Russian Patriarch says it's illogical and wrong to use English words

The use of certain foreign, particularly English, words in Russian is illogical and wrong, says Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Certain experts claim that classical Russian literature—its language, its heroes, its values, its paradigms—is incomprehensible for modern school children and that [these elements] are, therefore, useless for communication,” said Patriarch Kirill, speaking at the first session of the Society of Russian Literature.

“As a result, [however], we have a generation that [speaks] using words [like], pardon me for saying it, but it is not I who wrote it, ‘trend.’ Trend is a foreign word. ‘Tendency’ is also a foreign word, but it is a [word that has a Latin root]. Why has the Latin word tendency been replaced by the word ‘trend’? Is it to show one’s education? This is a very bad sign, in my opinion,” said the Patriarch. “It is for this reason that I did not wish to eliminate the word [trend] from my text [when I came across it], as I hoped to express my opinion regarding the entirely illogical and wrong use of foreign English words in our modern Russian language.”

The Society of Russian Literature is a governmental organization formed in 2016 for the study and protection of the Russian language. It is headed by Patriarch Kirill, who says that the position was proposed to him by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In his opening remarks at the Society’s first session earlier this month, Putin said, “The conservation of the Russian language, literature, and culture is an issue of national security and an issue of preserving our identity in a globalized world. Russia has repeatedly endured radical changes to its traditional cultural foundation, but has always found the strength to restore its spiritual and historical values.”