On the occasion of the Pontiff’s statement in which he characterized the Russian hierarch Patriarch of Moscow Kirill as “Putin’s priest-child”, a “holy war” broke out between the Vatican and Moscow and interesting details about what they said the two religious leaders over their teleconference were published.
The pope revealed that they talked to Kirill for forty minutes, of which “the first twenty minutes with a piece of paper in his hand, he read me all the excuses for the war. I listened to him and at the end I said: I do not understand any of this.”
The designation “Putin’s priest-child” exploded like a rocket at the Moscow Patriarchate, which responded with a covert threat to cut off dialogue between the Churches. The Moscow Patriarchate has released a statement from its leader regarding Putin’s motives for the “special military operation.”
Judging by the fact that, not only did he not even try to exert his influence so that this barbaric invasion would not take place, but on the contrary he blessed the tanks and fighting-jets, Kirill behaved, not only as “Putin’s priest-child”, but as an accomplice to the crime committed in Ukraine – and as such the EU has included him in the “black list” of sanctions.
One question that arises, of course, is whether Kirill had the courage to stand up to Vladimir Putin or whether he himself has a visionary identification with Vladimir Putin’s expansionist plans and imperial grandeur. In many ways, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has turned into a holy war for Russia, because Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical ambitions for Russia are closely intertwined with the Orthodox Christian faith.
What they believe in Russia and especially Vladimir Putin’s followers is that, “after the destruction of communism, the Orthodox Church is the next target to be destroyed, because their main goal was not communism but Russia. And not only the “Russia, but Russia with a spiritual core of the Orthodox faithful and given that Russia is an alternative to the Anglo-Saxon world in this anti-system formed by the West.”
The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church in this spirit has embraced since the beginning of 2000 Vladimir Putin’s doctrine of the “Russian world” which is identified with the “space of historical Russia”, which includes as “natural reality” ethnic pockets in other neighboring countries and territories – Ukraine, Latvia, Transcarpathia, Belarus, Kazakhstan etc. Vladimir Putin and Kirill, therefore, are marching together and therefore could not but bless the Russian armada. Until recently, the attitude of the Patriarch of Moscow has provoked outrage within the Orthodox Christian Church, whose “throne” he has historically claimed, as the Third Rome.
However, Kirill shows great indifference in the face of the worldwide Christian (Orthodox and Catholic) outcry for his identification with the crime committed by the Russian faithful against people who have the same faith. Thus, in a recent sermon on Tuesday (May 3, 2022) in a Moscow Temple, he proclaimed the traditionally peaceful profile of Russia. As he claimed, further infuriating the international religious community – and not only – Russia is a peace-loving country that has never invaded or attacked anyone, except to defend its territories !!!!!!!
