Russian Orthodox Church

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A man looks through a cardboard cutout poster during a protest rally against the decision of the city authorities to hand over the city's landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, March 18, 2017. About four thousand people gathered for a protest against the controversial return of the renowned cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church gather in front of the St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. About 2,500 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Sunday against the decision of the city authorities to hand over the city's landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church hold a slogan 'The museum to the city!' standing inside the St. Isaac's Cathedral in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church gather at the Marsovo field in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church gather at the Marsovo field in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church gather at the Marsovo field in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church hold letters reading 'The museum!' standing inside the St. Isaac's Cathedral in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church read out the Constitution of the Russian Federation in front of the Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Authorities in Russia's second-largest city defend a controversial decision to give a city landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church hold up the Constitution of the Russian Federation in front of the Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Authorities in Russia's second-largest city defend a controversial decision to give a city landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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This Oct. 31, 2016, photo shows an icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, which sits behind the altar of Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, in Kenai, Alaska. The icon was torn when a cross fell on it during an earthquake on Jan. 24, 2016. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion via AP)

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side by side: Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill I has echoed President Vladimir Putin's view that Western countries are engaging in a "spiritual disarmament" of their people. (Associated Press)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill visit an exhibition, "Orthodox Russia and the Romanovs," devoted to the 400-year anniversary of Russian Emperor family rule, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)

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After Tuesday's service for Chernobyl disaster victims at St. Elias Cathedral near the nuclear power plant site in Ukraine, (from left) Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan Vladimir and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych ring bells in memory of the victims.

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Orthodox priests conduct a service at the ice hole of the pound in the Kolomenskoe park on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011. Thousands of Russian Orthodox Church followers plunged Tuesday and Wednesday into icy rivers and ponds across the country to mark the upcoming Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy for the day. Water that is blessed by a cleric on Epiphany is considered holy and pure until next year's celebration, and is believed to have special powers of protection and healing. The Russian Orthodox Church follows the old Julian calendar, according to which Epiphany falls on Jan. 19. Moscow temperatures on Wednesday night dropped to -14 C ( 7 F). (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)