On December 31, 2023, on New Year’s eve, during a sermon at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow alled on the faithful to pray for the Russian government and army.
He did not mention the suffering, deaths, and destruction that Russian aggression brought to Ukraine, recalls a Telegram platform entitled Christians against War.
Many Ukrainians expressed their indignation at Kirill’s statement on social media.
“Devil in a cassock!!!!!” one of the readers wrote in comments.
“How can he pray for those who kill children?” wrote another user.
These comments are a common reaction to Kirill’s opus.
The statement by the top cleric is yet another evidence that the Russian Orthodox Church supports the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine.
This pushes Ukrainians to an even greater split from the Moscow Patriarchate and further transition to the OCU.
Earlier, the father of the ROC’s press secretary was murdered in Moscow region.
