Russian Orthodox Cleric Opposed To Separation Between Church And State
- JRL 2012-115
A senior spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said on 25 June that there should be no separation between church and state in Russia, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
file photoSpeaking at a discussion session at the offices of the opposition news weekly The New Times, [Vsevolod Chaplin also said that he did not regard Russian society as exclusively secular.
"Our society is not secular. Part of it is secular, part of it is religious," he said. "Religious organizations are separate from the state... In the grand scheme of things, the principle of separation between church and state means nothing more than that," he added. "The church, as a way of viewing the world, and religion, as a phenomenon, should not be separate from the state, in exactly the same way that the people cannot be separate from the state... The church, as a significant part of the people, is not and cannot be separate from the state."
Chaplin also argued that Peter the Great's reforms were to blame for "tearing the church away from the people". "Before him, people were happy, and then afterwards they were unhappy," he said.
Keywords: Russia, Religion - Russian News - Russia
A senior spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said on 25 June that there should be no separation between church and state in Russia, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
file photoSpeaking at a discussion session at the offices of the opposition news weekly The New Times, [Vsevolod Chaplin also said that he did not regard Russian society as exclusively secular.
"Our society is not secular. Part of it is secular, part of it is religious," he said. "Religious organizations are separate from the state... In the grand scheme of things, the principle of separation between church and state means nothing more than that," he added. "The church, as a way of viewing the world, and religion, as a phenomenon, should not be separate from the state, in exactly the same way that the people cannot be separate from the state... The church, as a significant part of the people, is not and cannot be separate from the state."
Chaplin also argued that Peter the Great's reforms were to blame for "tearing the church away from the people". "Before him, people were happy, and then afterwards they were unhappy," he said.