The Kremlin has a long history of interfering in the life of the Orthodox Church. Tsars, General Secretaries, and Presidents have seen in the Church a partner, a source of legitimacy, and a threat to their authority. We learned last week that Vladimir Putin has brought this Russian tradition into the digital age: Russian military intelligence has sought to hack and surveil His All Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This news underscores the Church’s vulnerability to the Kremlin when her affairs intersect with its worldly interests. It should caution those in the Church who see a close relationship with the Kremlin as desirable or benign.
The news of the attempted hacking was broken by the Associated Press, which discovered the names of high-ranking advisors to His All Holiness on a “hit list” of emails targeted by Fancy Bear. For about a decade, Fancy Bear has infiltrated organizations inside and outside of Russia, including the Democratic National Committee prior to the 2016 United States Presidential Election. A recent indictment by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller confirms long-held suspicions that Fancy Bear is, in fact, part of the Russian military intelligence directorate. How long the EP has been under surveillance by the Russian government and what, if anything of value the Kremlin was able to learn is unknown. The attempted hacking is likely related to the current state of the Church in Ukraine. Continue Reading…