Vladimir Rozanskij

Fr Ioann Karabidovich, 36, who took off on an 8,000-km bike ride on 16 July, is already halfway, set to reach Moscow in the evening of 31 July where he will tour abandoned provincial churches with other Orthodox bikers. A 2019 ‘On Your Roads’ calendar is in the making, with sales to go to support poor families and an Orthodox mission in Pakistan.

Commemorating one hundred years since the massacre of the tsar and his family, many pilgrims focused especially on the relics of the Aunt of Tsar Nicholas II. She was a descendant of Elisabeth of Thuringia. Married to Prince Sergei Aleksandrovich, from Lutheran she became Orthodox. A saint not only of charity, but also of ecumenism and the multicultural world.

A terrorist tried to kill the mayor of Gäncä. In the demonstrations that followed for his release, two police officers were killed. The motive would seem to link Tehran to Moscow and Damascus. For Iran it is "false news" with the aim of damaging Tehran.

The Patriarch of Moscow led a pilgrimage to the sites where the tsar and his family were murdered. The revolution is rooted in western ideas of progress and well-being. Like Dostoevsky, Kirill calls for the rejection of “temptations coming from abroad".

Two centuries after Napoleon’s defeat, the French finally take Moscow. But the glory goes especially to the players who hail from France’s former colonies. In the final match, only three out of 14 players were white. FIFA is happy about the US$ 6 billion in revenues. Russia’s good organisation overshadowed the "scandal" of its annexation of Crimea. Final price tag for stadiums and infrastructure: US$ 50 billion.

For Putin the football championships have debunked many stereotypes, presenting "a welcoming country". For Vitalij Portnikov the "crimeana" phase is over and the internal division of Russia between liberals and patriots. But here and there appear criticisms of the "narcotic" use of the World Cup. The belligerant promises of Aleksandr Navalny.

The millions of refugees in Lebanon, rebuilding Syria, the drama of migrants, collaboration between the Churches: an interview of the "Secretary of State" of the Moscow Patriarchate a few hours after the ecumenical prayer meeting in Bari, together with Pope Francis and the patriarchs of the East.

Patriarch of Moscow Kirill will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the death of the last emperor of Russia with the bishops. The memory of the "royal martyrs" and the shooting ordered by Lenin.

The confrontation between the Russian and Ottoman empires has always been the main factor behind success or failure. Erdogan wants to build his powerbase in the Middle East, endangering Russia’s hard-fought hegemony in Syria. Back home, some in the Orthodox Church see pension reform and the raising of the retirement age as God’s punishment, whilst approval rates for Putin and Medvedev are down.

In his greeting for the 70th anniversary of the institution, he defines it as "an exceptional space for dialogue between Christians of various confessions". The appeal to help Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, threatened to disappear. The WCC support for Moscow Patriarchate over Kiev in Ukraine.

In a historic first, exponents of traditional Siberian religion gather in Congress to elect a Supreme Shaman: Kara-Ool Dopchun-Ool. The adherents of the animist tradition do not want funds from the state and do not ask to erect places of worship. They promise battle against imposters who cheat people.

Kirill’s great rival in the 2009 patriarchal elections highlights the "unacceptable" differences that exist between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The opinions of Catholics and other heretics about God are “unacceptable".