Russia: Parliament passes a law to restore religious property seized by the state in Soviet times.
The move by the Russian Parliament to restore religious property seized by the state in Soviet times really does reflect Patriarch Kirill’s increasing political power and influence.
In the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet system, the Russian Church has been rebuilt from ruins inhabited by shuffling old women and somewhat eccentric zealots into the most powerful body on the post-Soviet stage.
No other Russian social institution has experienced such a rising from the ashes. And no other country has seen such an obvious revival of faith as has occurred in Russia.
It is not so much the Church which has sought union with the state in recent years. Rather it is the state that has been eager to demonstrate its loyalty to the Church – and perhaps to seek its counsel.
It turned out that after the collapse of the Soviet Union only one institution – the Church – had ideas, understanding of what was happening and vision.
Russia is in search of its identity. It needs to re-establish key reference points that were lost in the Soviet period. And the Church, while not calling for the past to be restored, relies on traditional values that underpinned the life of Russian people for centuries, whether they were Christians, Muslims or adherents of other faiths.
When Patriarch Kirill is addressing believers he often uses the concept of Holy Russia. This is not simply a historical reference.
Today the Church is the only thing that binds together the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as a number of other countries, despite their conflicts and squabbles – the only thing that makes them feel they are a single and indissoluble whole, a part of that spiritual and cultural space which is Russian Orthodox civilisation.
Tags: Church Life, Law Moral Ethical, Politics