Christians working in Eastern Europe have reacted with shock and horror to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s recent Easter sermon.
The Institute for War (ISW), a not-for-profit thinktank, has highlighted how he used it to support Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
In his sermon, Kirill said Russia is currently going through ‘difficult’ and ‘fateful’ trials. He called on his listeners to pray for Russian authorities and the Russian military and hoped God would bring about an end to what he described as the ‘internecine’ war in Ukraine. Putin, who attended the service, thanked Patriarch Kirill for his ‘fruitful collaboration’ during the ‘current difficult period’. He also claimed that the Orthodox Church and ‘other Christian denominations’ are preserving Russian heritage and societal values.
ISW says Russian authorities have systematically repressed religious freedom in Russia as a matter of state policy and have persecuted some Christian denominations within Russia, as well as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Protestants, Roman Catholics, and other non-orthodox faiths in occupied Ukraine.
Furthermore, Kirill has consistently supported the war in Ukraine and has reportedly defrocked clergy who refused to promote Kremlin-introduced prayers supporting Russia’s invasion. His church has also recently deemed the conflict in Ukraine as an existential ‘holy war’ and approved an ideological policy document tying several Kremlin ideological narratives together in an apparent effort to form a wider nationalist ideology around the war in Ukraine and Russia’s expansionist future.
Mark Foster of the Slavic Gospel Association said: ‘Any attempt to align the cause of Christ with the Russian invasion of Ukraine is disturbing. Jesus makes clear His Kingdom is not tied to the political ambitions of any nation. His rule transcends geographical boundaries. It unites people through the power of the gospel and is characterised by grace, mercy and love, qualities incompatible with aggressive military conquests.
Vitaly Vlasenko is general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance and pastor of a Baptist church in Moscow. Asked how should Christians in Ukraine, Russia and the West should respond to Kirill’s words, he said: ‘I think most Christians in Russia perceive this speech as part of the public liturgy, which is expressed in three components in Russia: orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. This is the formula of the Russian patriot. When a country is engaged in military operations, patriotism is very important, although this idea has many different interpretations.
‘As for the Ukrainians, who are in completely different conditions, everything that happens in Russia is unacceptable, even disgusting, to them as Russia is carrying out military actions against them. The invasion has brought them deep emotional distress and trauma, so many Ukrainians do not want to see or hear about anything that is happening in Russia.
‘As for the West, everything is much more complicated by the different traditions of Eastern and Western Christianity. We need to learn to understand each other, why and how we act in a given situation. I think that the problem here is not the legacy of the communist regime which wants to recreate the USSR, but deep theological and cultural differences of opinion that prevent us from building a bridge of trust and understanding between Eastern and Western Christianity. We must learn to hear and understand each other, and then the guns will fall silent’.
