Russia withdraws new ruble note over a church cross that isn't

Following complaints from Orthodox priests that the depiction of a church dome lacked a cross, despite the fact that it does not actually have one, Russia’s central bank stopped the circulation of a new 1,000 ruble note on Wednesday. Under President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church has gained a lot of power. “Currently a decision was taken to stop the production of the notes,” the central bank said in a rare U-turn. “It did not enter widespread circulation.” This week, the bank unveiled new designs for the 1,000 and 5,000 ruble notes. One of them showed two places of worship in the predominantly Muslim Tatarstan republic: an Orthodox church with a dome devoid of a cross and a minaret with an Islamic crescent moon. Both are located in the Kremlin of Tatarstan’s capital, Kazan. The cross from the 17th-century church was taken down by the Bolsheviks following the 1917 revolution. The structure is currently a state museum. Orthodox clerics, however, rapidly became incensed by the absence of the cross. On the Telegram messaging app, priest Pavel Ostrovsky claimed that the bill was either the consequence of “the designers’ stupidity” or a “deliberate provocation” by the “followers of Islam.” The celebrity priest, who has 174,000 followers on Telegram, said “there was no difference what the building looks like in real life” as most Russians do not know its history. The church praised the bank’s decision to delete the note, calling it “very correct.” The Orthodox cross, which “personifies the religious and cultural identity of the majority of our citizens,” was described by its spokesman Vladimir Legoyda as “a natural part of the state symbols of our country.” In recent years, the relationship between the church and the state in Russia has been more intricate. The recent Kremlin offensive in Ukraine has been sanctified by Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill. Kirill hailed Russia’s nuclear weapons on Wednesday during a prayer session in the largest cathedral in Moscow, saying they were developed “under the protection” of a saint. (With agency inputs)