Dozens of Orthodox priests took Russians by surprise this week to defend jailed anti-government
protesters, breaking ranks with Church authorities who for years have aligned themselves with the Kremlin.
Experts say the move is part of a quiet revolution in the powerful but opaque
Russian Orthodox Church, with a generation of clerics increasingly willing to criticise their superiors.
The sentences "look like they are (intended) to intimidate Russians," said the letter, which has so far been signed by 124 clerics.