Pussy Riot and the Russian Orthodox Church

            Image if you will, Tim Minchin walking into St Pauls Cathedral in London and starts singing "Woody Allen Jesus" and then Rowan Williams calling the PM to have him put in jail. ( Tim wouldn't really do this, either would Rowan Williams ).

But this is pretty much what Pussy Riot did in Russia, as was the response of  Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (known as ROC from now on)

Well, you can see for yourself.

It's not something I would do, but then in the land of the Church of England, you wouldn't have to. 

While the coverage of the Pussy Riot girls is ongoing, there is an unpleasant under current from the ROC.

Vsevolod Chaplin is often a church spokesman:

Chaplin praised the growing closeness between church and state. "For the Orthodox believer,  like for Muslims, of course the authorities and the church are understood as one thing," he said. "Our ideal is the unity of the church and the authorities, and unity of the people and the authorities."
"In this way, we are decidedly different from the west. I think attempts in the west to separate the spiritual sphere and secular sphere is a historical mistake," Chaplin said. "Such a division is not characteristic to any civilisation except the west."
He denied the existence of corruption in the highest ranks of the Russian government and only criticised the authorities for one thing: not "speaking loudly enough" about western involvement in the growing opposition movement in Russia.

Amnesty are supporting Pussy Riot as prisoners of conscious, you can support them here.
  
http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/sms-action-network/pussy-riot


“The most important dictator, Putin, is really afraid of people,” says Squirrel. More specifically, he’s afraid of Pussy Riot. Afraid of a bunch of young, positive, optimistic women unafraid to speak their minds.”