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Putin Theo-Propaganda Minister Kirill Invokes 600 Years of History to Lay Claim to Ukraine — Here’s What it Means

By Katherine Kelaidis

…of Slavic Orthodoxy. And the chief bishop of the Slavs moved from Kyiv to Moscow for political, not theological, reasons. Without Jeremias’s trip, the historical claim for Moscow’s authority over the Ukrainian Church disappears. In fact, without Jeremias’s trip, the argument could easily run in the other direction: i.e., that Moscow should be under the authority of Kyiv. Jeremias also deposed the existing metropolitan bishop of Kyiv and replaced…

Why Moscow Wants to Crack Down on Foreign Funding for Minority Religious Orgs

By Diana Dukhanova

…t are the real motivations behind this bill, and whom will it benefit? The Moscow Patriarchate has expressed support for this bill, while the Embassy of the Vatican in Russia and the Vice Chairman of the Muslim Board of Russia’s European Part have released statements affirming their respective communities’ intentions to abide by the new regulations. Meanwhile, a senior Chabad Rabbi from Moscow, Boruch Gorin, expressed serious concern about the pos…

Roll Over Lenin: Russian Church Elects New Patriarch

By Konstantin Petrenko

…eaning politicians such as Viktor Yanukovych will appeal to Kirill and the Moscow Patriarchate for support, while Westward-looking candidates will seek the endorsement of the schismatic churches. It is highly unlikely that Kirill will be able to reunite Ukraine’s churches under Moscow’s leadership, but he may succeed in preventing Kyiv from being recognized as an autocephalous center of Orthodoxy. Kirill also is likely to engage with churches in B…

Mile-High Identity Politics: What We Can Learn From the Same-Sex Seating Controversy

By Eboo Patel

…, not the fourth century … You’re not free to practice your religion in my airline seat.’ ‘This is male entitlement .. the height of male arrogance.’ One comment referred to this as a ‘back of the bus’ issue; as in, women being asked to move in such circumstances was tantamount to assigning them a lesser status as citizens and lower dignity as human beings. Other readers proposed that airlines set aside special seating for men requiring such accom…

Are Evangelical Films Destined to Leave Secular Audiences Behind?

By Daniel Silliman

…e success either. The opening weekend saw sales of more than $6 million in tickets. That’s the kind of number that will inspire others to try and figure out the formula for the faith-and-family blockbuster. Yet, with the cost of the film reportedly exceeding $30 million, it’s an open question whether or not the Left Behind reboot will get a second installment. The marketing problem of evangelical movies is still, stubbornly, a problem. The general…

Glenn Beck’s Cheap Grace

By Karyn Carlo

…way from the hard work of repentance, who tickle our ears with promises of cheap grace, and offer a vision of the cross of Jesus that has nothing to say to the crosses, and lynching trees, of history. But, if we do, we will be settling for the gospel of Caesar, not the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is time to put down the chalk, stop drawing pyrotechnical conspiracy theories that play into our worst fears and listen, instead, for the diffi…

Make no Mistake, if There’s a War Between Russia and Ukraine, it Will be a Religious War

By Katherine Kelaidis

…deal? The big deal is that all of the clerics newly under the patronage of Moscow were formerly members of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Moscow Synod is explicitly tying its decision to create the new exarchate and welcome these clergy to the Patriarch of Alexandria’s decision to acknowledge the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Now that the conflict has moved to Africa, its political implications have become…

Could Orthodoxy Be Having its Vatican II Moment?

By Chrissy Stroop

…Patriarchate on their concerns? Why did the Ecumenical Patriarchate refuse Moscow’s request? With Antioch refusing to participate at this time as well, and Moscow likely to join Bulgaria and Antioch, what is the current mood on Crete and in the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and what might the Council still accomplish despite these complications? The question is wrongly posed. I’ll explain why. It isn’t appropriate or even accurate to speak of Churches…

A Church (Further) Divided: Putin’s Patriarch Now Faces a Rebellion From Within the Russian Orthodox Church

By Katherine Kelaidis

…rhaps even more threatening to Kirill’s and Putin’s long term ambitions, a number of outposts of the Moscow Patriarchate abroad (including those in Ukraine) have shown clear signs of wanting to make a formal break. Most explicitly, priests in the Ukrainian Archdiocese of Lviv, which remains part of the Moscow Patriarchate, have sent an open letter to their local bishop asking that a council be called to contemplate their independence from Moscow….

Russian Parliament Hosts U.S. Anti-Gay Activist Paul Cameron

By Chrissy Stroop

…ian elites. On his previous visit to Russia in June 2008, Cameron spoke at Moscow State University, Russia’s most prestigious institution of higher education, and at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Pilgrimage Center. Reception in such venues, to say nothing of the State Duma, would seem to lend Cameron an air of credence among both Russia’s intellectual and ecclesiastical establishments. Meanwhile, the October 25 Moskovsky Komsomolets press release adve…