THE "PUTINITE" ORTHODOX CHURCH

August 18, 2012

The Russian Orthodox Church is right behind President Vladimir Putin, to the point of betraying a large proportion of Russians. One would think that after decades of communist rule, the hierarchy would cringe at anything reminiscent of state oppression, but no, Patriarch Kirill actually called Russia's leader: "God's miracle". If Kirill thinks that that is the best God can do, then I suggest he should read up on the definition of blasphemy. Pussy Riot's "punk prayer" may have been in poor taste, but at least its message was simple enough: we want our short-lived freedom back.

Now that the trio: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, have been sentenced to two years in prison for their anti-Putin antics in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow last February, two top clerics have said that they forgive the young women. The Abbott of the Sretensky Monastery, Tikhon Shevkunov, announced on state television today that: "We did forgive them from the very start; but such actions should be cut short by society and the authorities."

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov added:

"We are simply praying and hoping that these young women and all these people shouting in front of the court building, committing sacrilegious acts, not only in Russia but in other countries, realize that their acts are awful. And despite this the church is asking for mercy within the limits of law."

What is awful, is depriving these young women of their freedom for two years. Is the meaning of life that cheap to these "Putinites" that they consider it acceptable to abuse people in this way? Have they no sense of proportion? If time is a precious gift from God, then desecrating it in this way must surely be the real sacrilege.