The Moscow Patriarchate looks to distance itself from Christian extremists with new restrictions on organization names

The Moscow Patriarchate is proposing legislation that would prohibit organizations unaffiliated with established religious groups from using the names of those faiths in their names (for example, “Russian Orthodox”). A legal spokesperson for the Moscow Patriarchate told reporters that there is a “whole block” of organizations that use the word “Orthodox” in their names, “without any connection” to the Russian Orthodox Church, saying this risks public misperceptions that various groups act under the aegis of the Church.

Two State Duma deputies have asked the heads of Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee and Interior Ministry to audit the actions of the conservative religious movement “Christian State — Holy Rus,” in response to threats by “Christian Orthodox activists” against movie theaters that plan to show Alexey Uchitel’s controversial new film “Matilda,” an upcoming movie about the ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska and her relationship with Nicholas II before he became tsar, which Orthodox Christian activists have condemned as a sacrilegious affront. In their appeal, the Duma deputies cite arson attacks against the movie’s production studio in St. Petersburg and a cinema in Yekaterinburg, as well as threats against a newspaper columnist who criticized the film’s opponents. 

In statement, the movement “Christian State — Holy Rus” argued that police shouldn’t fight against “ordinary Orthodox Russians who have been cornered and forced to break the law, in order to uphold their people’s sanctity and state ideals.” On September 12, Russia’s biggest chain of movie theaters announced that it won’t show “Matila,” fearing reprisals by Christian extremists.