The Orthodox conundrum
A Russian Orthodox priest conducts a service for his country’s soldiers fighting Ukraine.
PHOTO: ALAMY/AP/RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY
Is there an inevitable tilt to authoritarianism and accommodation with the state within Orthodoxy – or could it find a way to be authentically Orthodox in the modern world?
AS AN ANGLICAN wary of a powerful Church, and with a positive view of liberal democracy, I’ve always been a bit wary of Eastern Orthodoxy. The best of its intellectual tradition and its ancient prayerful aura are certainly impressive, but might this distract us from its tendency over the centuries to follow meekly whatever political direction was being taken by the state?
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