Who really needs the “watch of Patriarch Kirill” and why? Why the Patriarch Did Alexy I wear a cane? What results can be obtained in “Photoshop” and how did the provocateurs screw up with time and “Photoshop”?
Over the past few days, the Internet has been relishing the notorious scandal surrounding the “Patriarch’s watch.” Moreover, they are inflating this information dump against the backdrop of the Patriarch’s visit to Ukraine...
“Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, who is on a visit to Ukraine, visited the city of Gorlovka, where he talked with miners and told them what he thought about the crisis and how to work in this difficult time for the country. He said that there would not have been an economic crisis , if everyone worked like miners and metallurgists, and called on the residents of Donbass to unite during this difficult period.
“Gorlovka, like the entire Donbass, where people with their sweat and blood extracted and are extracting their daily bread, is the land of miners, metallurgists, land surveyors and chemists. Your work produces real values,” the patriarch said. “If the whole world worked the way the miners of Gorlovka and Donbass work, then there would be no crisis,” the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized, RIA Novosti reports.
Kirill also said that the current crisis is “the result of sin that has penetrated the modern economy.” “People of honest labor are paying for those who acquired millions and billions out of thin air. We are all paying for deception, for the desire for profit, for the loss of humanity in economic relations,” stated the Moscow high priest.
The Patriarch thus showed the Donbass miners that he had his finger on the pulse of what was happening in Russia, but did not take into account that on this hand, during his statements about the crisis, money-grubbers, spiritual values and destructive liberalism leading to hell, there was a Breguet watch on it, costing from 28 up to 36 thousand euros, Korrespondent.net reports. This is a classic Breguet model: the case is made of white gold, the strap is made of crocodile leather, the movement is automatic, and there is an alarm clock.
Of course, all the haters of Orthodoxy rushed to throw mud and scream about supposed greed and hypocrisy.
(hmm, well, who would doubt that they would scream like that? ;))
At the same time, it is doubtful whether all these envious rednecks, hysterically “convicting” the Patriarch of wearing a watch for “30 thousand euros” (however, they are often confused about the cost of the watch), have helped even one person in life.
However, the provocateurs allowed a certain amount of negligence, and they fell asleep...
It should be noted that the mere fact of wearing a watch, even an expensive one, is by no means evidence of greed. Let’s say even if the Patriarch had a similar watch. So what?
What kind of envious shouting out of nowhere is this?
Firstly, this watch is not the latest model.
Secondly, it is not necessarily original. Yes, actually, not necessarily “Swiss” - just similar, including those from the Moscow plant, maybe...
Don’t you think that priests don’t buy watches themselves, but that parishioners with means consider it a blessing to give them a watch? Not everyone's priest will take a gift...
What if the Patriarch wore a Chinese plastic watch? And then they would make fun of him as a “sucker”, a “beggar”.... Well, no matter what the Patriarch does, the yapping provocateurs from the “yellow press” will always put him in a negative light....
If he wore a simple watch, they would write that the Patriarch is a hypocrite, artificially making himself poor, and he himself, they say, drives a Mercedes, etc. ..
And they will definitely add the famous “he-also-sold vodka”...
And no one cares that all the stories about the “trade in vodka, tobacco and service in the KGB” have one “reliable source” - the writings of a certain journalist and exposed KGB informer S. Bychkov, in relation to whom there is testimony that he himself is was a sexot and based on his denunciation they imprisoned a priest...
Those who scream do not understand a simple thing - the Patriarch has no property. Everything on it belongs to the Church. The hierarchy of the church does not own anything. All they have is what they wear. And all this, as a rule, is donated, not purchased. And decent people don’t sell or re-gift gifts.
However, it is very likely that the whole story is a banal and poorly executed provocation...
Among the sea of screaming, squealing, hysterical “patriarch-haters,” the restrained and sober remarks of people who noticed obvious signs of a fake are lost...
Axler also fell for it, repeating the “sensation” about the watch.
To which they answered him on his own site::
Dear, during the service, WATCHES ARE NOT WEARED. Moreover, in such a rank. Even if Kirill has such a watch (no surprise), he takes it off during service.
The hand with the watch is much more wrinkled than Kirill’s hand in his photo.
These are different photos. The usual dubious fraud. It's a shame to fall for this cheap thing.
I dare to assure you that if Kirill really had such a clock at the prayer service, the photographer would have had time to photograph both the clock itself and Kirill with the clock on the motor, and on different scales, about eight times within a second.
And since this was not the case, they used Photoshop.
(Taken from here)
Attempts to post the “sensation” on the watchmakers forum evoked a scathing response:
Artem writes on his blog ( char_off ) :
And another sober person asks the question:
and gave a simple answer:
Look at the clock. Their. Wrist, pocket, floor, street...
Ask a passerby.
And the unkind paparazzi decided to take a close-up photograph of the hand of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' with a watch on it. And they surprised everyone by saying that the humble servant of God wears a “brace” for a million rubles.....
When they told me this little story, I almost choked on a cherry...
Show me, I say, this photo fact... Oh, they Googled it, Yandexed it -found .
Yes, I'm perplexed Why is the time on the watch ugly?
Prayer service from 10, it’s just past six o’clock... In the evening of that day, the patriarch talked a lot on TV...
Maybe a provocation?
Well, the man asked a reasonable question. After all, over time, some kind of overlay appears....
Schedule of the Patriarch's visit:
July 27, Monday
09.00 – departure from Moscow (Moscow time)
09.00 – arrival at Boryspil airport (local time)
09.45 – prayer service on Vladimirskaya Hill
10.10 – press release
10.40 – meeting of His Holiness the Patriarch at the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
12.00 – meeting of the Holy Synod
16.15 – meeting with the President of Ukraine V.A. Yushchenko
16.45 – meeting of His Holiness the Patriarch at the holy gates of the Lavra
17.00 – All-night vigil
(From here)
And on the photographed clock it’s the beginning of seven....
Hmm, did the Ukrainian journalists (or the SBU) screw up?
As “proof,” like drowning people clutching at a straw, detractors grabbed a photograph from the Patriarchate’s website, where the Patriarch is sitting in his office with some kind of watch on his hand...
http://www.patriarchia.ru/data/775/147/1 235/2_MG_8464.JPG
Well, so what? :)))
The photograph shows the Patriarch NOT in Kyiv, but in Moscow.
NOT in the temple, but in the office. NOT during the service, but during the interview.
Well, the logic of the detractors of the Patriarch: “There is elderberry in the garden, and uncle (Yushchenko?)” in Kyiv... :)
So this does not in any way cancel the fact that “Photoshop” was used by the “Ukrainian paparazzi”.
Build “accusations” on the “basis” that in the photo from the Patriarchate’s website one can see some indistinguishable clock, vaguely reminiscent of the clock in the “revealing” photo? But it’s generally difficult to say anything definite about the watch in this photo.
In fact, it doesn’t matter what kind of watch the Patriarch wears, or whether he wears it at all. Even if he had an expensive watch, they could have given him one as a gift. Or the watch could be a memory of my grandfather, who spent 30 years in Stalin’s camps for his faith in God, and was a train driver by profession. By the way, the railway workers were wealthy people and, out of official necessity, wore good watches, including those from Breguet...
By the way, when a crowd of lemmings began to promote the wonderful company "Breget", some citizens rummaged around - and for some reason they did not find just such a watch on the website of the company itself... ;)
Moreover, some write:
“You, gentlemen, are quick to make cheap sensations, but didn’t notice that the model number on the saint’s hand is 5188 (which generally look different), and not 3100-3102 (the last two digits mean a variant design - case material, etc. And what the Patriarch has costs from 350 to 850 USD"
Also write:
"We look at the photo and see Breguet 5188
We look at the manufacturer's website
http://www.breguet.com/
This model (5188) is not available on the Breguet website. This model number was never produced. from 51XX there are 5140, 5157, 5177, 5187 and 5197. All
The Breguet 5188 model, declared by the Ukrainians as “the watch of Patriarch Kirill,” simply does not exist in nature.
It turns out that either the patriarch is wearing a Chinese handicraft (for 350 dollars), or the dill was photoshopped by the paparazzi, and illiterately.”
An attempt to declare that this is a serial number also failed: this is what a watch with this serial number looks like:
They shouted and shouted about “hours worth 20 (30, 40) thousand euros”... And on this “foundation” they tried to build some kind of denunciation... But until the premise is proven, the conclusion has no right to exist . This is the basis of logic and common sense. You can’t talk about the cost of a watch at 30 thousand euros without having an idea of what kind of watch you’re talking about. This is the basis of logic and general decency.
Beautiful, right?
The cost of these watches is: $320
. Even close up they cannot be distinguished from those that cost 30 thousand euros.
For example, Alexey from Lipetsk sells them by calling 8-951-308-52-25
Sends for 9,000 rubles to anywhere in the world for free!
Model: Men's
Mechanism type: Quartz
Mechanism: Japanese
Automobile plant: No
Price: 1200 UAH
Description:"Classique automatic" from Breguet. Mechanism: Japanese miyota quartz. Functions: hours, minutes. Case: polished with gold plating IPG technology 24k; diameter 37 mm, height 7.2 mm, sapphire crystal, reverse side with screws. The dial is silver-plated and hand-guilloché with Roman numerals. Black leather strap with classic Breguet lock.
Hmm... if we take into account the inconsistencies and oddities, then it is quite possible to assume that the "ukrops" ("Ukrainian paparazzi") bought such a watch for a couple of thousand hryvnia, snapped it off and photoshopped it...
Whether the Patriarch has a real “Breguet”, donated by one of the heads of state, or a replica of the “Breguet”, or even a simple white watch on a black strap from some 1st Moscow watch factory - this does not in any way change the fact that it was photoshopped ...
The goal is clear - to distract from the main results of the triumphal visit, to harp on some nonsense...
Another observant person writes:
Indeed, “for some reason” the full-size photograph from which the Breguet crop was taken could not be found.... Why not, huh?
On July 11 of this year I found Patriarch Kirill on Valaam. I specifically looked for a watch among my photographs. I found two frames (we’ll forget about the artistry this time) that clearly show that he didn’t have a watch on his left hand that day:
(I specially posted the originals so that there would be no doubt about the authenticity)
Draw your own conclusions.
It got to the point that all this hysteria around the “Patriarch’s watch” caused a negative reaction even from an unbeliever on “Echo of Moscow”, who asked a reasonable question: who needed it and why?
I note that this is said by a non-religious person, who has traditional “anticlerical” cliches in his head (about “priests in Mercedes”, etc.)...
And there in response to him - a remark about priests, which I quote:
For the most part, they are “not like that.” And conversations about watches, Mercedes and underwear (at least they don’t remember the Pope’s dress shoes) are conversations about what we want to see in others, but not in ourselves.
As for the watch specifically, I dare to note, firstly, that according to the ancient canons of the Church (even from apostolic times), in general, all the property of the diocese is the personal, lifelong property of the bishop, and secondly, that if we follow the logic of modern exposers, then of Christ Himself must be exposed, for He was dressed in an expensive “unstitched tunic” because of which a quarrel even broke out between his executioners - who would get it, and thirdly, the Patriarch is not just a public person, but a public person of our entire Church - the Primate, and such a person is simply obliged to dress and be kept at an appropriate level.
And, lastly, Patriarch Nikon once walked around in luxurious robes, under which hid a hair shirt and heavy chains (chains), with which the patriarch humbled himself.
So, in Christian asceticism it is accepted that it is better to gain condemnation than public praise. And I would not be surprised if both the late Patriarch Alexy and the living Patriarch Kirill practice something similar to Patriarch Nikon.
I was interested in this story: how do priests generally treat watches?
It turned out that the clock is important for pastors - after all, church services must be performed on time. At the same time, the attitude towards wearing watches differed among different pastors. So His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I was generally against wearing wristwatches:
“He always had enough time for everything (and I, on the contrary, can’t master this art - I always don’t have enough time!), in everything he was characterized by extreme accuracy and precision. I remember how once, having arrived two minutes earlier to somewhere - where they were waiting for him, he apologized terribly. One of the small “temptations” was the church clock, which in different churches where he had to serve went differently, inaccurately, and if we, the subdeacons, went out to prepare everything for the service , then we also needed to check whether the watch was running correctly. The Patriarch himself had it extremely accurate. He wore it on a chain - he believed that it was indecent for a bishop to wear a watch on his hand. If he saw such a thing on a bishop, he said:
“Most Reverend, are you wearing a watch on your wrist?” And as a sign of special favor, he could take a watch on a chain from the box and give it to him: “Here you go, please.” So that you don’t have this on your hand again!” When I was ordained bishop, he gave me such a watch.
During the service, it happened that he wanted to know the time, but it was difficult: he allowed himself to take out his watch only if he was sitting in the altar and could do it without attracting attention. He could not get his watch out in public. I once gave him a staff, in the top of which there was a recess with a lid in which a watch could be hidden. The knob cover opened by pressing a button. The Patriarch actually used this device for some time, then it may have ended up in the Central Accreditation Center.
....
But Patriarch Pimen already looked at it differently. Once I asked him: “Your Holiness! How do you feel about the watch on your wrist?” “Very good,” he replied, “I wear it myself.” Here, I have “Victory”. They walk great!” So, after him, we all began to wear watches on our wrists.
(Quoted from the text: Metropolitan Pitirim. Memoirs. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I and his entourage)
As we see, some hierarchs, even during off-duty hours, considered it wrong to wear a watch... Of course, nothing is written in the church canons about wristwatches - so everyone decides for themselves. :)
Patriarch Kirill fulfills his pastoral duty. And Yushchenko’s attempt to ban the Patriarch of All Rus' from visiting Rivne failed - Patriarch Kirill is still going to Rivne >
UPD. Under the cut, inside the text, I also made additions regarding the photo from the Patriarchate website and technical clarifications on the watch... Whatever one may say, this is Photoshop... :))
UPD.
UPD And I also added photos, an analysis about watches... Hmm, the Breguet company is now really obliged to pay for advertising! ;)
Administrators of the Moscow Patriarchate website changed the photo from the meeting of Patriarch Kirill with the Minister of Justice of Russia Alexander Konovalov after manipulations with it attracted the attention of bloggers.
Earlier on April 4, a link appeared in the Russian blogosphere to a photograph on the Patriarchate website (direct link), in which the watch on Patriarch Kirill’s hand was “smeared over” in a graphic editor. At the same time, in the reflection of the hand on the surface of the table, the image of the clock was preserved.
The retouched version of the photo, as noted by blogger v-n-zb, was uploaded to the site on March 31. At the same time, the original frame was also preserved on the site and was opened via a direct link.
[v_n_zb, 04/04/2012, “Gee! Moscow priests don’t even know how to photoshop decently. And again they framed Gunday”: [...] and in the metadata of the EXIF photo there is a date of 03/31/2012, despite the fact that the photo itself and the news are dated 2009 . - Insert K.ru]
The message about the edited photo spread throughout the blogosphere, and on the evening of April 4, the original photo returned to the original gallery. However, on copies of the same page dated March 25, 2012 from Yandex and dated March 31 from Google, another photo is visible. At the time of writing, the photograph, which also shows the watch on the clergyman’s hand, was not in the gallery.
In addition, as the Ukrainian resource "Glavnoe" noted, some photographs from other meetings of Patriarch Kirill that took place in July 2009 disappeared from the site: with the Turkish Ambassador to Russia Halil Akıncı (page,), with the Minister of Defense of Russia Anatoly Serdyukov (page,) and with US Ambassador John Beyrle (page,). At the time of writing, photographs showing the watch on the patriarch’s hand are not in the galleries, but they are available in copies of pages made at the end of March 2012.
Bloggers associate the deletion and retouching of photographs on the Patriarchate website with Patriarch Kirill’s statement that he never wore the Breguet watch given to him, which are presumably depicted in the photographs. Speaking with journalist Vladimir Solovyov, the patriarch noted that he wears a “small, neat watch” presented by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
[Gazeta.Ru, 04.04.2012, “The website of the Russian Orthodox Church posted a photograph where the watch was erased from the hand of Patriarch Kirill, but its reflection remains”: Also on Wednesday, bloggers drew attention to a photograph of the state agency RIA Novosti from the February meeting of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with representatives of religious denominations. In it, the patriarch sits next to Putin, and the primate is wearing a Breguet watch. - Insert K.ru]
The Breguet watch allegedly worn by the patriarch has been mentioned more than once in the media and blogosphere. So, in February 2012, Novaya Gazeta published a statement that claims that Patriarch Kirill owns a “personal aircraft fleet,” “palaces and residences,” and “a watch worth 30 thousand dollars.” The Russian Orthodox Church criticized the publication, considering that it discredits the church and its primate.
One of the first mentions of expensive watches in the hands of the patriarch dates back to August 2009. Then, during the clergyman’s visit to Ukraine, local journalists noticed on his hand Breguet watches costing from 28 to 36 thousand dollars. After a meeting with Patriarch Kirill in March 2012, Vladimir Solovyov called the photo with the clock a collage.
[NEWSru.com, 04/04/2012, “Bloggers discovered a “miracle” in the photographs of the Patriarch - the clock disappears”: Let us recall that this is not the first time that the popular Photoshop program has come up in connection with the name of the Patriarch. Almost a year ago, Ukrainian journalists, when Patriarch Kirill visited Kharkov, accused the website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of posting doctored photographs. It was alleged that some images of the Patriarchal open-air service were made using Photoshop. an attempt to inflate the number of believers present in the square. True, the Kharkov diocese has “disowned” the use of “Photoshop”. - Insert K.ru]
Meeting of Patriarch Kirill with Alexander Konovalov (video recording of the Russian Orthodox Church)
"Ridiculous mistake" of a photo editor
Original of this material© IA "Interfax", 04/05/2012
The Patriarch's press service apologized for the "technical oversight" in the photo with the watch
The expensive watch on Patriarch Kirill’s hand is reflected on the table at which he is sitting due to a “ridiculous mistake” by the photo editor, the patriarchal press service reported on Thursday.[…] In connection with questions that arose in some media and blogs regarding the changes made in the photo album dated July 3, 2009 on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, the press service of the Patriarchate issued an official statement.
“The press service’s photo editor staff made an absurd mistake when working with the photo archive posted on the website,” the press service told the Interfax-Religion portal.
“One of the main principles of our work is the fundamental refusal to use photo editing programs to change the appearance of images. Photo processing always concerns only color and other technical indicators. On what basis in this situation there was a gross violation of our internal ethics is a question that will be examined very carefully, the perpetrators will be severely punished,” the statement said.
Currently, the photo that caused confusion has been returned to its place in its original quality. The site server cache has been cleared of the processed photo.
The Patriarch's press service apologizes to all site users for the "technical oversight."
Illustration copyright www.patriarchia.ru Image caption A fragment of the same retouched photograph, where an expensive watch is reflected on the lacquered surface of the table
The press service of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) apologized to users of the Patriarchate website for the “ridiculous mistake” of the photo editor when processing the photo archive of 2009, which contained a photo of the patriarch with a Breguet watch that caused a wide resonance.
“One of the main principles of our work is the fundamental refusal to use photo editing programs to change the appearance of images. Photo processing always concerns only color and other technical indicators. On what basis in this situation there was a gross violation of our internal ethics is a question that will be examined very carefully, the perpetrators will be severely punished,” the patriarchate said in a statement.
The patriarch’s expensive watch came to the attention of Runet bloggers after they discovered a photograph on the official website of the patriarchate in which there is no watch on the hierarch’s hand, but it is reflected on a lacquered table.
Previously, Patriarch Kirill claimed that photographs with a Breguet watch worth 30 thousand dollars were a photomontage.
The left sleeve of the robe of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the photo, after retouching the photo, began to cover his wrist, but the reflection of the watch on the surface of the table reveals its presence. At the same time, the original version of the photo remained on the page of the Department of External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The photograph with the “disembodied” clock was taken on July 3, 2009 during a meeting of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, but was retouched in April 2012.
Was there photoshop?
After several hours of active discussion on blogs about the use of retouching by Patriarchate workers, the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church deprived the curious of the opportunity to see an enlarged version of the photographs, and after a few more hours the photo was completely removed from the site.
Bloggers about “Photoshop” in the photo of the patriarch
@ZaxarBorisych "the press service explained that Photoshop is a temptation, and it grows as editors progress spiritually"
@dpetrovski “Why did you come across the photo of the patriarch with the shadow of the boilers? The church showed you a miracle, the disembodied spirit of the clock, and you: photoshop, photoshop!”
@Daffnie “Only God can photoshop me,” the patriarch seems to be telling us.”
@romashovtv "The Patriarch has boxes with Breguet watches that have not been worn"
@petr0_g "Until the invisible Breguet rings the bell for him"
@ru_zastupnik Who framed Roger Rabbit? The Patriarch admitted that he has a Breguet, but it is a gift and he does not know how much the watch costs. May be so
@justsitandgrin "There are no Breguet watches. But there is a reflection. Your deeds are wonderful, photoshop"
@makseest "In general, have you noticed that the Patriarchate is lying to us not only in words, but also in pictures"
@Henri_the_horse "@navalny Breget the father, Breget the son and Breget the holy spirit. Amen!"
However, in a number of media outlets, the original screenshot of the expensive watch remained. The message from the Patriarchate indicates that the photograph that caused confusion has now been returned to its original place in its original quality, and the cache memory of the Patriarchia.ru website server has been cleared of the processed photograph.
The head of the patriarch's press service, Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky, in an interview with Kommersant the day before, could not confirm or deny whether the photographs had been processed by a graphic editor.
"I believe that it is indecent, shameful to look at personal toiletries or gifts, or other things that another person wears. Regardless of whether it is a patriarch, or a journalist, or some public figure. I believe that this is indecent. There is some personal territory of a person, to enter into which is considered complete lack of culture. Therefore, I, of course, will not comment on this,” he said.
The hashtags on Twitter “ROC lies”, “patriarch”, “Kirill” have come under attack by spammers and now it is difficult to identify “tweets” of genuine RuNet users in the flow of messages.
On the social network Facebook, users are distributing an image called “Breget of Moscow and All Rus',” created by an unknown RuNet user, in which the figure of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is completely retouched and only the watch lying on the table is visible.
Breguet or a gift from Medvedev?
The Breguet of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church was captured by Ukrainian photographers during a visit to Ukraine in 2009.
Judging by the photographs, Patriarch Kirill has a classic Breguet model with a white gold case and a crocodile leather strap, the price of which is about 30-35 thousand dollars.
The attention of bloggers was also attracted by a photograph from the RIA Novosti agency from a meeting of Vladimir Putin with representatives of religious denominations in February 2012, during which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church wore a similar expensive Breguet watch on his hand.
Last week, in a conversation with host Vladimir Solovyov, Patriarch Kirill called photographs with watches a collage, explaining that in the patriarchal attire “it is impossible to wear a watch.” However, he also admitted that he owns a $30,000 Breguet watch, but it sits among gift boxes at home because he allegedly never wore it.
“After all, many people come and give gifts. And there are often boxes that you don’t open and don’t know what’s there. And I saw that there really are Breguet watches, and that’s why I didn’t comment anywhere that the patriarch doesn’t have such a watch. Because yes , there is a box with such a watch, never worn, and it is lying there,” Vladimir Solovyov quoted the patriarch.
According to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he wears a watch given to him by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - “a Russian, inexpensive watch with a coat of arms.”
"Campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church"
On Tuesday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' said that an information campaign had been launched against the Russian Orthodox Church, and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church should be prepared for public debates with their opponents.
The Patriarch, at a meeting of the Supreme Church Council, said that representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church must be prepared for public and open debate and remember that ill-wishers can use weak points in their speeches against the church.
“We should not be like those who lie, slander, and come out with malice. We should not respond in the same way, otherwise the uniqueness of our message to the world, including through the media, will be lost,” Kirill said.
In the last few weeks, a trial has caused a great public outcry, during which the court ordered ex-Minister of Health Yuri Shevchenko to pay 18 million rubles for causing damage to the patriarch’s apartment in the Moscow “House on the Embankment.”
Formally, the plaintiff in the case was Lydia Leonova, registered in the apartment of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the hierarch himself later, in a conversation with journalist Vladimir Solovyov, stated that “it would be incorrect” to forgive his housemates.
A strange story is happening with the watch of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Kirill (in the world - Gundyaev Vladimir Mikhailovich). It began with publications in a number of Ukrainian publications, where photographs of Patriarch Kirill with a BREGUET watch on his wrist were published during his visit to Ukraine in July 2009. The Classique Reveil du Tsar watch model, reference 5707BB/12/9V6, attributed to the Patriarch, with a case made of 18K white gold and a mechanism with an alarm, has a recommended retail price of more than 35 thousand Swiss francs.
And more recently, against the backdrop of recently erupted scandals in connection with unjustifiably cruel actions towards members of a feminist punk group, who prayed in a peculiar way in the main Moscow Temple, and a lawsuit against the former Minister of Health Yuri Shevchenko, allegedly due to construction dust causing damage to the property of the head ROC, located in a 5-room apartment in the famous “House on the Embankment,” Patriarch Kirill gave an interview to a journalist from one of the main Russian media.
In a conversation, he told Vladimir Solovyov that he doesn’t wear a watch to work, he doesn’t allow clothes, and the “Ukrainian” BREGUET is just a photomontage. And indeed, I have not found a single credible photograph where the Patriarch would be wearing a watch on his wrist during a service. Further, in a conversation with V. Solovyov, Patriarch Kirill admitted that he still has BREGUET watches, but they were given as a gift and lie in the box “never worn.” And the Patriarch himself wears a “Russian watch, an inexpensive watch with a coat of arms - a small, neat watch,” donated by Dmitry Anatolyevich.
However, on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate there is a photograph of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church with a watch very similar to the ill-fated BREGUET. In general, while viewing the official photo chronicles of the Russian Orthodox Church in recent years, one gets the feeling that the Patriarch is not at all alien to the desire to see a good watch on his wrist - so in the photographs you can see a variety of models. Among which, in addition to inexpensive Russian watches with a coat of arms, I would also highlight a model similar to the Gondolo 5489G from PATEK PHILIPPE.
This morning the story with the Patriarch's watch continued. Russian bloggers noticed that one of the photographs from the meeting of Patriarch Kirill with the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation A. Konovalov was processed in a photo editor. After which the watch disappeared from the Patriarch’s hand, but its reflection remained on the polished surface of the table. Some time later, after a heated discussion on blogs and subsequent publications in a number of media outlets, the retouched photograph was replaced with the original one on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate. The press service of the Moscow Patriarchate apologized for what happened.
“One of the main principles of our work is the fundamental refusal to use photo editing programs to change the appearance of images. Photo processing always concerns only color and other technical indicators. On what basis in this situation there was a gross violation of our internal ethics is a question that will be examined very carefully, the perpetrators will be severely punished,” the press service of the Patriarchate noted in an interview with the Russian News Service.
05/04/2012
Patriarch Kirill complains of harassment from a number of media outlets and bloggers who are trying in every possible way to discredit him. As soon as the passions over the neighbor's dust in his apartment subsided, meticulous bloggers again clung to him, who saw a magic watch on his wrist that either disappears or reappears depending on what the head of the Russian Orthodox Church says.
TO The scandal with branded Breguet for 30 thousand dollars occurred the day after the patriarch said that he had never worn such expensive accessories. Kirill did not deny that he had them - it was a gift, but they were kept at home. At the same time, he claimed that the photographs showing the watch on his wrist were fake, the result of photomontage. However, after this statement, employees of the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church looked through the website of the Moscow Patriarchate and found a number of photographs there in which the watch was present, including from Kirill’s meeting with the Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov. An expensive piece of jewelry treacherously came out from under the sleeve... The situation was becoming difficult, but there was still time to fix everything...
The administrators of the Moscow Patriarchate website quickly applied their skills in working with a photo editor and eliminated traces of Breguet’s presence. But, apparently, they were in such a hurry that they forgot to erase the reflection of the accessory from the lacquered table.
As a result, in the replaced photograph there was no watch on the patriarch’s hand, but in the reflection on the table they were present. Moreover, it was difficult not to notice - their white gold case shone so much. Bloggers made a fuss and created several photoshopped photos:
After the deception became obvious, the press service had to admit that it had a hand in it. True, the retouching was called a “technical error.” Allegedly, a young 24-year-old employee of the site arbitrarily began to remove the watch from the photo. Now she will be punished, but not fired, because they consider her a valuable personnel. Old photos have been returned to the site. Now anyone can admire the clock not only in the reflection, but also in the original.
After this “misunderstanding,” other photographs of Kirill’s meetings with officials, in which the watch was visible, returned to the site, including with Defense Minister Serdyukov.
