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Moscow’s reaction to restoration of Hagia Sophia as mosque reminds us Russia is ultimately part of Western world
The Russian Foreign Ministry swung to and fro on the issue. At first, it took the line that “this is a Turkish internal affair in which neither we nor others should interfere.” Then it backtracked, with ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announcing that “We regret the decision of the Turkish Republic’s leadership.” Other public figures, meanwhile, were forthright in their expressions of outrage and concern.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, denounced the move, saying that, “A threat against Hagia Sophia is a threat to all Christian civilization.” It “was an unacceptable violation of religious freedom,” said Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the ROC’s department for external relations. Turkey “will be seen as a violator of religious balance in the eyes of the whole world,” said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian Federation Council. And so on.
All this reveals a striking dissonance between theory and practice. For all their rhetorical support of civilizational theory, Russian spiritual leaders and much of the Russian political class are not always too keen on it when it’s put into practice by others. As their responses to the Hagia Sophia decision show, at heart, they regard Islam as a ‘threat’ (in Patriarch Kirill’s words) rather than an equally valid civilizational choice, and at heart, they see themselves as part of a broader Christian, rather than uniquely Russian, civilization.
The Russian Foreign Ministry swung to and fro on the issue. At first, it took the line that “this is a Turkish internal affair in which neither we nor others should interfere.” Then it backtracked, with ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announcing that “We regret the decision of the Turkish Republic’s leadership.” Other public figures, meanwhile, were forthright in their expressions of outrage and concern.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill, denounced the move, saying that, “A threat against Hagia Sophia is a threat to all Christian civilization.” It “was an unacceptable violation of religious freedom,” said Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the ROC’s department for external relations. Turkey “will be seen as a violator of religious balance in the eyes of the whole world,” said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian Federation Council. And so on.
All this reveals a striking dissonance between theory and practice. For all their rhetorical support of civilizational theory, Russian spiritual leaders and much of the Russian political class are not always too keen on it when it’s put into practice by others. As their responses to the Hagia Sophia decision show, at heart, they regard Islam as a ‘threat’ (in Patriarch Kirill’s words) rather than an equally valid civilizational choice, and at heart, they see themselves as part of a broader Christian, rather than uniquely Russian, civilization.
