Source: Orthodoxy in Dialogue
by Shane McCrum and Alexis Mrachek
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, right, attend a reception at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, late Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)
When Vladimir Putin rose to the presidency of Russia in 2000, he inherited the remains of a once-fearsome communist-atheist imperial state.
In the intervening 19 years, he has transformed Russia back into an imperial power with global ambitions. One of his key tools in that transformation has been the Russian Orthodox Church….
