More Freedom Now within Russian Orthodox Church than Many Assume or the Patriarch Wants, Lukin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 14 – There is no question that Patriarch Kirill wants to establish a power vertical within the Russian Orthodox Church equivalent to the one Vladimir Putin has established in the civilian sector, a drive that has led many to conclude that there is very little freedom within the ROC MP.

            But Roman Lunkin, the deputy director of the Institute of Europe who specializes on religious questions, argues that the new generation of bishops in the church is allowing the priests in their sees far greater freedom lest they alienate believers and that this has profound consequences for more than the church (ng.ru/ng_religii/2022-06-14/9_531_bishop.html).

            Some but far from all new bishops in the church see their role as managers rather than rulers, as people who work with the priests, the parishioners and the civil authorities and media to achieve their ends rather than as “despots” who order everyone about. They recognize that only by being more open in this way can they hope to increase or even hold current believers.

            Having reviewed the statements of some of these new-style bishops, Lunkin draws two important conclusions: “First, within the ROC, there are more freedoms than even experts consider. The clergy has spoken in defense of opposition figures, in support of Belarusians Christians, and against the Russian military operation in Ukraine.”

            Moreover, those who have done so have not been punished in any serious way as would have been the case earlier.

            And “second, within the ROC is maturing a civil society with its own ready-made institutions, parishes and bishoprics, the leaders of whom are sowing hope for the future of the Russian society and state under conditions of any economic and political tests” Russia is facing now or will face in the future.

            Lunkin’s essay, entitled “A Free Bishop in a Free Church,” is undoubtedly overly optimistic as far as the entire ROC MP is concerned. But his words are a corrective to those who accept Kirill’s push for centralism and control as an accomplished fact. Instead, many in the church are moving in a very different direction.