Religiosity is everywhere. It clings to anything it can. One finds it in Orthodoxy for the same reasons one finds it anywhere else – it is not because Orthodoxy is the same as anything else – it is because Orthodoxy lives in culture, and in that culture religion, like politics or corporate activity, excites the passions, draws all kinds of people, and indeed draws people ranging from abusers and megalomaniacs to the insane.
When someone uses the levers of religion to squash their enemies, to shame those they dislike, to attain power over others, it is the same activity one sees in corporate activity or politics. We should not be surprised. But still, to quote Hopkins, “there are the dearest, freshest, deep down things.” True piety is about drawing distinctions, taking pains, and cutting often against the grain.