Girls' Group Shocks Believers at Moscow Church; Performance at Orthodox Church Seen as Blasphemous

The Interfax-Religion website reports today (March 1, 2012) that the Russian Orthodox Church believes all those connected with a recent extravagant performance at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow should be identified and strictly punished.

"It is difficult to say what motives those girls were guided by. But this needs to be found out. I think all the chain of the organizers of this shameful show should be disclosed, so that its participants and organizers give testimony," Head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplain said on Russian TV.

It was recorded earlier that the feminist punk group -- called Pussy Riot -- performed a song near the altar at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21, which many believers perceived as blasphemous.

The Cathedral security service arrested the girls. They later described their performance on Twitter as "a punk prayer."