Legoyda's Gambit
The Russian Orthodox Church signals its American ambitions — and names itself a platform for US-Russia dialogue
At yesterday’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, something rather curious was said — and it passed largely unnoticed amid the surrounding noise. Legoyda made his remarks publicly; the full statement is available on RuTube.
Vladimir Legoyda, the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief spokesman, made what amounts to a quiet but significant declaration of ambition: the ROC intends to play an independent diplomatic role in Russia-US relations, with America as the primary target. A MGIMO graduate who studied in the United States and follows American affairs closely, Legoyda appears to be positioning himself as something like a church-world Kirill Dmitriev — a back-channel operator with his own lane. Whether this is a serious strategic move or a trial balloon, time will tell. That said, Legoyda has not been to America in a long time, and whether he could obtain a US visa is an open question — as far as I recall, he is under Ukrainian sanctions.
Sophia Kishkovsky wrote a strong piece on the two-hour roundtable “Russia-USA: Dialogue of Cultures” at SPIEF — the relevant section is below. Worth reading carefully: the ROC is clearly planning something in this space:
Vladimir Legoyda, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church—whose Patriarch Kirill I has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—was another notable participant at the roundtable with Cook. Ahead of the summit, Cook had delivered a copy of the Sitka Icon of the Theotokos to a monastery in St Petersburg as a gift from Trump. It was a response to an icon that Putin presented to Archbishop Alexei of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America after his meeting with Trump in Anchorage last August. Legoyda said the Orthodox Church can become a platform for US-Russian dialogue.
“We see the growing interest in Orthodoxy in the US today,” Legoyda said. “I believe and hope that this religious dimension of our life—which always transcends the prevailing climate, standing apart from any political expediency—can, alongside the immensely powerful cultural backdrop we discussed today, serve as the foundation for us to start with a clean slate, while remaining mindful of all the points of contact that have existed and continue to exist within our cultures.”
Sergei Chapnin, an expert on the church and culture who was fired as editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate in 2015 and is now the director of communications at the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in New York, tells The Art Newspaper: “Vladimir Legoyda’s brief remarks at the SPIEF should not be underestimated: the message was unmistakably clear—the Russian Orthodox Church intends to prosecute cultural diplomacy, and America is the principal target.”
I’m not sure what it would take for Vladimir Legoyda to be truly heard and trusted in the West. Sadly, I’m afraid that even a public break with Patriarch Kirill might not be enough at this point.