The Baton and the Cross
Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin
For more than a millennium, the Russian Orthodox Church has shown astonishing survival skills - from the Mongol yoke to tsarist demagoguery and enlightenment, from Soviet atheism to the chaotic 1990s. Now again, it is at the right hand of power, sanctifying Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
In this provocative new book, Lucy Ash reveals how, under Putin, religion is being stripped of its spiritual content and used as a weapon to control the population. Orthodox clerics and their acolytes distort theology as they preach Slav Christian supremacy and drag Russia backwards into a new Middle Ages.
“A vivid picture of the ways seismic moments of Russia’s religious past are reverberating today”
“Her extensive reading, linguistic gifts and objectivity make this an important book”
Putin has created a “toxic co-dependency” between church and state in Russia by portraying himself as a “messianic” leader, argues Lucy Ash on Times Radio as she discusses her new book The Baton and The Cross.
Ukraine: The Latest
How the Russian Orthodox Church became a vital force in Putin’s existential war against Ukraine.
The Moscow Times
How the War in Ukraine Split the Orthodox Church