The Pussy Riot Trial and the Russian Orthodox Church

Author(s): Thomas Bremer
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 122
Pages: 6-8
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2013

The Orthodox Church reacted to the Pussy Riot case with a clear rejection of the action and calls for strict punishment. This reaction is due not only to the fact that the groups performance took place in a church, but also to the perception within Russian Orthodoxy that it-like Christianity in general-is being persecuted. Accordingly, the church demands that the state should protect it. This view relies on a pre-modern conception of societal unity and diversity that will hardly be viable over the longer term in its current form.

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