Christian commitment and human dignity in contemporary Russia

This article presents the testimony of Zoïa Svetova, a Russian dissident journalist and human rights activist, on the situation of Orthodox Christians in contemporary Russia facing state repression. Belonging to the genre of committed testimony, the text documents the pressures and prosecutions brought against members of the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly priests, who have publicly taken a stand against the war waged by Russia in Ukraine. The central idea is that authentic Christian commitment, grounded in the defense of human dignity, stands in direct tension with the nationalist and militarist logic to which the official ecclesiastical hierarchy adheres. On a theological level, the article raises the question of the relationship between Christian conscience, institutional obedience, and prophetic responsibility in a context of political authoritarianism, thereby shedding concrete light on the current ecclesial stakes in Russia.