{"id":21498,"date":"2015-06-08T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21498"},"modified":"2015-06-07T14:47:37","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T18:47:37","slug":"russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia’s mission to restore traditional values?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Russia reportedly sees its mission as restoring traditional values to the world, over against the \u201clibertine West.\u201d\u00a0 This is involving a new alliance between Vladimir Putin\u2019s government and the Russian Orthodox Church.\u00a0 The immediate goal is to spread the ideal of \u201choly Russia\u201d throughout Eurasia.\u00a0 So says Forbes<\/em> contributor Paul Coyer, excerpted after the jump.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard some conservatives\u00a0 praise Putin\u2019s administration for its opposition to gay rights and other socially liberal movements.\u00a0 Can or should American Christians get behind the Russian effort?\u00a0 What would be the problems with that?\u00a0 I\u2019m curious too to hear from American orthodox folks.\u00a0 I realize that not all Orthodox churches are Russian<\/em> Orthodox.\u00a0 But are any of you in that tradition, and, if so, do you go along with \u201choly Russia\u201d?\u00a0 Are any of you other Orthodox in favor of what Putin is trying to do?<\/p>\n

\n

From Paul Coyer, Putin\u2019s Holy War And The Disintegration Of The \u2018Russian World\u2019<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Dugin\u2019s vision of \u201cHoly Russia,\u201d which is shared with the Russian Orthodox Church, sees Russia\u2019s mission as being to expand its influence and authority until it dominates the Eurasian landmass by means of a strong, centralized Russian state aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, championing \u201ctraditional\u201d social values over against the cultural corruption of a libertine West. The partnership between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has been aimed not only at articulating this sacralized view of Russian national identity to the domestic audience, but also in advancing the mission of the Russian nation abroad. The manner in which the Russian state and the Church has been cooperating, however, is undermining their jointly-stated goal of building a \u201cRussian world\u201d that dominates Eurasia under Moscow\u2019s benign imperial oversight.<\/p>\n

The Church, for its part, acts as the Russian state\u2019s soft power arm, exerting its authority in ways that assist the Kremlin in spreading Russian influence both in Russia\u2019s immediate neighborhood as well as around the globe. The Kremlin assists the Church, as well, working to increase its reach. Vladimir Yakunin, one of Putin\u2019s inner circle and a devout member of the ROC, facilitated in 2007 the reconciliation of the ROC with the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (which had separated itself from the Moscow Patriarchate early in the Soviet era so as not to be co-opted by the new Bolshevik state), which reconciliation greatly increased Kirill\u2019s influence and authority outside of Russia. Putin, praising this event, noted the interrelation of the growth of ROC authority abroad with his own international goals: \u201cThe revival of the church unity is a crucial condition for revival of lost unity of the whole \u2018Russian world\u2019, which has always had the Orthodox faith as one of its foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . . ]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the Cold War, liberals and leftists were often accused, rightly or wrongly, of being Russian sympathizers and subversives investigated by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.\u00a0 Imagine a new Cold War in which conservatives are accused of being of being Russian sympathizers and subversives investigated by a new House UnAmerican Activities Committee.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia reportedly sees its mission as restoring traditional values to the world, over against the \u201clibertine West.\u201d\u00a0 This is involving a new alliance between Vladimir Putin\u2019s government and the Russian Orthodox Church.\u00a0 The immediate goal is to spread the ideal of \u201choly Russia\u201d throughout Eurasia.\u00a0 So says Forbes contributor Paul Coyer, excerpted after the jump. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,23],"tags":[1648,1939,3852,3853],"class_list":["post-21498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-ethics","category-international","tag-orthodox-church","tag-russia","tag-russian-orthodox-church","tag-traditional-values"],"yoast_head":"\nRussia's mission to restore traditional values?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Russia reportedly sees its mission as restoring traditional values to the world, over against the "libertine West."\u00a0 This is involving a new alliance\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia's mission to restore traditional values?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia reportedly sees its mission as restoring traditional values to the world, over against the "libertine West."\u00a0 This is involving a new alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-08T10:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-07T18:47:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/\",\"name\":\"Russia's mission to restore traditional values?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-08T10:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-07T18:47:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Russia reportedly sees its mission as restoring traditional values to the world, over against the \\\"libertine West.\\\"\u00a0 This is involving a new alliance\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/russias-mission-to-restore-traditional-values\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Russia’s mission to restore traditional values?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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