Russia's Patriarch Increasingly Becoming Major Force In Politics

September 06, 2009
By Brian Whitmore

When Patriarch Kirill visited Russia's largest shipyard in late August, he was greeted with full military honors.

As a brass band played at the Northern Shipyard in Severodvinsk, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church strolled past a row of sailors in dress uniform, boarded a nuclear submarine, and presented the crew with an icon of the Mother of God.

He later said Russia's defense capabilities need to be bolstered by Orthodox Christian values.

"You should not be ashamed of going to church and teaching the Orthodox faith to your children," the patriarch told the Severodvinsk workers. "Then we shall have something to defend with our missiles."Kirill's comments linking sacred Christian faith and secular nuclear might raised eyebrows, particularly among Russia's religious minorities. The event, analysts say, also served to illustrate the patriarch's growing political profile. the rest