{"id":14578,"date":"2023-09-21T16:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/la-sainte-russie-contre-loccident\/"},"modified":"2023-09-22T09:19:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T07:19:36","slug":"holy-russia-versus-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/holy-russia-versus-the-west\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Holy Russia Versus the West"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In her latest book, \u2018Holy Russia versus the West\u2019 (\u2018La Sainte Russie contre l\u2019Occident\u2019<\/a>), CERI research director Kathy Rousselet<\/a> examines the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church, the Kremlin, and Russian society. In the process, she invites readers to go beyond the image of Patriarch Kirill supporting the war against Ukraine and promising absolution of the sins of any fallen soldier on the front line of this quasi-crusade. While Kirill champions Putin\u2019s ultra-conservative positions, accusing the West of all evils, the relationship between Church, power and society in Russia is not unambiguous. Interview.<\/p>\n

Corinne Deloy: How did this book come about, and what drove you to write it?<\/h5>\n

Kathy Rousselet: Over the past few years, I\u2019ve been closely following relations between the Moscow Patriarchate (which is also the Patriarchate of \u2018all Rus\u2019) and political power: I carried out surveys in Russian parishes and interviewed many religious clerics. I became aware of the complexity of relations between politics and religion, but also of the multitudes contained within the Russian Orthodox Church. From this perspective, I analysed the homilies and speeches of Patriarch Kirill<\/a> and other Russian Church clerics since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. With this book, I wanted to explain why the development of Orthodox religion went from being a harbinger of Russia\u2019s opening to the West in the 1980s to becoming a force pitting Russia against the West.
\nMore generally, I wanted to raise awareness about the Russian Orthodox Church. It is important to note that the church is also present in Western Europe, particularly in France.<\/p>\n

C.D.\u00a0: Can you give us an overview of relations between the Orthodox Church and the State during the Soviet period?<\/h5>\n

K.R.: The period was marked by state atheism, religious persecution and the destruction of religious heritage. The Russian Orthodox Church was tarnished by its leaders\u2019 compromise with the authorities in what came to be known as \u2018Sergianism,\u2019 after Metropolitan Sergius<\/a> (a future Patriarch) declared in 1927: \u2018the Soviet Union as our civil motherland, whose joys and successes are our joys and successes and whose failures are our failures. Any blow directed at the Union [\u2026] is recognised by us as a blow directed at us.\u2019
\nThe Church largely owed its survival to the patriotic sentiment it officially channelled. From the late 1950s, the Orthodox Church hierarchy was called upon to promote world peace; when Orthodox Christians were persecuted, it played a role in Soviet diplomacy, notably in the international peace movement and the World Council of Churches.
\nHowever, the Russian Orthodox Church cannot be reduced to its hierarchy. Nor can its history be reduced to its compromises with power. Laypeople and clergy have tried to resist. Much has been said in the West about religious dissidents, particularly Father Gleb Yakunin. Although the Church was largely cut off from Soviet society, new research into social history shows how religious practices continued.<\/p>\n

C.D.\u00a0: How has the Orthodox Church in Russia evolved since Putin came to power in 2000?<\/h5>\n

K. R.: According to the 1993 Constitution, the Russian state is officially a secular state. Amendments made in 2020 did not fundamentally change this, even though they refer to the memory of ancestors who passed down ideals and faith in God. This does not mean that all religions are equal. Russia is a multiethnic and multi-religious state(1)<\/sup><\/a>In a Levada Center survey in April 2022, 71% of respondents identified as Orthodox, 5% as Muslim and 3% as Catholic, Protestant or Buddhist. See more<\/a> here. <\/span><\/span>