Editors From Russia

"In an interview of January 20 that “Bitter Winter” readers will recognize as both bold and overdue, Sergei Chapnin delivers a harsh critique of the current state of the Russian Orthodox Church. Once a senior insider, serving as the editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, deputy chief editor of the Church Herald, lecturer at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University, and secretary of the Inter-Conciliar Board, Chapnin now shares his views from exile as the director of communications at the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in New York. His statements reflect deep experience and feelings of betrayal. “The Russian Orthodox Church has effectively stopped being part of the Christian world and has become a tool of power,” he states. Chapnin refers to it as a “spiritual catastrophe.” He argues that the Church no longer follows the Gospel but instead supports war, repression, and violence. “The Church of Russia is no longer Christian.”"