The Birth of Pussy Riot: Six Early Songs

The Church’s praise of rotten, cult-like leaders Has turned black limousines into a religious procession A preacher’s coming to your school Go to your lesson - bring him some money!

This verse is attacking both the Church and Patriarch Kirill’s public support of Putin’s 2012 presidential re-election campaign. Pussy Riot is stating that the Russian Orthodox Church's official lending of their support and praise of Putin and his leaders has not only made these people seem approved and vetted by the Church, but almost representatives of the Church itself. As a result, Putin’s entourage of black limos and SUVs has become almost like “a religious procession.” They then state that this corruption of the Church has bled from Patriarch Kirill at the top all the way down to its lowest level—Sunday school preachers who just want to feed you lies in exchange for money.

It's also interesting to note that the term for “cult-like leaders” in the line “The Church's praise of rotten, cult-like leaders,” is meant to be vozhdeĭ in the original Russian. Vozhdeĭ is a form of the term vozhd’, which is the head of a vozhdizm, a political policy where there is an indisputable and infallible leader. By this point in time, Pussy Riot had already previously referred to a vozhd’ in their songs “Death to Prison, Freedom to Protest” and “Putin’s Pissed Himself” for the exact same reasons. More information about the historical significance of a vozhd’ and a vozhdizm can be found in the corresponding annotation in the “Putin’s Pissed Himself” section of this edition.

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