Staunton, August 27 – Vladimir Putin’s April 2013 call for the creation of a single school history textbook lest variations lead to “the violation of the humanitarian space of our multi-national nation” has sparked objections from Russian nationalists and the Russian Orthodox Church who say it downplays the Russianness of the state and from non-Russians […]
Staunton, July 11 – As it chooses a successor to Metropolitan Vladimir, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church faces two “mutually exclusive tasks”– survival as a church in an independent Ukraine and survival as part of the Russian Orthodox Church – and it lacks the unified hierarchy and understanding of Ukrainian society and the Moscow Patriarchate needed […]
Staunton, July 9 – Putin’s Anschluss of Crimea has already had a number of impacts on Russia, but some in the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church hope it will have at least one more – that special treatment of the church on the peninsula will become “a precedent for the clericalization” of all […]
Staunton, July 3 – Russian Orthodox “fundamentalists” have formed their own armed units and provided both military and ideological support for pro-Moscow secessionists in eastern Ukraine. By so doing, they have radicalized opinion among the latter by calling for a “crusade” not just in the east but against all of Ukraine. In the issue of […]
Staunton, June 30 – Roman Silantyev, notorious for his attacks on Muslims in the Russian Federation but close to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian security agencies, says that the FSB plans for “the liquidation of radical Islamic organizations in Crimea.” Silantyev told Rosbalt last week that the Russian security services […]
Staunton, June 25 – There is no question that the Moscow Patriarchate has alienated many Ukrainians because of its support for Kremlin policy, but a Kyiv analyst suggests that its decline in Ukraine and more generally also reflects the dependence its hierarchy has on state power, something it no longer can count on having in […]
Staunton, 3 June – A petition calling for a ban on the operations of the Moscow Patriarchate on Ukrainian territory highlights in the religious sphere a dilemma Ukrainians face elsewhere as well: If Kyiv moves to protect itself, it will be criticized for violating human rights; if it doesn’t, it may be allowing Moscow institutions […]
Staunton, 1 June – The Moscow Patriarchate is no longer in lockstep with the Kremlin on Ukraine, the result of the reactions of other Christian groups in Ukraine, its own corporate interests, and pressure from its own congregations who have a different view of the future than do many in the hierarchy, according to Roman […]
This week, Boston College Professor Matt Sienkiewicz and Interpreter Magazine’s managing editor James Miller discuss Right Sector, neo-Nazis, concentration camps and media wars, the battles in Slavyansk, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, and public opinion on whether eastern Ukrainians want to become part of Russia. Articles discussed in this podcast: How Russia Conquered […]
