Putin Wants God (or at Least the Church) on His Side

[Voltaire2]

A contest over the future of Christianity in Ukraine goes to the heart of Moscow's ambitions.

CHRISTOPHER STROOP SEPTEMBER 10, 2018



On Aug. 27, one of the strangest targets yet of Russian hacking was revealed, when The Associated Press broke the news that Fancy Bear—the group infamously entangled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election hacks—had also targeted the heart of Eastern Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Bearded clerics might seem like an odd choice for a group that usually goes after liberal politicians or Russian dissidents. Unknown to most Westerners, though, a global struggle is playing out within the politics of Eastern Orthodoxy, which commands about 300 million believers worldwide. That struggle pits the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church against Constantinople and its apparent support for an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

With its claim to 150 million members, the Russian Orthodox Church is by far the largest of the 14 mutually recognized Orthodox churches, and its leadership is highly conscious of the church’s imperial past and the fact that it is the only Orthodox church backed by considerable state power today.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/10/putin-wants-god-or-at-least-the-church-on-his-side/

[Iliyah]

1. Wasn't the church on Hilter's side.

[Voltaire2]

2. It was repressed until Stalin resurrected it

to further consolidate his power. Then as now it was happy to do the bidding of tyrants.

[bobbieinok]

3. Roman Catholic Church and Hitler made pact--Church didn't oppose him, he didn't attack GermanCatholi

Historians contend that Hitler would have found it very hard to fight his wars if the Catholic Church in Germany had opposed him.

The Church did forcefully oppose his euthenasia project with some success.

[Pope George Ringo II]

4. Hitler was just the warm-up act as far as they were concerned.

In Franco's Spain they took it to a whole new level. Confession may as well have been a secret police hotline. It's probably the gold standard for a religious group selling out any pretence of morality or decency in pursuit of profit and power from a fascist regime.

[Iggo]

5. They all do. Even our guys do it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Rather surprising that the split in the Orthodox church last week got so little notice here

or even in the Catholic and Orthodox group. It's what that article from September said might happen.

One thread, pointing out it's RT and so therefore could be one-sided: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218295627

Here's a Guardian report:

Russian Orthodox Church cuts ties with Constantinople

The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church elected on Monday to cut ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is viewed as the leading authority for the world’s 300 million Orthodox worshippers.

The split is a show of force by Russia after a Ukrainian church was granted independence.

Last week Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the “first among equals” of eastern Orthodox clerics, granted autocephaly (independence) to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which previously answered to Moscow.

If Monday’s decision is a lasting one, the loss of the powerful and wealthy Russian church will be a serious blow to the global church. It also marks an important new facet for the rift between Russia and Ukraine, who have become bitter enemies since the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/15/russian-orthodox-church-cuts-ties-with-constantinople