In reply to Amelia.

Hi Amelia,

Thanks for your comment. What you read as sleight of hand here is not meant as such at all: The antecedent of "this" is not meant to be "The Orthodox Church," but "the church as political arm." My comment, and my article, point out that the Gospel can easily be clouded by the conflation of church and state. This can be true in any church body, including our own.

I would push back on your point that no Orthodox Christian would conflate this political tragedy to the Gospel, and refer you to some of the rhetoric cited in the article, such as the altar server at the Cathedral to the Armed Forces who is quoted saying that “In the war, our soldiers martyred themselves so that we could be free and independent. Only Russians are capable of sacrificing themselves to save humanity, just like Jesus did.” I came across many instances of such rhetoric in my research for this story, and the entire existence of such a chapel could be considered a conflation of military victory and salvation by Christ.

I agree with some of your critiques of Protestant denominations and you do point out aptly (if acerbically) some of the struggles we face in the LCMS. However, the LCMS does not claim that its institution is coextensive with the true church. I am not accusing the whole Orthodox Church of being an arm of the state; I am simply analyzing the situation in Russia to point out how the combination of ethnic Christianity and institutional ecclesiology is very thorny: some who believe the Orthodox Church is the true church are now in churches which are in schism over political issues. As a Lutheran, I am not surprised by the many problems we face in the LCMS. The LCMS is not the one true church. No human institution is. The true church is Christ's and, as you have said, the gates of hell will not prevail against it.