The Baton and the Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin

by Lucy Ash

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.

Combining historical research with vivid present-day reportage, The Baton and the Cross explores the impact the Church is having on millions of lives - from the tower blocks of big cities to far-flung villages in Siberia. Delving into the underbelly of politics, state security and big money, Ash shows how these forces have formed an unholy alliance with Orthodoxy in the dystopia of twenty-first century Russia.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Religion, Audiobook

384 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2024

Reviews

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book to read to understand the Russian Orthodox Church today, particularly its cowardly concubinage to Vladimir Putin.

Veteran journalist Lucy Ash is an unbeliever herself but she has a long-standing relationship with Russia, having reported on the country for decades. She begins the book by chronicling the beginnings of Orthodoxy in Holy Rus', namely the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988 AD under the rule of Vladimir the Great (the birthplace of Russian Orthodoxy being in Kievan Rus' also helps to explain Putin's ambitions to conquer Ukraine due to its symbolic value). Ash continues unfolding the history of Russian Orthodoxy, paying close attention to the Russian Church's relationship to the state. Along the way, readers encounter figures such as Nils Sorsky (c. 1433 - 1508), champion of the nestyazhateli (non-possessors) who opposed the ecclesiastical ownership of land, Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (1605 - 1681), whose ecclesiastical and liturgical reforms (which brought Russian Orthodoxy more closely in alignment with Greek Orthodoxy) were stridently rejected by the Old Believers, and the Russian statesman Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827 - 1907), an arch-conservative official placed in charge of the Most Holy Synod. Ash also examines how the Russian Church operated during the oppressive Soviet era.

But this is not just a history of the distant past; it is also very much an exploration of Russian Christianity in the present. The two key characters in most of the book are Vladimir Putin and the current Patriarch, Kirill of Moscow but she also interviews and interacts with minor clergy and lay Russians. The Russian Church has thrived in the post-Soviet era as a hand of the state, with hundreds - even thousands - of churches and monasteries being built and the priesthood growing in number. Kirill and his clerics have vociferously promulgated traditional values and distrust of the "decadent" West yet much of the Church's funding has come from shady sources (notably the oligarchs) and corruption and hypocrisy abounds. Kirill has also been aggressively vying for dominance in the Orthodox world, not only in Ukraine but further afield, exporting Russian clergy around the world (especially pushing into Africa), and feuding with Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch. Despite the Church's power and influence in Russian society, the actual rate of regular church attendance is incredibly low, with little more than a tenth of the Russian populace participating in worship at least once a month.

Highly recommend this deeply fascinating book!

[Matthew Zajac · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully-written and riveting book. It's a history of the Russian Orthodox church and its role in state power, with a particularly detailed and grisly account of the way that this church and Vladimir Putin have used each other to create the psychopathic gangster authoritarianism that now controls Russia. It's also a very personal journey, with so many fascinating accounts of the author's journeys and encounters across Russia on journalism assignments over the past 30-odd years. Lucy Ash writes with a great depth of knowledge. She really knows what she's writing about. She has taken great care to give us a highly readable, perceptive, horrifying, and even, at times, funny book and an essential aid to understanding what has been going on in Putin's Russia.

[historic_chronicles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expertly written, compiling the complicated history of the Russian Orthodox Church and its complex relationship with the Russian state, journalist Lucy Ash presents a convincing argument on how the church has assisted in influencing and shaping the drive and ambition of Russia.

Interweaving personal reflection of memories of Russia with deep historical fact of her chosen subject, Ash presents a realistic approach to the troubled policies of Putin's Russia and the war in Ukraine and how they compare to that of the Russia of old. With a chilling frankness, Ash does not refrain from documenting the harsh realities that feature in the history of the church.

Timely and thought-provoking, The Baton and the Cross is an essential book for understanding the turbulent history of the Russian state and religion, and how it shaped its present ways.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting combination of potted history of the Orthodox Church in Russia, and its contemporary entanglement with Putin's regime. The chapter on its role in the ongoing culture wars around domestic violence and gay rights is particularly devastating.

[History Today]

Lucy Ash’s passionate The Baton and the Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin (Icon) convinced me that Pussy Riot’s 2012 sacrilege in the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow was far more Christian than anything the Russian Orthodox Church has said or done over the last 80 years.

Read History Today’s Books of the Year 2024 at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...

Donald Rayfield is author of ‘A Seditious and Sinister Tribe’: The Crimean Tatars and Their Khanate (Reaktion)

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive book on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. It lays bare the way in which it became ideology driven and assumed an essential role in Russia's war against Ukraine. I have great admiration for Lucy Ash to have put together such a detailed account.

[Solomon Mcharo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most authors who write about Russia in the current epoch, separate Russia into three distinct governments: Tsarist Russia, Communist Russia and Post Iron Curtain Russia. This author has managed to write about all those governments as one hegemony while using the church as a backdrop to connect the current times of Putin with those of the past such as with the Tsars. You are not able to feel the stamp of Putin’s rule that is common with many authors when they write about the current rule in Russia. This book provides context about the Mongol raids on Russian territory which serves to say that Putin has avoided the trap of believing that he could obtain further territory in Eastern Europe without redefining the borders through the spilling of blood.

[Kurt Vorndran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really an important book given the present situation. Lucy Ash tells of both the good and bad as to the thousand year long relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the State. There are both heroes and villains throughout history, and this book leads the reader to understand the present day subservience of the ROC to Putin while also giving an understanding as to how Orthodoxy can be a source of strength and courage to those who dissent from Putin.

[Bart Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complete book with some background information of the Russian Orthodox church and it’s current status. However, what I missed was a bit more neutral description of the current status from both sides. Additionally, I would have liked some information on the break between Moscow and Constantinopel on a liturgical level.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Gina Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can completely see why this book has been shortlisted for the British Academy book award, it ties together past and present seamlessly despite spanning 1000 years of history. Although I studied Russian history and a variety of time periods in Russian history during my undergraduate degree a do feel the relationship between the state, the church and the people is often neglected. These are brought in to the light in this book starting with the conversion to Christianity and through to the present. The chapters focusing directly on Putin’s Russia were engaging and detailed, welcomely avoided reading like a news article and instead kept a similar format to previous chapters.

Very good selection of pictures.

[Juliet]

Fascinating from start to finish.

I found The Baton and the Cross a gripping read, filled with gasp-out-loud moments. Lucy Ash scatters little gems of insight throughout, such as the story of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which took half a century to build and cost 15 million roubles—more than twice the 7 million roubles Russia received when selling Alaska to the U.S. in 1867. It was demolished in just an hour in 1931.

Ash’s journalistic skill shines as she expertly condenses the vast history of the Russian Orthodox Church and its ‘abusive codependent’ relationship with the Russian state into a compelling narrative. She makes a clear case for how the Church’s entanglement with political power has not only shaped Russia but also continues to influence its ambitions today. Not only does she provide deep historical insights, but she also includes her own personal experiences of visiting Russia, beginning at age 15. These firsthand reflections make her account even more relatable and lend a personal touch that draws the reader closer to the realities of Russian life and history.

The book vividly illustrates how the early history of the Church is vitally connected to Putin’s war in Ukraine. Since present-day Ukraine was once the heartland of the ancient Rus, with Kyiv as the mother of all Russian cities, Putin persists in seeing it not as an independent country but as "Little Russia," with sacred significance for Russian identity. This historical context provides a chilling backdrop for understanding Putin’s expansionist agenda and his use of the Russian Orthodox Church to further it. From 1500 to 1917, the Russian Empire expanded at an astonishing rate of 130 square kilometers a day, only to lose about 5.3 million square kilometers in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. Putin's nostalgia for imperial Russia drives his view of the invasion of Ukraine as a mission to “return” what he considers historically Russian territory.

Ash doesn’t shy away from recounting the brutalities in the Church's history, tempered by acts of kindness from noble priests. The gruesome details of an archbishop hunted to death by dogs after being sewed into a bearskin, priests who were scalped or crucified, and the tens of thousands killed between the Russian Revolution and WWII are haunting reminders of the Church’s turbulent past. These examples surpass the estimated 3,500 early Christian martyrs thrown to the lions.

This book is a timely and accessible exploration of Russia's turbulent religious history and how it continues to shape the present. Ash connects the past to the present seamlessly, offering a fresh perspective on how Putin draws inspiration from figures like Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. By interweaving historical context with vivid storytelling, Ash brings clarity to a crucial but often overlooked aspect of Russian power and its moral complexities. I was particularly struck by how Putin kept his advisors in the dark about the invasion, suggesting he looks more to historical figures for counsel than to those in his own administration.

Ash's work is both an eye-opening exploration of the past and a sobering reflection on the current state of Russia, offering readers a compelling lens through which to view Putin’s motivations and ambitions. It is a powerful read that’s as relevant as it is thought-provoking.