Churches «torn apart»: – A destructive order
In the past, the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has supported its leader in Moscow through thick and thin. Even when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, they had the church behind them, writes Danish TV 2.
But this has come to an end.
The part of the church in Ukraine, which until now has been subject to Moscow, which at the time of writing is in opposition to Russia’s war in the country, according to several media, including Ukrainian Kyiv Post.
The leader of the Ukrainian church, metropolitan Onufrij, who is now severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, has said since the start of the war that it is “unheard of to go to war with an Orthodox brotherhood.”
According to NTB, the church declares full independence.
– Tear apart
– In the same way that nations are torn apart, so are churches now torn apart, says Iver B. Neumann, Russia researcher and director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI).
Quite obviously, Putin’s goal was to unite the two countries, both politically, economically and spiritually. What he now achieves are the opposite – a split, says Neumann to Dagbladet.
One way to understand religion is that believers also celebrate fellowship among themselves when they worship their gods, Neumann says.
When Putin says that Ukraine does not exist, he is pushing the foundations of this community away, and getting in the way of the community of believers, he says and continues:
– It goes without saying that when Russia says that Ukraine does not exist as a country, it is a threat that also goes against the Ukrainian church. It will be a devastating commissioned work by Putin.
– Clear message
– We disagree with Patriarch Kirill in Moscow about the war, it is said in a statement from the Ukrainian church after the council meeting where the Russian aggression and the issue of independence was the theme.
Annika Hvithamar, who is head of department at the University of Copenhagen and has a doctorate in the Orthodox Church in Russia, tells TV 2 that the Moscow patriarch has so far only stated that they are awaiting an official inquiry from the Ukrainian church.
She describes the breakup as a significant upheaval.
– It is very important, because it speaks against Putin and the patriarch’s narrative that Ukraine and Russia are a people. When the church breaks with Russia, it is a clear message to Moscow, she says to Danish TV 2.
Supports the war
In Moscow, Patriarch Kirill has been a supporter and ally of President Vladimir Putin for many years. In 2012, Kirill referred to Putin as “God’s miracle”. The patriarch has expressed clear support for the war, which in Russia is referred to as a «special operation».
In March, he stated that the conflict in Ukraine was “far more important than politics”.
– If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God’s law, and if humanity accepts that sin is a variant of human behavior, then human civilization will end there, he said according to the newspaper.
In the past, the Russian patriarch has also referred to Russian opponents in Ukraine as “evil forces”, according to France 24.
– God’s last hope
Iver Neumann says that there is a tradition of close ties between church and state in Orthodox countries, and that this is largely the case in Russia.
– Patriarch Kirill wholeheartedly supports Putin. Putin has also used the church actively in the war, secondly because he has made Kirill bless the bombs they have used, Neumann tells Dagbladet.
Putin has also actively used religion as an argument for warfare in Ukraine, according to the researcher.
– Russia wants to be something other than Europe, and considers itself the last lighthouse of Christianity. According to Putin, Europe is Christianized and Russia is God’s last hope on earth, he says.
This is also a war of religion
– Holy war
From Kirill’s point of view, the war in Ukraine is also being colored with words as if it were also a holy war. The “sinful” and decadent West is a major enemy, and Kirill has justified military action in the Donbas with the need to save good souls from gay parades. He spoke before the outbreak of war about a confrontation in Ukraine that has “metaphysical” significance, Dagbladet’s commentator Morten Strand wrote in April.
For our Lord also has dug himself into the trenches of Russia and of Ukraine. For safety’s sake, each continued Strand.