In the early 1990s, priests of the Russian Orthodox Church called on Soviet and Russian soldiers not to commit fratricide, even if ordered to do so. Today, they promise eternal life to those who commit murder. How was this possible? Why did the Church trade freedom for privileges? And why were the political authorities so interested in this?
Ksenia Luchenko has been writing about the Russian Orthodox Church as a journalist for a quarter of a century: she witnessed key events in the church's history in the post-Soviet decades. Her book is based on hundreds of documentary sources and dozens of exclusive interviews. Luchenko explains how and why the Russian Orthodox Church and its hierarchs ended up where a road paved with good intentions usually leads.