Tag Archives: Russian Orthodox Church

Reuters reports: The European Commission has proposed freezing the assets of Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a diplomat said on Wednesday. The Patriarch has been added to a draft blacklist that already includes hundreds of military officers and businessmen close to the Kremlin whom the EU accuses of supporting the war in Ukraine. The sanction, which would …

Reuters reports: The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church called on people on Sunday to rally around the authorities as Moscow pursues its military intervention in Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill has previously made statements defending Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and views the war as a bulwark against a Western liberal culture that he considers decadent. “Let the Lord help us unite during …

The Daily Beast reports: Beneath the gold onion domes of the Danilov Monastery a few miles south of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin’s chief shaman explains why Russia is hell-bent on destroying Ukraine. “If we see [Ukraine] as a threat, we have the right to use force to ensure the threat is eradicated,” Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill recently preached to his …

The BBC reports: In Russia, activist groups are reporting that a priest who gave an anti-war sermon on Sunday has been arrested and is due to face a court later today. BBC Russia journalist Andrey Zakharov reported that Father Ioann Burdin was detained shortly after he made a sermon to a small congregation in the village of Karabanovo. He’d preached …

The Moscow Times reports: The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church appeared to blame liberal Western values — drawing particular attention to gay pride parades — for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in his Sunday sermon. Kirill said the war is about “which side of God humanity will be on” in the divide between supporters of gay pride events — or the …

The Moscow Times reports: The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday. The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May …

The Moscow Times reports: The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has said that humans’ dependence on modern technology will result in the coming of the Antichrist. In an interview with Russian state media, Patriarch Kirill explained he does not entirely oppose gadgets, but warned against “falling into slavery” to smartphones. “Control from a single point is a harbinger of …

The Independent reports: Gay people in Russia have been asked to compete for a one-way plane ticket out of the country by an Orthodox Christian television channel. “If you are gay and wish to emigrate from Russia, channel Constantinople will buy you a one way ticket with great pleasure”, Tsargrad TV writes in the video’s description, complete with emojis of …

The Moscow Times reports: Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Orthodox Church compared the adoption of homosexual marriage laws to the adoption of laws in fascist Germany. The Patriarch made the comments in Kyrgyzstan while promoting new translation of his book, according to RIA Novosti. The Patriarch said “so-called homosexual marriages” were a threat to families and added that “when …

Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: Over the weekend, the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted Microsoft Windows systems across the globe, even disrupting hospitals in Britain. But Russia won’t have to worry about anything like that happening because the Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill apparently visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sprayed holy water on the computers. They can hack …

Via Christianity Today: Christians in Russia won’t be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes if Russia’s newest set of surveillance and anti-terrorism laws are enacted. The proposed laws, considered the country’s most restrictive measures in post-Soviet history, place broad limitations on missionary work, including preaching, teaching, and engaging in any …

Last month the head of the Russian Orthodox Church declared that young men become terrorists because they are outraged about gay pride parades. Today he is in Cuba with Pope Francis for the first meeting between the heads of their churches in over 1000 years. With ten centuries worth of bickering to discuss, naturally the first thing they did was …

According to Patriarch Krill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, “honest people” become terrorists because they’re outraged about gay pride parades. Pink News has the quote: “What we are seeing now is this godless civilization is reaching maturity, in as much by through the will of the people, who proclaim it the highest of virtues but then wearing a …

Russia’s Duma will vote on banning LGBT citizens from coming out on January 19th. Via Gay Star News: Two senior Russian Communist MPs Ivan Nikitchuk [inset] and Nikolai Arefyev have presented a bill calling for people who come out as LGBTI to serve up to 15 days behind bars. Any public displays of affection among gay men will result in jail …

When two Russian lesbians noticed notorious anti-gay lawmaker Vitaly Milonov sitting behind them on their Moscow to St. Petersburg flight, they decided to Instagram some photos of themselves kissing with Milonov in the shot. After their photos went viral on Russian social media, Milonov vowed revenge: “This animal offended all the passengers on the plane with its extravagant, terrible, inhuman …

Accompanied by local lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, anti-gay thugs from the Russian Orthodox Church swarmed yesterday’s opening of the  St. Petersburg QueerFest where 16 attendees were reportedly hospitalized after an unknown gas was released. Via Radio Free Europe: St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, his aide Anatoly Artyukh, and activists who associate themselves with the Russian Orthodox faith interrupted the opening ceremony …

“The ROC [Russian Orthodox Church] categorically opposes bearded men in dresses!” – Popular Russian blogger Rustem Agadamov, reacting to the church’s denouncement of Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst. Vladimir Legoyda, the chairman of the ROC, described Wurst’s win as a “sign of the world’s moral decline” and “part of the aggressive assertion of Western cultural norms.” He told Interfax: “The process …

Britain’s Channel 4, which yesterday rebranded itself in protest of Russia’s anti-gay crackdown, has aired a chilling documentary titled Dispatches: Hunted in which journalists travel with gangs of Russian gay bashers to record their vicious actions. Lucy Mangan reviews the show for the Guardian: The gangs call it “going on safari”. It is apt, given how comprehensively the church, state, …

“Given the incessant threats, provocations and insults from the sodomites in respect of my friends, associates and their familes, I have resigned. People close to me do not have to suffer from my public position from which I will never give up. Sodom and Gomorrah must be destroyed!” – Ivan Okhlobystin, announcing his resignation as the creative director for Euroset, …

Days after a similar demand from Russian actor Ivan “Burn Gays Alive” Okhlobystin, the Russian Orthodox Church has called for a public referendum to criminalize homosexual acts. The Church’s abrupt intervention came amid a growing debate over whether the Kremlin should mount a firmer defence of traditional values that many in the overwhelmingly conservative country view as coming under attack …