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Russian Orthodox Church returns to Mideast

Russia's Orthodox Christian heritage in now front and center in Moscow's Middle East policies.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (5th L) and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Metropolitan Theophilos (front 2nd R) stand near the Stone of Anointing, where Christians believe the body of Jesus was prepared for burial, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City June 26, 2012. REUTERS/Alexsey Druginyn/RIA Novosti/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTR345VK
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Given the diplomatic and military presence that Moscow has recently established on the Mediterranean and in the Levant, it is only natural that its ecclesiastical role experience a resurgence as well. During the last few days, the Russian banner of the two-headed eagle, representing the church and the state, has been personified in Beirut by the visiting Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations in the Russian Orthodox Church. The church’s “foreign minister” met with a number of state, political and religious officials in the Lebanese capital, bringing with him a number of messages. The most important was Russia’s decision to effectively act as the protector of Christians in the Levant and as their defender and legal representative, perhaps the only real one they have on an international level.

In a closed meeting held at Hilarion's Beirut hotel and attended by Al-Monitor, the metropolitan expounded on the reasons and goals of his visit. He began by laying out Russia’s official stance vis-à-vis the Arab Spring. He contended, “It is not a natural process resulting from internal developments that took place in the countries that witnessed its effects. What occurred was more of a foreign plan executed by external factions to control these countries, a plan that began with the Iraq war in 2003.” As a result, “It was not democracy that prevailed in those countries, but utter and total chaos, the price of which was primarily paid by the Christian inhabitants of these countries, who were persecuted, killed and driven out.”

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