Russia is on the edge of collapse. This is not something I say with delight, because I genuinely want the best for all countries- including both Russia and the United States -and I believe their best can be had both in ways that do not involve promoting evil ideas or deeds. This does not mean that fights may happen, or disagreements shared, but there are more constructive ways to handle problems than through continual fighting.
Russia was severely enervated by the Bolsheviks after the First World War and has never recovered. This is evidenced by her demographic, economic, and social situation. As I have noted, the Jamestown Institute suggests that Russia is in such a state of decline that natural circumstances only need to be furthered to their inevitable and approaching ends for Russia to potentially break up into a series of warring states.
One of the reasons why Russia is dying is because the Russians refuse to reproduce. America is in a similar situation, but the difference is that while the US is in total (all territories included) just a little more than half of the size of Russia, she has almost two-and-a-half times the population, and while both the “white” and “black” birthrates have declined, the Hispanic birthrate is stable and due to intermixing with both groups, has a much smaller overall population decline for the American nation. Russia by comparison is losing a million people per year due to permanent migration and deaths at the same time of constant mass migration from Central Asia. Central Asians tend to have stable and above-average birth rates, while the Slavic Russian birth rates are non-existent, and with only small mixtures between groups happening, even the forming a contemporary “Eurasian” face of Russia cannot fix the population decline happening.
Fr. Dmitry Smirnov, a well-known Russian Orthodox Priest, has commented on this as reported on by Komsomolskaya Pravda, saying that Russia is likely going to disappear in the form that most know her as.
Abortions may increase. The father is sure that the birth rate will fall down, and the country will begin to die out.
– Here we need radical, urgent measures. But since the world establishment is also striving for this, to ensure that one billion remains, our country in this does not fall behind completely, but ahead of the rest. In my opinion, only after Romania . Well, now we’ll catch her. Therefore, everything is in order in this sense. This is the main paradigm of this century. Where coronavirus, and homosexuality, and divorce fit in. All these are twigs from one tree, – said Father KP .
Father believes that we will be replaced by migrants.
– We now see a lot of people from Central Asia on the streets , they ride bicycles and deliver us food. We just swap places with them. It drives our future. Young, healthy, strong. Here they will replace us here, in this territory, – he noted.
Father Dimitry believes that Orthodox large families will survive.
“But there are less than four percent of them.” But they will survive. Well, maybe there will be a ghetto. Who will give them the opportunity to eat? Only Doshirak , nothing more. The Orthodox faith under such a scenario will shrink. The church will shrink in scale. (source)
As one who has spent a lot of time studying Russia, the mission opportunity here is tremendous.
A lot of Russians historically and unfortunately equivocate the Orthodox Church with nationalism for the Russian people. This has never been so the case with the Catholic Church, for while having her problems with nationalism, cannot be absolutely associated with a particular people and never has been.
Having spoken with various Catholic priests who have worked in Russia, I have noted that many times, it is the Central Asian Moslem peoples who are far more open to the Gospel than many Orthodox are as it concerns reconciliation and the return to a full communion with the Catholic Church.
One can see this in Siberia. Many of the people who are Catholic, barring the descendants of Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians deported to Siberia by the Bolsheviks, are converts from Muslim backgrounds, of particular note are the Tajik peoples (from the country of Tajikistan).
I have spent many years opposing Islam, but the opposition to Islam I have never, ever believed should be an extension of a nationalistic struggle. Rather, the struggle against Islam is a moral struggle for truth to bring people to Christ out of the deception that is all things Mohammedan. While politics is not inherently bad, it is not the end of man or the purpose of opposing Islam, since all struggles against Islam must point to the Cross.
It is unlikely that the decline of Russia can be stopped because the nation is turning back to her old Bolshevik ways even amid decline. However, the increase in Moslem migrants to Russia presents a golden opportunity for evangelization, as many of the Moslems in Central Asia are very secularized and looking for truth.
All political empires and nations eventually end. The Catholic Church is the only institution that has survived continually since the days of antiquity, and as she has been instituted by Christ Himself, is not going to go anywhere. God is no respecter of any race, and the only “master race” is the one who embraces His grace and mercy as a quality of the soul, and this transcends all identities and peoples across geography, history, and time.
Let us hope the best for both Russia and the United States, but also to remember that the work for souls is most important because that is all that matters in the eyes of God.