I don’t mind that the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Kirill I of Moscow, is criticized for wearing an obscenely expensive watch. It is the laity’s right to do so. I do not mind criticism of the church when they are being shown as being hypocrites. What I do mind, and find utterly intolerable, is for a bunch of immature provocateurs walking into the middle of a liturgy that is considered holy by all those participating in it, doing an impromptu ‘performance’ and generally making idiots of themselves while disrespecting a service that they had no right to ruin.

That being said, the band has spent time in jail for this blasphemous act. The authorities can now let them go. Extending the jail term only makes martyrs out of underserving fools. They are right to oppose the Putin regime. They are, and will never be, right in interfering in the Holy Liturgy.