A week has passed since the failed coup in Russia. It began as unexpectedly as it ended. However, in less than a day the world saw the weaknesses of the Kremlin regime. Over the past seven days, many different opinions have been voiced about this whole situation, and even more so about the attitude of the Kremlin’s master Putin.
We will not comment on this because, as we noted, a lot has already been said on the topic. In this publication, we will reflect on the reaction of the leadership of the Russian church. We will remind you that almost simultaneously with Putin’s statement regarding the so-called “mutiny”, the statement of the Moscow Patriarch also emerged in the media space.
In it, Gundyaev supported Putin and called on “those who, having picked up a weapon, are ready to direct it against their fellow citizens, to come to their senses.” Such a rather terse reaction on the part of Kirill testified, first of all, his obedience to Putin’s regime. In the restrained style in which this statement was written, one can trace the weakness, fear, and uncertainty that reigned in the patriarchal residence at the moment.
Because it is one thing to condemn the evil and decaying west, and another thing to choose one of the opposing sides, and at the same time not lose “game”. After all, there are “our own” people on both sides, but which of them is stronger? Whom should we side with? The answers to these questions probably worried the Moscow clergy the most.
The uncertainty of what would happen in a couple of hours, and moreover, the lightning pace with which events were unfolding, all this tread upon and drove the patriarch into panic even more. Having witnessed plenty of historic defeats, he was perhaps the least prepared for such developments.
After all, 30 years since the collapse of the USSR, the entire Russian ecclesiastical machine has been working to restore the “graceful times of the Russian monarchy” in the memory of Russians, and in particular their believers. It was for this reason that the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Emperor Nicholas II and his entire family, and promoted their memory in every possible way, holding massive annual processions in their honor.
At the same time, Russia’s politicized churchmen hammered into the heads of credulous parishioners fables about a terrible sin – the murder of a monarch, king, emperor, and most importantly – the anointed of God. This killing of God’s anointed was at the core of all the troubles in Russia, and in order to get rid of them, it is absolutely necessary to find a new one.
(Let us remind you that similar event were held almost every year in Kyiv. In particular, every year, on the first Sunday of the Feast of Orthodoxy, representatives of political Orthodoxy, condemned by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan, marched across Kyiv voicing prayers for the tsar! )
But none of this has proven effective, which added even more tragic notes to the situation and instilled fear in Kirill Gundyaev, a hierarch who has always been loyal and obedient to the authorities. It was this obedience and support of the current government that provided guarantees for the ROC and Gundyaev himself. The loss of this support could play a cruel joke on the Moscow patriarch.
And although, most likely, the leader’s toppling, had it taken place, would not have greatly affected the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, it made the old patriarch rather worried. After all, Gundyaev, like all Putin allies, was afraid not of Wagner’s chief, but of the collapse of the very system, of which they are all an integral part, and which, in their opinion, the “rebellious Wagnerian” would not be able to hold together. In their opinion, the so-called evil forces of the West would take advantage of all this by destroying or dismantling Russia, including the country’s rotten and corrupt system,.
This system created for all its members a comfort zone that no one wanted to leave. But the mutiny attempt exposed how this whole system, outwardly strong and powerful, is actually fragile and unstable on the inside. Therefore, the insurrection plot did tickle the nerves of both the patriarch and the country’s top leadership. Both the patriarch and the top leaders showed their weakness. In addition, Gundyaev showed that the role of a conciliator of warring parties and a unifier of the nation is too difficult for him compared to Lukashenko. The only role with which he skillfully copes is that of the Kremlin’s altar boy…
