russian Orthodox Church's crusade against humanity
The church is separated from the state. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
These are secular and biblical versions of the same formula. Ideal and devoid of any layers. But the reality is more complicated. The church always participates in the state's life, and the state interferes in the affairs of the church. However, the boundaries of the end of the influence of one and the beginning of the jurisdiction of another are blurred.
In the struggle for the consciousness of citizens, it is extremely difficult to refrain from entering someone else's field. It is believed that only strong democracies and mature patriarchies can do this. However, it is even easier to do this in autocracy and dictatorship: a strong state takes over the church and uses it for its purposes; a strong church penetrates deeply into the state and replaces the norms of law with its dogmas.
The first case is observed in russia and the second in Iran. This example is also important for a visual representation of what threatens society if ayatollahs rule the state and the church is managed from a cabinet in the office of the criminal president. It is doubtful that Ukraine would want to implement one of these scenarios, and to avoid them, desire is not enough — political will is needed. It sounds paradoxical, but the first step to a full-fledged separation in a civilized sense is to join forces and agree on positions.
March 29 is the deadline set by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy for the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the UOC (MP) to leave the territory of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra." The reason for terminating the lease agreement for the religious organization's free use of religious buildings and other state-owned property was a violation of contractual conditions: arbitrary construction, improper maintenance, registration of third-party legal entities, etc. The Synod of the UOC (MP) reacted with anger. Its members recorded several appeals and wanted an audience with the President, which did not take place. In the Ternopil region, the process of returning the lands on the territory of the Pochaiv Lavra to state ownership has begun. Both monasteries spread the spirit of Orthodoxy with a touch of the "russian world" throughout Ukraine. And these measures were perceived as establishing proper order.
Claims of part of the Ukrainian society regarding the too-loyal attitude of the state to the UOC (MP) and the refusal to expel the "moscow priests" from key reserves have been heard for a long time. However, they did not lead to legal consequences, recording the reluctance of the authorities to intervene. Even the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine did not change the situation. But the war did because it had the blessing of the russian Orthodox Church. And this abbreviation is not mentioned by chance.
The discussion regarding the existence of canonical ties between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the russian Orthodox Church is meaningless — hundreds of analytical texts, a whole conclusion of state experts, and practice confirm them. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church can insist on its independence as much as it wants, but the russian Orthodox Church still plays a dirty trick, for example, placing Ukrainian dioceses next to russian dioceses in reports on the humanitarian aid provided to people affected by the war. Despite all the cynicism of this situation, the matter is different. In the second year of the war, there are many facts of the involvement of priests of a denomination common in Ukraine in the crimes of the occupiers against the civilian population and defenders of Ukraine, and even in November 2022, in the Lavra, they sang "The bell floats over russia. Mother Rus' is waking up."
There should be a disclaimer here. Out of respect for Ukrainian defenders, whose ranks include representatives of all faiths and, most importantly, two Orthodox ones, the focus of this text will be shifted. The internal Ukrainian problem of interfaith dialogue must and will be resolved without excessive emotions and accusations. The issue of the coexistence of the categories of faith and reason has been noticed for a long time, focusing on only one of them. Instead of repeating the problem of the existence/naming of the Orthodox Church/churches in Ukraine, it is more interesting to focus on the neighboring one.
On November 6, 2022, after consecrating the temple of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr in Balashikha near moscow (the main temple of the russian Guard troops), patriarch kirill could not help but talk about "power and the military." In addition to typical phrases about "special responsibility for the fate of the country," "dangers faced by the people and which threaten the very existence of russia," and "imposed strife from the outside," he put forward a bold theological assumption. In fact, this is the final formulation of messianism, which putin has been carrying around for the past 15 years and which threatens humanity with World War III.
So, it turns out that russia interferes in the internal affairs of neighboring and distant states, not because of an uncontrollable imperial itch, but to fulfill an almost biblical mission to save the world. According to the russian Orthodox Church commander, the russian people are replacing the church with themselves. More precisely, the Church: not a specific parish, not some religious community, not a separate denomination, but an entire religious community united by one faith. At the same time, all the rhetoric of the russian Orthodox Church testifies to its claims to supremacy not only in the Orthodox environment but also in the Christian world in general. Hence the manic delusions about the "fight with Satanists," "the coming of the antichrist," and other statements designed to scare zealous Christians to death and inspire them to fight against the godless West.
According to this logic, all the atrocities committed by russian criminals in the occupied territories of Ukraine and which shook the world in the spring of 2022 were not committed by putin's soldiers but by Christ's soldiers. Otherwise, it is impossible to understand the words about "the special responsibility of those who are entrusted with the duty to protect the borders of russia… because it is a pillar and affirmation of the truth." And about the fact that the entire russian people are such a pillar because they "rejected many political, cultural and economic temptations." Hence the newest categorical imperative: whoever created and has defended "anti-russia" supports its "attack on Orthodox values," defies God himself, and will receive just retribution for it.
The understanding of justice in the russian Orthodox Church is also quite peculiar. In particular, on March 17, Comrade Gundyaev spoke about service and duty, resorting to an analogy with Prince Alexander Nevsky: it happens that a person in power enters into a struggle and sheds blood, but not because of "the desire to possess and conquer, but only for the sake of protection and care." And this is called fair power. Even though it is talked about the ancient prince and the times long gone, putin is heard, and the war unleashed by him for "self-defense against threats and trouble."
The russian Orthodox Church has long been fascinated by the idea of sacralizing this war, strangely combining fictions about the strife of fraternal nations and the machinations of "anti-Christian territories." Christians are obliged to obey authority on Earth since God established it, and disobedience to it is equal to disobedience to God. Let's change the earth one to the russian one — we will get a universal model of russian politics warmly supported by the federal church administration.
Even last year, the supreme russian priest was outraged by the order of values recorded in the National Security Strategy of the russian federation: why "human dignity and rights" come after "life" and "sacrifice" and "love of the motherland" have no spot. From a modern point of view, such a system really looks illogical: russians have no rights, and their dignity is not visible either, so instead of all these "unnecessary borrowings from the West," there should be simplicity and clarity. The life path of a russian patriot should fit into four stages: being born, growing up, showing patriotism, and sacrificing themself for the good of the motherland. If everyone is a soldier in the army of defenders of God's order, then the sacrifice is strengthened by the sacrifices of others, and all together they fall on the altar of the rule of truth, the embodiment of which is russia.
They refused to record such a progressive idea in a strategic-level document but immediately implemented it. From patriotic education at school, where children are trained to "block the enemy's path with their bodies" and "take a hundred bloody lives from the enemy for their own," to practical instructions for truly Orthodox murder. The other day, a video appeared on one of the Telegram channels, how Archpriest Tkachev talks about the science of "victory": loading a package of rockets to "Grad" must be done with prayer; and not because it is wanted, but because it is so necessary. The well-known Ukrainophobe does not express a personal position — his words scrupulously follow the dogmatic line of the russian Communist Party, which it drew for itself long before the full-scale invasion and which simply cannot be perceived otherwise as criminal.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also noticed this and called the russian Orthodox Church responsible for the aggression against Ukraine together with the political leadership of russia. This statement and the warrant of the International Criminal Court for putin's arrest are some of the twists and turns, forming around the kremlin. It will drag on gradually, perhaps slowly, but steadily. Blitzkrieg failed. The support of the "pillar of truth" in the form of the armed forces and the same Rosguard began to crumble, and only a single popular impulse could strengthen it. The Patriarch of the russian Orthodox Church noted that "they can aim anywhere, but they will strike russia." The alleged "persecution of the Orthodox" in a neighboring country has turned into a threat to russian statehood itself in 8 years.
And this explains how Buddhist Buryats, Muslim Tatars, Kalmyks-Tengrians, and representatives of other faiths ended up alongside the Orthodox in the war — religion is useless here. Similar to the children's crusades, which ended with the death or enslavement of young crusaders on the way to the "Sepulchre of the Lord," the kremlin used the russian Orthodox Church and propaganda to inflame unformed people with a fanatical thirst for murder. Some spoke out against infidels, and others against fictional neo-Nazis. Some did not have time to form due to young age, and others — due to reluctance to leave their cave consciousness.
Michael Kofman, an American military analyst, believes that two Soviet armies are fighting in this war. That is absolutely true, but the idea needs to be expanded. Not just two Soviet armies are at war, but two post-Soviet countries, which by many parameters, have moved away from the point of collapse of the USSR by approximately the same distance. They just went in different directions. And in the issue of church-state coexistence, this can be traced very clearly. Indeed, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is still being formed, and what exactly it will be is still difficult to say. Instead, it is obvious what it should not become — a mechanism of totalitarian control over the consciousness of the domestic masses and one of the instruments of enslaving neighboring peoples, as the russian Orthodox Church.
