What Is The Russian Orthodox Church? | BBC Religion Documentary | Timeline

BBC reporting from Kuala Lumpur reporting from Moscow reporting from Capetown Washington reporting from Phnom Penh reporting for the BBC [Music] a Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is Moscow's salute to the new millennium it has been built in only four years thanks to Moscow as powerful now Yuri lush cough it will be opened in the year 2000 when Russia goes to the polls rushkoff is a frontrunner to succeed President Yeltsin it symbolizes the new balance of power between church and state religion is a major electoral issue of the population claim to be believers the new cathedral is said to have cost a billion dollars Yeltsin has given another 12 million to buy icons for it all this while ordinary Russians are struggling for survival this is a story of money and ambition but who profits the politicians the church or the people [Music] the new cathedral stands on the banks of the Moscow River just downstream from the Kremlin it's a replica of a 19th century cathedral that stood here before the Revolution inside it is not yet finished the marble cladding and frescoes are still missing it's grand job will eventually reflect the nation's pride in the Orthodox tradition which dates back over a thousand years [Music] the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour will be Russia's principal ecclesiastical space mosque vignette Bertram of but most of Sybil Shri Rama Kotori initially monogamy rosh hashanah builder resolution yet more Western Alenia ramakrishna specific Metis obeys maggini pretty very villa Ko you believe a subordinate role case involve a surgeon heavier promise wala na receives Emilia Mesa movers generous e money for rebuilding the church was raised by Moscow's boss now lush coal he hasn't yet formally declared he's running for president but the press follow him as if he had [Music] last November he founded a new nationalistic political party fatherland he's in total control of an empire which includes 1,500 businesses and his own television station and he's been quick to see the electoral advantage of getting close to the church every Saturday he tours the city it's a rare chance for reporters to throw questions at him [Music] it's a deal [Music] as he's not an Orthodox Christian I asked him why he's backing the church Alicia misciagna a national issues were religion confusion washing washing positive Yamashita in store any sahajiya jealousy be glum nutrients was Patania Dushevina hospital is Patania kim meronym say museum Kotori dude issue Oh crystal a couturier pelini God who knows the Warner's novotná to Djibouti the rancher at business tycoon small community a party he talked with it in his privacy it is a dodgy solution to appear at business the lungs to be religious with rush cough when it's over it's really over the cathedral is only one of lush coffs ambitious building projects he's transformed Moscow city center giving it the speed and glitz of a western capital while rushkoff talks finally of morality gangsters have turned Moscow into a city of Vice to rival Las Vegas [Music] the mayor has stamped his image on Moscow as if he was near the 14th building there sigh he's transformed the great managed square below the Kremlin walls [Music] underneath is a multi-story shopping mound but all the world's most expensive designer names can be found [Music] there are now two parallel economies in Russia the ruble economy where our survival is a struggle and the dollar economy my designer luxuries are important status symbols [Music] the cathedral is the biggest status symbol of all no one knows exactly what its cost mr. Lucia of who is our mayor Meyer now he took some initiatives by the blessing of his holiness Bertha and he organized the excellent system to collect money from banks and some companies and reach people and of course the ordinary people collecting money also and like miracle we have an out the Cathedral was it right to spend so much on a Cathedral when Russia's economy is in ruins the old and disabled are forced to beg state salaries aren't paid the health service has collapsed [Music] a respected former member of parliament a priest who was thrown out of the Russian Church were criticizing too loudly is fighting for justice nashit parish the nearest ruiz de penas más kalyana received a Ludemann Armand really ashes not aborted Megalodon a Shapiro she knew if she of Tom's latest aggression patent Malay our dollar of Libre Cigna streets to Rama that the bestest Rana at NIDA pushed him [Music] it's not a view the church accepts chakram a Kotori savonia style police on a schism leonito rope a stroll in a Niblick every man he trod never a melody Cochran's body after it is written Troodon boring The Karate Kid Rock was so the net at this museum the Orthodox Church returned to favor in 1988 after 70 years of oblivion Revolution of 1917 changed the world's fate and almost destroyed the church within weeks of seizing power Lenin launched an intensive attack on religion horrendous persecution followed thousands died or were sent to the gulags revolutionary leaders encouraged the destruction of church buildings out of 20,000 churches only a few hundred were left open [Music] the original Church of Christ the Saviour had been built to celebrate Tsar Alexander the first victory over Napoleon in 1812 Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture was commissioned to mark its consecration after the Revolution the Bolsheviks stripped out the ecclesiastical treasures marble paintings icons sacred vessels anything of any value and in 1931 that was blown up on Stalin's orders it was a shock for all Russia because the try Savior Cathedral was billed as a symbol of the Orthodox faith of our people and as a symbol of our victory after the Napoleon war the Communists intended to build a magnificent symbol of their own regime in its place like the huge building site of the Palace of Soviets the palace will be 416 meters high a statue of Lenin tapping the building will power into the air 100 meters the arm of the figure raised over the city 30 meters in size the palace of Soviets the most splendid structure of the Stalin epoch a monument to the great Lenin will be 33 meters higher than the Empire State Building in New York City the construction of the palace never got further than its foundations and the site was eventually turned into the largest heated swimming pool in the world [Music] the Church of Christ the Savior stands where a generation of Muscovites learned to swim the patriarch once again powerful and respected is already using his new cathedral the most expensive present the church has received since imperial times a small church beneath the main cathedral is already open [Music] the orthodox church is the only institution in Russia whose hierarchy has survived the collapse of communism only unchanged alexei ii a 70 year old leader of the church was elected patriarch in 1990 having made a brilliant career in soviet times which showed that the KGB approved of him throughout the soviet union priests had to work with the KGB does not necessarily active collaboration more a willingness to play along with the secular authorities annexes KGB code name was trois DAF thrush a singing bird the church in this area time had relations with the government but the but the style of this relations was organized not by not not by church and not from the church the government organized the spatial system of relations between church and state and to government organizations took part in this process the Council for religion and KGB and for the religion leaders in that time there was only one chance there was only one possibility to have a dialogue with government to have a dialogue his KGB and their Council for religions Metropolitan curial Alexis number two and Bishop of Smolensk also had a KGB codename mikhaylov [Music] at grassroots level some priests turned into spies were prepared to fabricate denunciations but the KGB was not all bad at the top of the tree Bishop spike Uriel worked to bolster Russian interests abroad helping to swing the World Council of Churches behind Soviet foreign policy Kira is a pragmatist who has learnt to work with any regime to advance his cause the redemption of mankind through the Orthodox faith just as the church was bitterly criticized for collaborating with the KGB it can now be criticized for playing along with Russia's gangster capitalism maybe however the deep spirituality of the thousand-year-old Russian Orthodox tradition belongs to a different plane of human endeavor and is not affected by such passing political fashions Kiran has publicly expressed his messianic belief that only a transformation based on individual redemption can save Russia and Beyond Russia the world [Music] [Applause] the KGB and communist politicians were both using the church for their own ends politicians are doing just the same today with the rebuilding of the Church of Christ the Savior Yelton even if the church is a political symbol Lascaux using the church is a political symbol and it's very interesting to see how Moscow mayor is balancing between the church and the Communist Party trying to create aliens with both of them and it's not a secret that was called will run during the next presidential elections [Music] although Yeltsin and lush cough both climbed to par through the brutally atheistic communist party they have seen the electoral advantage of identification with the church but even with the Cathedral full of scaffolding they hurried to be seen attending the patriarch service [Music] it took 70 years to build the original church at this time moosh Goff is hoping to get it done in five [Music] the mayor regards the project as a vast job creation scheme some of the notable beneficiaries are his close associates the massive bronze doors have been made by - coughs court sculptor saw absolutelly who is also a member of the church's observation council I asked him why so much money was being spent at a business owner Austin I really do whole no battery Anthony Allen Arado yet the very note that the worried Sammy mudra dodgy at the table - exhibition our first active but the church is not just a spiritual object it's also big business as Sara Telly's lifestyle demonstrates he has a studio and sculpture park in central Moscow 450 assistants the latest models of Western cars and a team of will armed minders apart from the church Tsereteli is bronze statue of Peter the Great was his most lavish commission from Rush Cove the secrecy surrounding money spent on the mayor's big projects has fueled controversy damage any public roads bill jet CERCLA any public goods with the Virginia Patoka Virginia full accounts covering the expenditure of the church or on the church's behalf I kept well onto the public eye you squishy Penson our key estar en kakuna una cos cos øz compensate says a toaster oven oven in Eva's mafra dishes Ebola Jasna the Christian attack namazi stress ramakrishna special state sam struggle Agron yet oceans kazakh [ __ ] dupatta esto girls daily apologies cifra pave on mobile yet Eunice Rossi Shambu Jett Webb Shima scoffs capital he couldn't devise a Sabina pogrom Orestes pass Italy stretch nanotech pogrom patchy autumn sushi Milly are the daughter of at the Duma Russia's lower house of parliament deputies are also trying to discover how much it cost but even in the corridors of power there are no satisfactory answers lack of transparency is making people fear that money has been wasted or misappropriated I talked through an interpreter today of Levinson who works for a member of parliament he has combed through all the available records and has many pointers but no definite answer the very first transfer to they account of Christ the Saviour Cathedral was as much as 800 billion roubles in the in the prices of 1995 that you release we also have a letter dated September 1994 the letter was signed by Patrick of Moscow Alexis the second and mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov where they are appealing to Boris Nikolayevich Hilton the president of Russian Federation asking about funding for the building of Christ the Saviour Cathedral and the figure that is about 80% was to be subsidized from the state budget in the end the government didn't pay in cash but gave donors big tax breaks if they contributed to rush cause fund it is Levinson and Gleb who worked out that the cost of the church is around a billion dollars that's a thousand million we know that over two thousand billion rubles roughly half a billion dollars of the funds money has already been used but much of the work was done on credit so the real cost must be higher [Music] the names of the companies who contributed are carved in marble clocks beside the lower church they make a gilded memorial to Lush Goths fund for the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior [Music] different private firms were obliged to pay money for the reconstruction of the Cathedral and they were getting an exchange very nice certificates to decorate their walls very often when they refuse to do this the immediately had some problems with financial inspection which started to check their registration documents or he did some other things his characteristic of rushkoff style of government is to personally control the smallest details of civic projects this is why he and his advisors react angrily at the suggestion that there has been any improper pressure on Moscow companies they are keen to present the rebuilding of the church as a populist undertaking supported by the small donations of thousands of patriotic citizens the fact is that people came not only the big companies the famous people but ordinary people where they were investing in this fund of reconstruction of the Cathedral their small parts of their poor salaries given in small salaries the to to this Cathedral and it brought a lot of money and the fact is that nobody convinced anyone or persuaded or pushed anyone to to invest in this building [Music] people have been encouraged to contribute through television advertising the patriarch is reported to have been delighted by the way this advertisement portrays the church unifying different sectors of society [Music] it's slogan is the church unites us all as a community yes doc Donna's a beating 8 gram same Mirim [Music] [Music] money is reaching the church from many unconventional sources including profits from business deals in the mid-1990s as the new cathedral began to rise the church got tax breaks from President Yeltsin on the import or sale of various products such as crude oil alcohol and cigarettes yeltsin hands out tax breaks to good causes rather than grants since his government is always short of ready money the church soon found itself handling millions of packets of tax-free cigarettes which had entered the country as humanitarian aid and had to be passed on through secular salesmen critics de menthe know how much money has been earned and where it's gone Mia technical data to proceed with categorical abortions elusive at veterans ability Chiefs Agosto human attorney Thomas dr. Shalini vodka Demeter goi'm ePaper awesome Segura atomy know me if they're going sister go problem sister go acid a Danish key he did circus noon emotion insert a pet who died of surgery because the people gives us they boots and sometimes the people send to Russian people cigarettes suing the church but the church never sell this cigarettes or alcohol the special government organizations and special secular organizations sell the cigarettes all distribute the cigarettes for example between the Army in Chechnya or in other places but the some journalists present this picture from from from variant side [Music] once the church one had their shiny new Cathedral with lavish marble plaid museum galleries in the basement they asked for another tax break they wanted 12 million dollars for the best icons money could buy the patriarch asked Yeltsin for tax break on crude oil to buy icons from the West but Yeltsin gave him 12 million dollars from the foreign currency reserves instead it was 1996 another election year and Yeltsin got reelected no one has ever spent that much on icons why was the church so keen to buy them for the Orthodox people their icons it's not on the subject of culture it's the very important part of the spiritual life the part of our cult of our liturgy and the new capital we all have the beautiful icons for this in the Middle Ages the majority of people was and literal the icon was alike theology in colors [Music] [Applause] [Music] hi Cronus were made for churches and it is politics that has passed them loose [Music] while the icons bought for Christ the Savior have their religious value the story of that purchase is one of worldly financial dealings ironically they first became marketable items as a result of communist zeal [Music] [Applause] before the Revolution of 1917 there were millions of icons spread round Russia's churches but it is estimated that only 5% of them were survived amongst them the icons of Moscow's relief Museum where icons rescued by believers were brought in Soviet times [Music] [Music] in the aftermath of the revolution vast quantities of icons were wrenched from churches and destroyed [Music] [Music] across Russia as the churches have begun to reopen the memory of their desecration remains vivid restore circulation terrain you can establish what the corner Stata materialist Musial's stood of Turin has nurtured which is a granite super Davos is a cone the chemo prism know what such a drama what's openings Adeem suggests at critics should wa formal intoxicated Agusta Jesus turn aggravate so sure was Leo really was one of the world's leading dealers in Russian art started his career in the 1970s combing the countryside around Moscow for icons there were all sorts of different icons that could be found in that area at the time I remember we pulled up with us to sort of local store where a whole bunch of guys were hanging around and so it just came over and said hey guys you know we'll pay you five rubles for any icon that you're gonna bring and so they brought about hundred icons that they collected from their mother-in-law from from tear relatives from their churches one of the most common approaches the little old ladies was knock on the door and say Barbara where artists restores from Moscow and so we came over here to look at your icons very often the icons were purchased for nothing by enterprising young man this was a cloak-and-dagger business men with brown-paper parcels climbed the stairs of Moscow apartment blocks in constant fear of arrest if you are caught trading in icons it was ten years in prison with their exchange value in the West icons became an alternative currency Moscow was the schooling ground for Dutch art dealer who has pursued a well-publicized career and art fraud I connected with a couple of groups through contacts you made there I mean you went out you had like restaurants where the bomb on that from that time could spend their money you did business over the table you did business in a hotel you had to get drunk with these people because if you didn't get drunk with them they wouldn't trust you because you know only a drunk man and a child to speak the truth I've been buying I can said I saw them dancing on the wall and I've been buying them with one eye closed like this there have been export controls in Russia since 1917 and smugglers had to find ways around them third-world diplomats were a favorite option since their luggage had diplomatic immunity and could pass automatically through customs African students studying in Moscow were also used as terrorism they would take icons by train to Berlin why they handed them over to local dealers I got them out of the country by different ways I mean you know if there is such a severe system as there was in Russia you have a lot of people who are looking for possibilities you had two diplomats but diplomats they were not always trustworthy because you know you could only control them so far so you learned you lose a couple of shipments there were different ways for instance there were the tour operators the bus drivers you could bribe it's traditionally I try through my gallery which I had an Amsterdam that time and sell the more commercial pieces and select the better pieces for my collection in the 1970s fan Ryan formed a distinguished collection of icons which he subsequently lost as a result of a bankruptcy and in 1996 it was this collection that the patriarch planned to buy with Yeltsin's money Christie's London sale room is one of the obvious places to turn in such of icons with a clean provenance unlike van rinds but the icons they sell are rarely of the exceptional quality the patriarch was looking for at their December auction most prices were below the 10,000 pound mark 2,286 thank you very much back in the 1970s Christie's used to sell icons for novo export the Soviet government's official export agency but the official icons were never much good the best icons left Russia with smugglers like van ride so buying icons in the West meant the patriarch risked ending up with smuggled goods the church's big bucks made it vulnerable hold on at 7,000 paddle 103 to the van rain collection was stored in Christie's high-security warehouse though Christie's may not have known it metropolitan Carol came to view it there in 1996 his intention to buy may have been undermined by discovering van Rhines notorious reputation as a smuggler while he was in London Kiril was offered another collection by the axia gallery it was known as the Prince Michael collection then a third collection popped up icons gathered from various leading dealers and offered through a Swiss company presidio investments the church when were innocents riped for piecing in the wily international art market so the Ministry of Culture set up a commission to help them make their choice yes she was in series with Petrovna still it will double no chain be able to say no means justice autonomy come you know it in the business of saluting of probably new media but Priscilla minnieofoz maternity slightly Kotori will please love me [Music] we found several of the Commission at Sergey posad an ancient monastery 50 miles from Moscow the monastery was the headquarters of the Orthodox Church during the Soviet period the culture ministry specialists confirmed that they had been asked to choose between three possible collections but they themselves were mystified about hot icons had been bought and how they could have cost nearly 12 million dollars the appropriate not cadet see Prince Mikhail at Castle is a study related mr. Horvitz Article III Kotori tympanum couturier period legacy of many associates and is national item will increase maybe she a Moscow museum curator secretly showed us photographs of some of the icons offered from Switzerland amongst them are three we know to have been bought the church will only confirm that it bought a collection from Switzerland and refuses to say what it contained purchased African cat Ramirez motive only provision is racism mr. Quayle was delivering new Katriona preferred delivery territorial system in this attic art of non Nokia equina negative static a believer is an assertion leader takumin prism propeller colors to suit our strategy now this rapidly Chicago data receive no bullying is a condom Oprah's envisioned a tipple polical astronomers equipment Watson on Catalina Mugabe was said was most the readmission and of not remembering an idea Magoo cos I know he has Nana's cookies a Putin history a Bastian next up chef it's a list me ministers to cool Tory Kotori officially theaters additive approach leadership or Newsnight DT ethically take a tourniquet or bullet push a groom is a statutory policy from Davina's million October I see inertia bias not Priya Brittini ethically T V theater collects a neutron news night the Yakubu cupola nonnatus toku pian nikto nikto back at the duma the culture committee has taken up the issue of the missing icons without success they're concerned that there may have been a huge waste of public money Brittini collect sehun lacrima christosp a civilian ginga very vigilant so there's no good read it idiot kiss Lucci but a mysterious night suppose acronym for constitutes it certified de nada Siddhartha epitome oppressive ignition emotions Lorna Madrid pre-crime is robbing financier of any cult or Pope in medical tourism Nieto conservative Olli Chirac Alenia with Alenia Taco Bell for a zoomit Ronettes million of dollar business dirty dingy and Eve let's the suder's frenemy in Dominica greedy put a teeny bit resolution is suitable in response to go dmoz inquiries the Finance Ministry sent her a letter explaining that the church had been allocated eleven point eight million dollars out of the nation's foreign currency reserves of which ten and a half had already been spent the patriarch had signed a contract for the purchase with the Swiss company Presidio investments and the works of art were now in storage at the Patriarchate it was in New York that we next pursued our inquiries not surprisingly we found more information there than in Moscow we met an émigré Russian who recently had an audience with the patriarch the subject of decorating Christ the Savior came into conversation and bringing back the icons Russian icons that were sold in the 20s or in the 30s by Communists abroad and that are now in private collections or in museums or whatever and some of them are offered for sale and being bought by patriarchy in particular one icon the icon of Holy Trinity of 15th century and the patriarch said that that icon was offered to them at the unbelievable price of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars and I knew that icon because a friend of mine Heidi Betts owned it actually Tanja called to tell me that she'd had her audience with the patriarch and in conversation about Christ the Savior Church the patriarch told her that they were going to be buying icons and one of the icons specifically that came up in conversation was a Trinity I was being offered at this same time one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the same icon through a London colleague and who was the colleague my colleague prefers to remain anonymous there was a discrepancy of four hundred thousand dollars at the same meeting tanya was shown a photograph of a pair of 18th century Greek royal doors for which the patriarch was also being asked five hundred and fifty thousand Heidi had them for sale at only a hundred thousand I only know one thing that the prices that were offered to the patriarchy not through us but through other people whoever they are are exorbitant has the church been overcharged that determination not to show the icons and obsession with secrecy has given rise to suspicion and rumours of skullduggery we have asked several times for permission to film the icons but without success we were always told they were being studied or stored but could find no art historians who are studying them or restorers who were restoring what had been bought and why was the whole transaction surrounded by so much secrecy finally I went to the danielaube monastery the headquarters of the russian orthodox church to try and discover what had been going on why had they made the purchase the official spokesman was polite but funny informative they didn't participate in the process and I think it's quite normal that such processes are not always revealed to the public I'm it very mature the church is obliged to reveal every aspect of its activities all the activities of the state or end of commercial structures so any of the experts related to this collection of icons but of course [Music] everything which is normal to reveal will be presented when the exhibition is opened [Music] meanwhile the church has secretly bought a collection of icons which may or may not be worth the nearly 12 million dollars that was paid for it [Music] a multi-million dollar cathedral has been built no one knows exactly where the money came from or precisely why the donations were made [Music] in the new Russia just as in Soviet times institutions don't expect to tell the public what they're doing there has been one miraculous change however the voters returned to spirituality after 70 years of hiding their faith from the political authorities half the population now publicly claimed they're believers [Music] it brought church and state back together in a pragmatic embrace system working for democracy and for the deep changing of the situation in the country and the relations between church and state only the part of this policy I hope that the future will be better than now and the next generation of politicians will be more dynamic than than the present present politicians and I hope that the future of my country will be better yosh cough belongs to the next generation and it is apparently lush cough that Kiril is backing for the presidency even though the race hasn't officially started yes the good eyes much the villainous cousin Aisha pollution what was an absolute lie you still won't tell the media whether he's standing but his support for the church could help him realize his ambitions nope Regina the worst Hilson Prevost de ataque naga black yabba's castle at any religion a Pashtun in Serbia charisma premiere at charisma politics cat national an apology to electorate Oprah's TV Eric badger connectedness libera at the end of the millennium the patriarchy and the politicians are back in business but rather than helping the poor they prefer to squander their profits on glittering symbols displaying expensive old icons in a brand new cathedral is a visual expression of the Russian Orthodox Church is returned to power and political favor the church's quest for icons for their new cathedral may have been undertaken by devout churchmen but the motivation belonged to the material world above all the world of politics [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 108,730

Keywords: Ancient Russian cathedrals, Christian faith, Christian history, Instagram, Moscow, Netflix for history, Orthodox Christian church, Orthodox Christianity, Religious festivals, Religious holidays, Religious site, Russian architectural history, Russian culture, Russian culture and tradition, Russian religious landmarks, Russian religious music, Russian spirituality, Timeline, Timeline - World History Documentaries, UNESCO World Heritage, World's tallest churches

Id: eCTZr84duls

Length: 48min 53sec (2933 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 14 2019