Odessa (Ukraine), July 23, 2010 Interfax
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes sense of humor is a useful quality.
"Life becomes dangerous without humor," Patriarch Kirill said on Thursday at his meeting with public figures in the Odessa National Opera and Ballet Theatre answering the questions of the participants.
Residents of Odessa hailed his words with a storm of applause.
The Patriarch believes that "most bad people are deprived of sense of humor." According to him, humor "levels out human conflicts, takes the heat out of the situation," and gets people into a good mood.
Patriarch Kirill also noted that the quality of humor always depends on a person's level of culture, and his ability to avoid vulgarity in his jokes.
"It's very important for humor to be light, indeed leveling out human conflicts and just forming optimistic attitude to the world around," the Primate believes.
He confessed that he liked to read Anton Chekhov since childhood, and Chekhov was the only author the future Patriarch had read from "cover to cover."
A sense of humor refined by Chekhov helped the Russian Church Primate in his school years, when as a young believer, it made taking the oppression of atheist teachers easier.
Odessans are particularly known for their sense of humor and quick wit. -PR/OrthoChristian.com.
