THE Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) has issued a strongly worded statement condemning the Russian state’s policy of rehabilitating Soviet-era figures and its growing embrace of Soviet-style historical revisionism.

The statement by the ROCOR’s Synod of Bishops highlights a recent noticeable shift in Russia’s official stance on its history, drawing attention to recent changes in the “Concept of State Policy on the Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression”.

The state document, which was updated last year and addresses the case of those who were persecuted under Communist rule, indicates “a rising tendency to whitewash the crimes of the God-fighting regime of the twentieth century”, the statement says,

The ROCOR, which is based in New York, says that this trend is particularly evident in Moscow, with the reinstallation of statues of both the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Felix Dzerzhinsky, the one-time Bolshevik leader who founded the Soviet secret police and oversaw the restoration of Lenin’s mausoleum on Moscow’s Red Square.

Last month, the authorities in Moscow unveiled a statue of Stalin in one of the city’s underground stations. The monument is a replica of the original, which was removed in 1966 during the Soviet Union’s de-Stalinization campaign initiated by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev.

ROCOR’s statement asserts that this is the moment “to raise its voice out of bitter necessity”, as “aspects of the Russian state and society are wandering onto an extremely dangerous path.” It says that the growing resurgence of past ideological doctrines is “fraught with harmful consequences”.

The statement continues: “Instead of the promulgation of Christian repentance and purification, we observe in certain circles a return to a false, God-opposing ideology that prevailed in the last century.

“Should it continue, we fear that modern Russia risks being considered a dark stain amongst the nations, marked by a revival of spiritual corruption, instead of her being a radiant beacon of Orthodox Truth, which is surely the calling to which her long history of Christian piety directs her.”

ROCOR was established in response to the Russian Bolshevik takeover in 1917, formed as a dissident religious group of émigrés, independent from both the Communists and the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

President Putin was directly involved in talks about reunification at the beginning of his presidency in the early 2000s. ROCOR returned to the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, restoring full communion while retaining some autonomy.

The reunification also resulted in fewer public disagreements with the Moscow Patriarchate and enhanced the global position of the Russian Church, a contrast with ROCOR’s stance during the Soviet era, when it was highly critical of the Christian persecution perpetrated by Communist regimes.

In Ukraine, ROCOR has supported Metropolitan Onufriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church rather than the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Its bishops have been outspoken about religious freedom in Ukraine, particularly in relation to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is historically tied to Moscow. ROCOR, however, has so far not named President Putin as the aggressor, and its clergy continue to acknowledge Patriarch Kirill.

In 2023, Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe (ROCOR) condemned the war in Ukraine, calling for its end and asserting that the church is apolitical and is not linked with “any state or government, nor any political ideology”.

“This is not a political question for us but a religious one. We stand against all war, and this war in particular, as we stand also against bloodshed, and against persecution in all cases — whoever may be their perpetrators,” Bishop Irinei said in a statement at the time.

Many regard the latest ROCOR statement as a sign of protest against both President Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. While it can be interpreted as a form of dissent, it stops short of directly condemning or rejecting Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, maintaining its focus instead on ideological developments within Russia.