The Russian Orthodox Church should exert...
"If the Church does not take part in the country"s cultural life, culture is running the risk of turning into an anti-culture, as has repeatedly happened in the past," Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who oversees the church"s external relations, said in an interview to RIA Novosti.
He added that critics" fears that the increasingly authoritative church had too large a role in society were unfounded, declaring that it would not turn into a censor.
The influence of the Orthodox Church has been on the rise since the collapse of the Soviet Union, becoming one of the key institutions of Russian society. Church leaders, who enjoy strong support from the Kremlin, have many times warned of possible dangerous consequences of market reforms for traditional spiritual values and urged society to look for balancing solutions.
Hilarion said culture is "not neutral" in moral terms as it "can carry both a positive and a negative moral charge; it can create and it can destroy."