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Roll Over Lenin: Russian Church Elects New Patriarch

By Konstantin Petrenko

…trines such as the divinity of Jesus and the afterlife. By these measures, Russians remain quite secular, even if they see Orthodoxy as a key aspect of their national identity. Surprisingly, the younger generation of Russians, who were not brought up in atheism, are the least likely to profess religious beliefs. This fact makes the task of restoring faith all the more difficult. Perhaps more important are the many social and political implications…

Another Important Defection From the Russian Patriarchate Looms — The Fate of Orthodoxy in the West Hangs in the Balance

By Katherine Kelaidis

…ica, it is hosting Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), the ultra-conservation Russian Orthodox bishop who has his eyes on being the next Patriarch of Moscow, and a man who once said that women who are victims of domestic violence shouldn’t discuss their abuse in public because, “discussing these issues one way or another is propaganda for sin” (importantly, St. Vladimir’s invitation came two years after these remarks). Notably Metropolitan Hilarion h…

Could Patriarch Kirill’s ‘Evil Forces’ Against Russia and the Russian Church Refer to Jews?

By Katherine Kelaidis

…le it seems obvious to many that the “evil forces” to whom the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is referencing must be clearly and exclusively the West—or perhaps modernity writ large—a quick survey of Russian history suggests that the “evil forces” to which Kirill is referring are principally none other than the Jewish people, a strange assertion indeed about a war that is ostensibly about “de-Nazifying” a country. Vladimir Putin and Patriarch…

In Sermon on Birth of the ‘Fatherland,’ Putin’s Patriarch Kirill Equates Invasion of Ukraine with Defense of Orthodox Faith

By Katherine Kelaidis

…ry. The coincidence of these two dates has been an important touchstone in Russian self-understanding. The Russian Orthodox Church still uses the so-called “Old Calendar,” according to which this past Wednesday (September 21st) was September 8th. The celebration of this major holiday occurred the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his “partial mobilization” of some 300,000 Russian reservists, a clear response to the string of def…

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

By Katherine Kelaidis

…issent for his pro-Putin position from within his own fiefdom. Hundreds of Russian clerics have signed a letter calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, a rare show of opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church inside of Russia. Moreover, and perhaps 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 for…

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…

After Orthodox Priest Suspended for ‘Stop the Steal’ Activity, a Renewed Spotlight on the Orthodox Far-Right

By Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

…d it keeps getting worse, I don’t know what that’s going to mean for us as Russian Orthodox Christians, as American converts to the Russian Church.” His apocalyptic worries are echoed online among far-right Orthodox folks, who suggest that persecution looms on the horizon. [See image below left] While Hodges is a priest in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), I worked with a community affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia…

How Belief in Moscow as ‘The New Rome’ Explains Kirill’s Astonishing Declaration That ‘Russia Has Never Attacked Anyone’

By Katherine Kelaidis

…s not only powerful in Russia, but helps simultaneously to foster both pro-Russian sympathy and to elicit anti-Russian fear in other parts of the Orthodox world. It’s also a self-conception that Russia shares with many American Christians, whether these American Christians are aware of it or not. The continuous succession and perpetual survival of the Roman Empire is an important concept that runs throughout the whole of European and Eastern Medit…

Failure to Grasp the Distinct Character and History of Eastern Christianity is Compromising Our Understanding of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

By Katherine Kelaidis

…sequently, underscored much of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow’s defense of the Russian invasion, as Daniel Schultz writes about here on RD. This is why it’s significant that a declaration denouncing the concept of Russian World, with signatories from around the world—among them some of most important living Orthodox Christian theologians—appeared on the websites of two of the world’s leading centers for Orthodox Christianity, Volos Academy for Theolog…

Pence Meets With One of Putin’s Top Clerics: Strange Bedfellows at BGEA’s World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians

By Chrissy Stroop

…dent Donald Trump, who welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (and a Russian state photographer) to the White House on May 10, a day before the start of BGEA’s summit. This oddly timed photo-op, paired with Pence’s meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, would seem to herald a turn toward normalization of relations between the U.S. and Russia. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, for his part, seems happy…