Authors

‪Sophia Kotzer‬‏¹;  ¹ Nativ - Prime Minister's Office , Israel

Discussion

This paper emphasizes the ideological role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in serving both Soviet and Russian foreign policy goals during the perestroika period and the Covid-19 pandemic. The perestroika period was marked by an open rapprochement between the ROC and a state, while the global pandemic visualized the split within the ROC, Russian society and the establishment and exposed the schism in the symphonic church-state relations. The restrictions introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus infection have made the financial situation of the ROC extremely difficult. Moreover, the split within the ROC became apparent not only due to the economic reasons. The so-called “Covid dissidence” within the Church regarded the Moscow Patriarchates’ authorities as a servant to the state, which succumbed to Western conspiracies against Russia. However, it the filed of foreign policy church-state relations remained intact. Though, one major disappointment in the ability of the ROC to promote Russian foreign policy interests was, while Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the head of the global Orthodox Church, has signed on January 5, 2019, what is known as a "tomos", a decree officially recognizing an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Thus, facing future geo-political and economic challenges to Russia, the ROC might not be able to serve as an ideological glue, which will ensure the unity of the Russian World.