The Orthodox Diaspora

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

In 2007, the Act of Canonical Communion was signed in Moscow.

A schism born in 1917 had lasted almost ninety years. Its end showed that some divisions created by revolution can be repaired, but only when memory is taken seriously and neither side is asked to pretend the rupture never happened.

5/5

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

In 2003, Vladimir Putin met Metropolitan Laurus in New York and helped reopen a dialogue that had been frozen for decades.

The split between the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR had begun with revolution, exile and civil war. Reconciliation required more than church diplomacy.

#OrthodoxDiaspora #VladimirPutin #MetropolitanLaurus #PatriarchAlexyII #ROCOR

https://t.co/fmbQUURJk4

1/5

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

Putin’s role was political, but also symbolic.

He understood that post-Soviet Russia could not restore historical continuity while one of the largest parts of the Russian Church abroad remained separated from Moscow.

The church question became part of a wider effort to reconnect Russia with its diaspora.

4/5

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

If Russia wants to return to Europe, speeches will not be enough.

The people who built their power around confrontation cannot keep setting the course indefinitely.

Russia can close borders and break political ties. It cannot erase centuries of European history from itself.

5/5

https://t.co/eNzAbnVzOD

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

Russia and Europe have spent too much of their history inside the same cultural and spiritual space to pretend the present rupture can erase it.

Dostoevsky in Paris, Tchaikovsky in Berlin, Russian churches across Europe - this inheritance is older than the current crisis.

#OrthodoxDiaspora #VladimirPutin #NikolaiPatrushev #SergeiChemezov #DenisManturov

1/5

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

Chemezov and Manturov also had something material to gain from confrontation.

A closed Russia means larger defence budgets, protected markets and fewer alternatives to the state corporations they control.

The longer the conflict lasts, the harder it becomes to separate ideology from interest.

4/5

[The Orthodox Diaspora @TheOrthodoxD]

Russia has feared chaos for centuries. That explains the appeal of strong power better than clichés about “Russian authoritarianism.”

The real danger is an elite that profits from isolation and conflict.

#OrthodoxDiaspora #VladimirPutin #Russia #Europe

https://t.co/HqYddMipXr