When bishops from Russia, Ukraine, and the Slavic diaspora meet to elect a new patriarch in late January, they will face a relatively simple problem: the successor of Patriarch Alexey II, who died in early December, will have to work closely with Vladimir Putin while maintaining ostensible independence from the state. Thus it is not surprising that the current favorite is Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, whom you describe as “a tough and sophisticated practitioner of geopolitics, as well as politics of the ecclesiastical sort” (“Farewell, Middle Roads,” December 13, 2008). He is already a champion of integration of Orthodox churches with Moscow as the new Constantinople, whence his spat with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate for sway over eastern Christianity, especially in the Eastern Balkans on the European Union’s turf. This is where Kirill and Putin are likely to work most closely, as their geopolitical objectives are essentially the same. The independence of church and state will be the problem of their successors.