Patriarch Says Church-State Closer in Europe
and U.S
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=37262
MOSCOW — Patriarch Kirill
said that cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state
was not as close as in many European countries and the U.S.
The leader of the Russian church said the German government
collects taxes for the church, the French president appoints bishops in
Alsace-Lorraine, the British monarch is also the head of the church, and the
Greek state rules the church.
“Even in the U.S.,
presidents swear on the Bible,” Patriarch Kirill told Romfea.gr, a Greek
website dedicated to Orthodoxy.
In contrast, he said, the relationship between church and
state in Russia
is based on mutual trust and respect, and “the church does not meddle in state
affairs, and vice versa.”
Since 2009, when Patriarch Kirill was enthroned, the Russian
Orthodox Church came under intense public criticism over alleged corruption and
its ties with the state.
Last year, members of the female punk band Pussy Riot staged
a profanity-laced performance in Moscow’s
Christ the Savior Cathedral that they said was motivated by close ties between
the church and President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
Prosecutors charged three band members with hooliganism
motivated by religious hatred. Two musicians are now serving two-year prison
terms, while a third got a suspended sentence.
Kirill I of Moscow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirill_I_of_Moscow
photos
http://www.google.hr/search?q=patriarch+kirill&client=opera&hs=FWQ&channel=suggest&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=SEOEUYfkOaXQ4QT6xYC4Bw&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=991&bih=651