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A doctored photograph of the Russian patriarch, left, which has since been removed from his official website to be replaced by the original photo showing his watch, right.
The Russian Orthodox Church apologized on Thursday for doctoring a photograph of Patriarch Kirill to remove what bloggers said was a luxury wristwatch following accusations that he lives a lavish lifestyle.
The church responded after bloggers said a 2009 photo of the Patriarch on its website showed the reflection of a Breguet watch worth about $30,000 in the polished surface of a table where his arms rested during talks.
The Church made no reference to a watch in a statement, but said a "rude violation of our internal ethics" had been made and removed the doctored 2009 photo from its Website, replacing it on Thursday with a version showing a watch on his wrist.
"Employees of the press service's photo-editing desk made a silly mistake while working with the photo archives," the statement said, promising they would be punished.
"We apologize to all the users of the website for the technical mistake," it said. "One of the basic principles of our work is the fundamental rejection of the use of photo editing programs to alter images."
The Church issued a statement on Tuesday saying it was under attack from "anti-Russian forces" that wanted to erode its authority because of its backing for Putin, whose 12-year rule of Russia as prime minister and president was described by the patriarch as a miracle of God.
"They have completely lost their minds in the Russian Orthodox Church," wrote blogger Vadim Petrichenko, a blogger who posted the doctored photo on his Facebook page on Wednesday, according to The Telegraph.
Bloggers have since then stepped up accusations that Kirill leads an opulent lifestyle that is unbecoming of his status as head of the Church, and pro-opposition media outlets have questioned an alleged role in dealings around duty-free alcohol and tobacco imports in the 1990s.
A journalist who met Kirill to discuss the allegations told Vesti FM radio that the Patriarch had acknowledged receiving a luxury watch as a gift but that he had not worn it. Kirill was quoted as saying photos of him wearing it were a "collage."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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$30,000 watch, so what? the Pope wears Prada shoes and has his own cologne made by Silvana Casoli.
News to me, I had only heard the Devil wears Prada
Who are they trying to fool anyway. They do live lavish lifestyles! Sometimes better than most serving royal and political heads of state, ours included. Pope Benedict at the Vatican is certainly no exception either.
Who knew that the Russian Orthodox Church contracted with NBC news and CNN? Those folks are busy doctoring all kinds of stuff lately. First, blowing up trucks that do not blow up themselves, to removing wrist watches from photos and now purposefully editing audio and video tapes of a White/Hispanic American making it sound like he said things he didn't and doctoring video evidence to make him look like a liar. All to further stir their anti American bias and to shield Democrat/CommunistObama from any scrutiny of his abject failure as a leader and to provide him distracting ammunition in his war against the America that he so hates.
Nice towel on head. Did he just take a shower?
Reminds me of that old favorite Baptist song, "Would Jesus Wear A Rolex On His Television Show?" Just more proof that religious 'heads of state' seem to have all the privileges of dictators while they continue to ask for more and more money from their poor parishioners all over the world. I thought the priesthood was supposed to include a vow of poverty (not to mention celibacy).
oops - photo-shopped the watch off his wrist, but neglected to do same to its reflection on the table....
"I said, use The Crone Tool, not The Clone Tool", the audio recordings from The Cone of Silence said........Ribbit.
What a bunch of dumbasses! Cutting out the watch but leaving its reflection in the picture. But the act shows that they are not much into saving the "souls" of the world, but running a money-and-power scam, and tried to hide it.
Any watch would look out of place in relation to formal church garb - consider the widely circulated photo of Swami Prabhupada - my guess is that astethics were the main reason for the alteration. I wonder why they didn't just take another photo.
ahem, asthetics
it is not about the watch it is about their actions to cover up the watch, and these elite members of the church will have their own trial someday, just wish I could sell tickets to watch
And by "punished" they mean "see the light of God permanently"! "Miracle of God" is so subjectve now a days too, all you need are some vishibalo and KGB connections and you're a leader for life i.e. Putin.
Come to think of it, they meant to photoshop Father Kirill's face for Putin but the watch would have given it away...$30K watch is Walmart for Putin.