The actor was baptized as a Russian Orthodox believer on Friday at the age of 71, the weekly news magazine reported. Current values. The conversion ceremony took place at the Russian Orthodox Church in the French capital, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
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His ‘conversion’ to Christianity, he says, is due to the appeal of the Orthodox liturgy and his links with the Orthodox clergy. He said his spiritual adviser, Priest Tikhon Shevkunov, is President Putin’s confessor.
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Depardieu was baptized as a child in his hometown of Châteauroux, but converted to Islam in the 1960s. Afterwards he was attracted to Buddhism and Hinduism.
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Depardieu, one of France’s most prolific actors and a popular figure in Russia, obtained Russian citizenship in 2013 for trying to avoid tax increases in his native country. President Vladimir Putin personally handed Depardieu his Russian passport at a meeting in the South Russian resort of Sochi.
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