 "In Russia, the correct use of wealth has always been considered a skill and a divine gift. The literal translation of the word economy from Greek is domostroitelstvo (creating domestic order). And this very term is used in Eastern Orthodox Christianity to denote Gods actions towards the created world and the salvation of man (economy of salvation). Thus, a person who engages in creating order in his own household or in the home country resembles God who is taking care of the world and the humans. Christianity does not condemn affluence, but it does condemn attachment to wealth. Christianity wants a person to learn how to use material resources in a reasonable way, instead of withering away over it like a well-known character from a Russian fairy tale. Material wealth is meant for creative activity and not for accumulation for the sake of accumulation. In the Russian tradition, there are a lot of good examples of contemplations over the topic of wise economic management. One of them is Domostroi (domestic order). This book certainly bears the impress of the epoch it was written in, and many things have indeed changed since. But it is still a brilliant illustration of what our ancestors thought about the correct and effective order in a household the main cell of a national economy. I would like to emphasize that the book was written at a time when religious consciousness was the main parameter of social life.
So, what does it mean to use wealth in the right way? Who defines what is right and wrong? Throughout their history, the Russian people have identified the main criteria to answer this question. These are based on a profound understanding of the human nature created by God. The human being is not only a material but also a spiritual creature. Unlike material wishes, spiritual needs are limitless. If a person forgets about his spiritual nature and fully immerses himself into the material world, he extrapolates his spiritual thirst on it and plunges into unchecked consumerism. Such a person would not be satisfied even if he takes possession of the whole world. This results in the overheating of the social and economic systems which cannot catch up with the development of humans material needs.
The government that tries to fight poverty consistently falls into the trap of the impossibility to resolve the problem. For what is prosperity for one generation is poverty for another one. Each generation forms its own notion of prosperity. A Russian saying says: Some suffer because they have nothing to eat, others suffer because the pearls are too small. That is why any government that has succeeded in ensuring a certain degree of welfare for today today will face growing needs tomorrow. It means that material needs grow faster than the capacity of economic and social systems. This leads to a situation where the government is always at the risk of becoming a loser. Perhaps, some people would reply to this by saying that there is nothing wrong with it since each subsequent generation should enjoy higher living standards. I do agree that material progress resulting from human activity must pay off. But this also raises the issue of the level of consumption of material resources, especially in the context of global disproportions between the rich and the poor, and the depletion of the planets resources which are simply not sufficient to meet the infinitely growing demand. If everyone on the planet has the same standard of living as the wealthy people have today, the earths resources will be completely exhausted in a hundred years time.
"Another important task in enhancing the quality of life is ensuring careful treatment of the environment. More than ever before people need green cities, ecologically safe food products, and clean air. This cannot be achieved without the introduction of resource-conserving technologies and raising the status of agriculture. Investments must be made into the development and introduction of environmentally safe technologies. Same amount of efforts must be put into the conserving of natural habitats and improving manmade environment the infrastructure of cities and other built up areas. People today spend the majority of their time in means of transport and public places. Many human life support networks are deteriorating and cannot sustain the increasing load. They need to be modernized.
"I think Russia should choose a model of development that is based on the synthesis of scientific and technological progress and modernization that cause no damage to Gods creation and our peoples adherence to their spiritual and cultural tradition. This tradition has at its heart spirituality, the culture and the language of the Russian people which creatively interact with the spiritual and cultural traditions of the other peoples of Russia. Perhaps such a synthesis can help to delineate the contours of a national idea that we have been trying to formulate in the past few years. I am confident that it is within the World Russian Peoples Council a unique platform for a large-scale, free national discussion that the national idea, reflecting a common system of values, will be born. This idea should become a basis for the strategic planning of Russias future.
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