Anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny met Wednesday with a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to discuss the current situation surrounding opposition protests. Anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny met Wednesday with a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to discuss the current situation surrounding opposition protests...

... by the promise of easier registration rules for new political parties that has surfaced in the wake of the recent wave of anti-government protests. The newly charged political atmosphere has reached all the way to the highest levels of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has been anxious to facilitate contacts with various political groups and politicians from Aksyuchits to protest movement leader Alexei Navalny. In January, the Orthodox Church broached the subject of its role in politics when senior...

A Russian-born activist who protested against the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II has been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. A Russian-born activist who protested against the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II has been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander Shmorel was a member of the White Rose organization, a nonviolent resistance...

More than 90,000 Orthodox Christian believers took a ritual dip in icy waters throughout the city to commemorate Epiphany early Thursday morning — almost double the number from last year — in the latest indication of growing enthusiasm...

... The government should and will strive "to provide adequate representation in the informational sphere of the interests of citizens who tie their worldview to the values of orthodoxy and other traditional faiths," Putin said at a meeting with Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill and the leaders of other major Russian religious groups, Interfax reported. The prime minister did not specify any concrete plans for providing more airtime for religious programming, but he cited poll numbers that...

... started seeping myrrh," the cult said in a statement on its web site. "God is giving us signs of His gracious presence." Myrrh seeping out of icons and the renewal of icons, when their colors brighten up, are attributes of the Russian Orthodox faith. The news about the "miracle" broke over the weekend, but neither Putin nor the Russian Orthodox Church have commented on it. Frolova, known by followers as Mother Fotinya , also considers Putin an embodiment of the tsar. She...

The Russian Orthodox Church is planning to open a hot line later this month to help fight "superstition" and promote the practice of confession instead. The Russian Orthodox Church is planning to open a hot line later...

... Christmas, and the rest of these free days can be moved to, say, May," the prime minister said, RIA-Novosti reported. The 2011-2012 New Year holidays spanned 10 days, from Dec. 31 to Jan. 9, while the Russian labor code stipulates only Jan. 1 to 5 and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated Jan. 7, as official holidays. Russia's other official holidays are Defender of the Fatherland Day (Feb. 23), International Women's Day (March 8), May Day (May 1), Victory Day (May 9), Russia Day (June 12), and Unity Day...

... They were given such an opportunity," he said. "They talk loudly about a dialogue, but when they are called they do not turn up." The event was organized at short notice at a time when many Russians were still on extended New Year's and Orthodox Christmas vacations. Peskov said invitations were sent out last Monday. Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the opposition-minded Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said the government invitation to the media award ceremony held no mention of an offer...

... treason in 1803 after reportedly uttering the words: "Damn the king, his soldiers are all slaves." Visitors to the Moscow show can sense something of Blake's controversial beliefs in the covert challenges to prevailing Newtonian thought and orthodox Christianity contained in his artwork. In "Newton" (1795-1805), for instance, Blake depicts the scientist drawing with a compass on a scroll that emanates from his mouth in an image that appears to suggest Newton's theories are little...

... grew up after the demise of the Soviet Union and do not know the Russian language is rising. Over half of the immigrants confess that their command of Russian is insufficient to fill in the basic documents. Other fault lines are based on the Islamic-Orthodox difference between migrants and Russians and the rural-urban contradictions that have become manifest in almost any interaction between the two groups in large and medium-sized cities. Popular discontent with immigration used to take the form...

... “On one side he says he is against the slogan “Stop feeding Caucasus,” but on the other hand he is supporting Kadyrov,” he said. But Putin’s proposals received a warm response from Vsevolod Chaplin, senior cleric of the Russian Orthodox church, who called them “bright.” “I think that those measures would be supported by an absolute majority of people and in the near future, they will become legal statutes,” Chaplin told Interfax on Monday. Chaplin’s...

... "And that can be a lot of people," Shevyakova noted, adding the hospital also provides free care to Patriots of Ethiopia — members of the resistance during the World War II-era Italian occupation — and members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church patriarchate. Ethiopians are highly aware of their common religious heritage with Russia. Shevyakova had no trouble finding Russian staff either, she said, many of whom, like her, are referred there by friends. "We have one-year...