The Damnation of Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church was paleolithic, never passing up a chance to take the side of the oppressors during the revolutions.

It had become a bastion of privilege, with little contact with the peasantry beyond making sure the peasants paid their tithes. The monastaries became just another landlord, one that drew the ire of the revolutionaries and peasants aloke.

The church also had been wracked by internal strife since the time of Nikon; among the most devout were the Old Believers, who had been persecuted intermittently for 150 years or so. The Old Believers were a source of piety, one that was officially heretical, thus losing for the Russian church a chief source of strength.