Sir, – In response to some of the letters that have been published in The Irish Times in recent days to criticise your editorial regarding the Pussy Riot trial in Moscow, it is worth remembering what this trial is about.
The three young women in question are accused of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, and face up to seven years in prison. Even President Putin suggested last week that such a sentence would be excessive. The case, as seems to be widely accepted by observers, owes much to the reaction of the Orthodox Church and its Patriarch, Kirill.
I was in Moscow when the three women were arrested, and was there on the Sunday after the Orthodox Easter when a huge gathering of believers was held outside the Christ the Saviour Cathedral as a sort of rally in support, or defence, of the church.
It was quite an extraordinary spectacle. The church, and Kirill in particular, has been the source of public controversy in Russia this year for another reason, namely Kirill’s supposed personal wealth and belongings.
The act performed by the three women on the altar included the words “Holy Mother of God, cast Putin out!” This hardly seems like religious hatred to me. I have many times been inside the cathedral where the event took place; it is a striking symbol of the wealth and restored power of the church in Russia, a wealth and power not dissimilar to that of the Roman Catholic Church. I have also read the New Testament, and it seems to me that material wealth and temporal power are entirely contrary to the spiritual essence of Christianity.
The act was certainly a mistake – as the women accepted in court – but also very courageous. It has further exposed serious fault-lines within Russian society, fault-lines that political and church leaders seem intent on exploiting. These three women do not pose a threat to the religious freedoms of the Russian people, nor do the main opposition leaders to Mr Putin. If the act was intended at least in part to seriously question the operations and role of the Orthodox Church in Russian society, or if the trial helps to do the same, then that would not be a bad thing at all. – Yours, etc,