Thais come to us too. They are very good-natured and naive people. Their understanding of religion is childishly naive. They come into the Church, decorate icons with flowers and wreaths, ask what Saint to pray, to be healthy or to get more money, they put the candles.
We do not carry out any special calculation. At the service can be three people, maybe 20, and 100. The peak of the attendance of the temples happens on different days, and it has nothing to do with the Orthodox calendar, because the most holidays fall on weekdays. There are no “permanent” grandmothers in the handkerchiefs by us. But our Church is open every day from morning till night”.9
9 Is it difficult to pray in a tropical Paradise…
In an interview posted on the website “Patriarchia.ru” the Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin) gave the following detailed answer, reflecting his understanding of the situation to the question: “How many Thais do accept Orthodoxy?”: “It is difficult to say if they are many or a few. Thank God that they generally come. This year we are planning to send two local students to study at the St. Petersburg theological Seminary. But the thing is that unlike other religions, Buddhism allows the system of their philosophical beliefs to perceive Christianity too. That is, Buddhists perceive Christ as another incarnation of the Buddha. And so if people come to us with such thoughts, then, of course, we cannot baptize them. For them the exclusivity of Christ and His words “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6) are unclear. The Thai-Buddhists are taught from childhood that all religions are the same, all religions teach good things, all religions lead to the same goal, but in different ways.
In addition, there is the so-called syndrome of occupation. Thailand, formerly Siam, was the only country in the region, which was not occupied during the period of the occupation wars between England and France. It became a buffer zone between the occupation territories of these two powers, and Thailand had to fight for its independence. Therefore Christianity is here perceived as a religion of foreigners. Buddhism in Thailand is a significant factor like the Orthodoxy in Russia. Just like we connect in our mentality “Orthodox means Russian”, they have “the Thais are Buddhists.” To stop being a Buddhist means for Thais, in some degree, at the household level, to renounce their roots, to renounce their homeland. It’s like if a Russian ceases to be Orthodox, even if we go to the temple once a year at Easter or from case to case. In Thailand many Thai people attend their temples rarely or don`t attend them at all, but they consider themselves Buddhists.
