A letter from a Russian Orthodox archbishop was most unusually given prominence recently in “Pravda ,” the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The letter contained a tirade against excesses of Soviet youth culture, above all, pop music, and a suggestion that older folk do more to pass on the noble traditions of the past. The 79 year-old Archbishop Mikhail of Vologda and Velikiy Ustiug said that the main root of the evil was uncontrolled access to television and the passivity it inculcates. In a covering letter to the editor, the archbishop said he was writing in an effort to overcome “the characteristic, or rather implanted, reserve of our priesthood.” (KNS 1/21/88)