Orthodox Christians ask Putin for protection

A group of Orthodox Christians has started collecting signatures on the internet in support of an open letter which calls on the President to defend the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill from insults.

“In our opinion, we have been witnessing a full-scale and targeted unceasing work aimed at discrediting lawful authorities and significant institutions such as the Russian Orthodox Church,” the letter reads. The authors of the letter say that this should be carefully considered by “competent bodies”.In the text, they talk of the ‘Silver Galosh’ award. It was given to patriarch Kirill for “miracle-stained arms” following a scandal around his “vanishing” watch. In April, the blogosphere widely discussed photos of the patriarch wearing an expansive wrist watch which some time later “disappeared” from official pictures. The ceremony needs to be checked for “extremism, calls to overturn the constitutional order and insults to … religious feelings or Orthodox Christians of Russia”. The letter also calls for introduction of the Basics of the Orthodox Culture in schools and giving the Church air time on the national TV channels.