MOSCOW <\/a>\u2014 Facing a scandal over photographs of its leader wearing an enormously expensive watch, the Russian Orthodox Church worked a little miracle: It made the offending timepiece disappear.<\/p>\n Editors doctored a photograph on the church\u2019s Web site of the leader, Patriarch Kirill I, extending a black sleeve where there once appeared to be a Breguet timepiece worth at least $30,000. The church might have gotten away with the ruse if it had not failed to also erase the watch\u2019s reflection, which appeared in the photo on the highly glossed table where the patriarch was seated.<\/p>\n The church apologized for the deception on Thursday and restored the original photo to the site, but not before Patriarch Kirill weighed in, insisting in an interview with a Russian journalist that he had never worn the watch, and that any photos showing him wearing it must have been doctored to put the watch on his wrist.<\/p>\n The controversy, which erupted Wednesday when attentive Russian bloggers discovered the airbrushing, further stoked anger over the church\u2019s often lavish displays of wealth and power. <\/p>\n \u2026It is not likely that the apology will end the debate about the watch or dampen the increasingly barbed discussions of the church\u2019s role in Russian society. Over the past decade, the church has grown immensely powerful, becoming so close to the Kremlin that it often seems like a branch of government. It has extended its influence into a broad range of public life, including schools, courts and politics. Patriarch Kirill publicly backed Vladimir V. Putin in last month\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n Recently, church officials stoked the ire of Russian liberals by seeking the imprisonment of members of a female punk rock group who held an impromptu concert inside Moscow\u2019s main cathedral in February to protest the church\u2019s political ties. Three members of the group are now in jail awaiting trial\u2026The watch, on the other hand, has been an object of fascination for years, and there is little question of its existence. It was first sighted on the patriarch\u2019s wrist in 2009 during a visit to Ukraine, where he gave a televised interview on the importance of asceticism\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Perfect\u2026<\/p>\n [T]he patriarch has presented himself as the country\u2019s ethical compass, and has recently embarked on a vocal campaign of public morality, advocating Christian education in public schools and opposing abortion and equal rights for gay people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ah well.<\/p>\n We could debate whether a worldly church is less of a menace than one run by true believers (quite often, I reckon), but it can certainly make for some good stories: MOSCOW \u2014 Facing a scandal over photographs of its … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Novodevichy-Convent-Mosow-Mar-92-AS2-203x300.jpg\" "\\"Novodevichy")
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