but it s a very conservative | tool within russian society. i m struck when i visited moscow a few years ago, i was struck by the return of the tsarist icons to the church that almost felt like a political statement as well. that kind of strong, almost autocratic leadership is something of value politically. and if you go to saint petersburg, you can now visit the shrines to the romanovs, and they have been consecrated as saints by the orthodox church. it was really interesting, in going to that service at the monastery, the priests go into the back room, you could hear them singing and doing whatever they do and the ordinary people are just making a circuit of the icons and crossing themselves, and the actual heavy lifting is being done in secret, as if behind the kremlin walls, except it s in the back room of this church. it s interesting, the power