Russia

[Witness]

Picnic on Wrangel Island.

[Witness]

Biggest rift in modern Orthodox history? Russian Church won’t work w/ Constantinople-chaired bodies

The Russian Orthodox Church is ending its participation in any structures chaired by the Constantinople Patriarchate, the Holy Synod said, as Constantinople decided to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We have decided to suspend joint performance of church services with the hierarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate, to suspend our membership in all structures, which are headed or co-chaired by the representatives of Constantinople,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, said following an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church.
[…]
The measures taken by the Russian Church so far are a “warning” to Constantinople, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s press secretary told journalists. Earlier, Hilarion warned that the Russian Orthodox Church could break all relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate if it grants independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is still part of the Moscow Patriarchate.
[…]

Political schism?

Most Orthodox clerics in Ukraine still pledge loyalty to the head of the Russian church, Patriarch Kirill, and consider themselves to be part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian authorities, however, support a schismatic force, which originated back in the 1990s and calls itself the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.

Unrecognized by all other Orthodox Churches, this religious movement led by the former Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who is now called Patriarch Filaret in Ukraine, seeks to gain the status of an Orthodox Church, which is fully independent and “equal” to the Moscow Patriarchate. Meanwhile, it has taken Ukrainian churches from the Russian Orthodox Church by force with the help of local nationalists.

https://www.rt.com/news/438468-biggest- ... -orthodox/

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia (R) and Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople hold a liturgy in the Serbian city of Nis, on October 6, 2013.

[Witness]

'Looks like Soviet propaganda': Putin turns to new TV show as popularity rating falls

Russian leader's ‘beautiful form,’ charms with people and animals featured in program

By its very nature, Russian state television's prime directive is to ensure support for President Vladimir Putin remains high and voices of criticism are kept on the margins.

Yet even for the Kremlin, a new TV series called Moscow. Kremlin. Putin devoted to Russia's president may be pushing the boundaries of glorification.

The first episode, which aired Sunday night, featured virtually non-stop sycophantic commentary by Putin's closest allies in government and the media, extolling his charisma, stamina and athleticism — even his abilities to put dangerous wild animals at ease.

On social media and online forums, puzzled Russians are trying to decide how seriously to take it.

"It looks like, you know, a program from Brezhnev's age or even Stalin's age," said Dmitry Kolezev, a deputy editor with the online publication Znak in Yekaterinburg.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-vl ... -1.4808817

Excerpts:

[Abdul Alhazred]

Nothing "Soviet" about it.

Putin is the Holy Tsar.

[Witness]

N. II, ca. 1894, colorized.

[Abdul Alhazred]

Could also be "the past is a foreign country" because it pictures the good guy smoking a cigarette.

[Witness]

So you want to redirect everything to your thread, hu?



Won't happen, comrade…

[Witness]

[Witness]

Barbie Takes a Trip to the U.S.S.R.

Yekaterinburg-based artist and photographer Lara Vychuzhanina takes Barbie and Ken on a trip through time, back to the U.S.S.R.

A stern Ken never stands up from the table. Barbie hangs laundry, sips coffee and daydreams. The young couple’s cat keeps a laser focus on the wall. Each scene reveals a new detail of Barbie’s journey overseas — even the food is Soviet.

https://themoscowtimes.com/photogalleri ... ussr-59692

[Grammatron]

Ah memories

[Witness]

Ah memories

Did all the ladies wear such industrial-strength (or is it military issue?) bras?

Doesn't really suit the quite androgynous Barbie…

---

[Grammatron]

Ah memories

Did all the ladies wear such industrial-strength (or is it military issue?) bras?

All the ladies? You have a very high opinion of me.

[Witness]

All the ladies? You have a very high opinion of me.

Of course, comrade! I'm sure you followed in the steps of glorious Stakhanov – in your own domain.

[Witness]

Trust in Vladimir Putin declines steeply among Russians, poll shows

Backing for ruling party also falls as analysts say pension changes the likely cause

Trust in Vladimir Putin and Russia’s ruling party have declined steeply over the past year with analysts pointing to the government’s controversial pension changes as the main reason.

In a poll by the independent Levada Centre, 39% of Russians listed Putin as a politican they trust. That is a 20% decrease from November 2017, when Putin was named by 59% of Russians, according to the same polling agency.

The Levada polls are the latest to show a strong backlash as the Kremlin pushes unpopular social reforms to relieve pressure on the budget. This month, 45% of Russians told FOM (Public Opinion Foundation), a polling agency close to the Kremlin, they would vote for Putin if elections were held this Sunday. That rating was down from 67% at the beginning of the year.

It is among the lowest support Putin has held in the last decade, according to FOM data, tied only with his support in late 2013 just before the annexation of Crimea and a wave of patriotic fervour.

The ruling United Russia party, seen as more vulnerable than Putin, has also been hit hard. FOM showed the party had 31% support, also a drop of close to 20% since the beginning of the year, with its docile rivals rising in the polls.

“People think that the state is trying to solve its problems at the expense of the population,” Lev Gudkov, the head of Levada, told Vedomosti, a Russian business newspaper. “It’s encroaching on something the people consider their own – their pensions savings.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... on-changes

[Abdul Alhazred]

It's Teh Grunaid.

Where's that laughing Putin gif?

[Witness]

[Witness]

Biggest split in modern Orthodox history: Russian Orthodox Church breaks ties with Constantinople

In the biggest rift in modern Orthodox history, the Russian Orthodox Church has cut all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, after it accepted a breakaway division of Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent.

The Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, has ruled that any further clerical relations with Constantinople are impossible, Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, told journalists, de facto announcing the breach of relations between the two churches.

The move comes days after the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate decided to eventually grant the so-called autocephaly to two previously unrecognized branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, thus legitimizing the two clerical organizations.

The Moscow Patriarchate also said that it would not abide by any decisions taken by Constantinople and related to the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “All these decisions are unlawful and canonically void,” Hilarion said, adding that “the Russian Orthodox Church does not recognize these decisions and will not follow them.”

Putin's Voice

[gnome]

further clerical relations with Constantinople

...don't they mean Istanbul?

[Abdul Alhazred]

further clerical relations with Constantinople

...don't they mean Istanbul?

Nope.

The Orthodox Patriarchate is still Constantinople.

[Abdul Alhazred]

The origin of the name "Istanbul" --

When the Turks took the city, the existing inhabitants had the custom of calling the place "Stam polis" for short.

The best the Turks could do with that was "Stamboul". After WW1, Kemal Ataturk wanted all Turkish place names to be real-o true-lo Turkish, so it was changed to "Istanbul" which at least sounds Turkish.

So it's really all bad diction and not real a name change like calling Tsaritsyn "Stalingrad".