[MSF BU]

I remember Paul Harvey remarking many years ago that Russian and the US seemed to be ready to pass each other going in different directions. The more I read of these articles the more I believe it.

[gdani]

It's all good in Russia...as long as you're part of the "approved" denomination

Russia's Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church

[MUDDOG]

With Pope Francis going over to the other side, I guess this guy is Numero Uno now.

[PGR88]

Those damn Russian Christians!

Hillary and George Soros will make it their top priority to take them down!

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Who is funding these churches? The congregations or the government?

[fishtank]

Ho hum.

Another soon-to-be-dead State Church.

How did a State Church work out for the Romans (RCC), the Greeks (Orthodox), the Anglicans, the Lutherans??

All dead, dead frozen, compromised, heretical cluster-bombs.

[fishtank]

The only way to have a vibrant Christianity is with the American example of religious freedom.

[dangus]

For a Catholic, this is fantastic news. Whatever one might think of the Russian Orthodox church’s role in Russian politics, these are valid, orthodox (i.e., non-heretical) vocations which will have a real impact in the spiritual world.

Those who expect Russia to necessarily become Roman Catholic in fulfillment of the Fatima prophesy forget that the Russian Orthodox church is validly “Catholic” despite the schism.

[dangus]

For perspective, that’s a gain of 10,000 priests out of 35,171 priests.

[dangus]

FROM WIKIPEDIA “USSR anti-religious campaign”

Lest Westerners buy into the trap that the Russian Orthodox Church went along with Soviet Communism:

The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly all of its clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labour camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. More than 85,000 Orthodox priests were shot in 1937 alone. Only a twelfth of the Russian Orthodox Church’s priests were left functioning in their parishes by 1941.

In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to less than 500.