St. Simeon Stylites, man of remarkable will, was chosen to be an iconic figure of this blog. He has often inspired devotion to whatever cause I have undertaken in the past year.
My name is Leoš Tomíček and writing a blog has been on my mind for some time now. The concept was conceived when I recently stumbled upon the world of "Russia blogs". Doing an anthropological fieldwork in London's Russian Churches and due to time constrains struggling to obtain any information possible, I was led to many odd blogs which had in turn led me to some very interesting ones. I will elaborate on this in my first post.
I have just finished my undergraduate studies in History and Study of Religions in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, studying religion in History and history in the Study of Religions, mostly focusing on the development of Orthodox (Constantinopolitan) Christianity and its relationship to the Slavs. Religion is my field of interest but knowing full well I will not make a good Church historian I decided to continue with International Relations for my MA and perhaps explore religion and identity politics in the former Soviet Union in future.
I was born to Czech father and Russian mother in the Czech Republic but still have a decent command of the Russian language, although it is in need of improvement to reach academic levels. I am a Russophile and that feeling is what compels me to focus my attention on the Slavonic East.
Religiously I come from a mixed and lax background, although I believe in God and Jesus the Saviour, I am neither baptized nor properly trained in the faith. I like Orthodoxy and come to a Church from time to time but never participate in the liturgy fully. I am thinking of increasing my engagement in Church life sometime soon. I have been fascinated by the piety, asceticism and devotion of many believers (not just Orthodox or Christian) and hence the choice of the name and patron for this blog.
Politically I gravitate towards a variety of view often considered Libertarian. Many people have me for an Anarchist but I do not consider state authority useless, I believe state authority is here for protection of liberties, and not obstructig them and engaging in unnecessary debates. Take for example the recent heated debate on the definition of marriage. If the state abandoned the definition of marriage entirely and left organizations (religious, secular, lgbt) to formulate their own, the only thing required of the state would be a consent of two adults and the meaningless debate would end.
Furthermore I believe the Global Warming scare is hogwash, the Earth constantly warms and cools, 1000 years ago the Vikings sailed the North Atlantic in their wooden drakars and named the Newfoundland Vinland, steel giant Titanic hit an Iceberg in 1912 in those very same waters. Using reasoning of the modern greens the Titanic was punished by Gaia for emitting tons of carbon-dioxide and the Vikings were granted safe passage because they only burned firewood and lived in tune with nature. I have nothing against preserving wildlife reserves, ridding our cities of pollution, but taxing people because they drive a car is nothing but a scam designed to fill the coffers.
I am also suspicious of the so called progressive and utopian ideas of social justice, multiculturalism, globalisation etc. In reality we are only equal when we stand naked before God and nations, states and social divisions are as real as ever despite the wishes of elites detached from real life. That said it does not mean that voluntary compassion with the poor on the part of the rich should not be praised but enforced redistribution of wealth and massive welfare state lead nowhere. Multiculturalism in the West has become a policy rather than a fact of life perfectly normal and acceptable to a free and pluralist society. I do not believe in the "End of History" concept and the neo-liberal ideals. These are lofty ideas based on hubris.
Otherwise my interests are reading (mostly Historical stuff) and travelling to places I read about. There will definitelly be some reports from my travels posted on the blog. So what else will this blog be about? The range of topics will eventually be vast, from politics to religious issues to media. I am thinking of covering the rabidly anti-Russian sentiment in the Czech and other Western press, Orthodox issues in the former Soviet Union and abroad, East European politics and also some more general social and cultural issues.
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