Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist punk-rock collective, gets imprisoned
Altar protest
During February 2012, as a part of a protest movement against Vladimir Putin, Pussy Riot performed a punk rock song in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.
The song was performed in the Altar, which in Orthodox churches is a segregated, most sacred area in the church, where onlypriesthood is allowed. In the song, the group prayed to the “Theotokos” (rus. Bogoroditsa) to “chase Putin out”. The words of the final christian liturgical hymn “Sanctus” (“holy, holy, holy, Lord God”) were changed by Pussy Riot to “shit (rus. sran), shit, shit of Lord God” and the patriarch in the song was called a bitch (rus. suka)[6].