Third Rome
The American version of church-state separation is unique among Western countries, but other Western countries have their own interpretation of the same idea. In Germany, for instance, the state collects taxes from individual citizens to keep the churches, mosques, and temples operating. And yet the German state and government don’t really interfere in the churches and how they run themselves. Germany considers itself (rightly, I think) to be a secular nation that doesn’t endorse any particular faith tradition.
Other countries have different relationships with their people’s religious traditions, and the entanglements can be as profound as they are obscure. One of these traditions is that of the Russian Orthodox Church, and its long history of deep government involvement. In fact, as Kyle Orton tells us in a summary history, viewing that relationship through the lens of American experience could easily lead us to the wrong conclusions. For instance, that the official church in Russia can be perceived as an entity that is independent of state influence.
From the time the Russian identity emerged, it was intertwined with the Christianity brought to it from Byzantium. But the emerging state under its monarchy was not about to tolerate an independent center of power, and thus the Muscovite church was left without a patriarch at its head until the crown could install one. This was around the time when the Renaissance was all the rage in the West, after the bloodiest conflicts of the Reformation had been resolved.
If the Russian church was subservient to the state and the crown during the imperial era, it fared much less well under the communist revolutionaries—with their dogma of official atheism—who sought to destroy it outright. The violent nihilism that ensued saw the destruction of church properties and pilfering of ancient church relics, the brutal abuse and slaughter of priests, nuns, and monks—an ongoing ordeal until Stalin decided the church might be useful to the state so long as he as the unofficial dictator knew the organization was entirely subservient. Which is largely what brings us to the situation today, where Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill is a known KGB man.
Which also brings us to the starting point of Kyle’s article, which tells the broad sweep of the history, and is very well worth reading:
A few days ago, Swiss newspapers reported that Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009, was an agent of the KGB, the Soviet secret police, from shortly after he joined the Church in the 1970s, and there is little doubt Kirill has continued this relationship with the KGB’s successor agencies under Vladimir Putin’s rule. This was not exactly a revelation, though it has added documentary evidence to something long known. Kirill’s story casts light on the broader story of the Orthodox Church as an instrument of autocracy in Russia.
Here's another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdT37ZQ9vw
It has ecology and ballet in it.
Here's a song I heard from Son E, who has some dentition issues, on the way home from the orthodontist. It starts with just noise, but then it gets good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZZ72UbOgA