Putin`s Church; The Russian Orthodox Church and the new Tsar

For centuries since Tsar Ivan IV`s forceful subordination of the Orthodox Church, and precisely 302 years since Peter the Great's Church Reforms that brought the end of the Patriarchate of Moscow and the very position of the Patriarch of Moscow for 196 years, and ushered in an era nearly two centuries long, where the Tsar or the Imperator reigned as the supreme authority of the church with the aid of the Most Holy Synod, a council of bishops and lay bureaucrats appointed to deal with the church matters under the Tsarist Autocracy. Now, with the ever-increasing support of the Russian Orthodox Church to Putin and his plans, it seems that that era has come back. 

The Orthodox Church in Russia, and the succeeding Russian Orthodox Church, has had a turbulent history. Although the Patriarchate of Moscow was reinstated in 1917 under the All-Russian Local Council after the fall of the centuries-old Tsardom. However, after the defeat of the White Movement in the Russian Civil War of 1917~1921 had brought the Soviet ‘Reds’ to power, and under the enforcement of a state atheism, the Orthodox Church was repressed. Between the years of 1922 to 1926 alone, following the expropriation of church property, 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and more than 1,200 priests of the Orthodox church were killed, with many more persecuted and arrested. During the Great Purge, it was no different, more clergy and believers were brutally persecuted, killed, or sent to the dreaded Gulag work camps.

However, after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 had brought back the Orthodox Church, still an integral part of Russian society, out into the open once more, where it would be powerfully influencing everyday Russians. With this factor in mind, it is no wonder that Putin, during his tenure as President and Prime Minister, have encouraged and aided the Orthodox Church to regain their prominence. With new churches being built, whilst bells and icons lost from the communist era were returned to their former homes of the church. Furthermore, the close alignment of the Orthodox Church regarding state education, and the popular media, especially the values of nationalism and strong religious beliefs have certainly benefited the formerly-shunned Orthodox Church. This, combined with the Putin-led reconciliation of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia-the living legacy of the Russian Orthodox Church and its clergy that managed to go into exile, have satisfied the Church plenty enough. And in return, this symbiotic relationship of sorts goes both ways. The Orthodox Church has supported Putin back in the matters regarding religious support and influence, helping him and his de facto party-United Russia. Furthermore, the current Patriarch Kiril has been constantly supporting Putin`s ventures in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion since it began on 24 February 2022, praising the Russian Armed Forces, and the Russian war effort in general, and scarcely one year later, on February 26th, 2023, he has even gone to state that Donbass, in fact, belong to Russia.

Overall, this symbiotic relationship between Putin and the Church evokes the memory back to the era of the Tsarist Autocracy, where religion was used to justify the autocratic rule of the Tsar. And currently, it truly does look like the Russian Orthodox Church has indeed found their new Tsar.