Posted on 12/02/2017 6:04:13 PM PST by marshmallow
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday participated in a congress of top clerics in Moscow, a first for a Russian leader, in a drive for ever tighter relations between the Kremlin and the Orthodox Church.
The symbolic gesture, hailed by Patriarch Kirill as a "historic event," shows Putin's eagerness to fortify already strong ties with the church ahead of March presidential polls, despite a constitutional separation between church and state in the country.
"The state, while it respects the self-sufficiency and independence of the church, expects to continue our cooperation in such important spheres like education and healthcare, cultural and historical heritage, and helping families bring up youth," Putin told the assembly.
Putin is the first Russian president to visit the meeting of Orthodox bishops, the Russian church's top decision-making body that meets at least every four years and which, among other things, elects the patriarch.
This year the gathering is taking place in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
"The church authorities are overjoyed that he himself has come to participate, like Byzantine emperors long ago who came to church assemblies," said Boris Falikov, an expert at the Centre for Religious Studies at the Russian State University of the Humanities.
"It's a triumph for them."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Putin should ban abortion.
Putin is a fraud and a fan of abortion.
What a great guy that Putin is. So glad to welcome Russian propagandists to FR.
Don’t think Putin is friend of abortion. If anything he wants to increase Russian births. So, I am all for Putin’s support of traditional values, and no, I am not new to Free Republic.
TOTALLY FALSE.
Actually, Putin offered mothers cash and appliances for having more than one baby, and it WORKED...Russia's birthrate is rising for the first time since the fall of the USSR, and now higher than the E.U....
In 2006, Vladimir Putin described population decline as the country’s “most urgent problem.” In 2007, the government introduced a program to pay $11,000 to mothers who have more than one child. That same year, the AP reported on families being given days off from work (and potentially winning “money, cars, refrigerators, and other prizes”) in exchange for making babies. In 2011, Putin announced an additional $53 billion in government expenditures to boost the birthrate. And Putin has used the population crisis as a justification for the government’s hostility to homosexuality.
Russia's Baby Boom. Fertility Rate Far Higher Than in EU, Rising Quickly
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
