by Anura Guruge
on April 25, 2024
I happened to hear of this 3-year suspension of the Priest who attended poor “Alexei Navalny’s” burial on the BBC yesterday — & was quite shocked. I don’t pay that much attention to this Church and as such had NOT realized that it was flagrantly & unashamedly partisan. Wow. Quite the thing.
I know that Pope Francis has had some dealings with ‘Patriarch Kirill‘. I find it hard to comprehend how the Catholic Church could reconcile this level of partisanship — in the 21st century. But, then again they had the Papal States. Plus, as we kind of suspect, Francis is somewhat sympathetic with Russia.
Well, this is outside of my real scope of interest & coverage — BUT I wanted to make sure that you heard about it. Now you have.
One of the noteworthy things about the Orthodox Churches is that they, going back even as far as the days of the Byzantine Empire, have always had a close– some would say too close–relationship with the secular authorities at whichever moment in history they are at.
In Russia especially. Be it the Soviets (admittedly, they had to toe the red-line with that atheist regime), the Tsars, or the current Putin dictatorship.
Admittedly Catholicism has had moments like that, but in general the popes have charted a more independent course over the centuries.