The fall of the regime in Damascus has also led to a backlash against the Orthodox patriarchate heir to one of the most important seats of ancient Christianity by a mysterious movement sympathetic to the new Islamist regime which  - amid accusations of collaborationism and old scores - is calling for the resignation of Ioann X. In the background are relations with Moscow with which this Church remains linked, though without having broken with Constantinople.

On Radio Svoboda the testimony of one of the religious living abroad after refusing to recite the prayer for war and being suspended by the Moscow Patriarchate. Having left Jerusalem, where he worked for the Russian mission, in Belgium he is now studying the Fathers of the Church to understand how this slide into ‘extreme neo-conservatism, to the cult of militarism and neo-imperialism’ was possible.

This was emphasised by the auxiliary of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia in the Mass celebrated for the feast of 29 June. The embrace between Catholic and Orthodox brothers offers "the opportunity to experience the joy of encounter". The city is still in serious difficulty, it seems "hit by heavy bombardment". And the final appeal: religious and fidei donum are needed to help keep Christianity alive in Turkey.

The condemnation of Tkačev by influential figures such as Kuzmin and Dvorkin has uncovered a Pandora's box within the Russian Orthodox Church, where the "two towers" of the holy war and what was condemned as "the liberal sect", linked to the memory of Aleksandr Men, the "spiritual father of dissent", are confronted.

Konstantin Gološanov, former leader of the ‘Athos fraternity’ that brought together the oligarchs-VIPs, is back in vogue in Moscow. Having gone out of the scene with the start of the conflicts with Ukraine (and the explosion of some financial scandals), today he is once again trying to show through sacred art that Russia is the ‘true Europe’.

Unlike the post-Soviet 'converted' politicians Andrej Belousov is one of the patrons of the Diveevo Monastery, the historical seat of St Seraphim of Sarov. Since the early 2000s, the influence of "presidential orthodoxy" has been concentrated here in the place that symbolises a spirituality that in the early 20th century was considered too close to the heresy of the Old Believers, convinced of the superiority of Russian Christianity over Byzantine Christianity. 

The synod of the Orthodox community led by Metropolitan Epifanyj has appealed to Patriarch Bartholomew to condemn Kirill for the "ethno-filetist heresy". The clash with the other Orthodox jurisdiction, which has always been linked to Moscow, despite having formally distanced itself from it after the Russian invasion.

In Tbilisi, the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party call the demonstrators 'radicals' and even 'Satanists'. The patriarchate openly supports the government, which is committed to fighting 'the imposition of foreign, unusual and dangerous ideologies on the country's population. But the archbishop of Dmanisi, Zenon Iaradžuli, has asked not to approve the law, which could also harm some Church-related NGOs.