Tip of the hat to Standing on My Head for this article in the UK Guardian Orthodox Church unholy alliance with Putin
Now one must be careful with this. I am not so sure how sensational this all is. What I am interested in is what the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia thinks about all this. Especially the American "branch". This of course brings up all sort of concerns now that they are back in Union with Moscow. Still one must be careful I suppose how to ask this questions. For instance American Catholics have a long history of being accused of being agents of foreign powers and one does not want to give the impression we outsiders believe that.
It is a interesting story and if I have time I might try to dig into what American Russian Orthodox think about all this.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Signs of Trouble In the Russian Orthodox Chruch
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2 comments:
Dear OP,
This article is quite biased and slanted against the Orthodox Church. It is written by a writer who has a history of slandering the Church and going after Putin. It is the worst kind of journalism - more opinion piece than fact. It is meant to sway not report.
Does he substantiate his claim that the "Russia's Orthodox Church...is putting its trust in the KGB"? NO.
Does he report when and how the Russian Orthodox Church endorsed Medvedev? No.
Does he explain why and how it is an "unholy alliance"? No.
Why does he say that Putin "allowed" the Orthodox Church to regain its Tsarist-era lustre? It is more accurate to say that he helped the Church rebuild - even enthusiastically. And there are many reasons for that - none of which are reported in this article.
He quotes one priest - who refuses to give his name. No interview with the Church's representative or Hierarchy.
Does he have any idea of the Orthodox Church's view of government's role in society? Not apparently.
He neglects to speak of the spiritual reasons why the Church has been rebuilt. He neglects to speak of the new-martyrs. He neglects to speak of the Church Abroad which has supported the Church in Russia - even while being zealously anti-Communist. He does not ask why ROCOR has united with the MP. But, if he did, he'd probably turn around an answer for ROCOR, without letting them speak for themselves.
He alludes to incidents only partially - such as a bishop supposedly comparing human rights activists to traitors - without letting the bishop speak for himself; without quoting the bishop and trying to understand what he is saying. It may be that the bishop does not mean what he thinks he means.
This is so typical of western journalism as it pertains to Russia and Orthodoxy in general - even to most non-western cultures. The arrogance seeps through - and blinds. Everything must be judged through western eyes and upon western standards. Anything less would be heresy!
This article and the writers views are no more news than any other blog ranting about similar issues on the net. Its just that in this case a newspaper has covered the writer's views. Which just goes to show you how low journalism has sunk these days.
Sincerely,
An Orthodox Priest from Greece
Thanks Father for the comment. I know the secualr papers are always a tad sensational
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