The Russian Church

From the time the Russian princes officially accepted Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rus in the tenth century, the Church had gained a powerful spiritual and economic place in the life of the country.

During the Mongol conquest the Church and people who worked with the Church were exempted from taxation in return for prayers for the long lives of the khans.

The exemption enabled the Church to become the wealthiest institution in the land and to acquire large landed properties.

It was during this period that some of Russia's greatest monasteries were formed.

For the first centuries of its existence, the Church's highest official was the Metropolitan

Several of the Metropolitans assisted the princes of Moscow in their struggle to secure the throne of Vladimir and hence to gain the secular authority in all Russia

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And today where is the Russian Church going?

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Perhaps the church is trying to repeat itself?

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And who is paying for it's current program of active expansion?

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And why?