The separation of church and state in Russia has been all but erased this week as Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church has gone on state television for an extended special to officially bless First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as the next president. The public gesture by the Patriarch, who also voiced his support for the ongoing role of Vladimir Putin in government as prime minister, has raised strong opposition from some quarters. A Moscow Times editorial declares “Church leaders should realize that supporting specific politicians — no matter how much they like them — will drag them into politics. This may eventually bring the church under the control of the ruling elite at the cost of its independence. … What if the Kremlinologists who see politics in a Machiavellian light are right and Putin decides to endorse a second candidate for the sake of a “fair” competition in the presidential election? What if that candidate also promised to continue Putin’s course? What would the patriarch say then?” However Putin’s Orthodox endorsement should be no surprise, and actually was years in the making.