The Russian Orthodox Church has admitted that the priests of the UOC-MP, who are loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, are currently in a “very difficult situation”. At the same time, the Moscow Patriarchate looks optimistically at the prospects of its global position and turns a blind eye to the loss of control in Latvia. Also, the Moscow Patriarchate ignores the possible ban of the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia and the further separation of the UOC-MP in Ukraine from the Moscow Patriarchate.
“I do not rule out that some unfriendly countries may undertake some efforts to restrict our activities abroad. But, of course, any isolation (and by isolation I can mean empty churches, the outflow of believers, the decline of church life) is off the table,” said Metropolitan Antoniy (Sevryuk), head of the ROC Department for External Church Relations, the Moscow Patriarchate press service reports.
He also noted that the Russian Church had not yet encountered examples of violent restrictions on service abroad, “except, perhaps, Latvia.”
Metropolitan Antoniy of the Russian Orthodox Church denounced the accusations of German President Frank Steinmeier toward the Moscow Patriarchate as “brutal political pressure.” The latter said that the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church is complicit in the Kremlin’s crimes.
The Russian Orthodox Church continues to pretend that they are not involved in the Kremlin’s crimes, and they manipulatively call all accusations of this a persecution of the Russian Church. However, the true Church should not serve as a support for a criminal regime that occupies foreign lands. Otherwise, this Church would be equated with a subversive organization that works to serve Russian interests.
Russian Orthodox Church allegedly has “unifying potential”
Of course, for the Kremlin, the Russian Church plays the role of a propaganda body that sanctifies the capture of Ukrainian territories, referring to it as “unifying potential.” The clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church also echoes Russian propaganda, targeting people in the occupied territories, in order to sway them to Russia’s side. All this is done in cooperation with the UOC-MP. That is why Metropolitan Antoniy of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized the “huge unifying potential of the Russian Orthodox Church.” He explained that liturgical communication between Russians and Ukrainians with different political views becomes possible in parishes during divine services. Antoniy floated Jesus Christ to the task of brainwashing the population, so that everything looked more believable.
It is worth noting that the Kremlin allocated millions of rubles for the Russification of Ukrainians through the Russian Orthodox Church, as evidenced by official documents. At the same time, Antoniy noted that this is also understood by Russia’s enemies, who in every possible way “contribute to the undermining of various aspects of church life.” Of course, no one is going to undermine church life, but the harmful work that the occupiers in cassocks carry out with the local population must be addressed. It is unlikely that the ROC would face any questions had they really been engaged in pure worship and preaching of Gospel truths. But then they would be banned by the Kremlin security services.
The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church admitted that the priests of the UOC MP, who are loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, are currently in a “very difficult situation”
“Any public speech in defense of it (the Moscow Church, – ed.) threatens persecution not only for themselves, but also for members of their families,” warns the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church. He says that the Russian Orthodox Church is “trying to do everything possible” to ease the suffering of people affected by the hostilities. However, the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church does not mention the Russian occupiers who invaded Ukraine, bombed Ukrainian cities and killed thousands of Ukrainians.
Antoniy also emphasized that today, under the personal supervision of the Moscow Patriarch Kirill, projects and initiatives related to humanitarian aid to refugees and injured civilians are being implemented. The Russian Orthodox Church is doing everything like in Syria: first occupying, killing and torturing all dissenters, and then helping survivors.
The Metropolitan hypocritically assured that the Russian Orthodox Church carries out its main service – praying for the restoration of peace, but on the other hand, he forgot to mention how the Russian Orthodox Church blesses Russian invaders and agitates Russian citizens to mobilize for war with Ukraine. Gundyaev personally tells tales about “historical Russia” to cover up the crimes committed by the Kremlin.
During the interview, the issue concerning the self-governing Latvian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was also raised. Latvia’s request to the Moscow Patriarchate to grant autocephaly to the Latvian Church, according to the head of the external relations department, is a “gross interference” of the state in Church affairs. The Russian Orthodox Church cannot come up with anything new, so they start the old song about “intervention”. Instead, their activities in all countries of the former USSR have become so toxic that all these nations want to get rid of Moscow’s control over Orthodox believers within these countries.
Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church believes that only they can interfere in the affairs of the state, but the state, in their opinion, cannot control and limit this interference.
International isolation of the Russian Orthodox Church
It is worth noting that Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) did not visit the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, for the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Pope Francis was present there, making several anti-war statements and criticizing Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting the war. Then the Pope met with a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church led by the head of the external relations department of the ROC, Metropolitan Antoniy. The latter reported that his meeting with the Pope was “very cordial,” while noting that Francis’ words regarding Kirill “were not beneficial for Christian unity” and surprising to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Pope, who previously stressed that Kirill should not be an “altar boy” of the Russian president, said the following at a conference in Kazakhstan: “The sacred should never be a support for power, and power should be a support for the sacred.” It is clear that these words are about the Moscow Patriarchate, which is support for the Kremlin, which is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Of course, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church did not want to hear such criticism directed at him, and therefore at the last moment he refused to travel to Kazakhstan. Later, the Russian Orthodox Church called relations with the Vatican “frozen.” Patriarch Kirill’s latest conversation with the Pope took place in March, and after that, there were no such contacts, assured Metropolitan Antoniy.
As noted by the Spiritual Front of Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church sought to harm Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate and wanted to involve the Vatican for this purpose. One of the steps in this struggle against the enemies of the Kremlin was to be the meeting of Francis and Kirill at the 7th Conference of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. But it turned out the other way around.
The Russian Orthodox Church, through its support for the crimes of the Kremlin, has driven itself into isolation not only with the Orthodox Churches and Western countries, but even with the Catholic Church.
In recent years, there has been a discussion of the Church Court of the five oldest Churches (Court of the Pentarchy) against Patriarch Kirill for his support of Russia’s crimes. But due to Russia’s financing of the Church of Antioch (in Syria) and the Church of Jerusalem, this issue has been postponed for the time being.
The Russian Orthodox Church has been criticized at the World Council of Churches and at the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, and its activities are banned in a number of countries of the former USSR, in particular in Ukraine and Latvia. This is also about the ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia.
Canada, Britain and other countries have imposed sanctions on the top leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. The USA also drafted sanctions against Gundyaev. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation reacts to the sanctions against Kirill (Gundyaev), although, according to the speakers of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Federation does not interfere in the affairs of the Church.
Previously, Lithuania sought to include Kirill Gundyaev in the EU sanctions list, but due to Hungary’s position, sanctions were never imposed. However, Lithuania banned Patriarch Kirill from entering the country. Therefore, if the Moscow Patriarchate declares that they are not in isolation, they are deceiving themselves and telling a lie.
Author: Master of Theology Ivan Petrushchak
