The ‘azyme controversy of 1054’ became so divisive it contributed to the schism of east and west. But it has a lot to tell us about how we understand bread.
A makeshift memorial in honour of Alexei Navalny at the monument to the victims of political repression in Saint Petersburg on 16 February 2024.
Olga Maltseva/AFP
In Russia, individual sacrifice is an integral part of the national psyche.
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv leading a Christmas Eve prayer service at the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, 24 December 2023.
EPA-EFE/Oleg Petrasyuk
Chris Hann, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
The Orthodox church has sought to distance itself from Russia, but changing the calendar means abandoning a principle that survived decades of Soviet repression.
Charlton Heston as Moses in the biblical epic The Ten Commandments.
Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Bible remains the most important collection of books in Western civilisation. Regardless of our religious beliefs, it has shaped all of us. But who wrote it? The answer is complicated.
A high priest holds a cross during the celebrations of the Ethiopian Orthodox holiday of Meskel in Addis Ababa in September 2023.
Amanuel Sileshi/AFP via Getty Images
News coverage of Ethiopia’s ethnic conflicts has overshadowed the growing tensions and polarisation between religious communities.
Pope Francis with Vladimir Putin in 2019: the Pope has angered Ukrainians with a speech that seems to back Putin’s idea of a ‘glorious Russian empire’.
EPA-EFE/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin/Sputnik POOL
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put a spotlight on the views of the Russian Orthodox Church. A scholar of Russian religion explains the structure and history of Orthodox Christianity.
The historic centre of Lviv has been listed as a Unesco world heritage site since 1998.
AlexelA | Alamy Stock Photo
The west Ukrainian city has long been both a symbol of Ukrainian identity and an effevescent, multicultural hub.
This painting by Russian artist Alexei Danilovich Kivshenko depicts the ceremonial pledge of allegiance by Ukrainian Cossacks to the Tsar of Russia in 1654.
Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Ethiopia’s main religions need to take an emotional distance from politics and find a neutral space so they can get moral clarity.
A mural depicting Pope Francis on a concrete wall around the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, in preparation for the pontiff’s visit,
AP/Photo/Khalid Mohammed
The events that followed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq started a cycle of violence against the country’s minority Christian population. The pope’s visit is meant to bring some ‘healing and comfort.’
Ilya Glazunov’s painting Eternal Russia (Glazunov Museum, Moscow) expresses ideas dear to contemporary propagators of cosmism, notably the alliance of Soviet modernity and the traditional values of the Russian empire.
Wikipédia
Cosmism, a theory that blends faith in science with religious traditionalism, serves as a source of inspiration for conservative Russian ideologues in search of a national idea.
The Adoration of the Shepherds by Guido Reni (1642).
Wikimedia