In the West, the church has often defined itself by defying the state. In the East, particularly Russia, the church traditionally understands itself as more submissive consort to the regime. These conflicting civilizations partly explain why America and Russia cannot politically align.
Loyala University's Michael Khodarkovsky last week in The New York Times detailed how Putin is the latest Russian despot to exploit the church's historic political submission:
The Kremlin has relied on the Orthodox Church as the main unifying force in the country and provides it with generous financial support. In return, the church has been the key promoter of a "Russian world" concept that casts the Kremlin as a defender of Russians outside Russia. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has gone so far as to call the Putin era "a miracle of God."
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