The Russian DUM posted its new decision on interfaith marriages. This has sparked controversy within the organization and prompted high up church officials to acknowledge that the decision holds no legal standing.
Patriarch Kirill and his family have millions of dollars in real estate. This hints at potential misuse of church funds or financial misbehavior in general on the Patriarch's part.
Pope Francis' recent endorsement of same-sex civil partnerships has led Roman Silantyev, the leader of the Orthodox Church’s World Russian People’s Council, to predict that a large number of Catholics will convert to Orthodox Christianity or Protestantism. He accounts this to the fact that the Orthodox Church "doesn't compromise" on its conservative values. It seems unlikely that large scale conversion will occur, but it also seems equally unlikely that the Pope's support of the LGBT community will lead to any change in the Orthodox Church's stance on same-sex partnerships, which they currently strongly condemn.
The death of Irina Slavina, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the free journalism KozaPress, is the living evidence of media censorship and violation of free speech in Russia.
A Russian Cleric who was staunchly anti-women's rights has died at the age of 69. His views perhaps signal a shift in the views of the country as a whole.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, agreed to an ecclesiastical court's decision to excommunicate Sergii Romanov. This decision comes over a month after the original ruling by the Yekaterinburg court.
A convent founded by Sergii Romanov, an Orthodox priest defrocked for spreading misinformation about Coronavirus, has come under investigation for child abuse. It's taken quite a while for these allegations to come to the public's attention, and a while for the state to bring a case against the convent.
Russia’s Investigative Committee is planning to arrest a number of single, gay men on child trafficking charges and threatening to place their children in foster care for the duration of the investigation. These men became fathers through in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures and surrogate mothers, which is against Russian law because only married couples and single women are allowed to act as donors. This law demonstrates the pervasive homophobia present in Russian society and how it is reflected in policy.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus had his passport canceled, likely due to his criticism of the Belarusian government. This violates the Constitution of Belarus and could lead to an attempt to weaken or scapegoat minority religions in the region.
The attorney general has filed suit against a Siberian-based cult and arrested its founding members. This could be an infringement on religious freedom, and could have something to do with the country's COVID-19 response efforts.
Two military servicemen were arrested for "insulting other peoples' religion" by washing their shoes in holy water in a Kaliningrad cathedral. They were arrested using a 2013 law that criminalizes insulting other peoples' religions, which blurs the lines between church and state.
