5 minute read
By Adam Smith
By Adam Smith (10H1)
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Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder” .
The war in Ukraine has been the most devastating conflict in modern European history. Five million refugees, mass murder, and the closest the world has been to nuclear annihilation since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963. Despite all this tragedy, the Church has large influence in this conflict. Most importantly, the Russian Orthodox Church, which holds sway over most people in Russia and Ukraine and binds the two warring countries together by faith.
There are 11,000 parishes of the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church. There is a separate Ukrainian Orthodox Church; however, it only has 7,000 parishes. The Russian Orthodox Church also has some very controversial views on the war, as opposed to its Catholic counterpart, especially considering the pacifism of Jesus and Christian teachings such as “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39).
The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, claims that God is on Russia’s side in the conflict, almost making it sound like a holy war like the Crusades. This in turn chimes with Putin’s claim that he is
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“denazifying” Ukraine, showing that at least the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church clearly supports the war. This kind of claim makes no sense, given that Russia has committed abhorrent crimes in Ukraine, bombarding a city into dust and murdering an entire town. Christian doctrine and belief do not support this kind of action, Russian troops have in fact broken the 10 commandments, “thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not commit adultery” .
The Conflict in Ukraine has also had a major effect on inter-Church relations, especially between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church. Pope Francis is vocally anti-war, saying that “The war of aggression against Ukraine is inhuman and sacrilegious”. He has also attempted to help relieve the defenders of Mariupol in Azovstal, using a boat flying the Vatican Flag, and his requests were rejected three times by the Russians. Patriarch Kirill, on the other hand, is very pro-war, consecrating the war and talking about a war of values against Western liberal values and ideals, speaking about gay pride parades “imposed on Donbass by the Ukrainians”, almost declaring a crusade against the West. Patriarch Kirill also claims that Russia is fighting the Antichrist, making it sound like the ultimate Crusade. In 2016 there was a historic meeting in Havana, Cuba, between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, the first since the Great Schism in 1054, the split between Western and Eastern Christianity (the motivations behind this meeting
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could have also been political, due to Russia’s intervention in Syria). Another meeting was planned this year (2022), but due to the war it was cancelled, only one of many examples of worsening Church relations. Pope Francis has, however, attempted to reach out to Patriarch Kirill, telling him not to become “Putin’s altar boy”, and to speak in the language of Jesus not politics, during an online meeting when they spoke for 40 minutes on the war.
The war (and the period running up to the war) has also caused massive division within the Russian Orthodox Church, with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church breaking away in 2019 due to increased tensions after the annexation of Crimea, and increased division between the Russian Church and the wider Orthodox Church, as the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – the patriarch of Constantinople and the head of all the Orthodox churches – has recognised this split, but the Moscow Patriarchate has not. The Leaders of the Orthodox Christian Church of Ukraine condemned the invasion and called it a “fratricidal war”. Furthermore, there is tension between the Western branches of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the Western branches are very anti-war, following the lead of their respective country’s governments. Many priests within the Russian Orthodox Church have also condemned the war, with a joint plea sent to Patriarch Kirill to stop the war; some were then sacked.
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Due to the seemingly impossible match between supporting the war and Christianity, it appears inevitable that the Russian Orthodox Church and especially Patriarch Kirill are being bribed by the Russian government to support the war. During the defence of Moscow during WW2, Stalin permitted churches to reopen to help raise the morale of the Russian people. In that situation, however, the Soviet Union was fighting a defensive and existential war, whilst now they are the aggressors. For the Russian Orthodox Church, the support of the war is reputational suicide, exacerbating already huge tensions within the Church and furthering the image of Russia as an international pariah. This course of action seems to make no sense unless one considers a monetary factor. The Russian Orthodox Church already receives money from Rosatom, a Russian nuclear energy company to fund church projects around the world and is certainly scared to lose that boon and would be eager to have it supplemented by bribes from Putin. However, it is also possible that Patriarch Kirill is so supportive of Putin due to self-preservation. Putin’s enemies generally “commit suicide” by polonium in their drink, by falling out a window or by 7 shots to the back of the head. A third possibility is that Patriarch Kirill supports the war of his own accord, although this is unlikely as someone who believes in Christ’s teachings should not support a bloody and genocidal war, especially given that the Russian Orthodox Church does not believe in the concept of a “Just War”, that being a war that needs to be fought against evil, for example the Allies fighting Nazi
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Germany in WW2. The Orthodox Church instead believes that war is a product of the imperfections of humanity, but that we should just let it play out.
In conclusion, the Russian Orthodox Church has been a significant player in this conflict, with its support for the war giving Putin backing by the Russian people as they believe they are on the right side in a holy and just war. The war has created a new iron curtain, and with it more and more division within the Church. The war has destroyed the Orthodox Church’s image and has made the Pope plea for an end to the conflict in desperation.
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