ORTHODOXY CORRUPTION: PUTIN'S NEW BEST FRIEND

ORTHODOXY CORRUPTION: PUTIN'S NEW BEST FRIEND

Courtesy Telegraph UK

The Russian Orthodox Church has been for decades a staunch defender of the monarchy and the Romanov dinasty in particulare, even ordaining the entire family of Tsar Nicholas as martyred saints.

Indeed the Church itself had been repressed and nearly destroyed for a very long time.  One of the precise and unequivocal translation of Marx's and Leninist doctrine was the elimination of the church as an ideological imperative. 

People who continued to be devout or did not promptly shed their religious fervor were heavily persecuted. 

But things have changed dramatically since the early decades of the revolution.  

Indeed, just last week Putin was seeing embracing the Metropole Kjril in what was a clear message of tolerance towards the church.

The Putin government in fact has slowly established a rapport with the church that might garner the beleaguered president one of the best tools for winning the consensus of the people.  Both parties are benefiting greatly from this grand ' re-approachment'

Putin went so far as to declare that the church would now be allowed to serve in its most important roles, that of the education of children and support of mothers, which would strengthen the patriotic spirit of the armed forces.

It was not even a century ago, when the question of the church's role in Russian life centrally occupied the mind of the Russian people.  The great spirituality of the Russian writer was nurtured exactly by the pre-eminent role of the church and its teachings indivisible from the popular tradition. The venerable Tolstoj had done much to  both bolster the importance of faith and to diminish the importance of organized religion's teaching in the fallout of the demise of the house of Romanov.  

The question is: can the Orthodox church reclaim its great role of the previous centuries and become a force for good for the entire Russian population, or this just a manouver to be able to dip in millions of rubles of state funds which would be allocated to the church if Putin's promises are made good?  

Another dark shadows was thrown on the whole 'simpatico' relationship between the two when some called foul to the allocation of monies for the restoration of ancient church splendors, mostly churches that were shuttered during and after the revolution, and questioned to whom such monies would be allocated.  Corruption is a great and dominant force in Russian politics.

One thing is for sure, both Putin and the Church are yelling 'miracle'. 

Adapted from Al Jazeera

Source : Al Jazeera 2.8.13