different approach\u2014compels us to reflect on what is truly effective in missionary work<\/strong>. Charlie had the intelligence and tact to respect the intellect of his young interlocutors, to speak with them seriously, as equals, without descending into clownery.<\/p>\n Charlie Kirk spoke, first and foremost, about what he truly believed. His sincere passion, integrity, and conviction were contagious to young people and compelled them to think. That is precisely why he was both loved and hated\u2014but he left no one indifferent.<\/p>\n The life and death of Charlie Kirk\u2014his entire life\u2019s work\u2014cannot help but evoke the deepest respect<\/strong>. His stand against retreat and decline, against what our Orthodox elder Father John (Krestiankin) once called \u201cthe march of the destroyer,\u201d proved, despite the confessional differences, to be strikingly resonant for many of us.<\/p>\n + Metropolitan Tikhon of Simferopol and Crimea <\/p>\n