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The War Made Russia Influenced by Ukrainian Orthodox Christians

The Sunday sermon that Metropolitan Longin, a senior bishop in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, aimed at Patriarch Kirill of Moscow earlier in June did not hold back.

Previously, Longin prayed during every service to ask for the blessing of Kirill – the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the spiritual parent of his own church.

But now Longin has grilled Kirill for “those who are dying and blood is spilling, for bombing our monasteries and churches.” [and] for the blessing you shed your blood” in a speech condemning the Russian laity’s support of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Longin said: “You will answer to the Lord God for every mother’s tear and freshly dug grave. “You have hurt the entire Ukrainian Orthodox world and brought us pain. Don’t try to justify it.”

The broad side at Kirill shows the upheaval in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, one of the country’s largest religious institutions and – before the war – a Russian cultural bastion. Now, the majority of the church’s Russian-speaking priests and parishioners are rejecting Russia, demonstrating how a new Ukrainian identity is taking root even among those Moscow claims to be part of a “national state”. brothers and sisters”.

Kirill’s support for the war – he enthusiastically endorsed Putin’s campaign at a church built for Russia’s armed forces – caused Russia to lose dominance over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. . Its 12,000 parishes account for about a third of the parishes administered by the Russian mother church.

In May, the Ukrainian church under its leader, Metropolitan Onufry, declared independence from Moscow at an extraordinary assembly, saying this was what the parishioners demanded.

“If Cardinal Kirill doesn’t say anything, that would be one thing. But practically every week he says things that are unacceptable to Ukrainian society, including churchgoers,” said Metropolitan Kliment, a church spokesman. “When people went to church and heard his name, it got in the way of their prayers.”

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, left, conducts Easter service as Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, right, attend the ceremony © Oleg Varov / House Russian Orthodox Church / AP

The war forced even Russia’s biggest supporters in the church to reconsider their allegiance. Russian-Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Novinsky, who was named a deacon by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2020, has spent years calling for the country to rebuild relations with Moscow even after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014. 2014.

But now he condemns Russia’s “aggression” and admits Kirill has become a liability.

Novinsky said: “We must judge sin, not sinners. However, he added, “it’s too bad he didn’t say anything about the war and told things their way. . . Everything he’s done, combined with what’s going on here, has harmed us. “

According to Sergei Chapnin, a senior fellow in Orthodox Christian studies at Fordham University in the US, the pro-Russian faction in the church remains strong. Some bishops objected to the decision to sever ties with the Russian mother church. Donetsk, controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, has refused to cooperate with it. Priests in Crimea participate in Kirill’s jurisdiction.

However, “there is no future according to the justification of the prime minister of Moscow. The church will have to cease to exist,” Chapnin said. “This is the only decision Onufry can make to save the church.”

Political pressure on the church has increased in Ukraine since 2014, when some priests appeared tacitly in favor of Crimea’s annexation and Russia’s slow war in the eastern Donbas border region.

The Ukrainian government called the church a national security risk and pushed for the establishment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2018 outside of Moscow’s jurisdiction. It led to the largest schism in the Orthodox faith in more than five centuries.

Onufry’s cathedral remains the largest in the country, with twice as many parishes as its newer rival. But as the war began, Ukrainian officials grew increasingly concerned that Russia could use the church as a vehicle for subversive influence.

Ukrainian security forces have repeatedly raided Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a golden-domed monastery that is the holiest site of Russian Orthodoxy.

Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukraine’s Culture Minister, praised the decision to reject Kirill. “People are waiting for priests from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to give clearer messages about the war and who the enemies are. . . It is no longer a matter of religion. It is very political,” he said.

People rest in the crypt of a church converted into a makeshift bomb shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine © Chris McGrath / Getty Images

But hopes of a reunion between Onufry’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its newer rival remain distant, with many on both sides seeing the other as heretical.

More than 400 parishes have changed allegiance to the newer Ukrainian church since the war began, with some angry parishioners forced to convert. In Fastyv, a suburb of Kyiv, several priests led a mob to break into the local church and assault the Moscow-backed abbot.

But the older church was reluctant to relinquish control of any of its holy sites, to the will of its newer rival. Sites include Ukrainian monasteries, which house the most important relics and reinforce the age-old church’s claim to be the true faith.

Novinsky said of the newer competitor: “Where are they going to get the monks from? Greek? Everyone who wanted to come over was already there. They don’t have any monks or monasteries. It is a clear sign of the incompetence of what they call the church.”

Ukraine’s new church is also pushing for the government to be allowed to hold services in one of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s major churches. So far the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has refused to share.

“They don’t need Lavra to pray. They need it as a title. . . so that they can dominate it over everything dear and sacred to the thousands of believers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Kliment said.

However, Tkachenko, culture minister and member of the church founded in 2018, endorsed the idea in the name of national unity.

“Continuing conflict and division is a challenge – it’s not an option for the country,” he said. “It will probably take some effort to convince them that this is civilized. . . But Ukrainian society has placed too many expectations on them to prevent dialogue.

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