Russia's top nuclear physics university attributes success to Orthodoxy

Mikhail Strikhanov, the head of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, a part of Russia's National Research Nuclear University, has attributed the institution's success to the Orthodox faith. Strikhanov made this statement at Christmas readings in the southern vicariate in Moscow, which was recently opened at the institution. He also noted that, since the opening of an in house chapel and a theology department, the university has been achieving great success in Russia and abroad.

The theology department of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute's was opened in 2012. Many members of the scientific community, including more than a hundred academics and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke out against the department's opening and wrote an open letter to the Ministry of Education. The letter stated that the department's opening would reflect the clericalization of Russian society and stood against the Constitution and common sense.