In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has strengthened ties with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. The collaboration suited them both well: Kirill would like to expand his group of 100 million believers and for Putin the church fits into his story of a large and strong Russia.
Is the cooperation compatible with the invasion of Ukraine? There are also many Orthodox parishes in that country, some of which belong to the Russian Church. The question is whether they will continue to support their Moscow leader or not.
Putin is the antichrist
For some Ukrainian parishes, this question is not that difficult. They separated from Moscow years ago because of the war in eastern Ukraine and founded the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kiev. Their church head recently compared Putin to the antichrist.
But most Orthodox parishes in Ukraine are still part of the Moscow Church. “Many priests did not want to give refuge to Ukrainian fighters because the church has its own rules and vision,” said historian and theologian Vasyl Kmet.
Patriarch Kirill even added fuel to the fire last week by saying that Ukrainians are oppressing Orthodox believers in eastern Ukraine. “For eight years they have been trying to destroy what is in the Donbass,” he said. “But the people of the Donbass reject the so-called values propagated by the West.”
But the Moscow-affiliated parishes in Ukraine do not blindly believe these stories, declares Alexander Ivanchenko, deacon of one such parish in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. “We know about the invasion and we are talking about it. The Russian Federation has attacked our territory.”
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A problem for Ivanchenko and other Moscow churches: they have to pray for Patriarch Kirill who all but rejects the war. The Amsterdam parish of the Russian Orthodox Church is therefore switched to another patriarchate, so that they are no longer under Moscow.
Many Moscow churches in Ukraine are now keeping themselves as low as possible. But deacon Ivanchenko is clear: he also no longer wants to pray for Kirill. “On the day the war broke out, our priests wrote to the Bishop of Lviv asking if they could stop praying for Kirill during the service.” Ivanchenko wants to go even further and completely break with the Moscow patriarchate.
It would be a big step for the church, Kmet says, although he points out that Kirill has already cut ties with some Orthodox churches himself. “That’s why it’s no longer relevant to talk about him in prayer anyway.” And, he says, it is Ivanchenko’s bosses who have to decide on a possible breakup.
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