Russian Church advises Lenin advocates think about burying him

File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

Moscow, October 29, Interfax – The body of Vladimir Lenin, the mastermind of the Great October Socialist Revolution, which lies still in the Mausoleum on the Red Square, should sooner or later be buried, the Synodal Department for External Church Relations’ head Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said. “Debates on this issue will certainly continue. Probably, some harsh movements may cause rejections […]

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Interfax: Democracy is bigger lie than Communism – prominent Orthodox priest

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) – Protopope Dimitry Smirnov, the head of the patriarch’s commission on family and protection of mothers and children, believes that democracy is based on lies. “It’s just a lie. Communist is also a lie, but Communism has religious features. Communism seems to take a lot from true religions. The Communists have their own teaching, their own […]

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Russian Orthodox Church calls for solution of vital social problems

Archpriest Vsevolad Chaplin file photo

(Interfax / Religion – Moscow, October 18, 2013) The Moscow Patriarchate has called on people of other religions for dialogue aimed at finding real solutions to social problems. “It is very important not to limit religious dialogue to statements on friendship and peace. We did it all under the Soviets and in the first years after the collapse of the […]

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Denying Putin Wedding, Peskov Says Leave the President Alone

Alina Kabaeva file photo, seated and posturing during gymnatics routine

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Andrew McChesney – September 25, 2013) People should focus on Vladimir Putin’s work as president and avoid prying into his personal life ­ not that he has one because he is so busy with his Kremlin duties, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov, who made the appeal in a far-ranging interview published Wednesday in Izvestia, […]

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Kremlin Dismisses Putin Church Wedding Rumors

Vladimir Putin and Lydumila Putin file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 22, 2013) ­ Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has categorically dismissed online rumors that the Russian president has remarried in a church ceremony at a secluded monastery in central Russia. A Twitter message that swept through social networks on Saturday claimed that Putin, who divorced in June, tied the knot again earlier in the day at the […]

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Slain priest Father Pavel was role model

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Cathedral with Man in Religious Garb in Foreground

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – August 12, 2013) Pavel Adelgeim, an outspoken Orthodox priest, was stabbed to death last week. His death was a tragic end to an equally tragic life. Father Pavel, as he was known to many, was the son of parents who suffered grievously from repressions in the Soviet Union. In the […]

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Is Russia Turning Protestant?

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Cathedral with Man in Religious Garb in Foreground

(Voice of America – James Brooke, VOA Moscow Bureau Chief, covering Russia and the former USSR – July 30, 2013) RIO DE JANEIRO ­ In 1990, an American anthropologist wrote a controversial book: “Is Latin America Turning Protestant?” Two decades later, that same provocative question can be asked of Russia. Who will win: The Church of the Golden Domes? Or […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Interview for the documentary film The Second Baptism of Rus

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Cathedral with Man in Religious Garb in Foreground

(Kremlin.ru – July 23, 2013) Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the makers of the documentary film The Second Baptism of Rus, which screened on Rossia 1 television channel on July 22. The Second Baptism of Rus is a full-length documentary film about the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia over the last 25 years. The film gives […]

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Interfax: Recognition of same-sex marriages leads humanity to end of world – Patriarch Kirill

Patriarch Kirill file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW. July 22, 2013) Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill regards the recognition of same-sex marriages in Western countries an omen of the end of the world. “Lately we have been facing enormous temptations when in a number of countries the choice of sin is approved and justified by law, and those who do as their […]

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Patriarch Kirill conducts Romanov Dynasty 400th anniversary service in St. Petersburg

Romanov Family Photo

(Interfax – St. Petersburg, July 12, 2013) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presided over a religious service marking the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on Friday. Hundreds of worshippers gathered at the cathedral and in the square in front of it for the service, an Interfax correspondent […]

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Orthodox Patriarch Says Russians Having Too Much Fun

Valaam file photo showing Monastery church on wooded island

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – July 11, 2013) Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has urged Russians to have less fun and spend more of their free time in seclusion. On July 11, Kirill said there was “more fun than needed” in the life of Russians. He said people spent a lot of their energy working and should occupy their time in isolated, […]

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Interfax: Russia is fated to become center of Christian world – priest

Archpriest Vsevolad Chaplin file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 1, 2013) Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplain, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Church and Society, said Russia is moving towards maximum self-reliance and must become the center of global Christianity. “It is not accidental that many see Russia as a defender of Christian ideals and traditional moral values, as a country that provides a real […]

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The Big Chill: Critics Say Kremlin Waging A War On Ideas

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – July 1, 2013) It’s not a great time to be a freethinker in Russia. Offending somebody’s religious sensibilities could get you prosecuted according to legislation signed this weekend by President Vladimir Putin. Criticizing the wrong person with a snarky comment on a social network could run afoul of a vaguely worded law criminalizing […]

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Putin says Russia needs to look back to move forward

Vladimir Putin file photo

(Interfax – May 25, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that to move forward Russia needs to look back at its traditions and roots, Interfax news agency reported on 25 May, quoting the Kremlin’s website. In a message on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Germogen (Hermogenes), Putin says: “Today’s […]

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Most Russians support non-intervention of church in state affairs – poll

Russian Orthodox Believers Holding Candles at Cathedral at Christmas

(Interfax – Moscow, May 21, 2013) Most Russians (57%) think that state should not interfere in church affairs and vice versa, poll conducted by the Levada Center showed. At the same time, 30% respondents said they thought state and church should participate actively in each others’ affairs and 14% failed to answer. When asked who is to punish people insulting […]

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Russian Church Will Never Accept Gay Marriages, Patriarch Says

Patriarch Kirill file photo

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, May 21, 2013) The Russian Orthodox Church will never recognize same-sex marriages, even though it respects people’s free choice even if it is sinful, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said on Tuesday (21 May) at a meeting with the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjoern Jagland. “If people choose such a way of […]

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‘Blasphemy Bill’ Signals Return to 18th-Century Morals, Activists Say

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Cathedral with Man in Religious Garb in Foreground

(Moscow Times – thesmoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – May 17, 2013) Rights activists on Thursday ridiculed the notion that Russia is a secular state, saying draft legislation seeking tougher penalties for offending believers’ feelings shows the country is returning to 18th-century morals. “Officials and religious leaders are leading us back to Peter the Great’s times,” Viktor Bondarenko, founder of rights […]

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Russians Leaving Orthodox Church for Other Christian Denominations, Moscow Experts Say

Church Domes with Crosses file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 16, 2013 – windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-russians-leaving.html) There are now more than 15,000 Protestant congregations in the Russian Federation, according to a Moscow expert, a figure that surpasses the total of Russian Orthodox parishes and reflects in part Russian flight from the latter because of growing anger about the policies of the Moscow Patriarchate […]

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Angels, Demons Are Taken for Aliens – Russian Cleric

Archpriest Vsevolad Chaplin file photo

(RIA Novosti, MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) ­ Angels and demons do really exist, but are often mistaken for “so-called aliens” by those who encounter them, a senior Russian Orthodox Church clergyman said. “They are real creatures, humans come into contact with them as they sometimes reveal themselves,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who oversees the Church’s public relations, told RIA Novosti in […]

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Church official recommends elite to bring their funds back to Russia

Archpriest Vsevolad Chaplin file photo

(Interfax / Religion – Moscow, April 3, 2013) The Russian church official urges Russian elite to realize their responsibility before nation and make their capitals work for the welfare of the Russian economic system. “Our elite has to consider attentively the signs of time and think whether it is time to change, to restore their connections with people and make […]

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New Pope a Mixed Blessing for the Kremlin and the Patriarchate

Saint Peter's Basilica file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 15, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-new-pope-mixed.html) After its problems with the Polish John Paul II and its more hopeful ties with the German Benedict XVI, Moscow views the new Argentine pope, Francis I, as a very mixed blessing, someone with whom the Russian government and its Church may be able to cooperate on […]

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Russian Orthodox Church and Authorities Welcome New Pope Francis

Saint Peter's Basilica file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – March 14, 2013) Representatives for the Russian church and the government hailed the election of the new pope as a good sign for Orthodox-Catholic relations. The Russian Orthodox Church has welcomed the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, as Pope Francis. “The new […]

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Duma Requests Extremism Probe into Church Reform Article

Duma Session file photo

MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) – Representatives of the four factions in the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, on Wednesday requested an extremism probe into an article on a Russian Orthodox Church reform by political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky. In the article published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily on February 15, Belkovsky says that the Russian Orthodox […]

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Russian Orthodox Church responds to Pope’s resignation

File Photo of Pope Benedict XVI Waving at Crowds From Runway

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Lucia Bellinello, RBTH – February 12, 2013) A few hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, Russia was already thinking about building relations with his successor. It had not happened for nearly 600 years. On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) announced his resignation in Latin to the Vatican. “I have […]

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Church vs. Nukes: The Dilemma of a Secret Russian Town

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Monastery in Sarov

(RIA Novosti – Andrei Zolotov, Jr. – January 31, 2013) [Photos here: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20130131/179151559/Church-vs-Nukes-The-Dilemma-of-a-Secret-Russian-Town.html] SAROV – After an overnight trip from Moscow, the train chugs into a tiny, single-track station and stops at closed metal gates crowned with barbed wire. Some passengers disembark and walk to the nearby checkpoint where soldiers match their IDs against a list of authorized guests; others […]

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Kirill Moving Russian Church from Feudalism to ‘Enlightened Absolutism,’ Mitrokhin Says

Patriarch Kirill file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 24 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-kirill-moving-russian.html) Patriarch Kirill over the last two years has been working to transform the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church from that of “the late Middle Ages” into another one resembling “enlightened absolutism,” according to a leading specialist on the Russian church. In an article in “Vedomosti” yesterday, Nikolay […]

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Russian Church Suspends Priest Who Backed Pussy Riot

File Photo of Russian Orthodox Cathedral

MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) – A priest who proposed asking members of the Pussy Riot group to “forgive” the Russian Orthodox community has been relieved of his duties, but a church official said he believed the decision was unrelated to the priest’s comments. Father Dmitry Sverdlov was suspended from carrying out church services for at least five years by […]

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Christmas Message of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

Patriarch Kirill file photo

(Interfax – January 6, 2013) Your Eminences the archpastors, honourable fathers, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters! Today the Holy Church radiantly and with joy glorifies the mystery of the birth from the Most Pure Virgin of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Creator, in loving his creation, ‘was manifest in the flesh’, ‘became man’ and ‘like […]

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[Putin] Merry Christmas greetings

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking with Flag Behind Him and Microphones in Front

(Kremlin.ru – January 7, 2013) Vladimir Putin wished Orthodox Christians and all Russian citizens a Merry Christmas. The message reads, in part: “Over the centuries this holiday has brought us the light of faith, hope and love. It unites us around traditional moral values that play a special role in Russian history and are the backbone of our society. Christmas […]

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Russian Orthodox Believers Begin Christmas Celebrations

Russian Orthodox Believers Holding Candles at Cathedral at Christmas

MOSCOW, January 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Orthodox believers flocked to churches on Monday to attend Christmas services with some 6,000 people attending the service in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called on the believers to “follow the Savior’s path of love” and to “always think about the wellbeing of all […]

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Church estimates for Orthodox believers halved – poll

Russian Orthodox Believers Holding Candles at Cathedral at Christmas

(Alina Lobzina – Moscow News –  themoscownews.com – December 19, 2012) The number of Russian Christians came under scrutiny after polls registered dwindling ranks of the faithful. The most surprising finding was that only 41 percent of all Russians say they are members of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to a poll carried out by Sreda, a research service. This […]

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Number of Orthodox Church members shrinking in Russia, Islam on the rise – poll

Russian Mosque File Photo

MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) – Orthodoxy is the most common religion in Russia. Seventy-four percent call themselves Orthodox believers, while 7% say they are Muslims. Less than 1% profess other religions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others), the Yuri Levada analytical center told Interfax on Monday. The center polled 1,600 people in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late […]

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Most Russians see Patriarch Kirill as national spiritual leader

Patriarch Kirill file photo

(Interfax – November 20, 2012) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is known to most Russians, and 62 percent of citizens polled recently know his name, the VTSIOM pollster told Interfax. Most respondents best informed about the Russian patriarch are pensioners or citizens of pre-pension age (respectively 72 percent and 71 percent), and also citizens with a higher education […]

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NEWSLINK: Prospect of show trial stirs some Russians’ memories of Stalinism; Some Russian activists are drawing parallels between a potential ‘mega-trial’ for leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s. But the comparison remains controversial.

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Prospect of show trial stirs some Russians’ memories of Stalinism; Some Russian activists are drawing parallels between a potential ‘mega-trial’ for leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s. But the comparison remains controversial. – Christian Science Monitor – By Fred Weir – October 30, 2012 – http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1030/Prospect-of-show-trial-stirs-some-Russians-memories-of-Stalinism) The Christian Science Monitor reports on concerns by some onlookers […]

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Putin’s favourite monastery. The wooded island of Valaam, in a large lake in northern Russia, is a beacon for Russian Orthodox believers – among them President Putin.

Valaam file photo showing Monastery church on wooded island

From: Lucy Ash <lucy.ash.05@bbc.co.uk> Subject: BBC online stories Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 Audio slide show for “Putin’s favourite monastery. The wooded island of Valaam, in a large lake in northern Russia, is a beacon for Russian Orthodox believers – among them President Putin.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20041504

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Pope Supports Russian Church’s Position on Vandalism

Russian Orthodox Cathedral Moscow file photo

MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) – Pope Benedict XVI has agreed with the Russian Orthodox Church’s position regarding acts of vandalism in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Church said. “Pope Benedict XVI has expressed solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church’s position on the issue and perplexity over the reaction of a number of media to these events,” the […]

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Pussy Riot and the party line: Why was Samutsevich set free? The answer is simpler than you think

File Photo of Pussy Riot Members in Courtroom Enclosure, With Man Showing Papers to One While Female Guard Looks On

(Moscow News –  themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – October 15, 2012) Sometimes, the best indication of what’s going on in Russian politics ­ and Pussy Riot is clearly a case of Russian politics ­ comes from simply reading the official line. Forget the experts and the oppositionists, just turn on the TV, curb your instinctive vitriol, and try to take […]

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