re: #300 Prof. Backpfeifengesicht, PhD

The ROC also thoroughly collaborated with the Soviet regime, the whole Church elite consisted of KGB agents (incl. of course the current Patriarch). But it was still an oppressed religious community and an average believer (incl. local priests) in Soviet times was more likely to be a true believer, deserving of sympathy for believing despite the atheist dictatorship’s orders.

So it’s all the more bitterly ironic how the oppressed turned into the oppressors in such a short time span.

But that’s the way it’s always been, (or at least since Ivan IV) isn’t it? The senior hierarchy were government allies, and after the SU collapsed, they still were.