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Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2009-04-04
Author: MANSUR MIROVALEV Associated Press Writer
Intro: To tens of millions of Russian believers, the Orthodox Church is first of all a sacred institution, a pillar of the country's 1,000-year-old identity and culture.
. . .
According to Nikolai Mitrokhin, director of a research institute that studies religions in the former Soviet Union, the church built its fortune starting in the 1990s through trade in tobacco and alcohol, through exports of oil and sturgeon, by the construction of shopping malls and hotels and by operating jewelry stores - allegedly with counterfeit bling. The church also runs book publishing concerns and organic farms.
A church spokesman, Father Vsevolod Chaplin, confirmed that the Patriarchate controlled many businesses. But Chaplin said neither the tobacco nor the oil business proved profitable, and claimed the church is no longer involved in them. He also dismissed the notion that the church's commercial deals had undermined its spiritual mission.
"I don't see anything detrimental if the church can invest in this kind of work," he told AP.
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