A top official in the Russian Orthodox church said on Tuesday that the trial of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot had been willed by God, and called on Russia to do away with its secular state.
Three members of Pussy Riot stand accused of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred following a February performance in Russia's main cathedral aimed at protesting against Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency.
"It was a sin against God and it is God that is judging it," Vsevolod Chaplin, a high-ranking priest who often acts as the church's spokesman, said. "And all Christians should know this."
The trial entered its second day on Tuesday, with the questioning of nine Orthodox Christians who said they were insulted when they saw the punk performance, entitled Virgin Mary, Chase Putin Out! Chaplin denied accusations that the church had promoted the persecution of the three Pussy Riot members – Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich – who face up to seven years in prison if found guilty. "The church does not put any pressure on the court," he said.
The three women have said they performed their anti-Putin "punk prayer" to protest against the decision of the leader of the Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, to openly support Putin in the lead-up to presidential elections in March. Chaplin denied any such support. The patriarch has repeatedly praised Putin and denounced protesters who have taken to the streets against him. In February, two weeks before Pussy Riot's performance, he called the Putin era "a miracle of God".
Chaplin said he refused to accept the three women's apology, issued in court on Monday, for insulting Orthodox believers. The women have pleaded not guilty.
"Their words had a double meaning," Chaplin said. "Any acceptance of a mistake is a step in the right direction. But they also insulted the patriarch, who is a symbol of the church.
"For me, as a priest and a Christian, what's important is that a sin was committed, that many people were hurt by these actions," Chaplin said. He hinted that the women were seeking revolution, criticising their decision to hold a protest inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. He said: "When symbols are overthrown, and others are put in their stead, people want to say: we've taken power here. All these acts around symbols are attempts to redistribute power."
The trial has split Russian society. With religious feeling growing steadily since the fall of the atheist Soviet Union, many found Pussy Riot's performance distasteful. Yet arguments abound over whether the women should be jailed or not. They have already spent five months in prison.
A recent poll by the Levada Centre, an independent polling organisation, found that 43% of Russians thought that a prison sentence of two to seven years would be a disproportionate response, while 33% thought it would be adequate.
The Pussy Riot case has spawned a wide-reaching discussion inside Russia on the role of the church and its relationship with the state.
A strong source of opposition in Soviet times, the church has collaborated closely with, and benefited handsomely from, Putin's regime. It is now believed to be one of the main landowners in Russia.
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.
"The west gives its support to divide the people of Russia," Chaplin said. "The west has to finally understand that we are different from western society, with its governmental, political and holy structures. The quicker they understand it, the better."
