The Russian Orthodox Church declares ‘holy war’ against Ukraine and the West

Political news website The Hill reports that Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has declared a ‘Holy War’ against Ukraine and the Western nations that support the Kyiv government.

The Russian Orthodox Church’s aggressive stance against Ukraine and the West was explained in detail in a program titled ‘Order of the 25th World Russian People’s Council, ‘The Present and Future of the Russian World’.

“From the spiritual and moral point of view, the Special Military Operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people are defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia,” declares the document, as quoted by The Atlantic Council.

A Special Military Operation, of course, is the Kremlin’s preferred euphemism when talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which took the world by surprise in February 2022.

The Russian Orthodox Church’s document, as The Hill cites, also claims that Russia’s actions are “protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism”.

As The Hill points out, not even Putin dared to outright call sending Russian troops to invade Ukraine and drag a war over two years a “mission from God”.

Meanwhile, the holy decree by Patriarch Kirill stresses the need to wipe out Ukraine’s statehood from the map by claiming that it is part from a wider Russian world.

“The entire territory of modern Ukraine should enter Russia’s exclusive zone of influence”, the document states, as quoted by The Atlantic Council. “The possibility of a political regime hostile to Russia and its people existing on this territory must be completely excluded”.

This is very close to Putin’s arguments to start the war, claiming that people from the Russian Federation and Ukraine are part of a single people.

It’s no secret that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a close and reciprocal relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church and its head, Patriarch Kirill.

According to Al Jazeera, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church promised in the past eternal salvation to Russian soldiers righting against the ‘corrupting’ influence of the West.

Even Pope Francis himself warned Patriarch Kirill to not become “Putin’s altar boy” in the early days of the Russian invasion to Ukraine, writes Reuters.

Although both Russia and Ukraine have a large Christian Orthodox population, their churches tend to be autonomously ruled by their respective archbishops or patriarchs, with the Patriarch of Constantinople regarded as “first among equals”.

The BBC reported back in 2019 that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

According to the BBC, Many saw the gesture as a rejection of Putin’s influence over the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest Christian Orthodox denomination worldwide. As a result, Patriarch Kirill broke ties with the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Let’s hope that in an upcoming future, Russians and Ukrainians will reconcile by a shared culture and religion from the wounds created by the false prophets that promote merciless and unjustified war.

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