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Radical Orthodox Parkour Hype
Wednesday 17th October 2012 | Jacob
Orthodox Churches in Russia have begun teaching wayward youths the joys of Parkour. Wait…what?
This odd revelation comes at a particularly bad time for the Russian Orthodox Church, marred by scandals including a drunken priest beating two elderly women and photos emerging of Patriarch Kirill wearing a £20,000 Breguet watch. This is the very same Patriarch Kirill who used the church to import duty-free cigarettes into Russia, and was estimated by The Moscow News to be worth $4 billion dollars. When it comes to living like a hustler, this guy makes the Pope look like fucking Vanilla Ice. However - I digress - and perhaps after this series of embarrassments; this edgy, urban vibe could be just the image change the church is looking for.
The idea behind the classes is to empower teenagers that may have had issues with drink or drugs by giving them a physical challenge, and the capability to meet it. One of the tutors, Evgeny Krynin explained their aim in a recent interview with the BBC: "Many of them have been thrown out school. As a result they have few aspirations and a great deal of anger inside them … when they succeed, of course it gives them a sense of pride”
Parkour is said to have started in France in the 1990s, but has found a spiritual home in Russia, the nation famous for doing extremely dangerous things and whacking the results up on Youtube. Evgeny went on to state why he feels it has taken root in Russia "It suits our national psyche. Our appetite for risk and love of speed - I guess we're crazy,"
To remind you what the word crazy means when it comes out of the mouth a Russian Parkour instructor, here is a short video:
By Jacob Alexander Guberg
