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Articles on Russian Orthodox Church

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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

Ukraine’s churches are adopting the western calendar – but not everyone is happy

The Orthodox church has sought to distance itself from Russia, but changing the calendar means abandoning a principle that survived decades of Soviet repression.
Russian riot police detain gay rights activists during World Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in St. Petersburg in 2019. Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

As Russia ramps up ‘traditional values’ rhetoric − especially against LGBTQ+ groups − it’s won Putin far-right fans abroad

Far-right American Christians once viewed Soviet culture as a menace to their values. Today, some authoritarian-leaning admirers wish their country were more like Putin’s Russia.
The roof-capped cross standing on Evgeny Prigozhin’s stone bears a stark resemblance to those found in Old Believer cemeteries, golubets, Olga Maltseva/AFP

From Nordic symbols to sledgehammer executions: Inside the Wagner Group’s neo-pagan rituals

A scholar in religious studies delves into the peculiar world of Rodnovery, a Russian neo-pagan movement that believes in Slavs’ civilising mission. Many in Wagner side with it.
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

Why Pope’s message to young Russians not to forget ‘great Russia of Catherine II and Peter I’ has not gone down well in Ukraine

Francis I’s message seemed to unwittingly echo some of Vladimir Putin’s historical justifications for invading Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, hands a bunch of flowers to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill during a ceremony presenting him the Order of St. Andrew in the Kremlin in Moscow in November 2021. Both men have accused the West of trying to impose LGBTQ+ rights on Russia. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Homophobia as a wartime marketing tool: Some Russians fear the West will make them gay

The Russian state, in tandem with the Russian Orthodox Church, is using LGBTQ+ rights as a red-button issue to win support for its criminal war campaign in Ukraine.
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, center, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, at the consecration of the Cathedral of Russian Armed Forces outside Moscow, June 14, 2020. Oleg Varov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP

What a cathedral and a massive military parade show about Putin’s Russia

World War II has a central place in Russian nationalism. Its importance is written all over a new cathedral dedicated to the armed forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Patriarch of Russia Kirill and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (in background), at a monastery outside Moscow in 2017. Alexey Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images

Russian church leader puts the blame of invasion on those who flout ‘God’s law,’ but taking biblical law out of its historical context doesn’t work

The Bible and its laws were complex and not practiced in the way many of us think about laws today.
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, center, attends a ceremony consecrating the Cathedral of Russian Armed Forces outside Moscow. Andrey Rusov, Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Holy wars: How a cathedral of guns and glory symbolizes Putin’s Russia

To understand Russia’s war in Ukraine, look to the blend of religious and militaristic nationalism under Putin – on full display in the Church of the Russian Armed Forces.
An Orthodox priest takes part in a rally in protest against an official visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to Kyiv in August 2021. Anna Marchenko\TASS via Getty Images

Why church conflict in Ukraine reflects historic Russian-Ukrainian tensions

The current split in Ukrainian Orthodoxy reflects a fundamental question: Are Ukrainians and Russians one people or two separate nations?
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

Russian Cosmism: a national mythology against transhumanism

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.

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