After four years of war, the suffocating alliance between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin has transformed Orthodox Christianity from a living spiritual practice into something closer to a state ideology.
This is stated in an article by British journalist Lucy Ash for Chatham House.
According to her, in Russia nearly 100 million people identify as Orthodox Christians, yet more than half of them do not communicate with their priest and never participate in church rites and sacraments.
The journalist emphasizes that in Russia the alliance between the Church and the state exerts strong pressure on civil society. “Although reliable data is difficult to obtain, it is believed that church attendance has declined in recent years from an already low level, even though most Russians still identify as Orthodox. The adoption of religious beliefs without active participation in organized religious life is a broader trend among Russians,” the journalist said.
According to a study conducted last year, more than half of those who identify as Orthodox Christians do not communicate with their priest and never participate in church rites and sacraments. “This is part of a longer trend of alienation between the Church and the population,” the author quotes Regina Elsner, a theologian at the University of Münster.
Russians have become more reluctant to attend church, as there are cases when priests pressure men to go and serve in the army.
She added that confession is one of the most in-demand practices in the Orthodox Church. However, confidentiality is not guaranteed. “We do not have reliable statistics, only individual testimonies, but the Church has a long and very public history of condemning individuals, and this may now contribute to a general lack of trust,” the article states.
“Across Russia, devout parishioners and conscientious priests continue to serve their communities under difficult conditions. However, after four years of war, the suffocating alliance between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin has transformed Orthodox Christianity from a living spiritual practice into something closer to a state ideology,” Lucy Ash believes.
Earlier, we wrote that the head of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, praised the efforts of Moscow Patriarch Kirill aimed at supporting participants in the “special military operation.”
As LF reported, during a meeting with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, Moscow Patriarch Kirill, Gundyaev, said that “under the tsar-batyushka everything was good and prosperous,” since the Church was then “part of the state apparatus.” Gundyaev also noted that after years of persecution “the Lord has again shown mercy to the Church and to the Orthodox people,” referring to Putin’s rule.
According to LF, in November 2025 Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev stated that military valor is “inseparable” from spiritual valor, and participation in war may be regarded as a form of Christian service. This attempt to justify the war through spiritual rhetoric provoked an immediate and sharp reaction within church circles.
According to Regina Elsner, a researcher of Eastern Christianity and ecumenism at the University of Münster and a doctor of theology, the Russian Orthodox Church has turned into one of the key institutions of mobilization and propaganda.
Earlier we wrote that Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I condemned attempts to use religion to justify violence.
