I always enjoy Boris Kagarlitsky's editorials. I agree with the
general thrust of his argument in his editorial about the church ("Who
Needs the Church?," JRL 6046), but it seems to me that he overstates the
case when he writes that "within the Orthodox Church there is not a single
faction that is critical of the status quo." I am no expert on this
subject, but even a casual observer can easily perceive that there are
plenty of Orthodox priests, let alone lay people, who are for different
reasons actively critical of Russia's current political and/or social status
quo. These non-conformist groups and individuals are diverse -- ranging
from followers of the assassinated priest Alexander Men' and other "liberal"
priests, who advocate greater ties with other religious communities, on
the one hand to right-wing extremists on the other.
Ilya Vinkovetsky
University of California, Berkeley
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