In his speech, His Holiness referred to the marginalization of religion during the period of the Soviet Union, and its re-instrumentalization in the years that followed its fall.
In a new resounding condemnation of the war in Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew proceeded, in his speech, today, at the opening of the International Conference “World Policy Conference – For a Reasonably Open World”, which is being held in Abu Dhabi, underlining that the ongoing war has led to the death of thousands of people, Ukrainians and Russians, while the destruction of infrastructure on the territory of Ukraine is incalculable.
His Holiness, in his extensive speech, before personalities from all over the world, referred to the historical spiritual ties of the Kievan Rus with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, from which they received baptism into Christianity, in the 10th century, and to the attempts to undermine the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and its role in the Orthodox world by Russia, after the Fall of the City, and especially from the 19th century, when in combination with the doctrine of Pan-Slavism, it used religious sentiment to achieve political and military goals alien to it .
This attitude, which aimed at the removal of the Slavonic believers from their Mother Church and the promotion of Moscow as the “Third Rome” led the Ecumenical Patriarchate to condemn it, in 1872, as a heresy, the heresy of ethno-tribalism, which comes in blatant opposition to the universality of the Gospel message, but also to the ancient tradition of organization and administration of the Church.
This heresy of ethno-tribalism, with pan-Slavism as a vehicle and the division of the Patriarchate’s flock, the Patriarch emphasized, was useful for Moscow’s goals and the cause of the hatred caused between the Orthodox Christians of the Balkans, manifested during the Balkan wars and the atrocities that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century.
In his speech, His Holiness referred to the marginalization of religion during the period of the Soviet Union, and its re-instrumentalization in the years that followed its fall.
As he said, the Russian Orthodox Church sided with Vladimir Putin, especially after the election of Patriarch Kirill in 2009.
“He is actively involved in promoting the ideology of Rousskii Mir, the Russian World, according to which language and religion make it possible to define a coherent whole that will include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, as well as the other territories of the former Soviet Union and of the Diaspora.
Moscow (both political and religious power) would be the center of this world, whose mission would be to combat the decadent values ​​of the West.
This ideology is an instrument of legitimization of Russian expansionism and the basis of its Eurasian strategy. The connection with the past of ethno-tribalism and the present of the Russian World is obvious. Faith thus becomes the backbone of the Putin regime’s ideology».
Subsequently. the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the refusal of the Russian Church to participate in the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, held in Crete in 2016, and the deterioration of relations after the Ecumenical Patriarchate granted, in 2019, Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church . He added, in fact, that the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, intensified polarization.
“Patriarch Kirill’s ambiguous stance on the war and his support for President Putin’s policies have provoked strong criticism in the Orthodox world and beyond. The Ukrainian Orthodox, who had chosen to remain under the Russian Church, also expressed their disapproval.
This is how the division of the Orthodox world deepens and widens. Some Churches agree with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Others, whose countries are too dependent on Russia, blindly support the Moscow Patriarchate. Still others prefer to maintain a complicit silence.
Meanwhile, the Russian Church uses the means of the state to consolidate its influence on the canonical territory of other Churches, contrary to the most elementary rules of the church organization of Orthodoxy.
Its interventions in Africa are presented as punitive actions against the Patriarchate of Alexandria for recognizing the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It is obvious that in these conditions the peace-making role of the Church becomes very difficult.”
His Holiness pointed out that all of the above, in addition to their importance for church life, testify to the growing role of the religious factor in major global issues.
“Ideologies weaken one after the other. The end of communism left a great void in a whole part of the world that lived under its rule and in other populations that had invested their hopes in it. The crisis of globalization and liberalism is also creating deep frustrations and dangerous resentments. In this landscape of collapsing materialistic ideologies, spirituality is making a powerful comeback. However, this return may pose a danger if it is not expressed according to approaches that incorporate the wisdom of religious traditions drawn from the legacy of the great civilizations of the past.».
The Ecumenical Patriarch underlined that the source of the problems is the instrumentalization of religion by persons who often have no real faith. He even noted that the Russian Orthodox are a great asset for Orthodoxy and for the whole world.
“Russian Orthodoxy had a huge spiritual and artistic contribution, as well as intellectually. He was unfortunately a victim of the interventions of the Russian political power. Soviet oppression wreaked havoc, depriving entire generations of the blessing of the faith and wisdom of the Church. The neo-imperial regime, in its need to strengthen itself, relied on what it saw as valuable political capital: the renewed religious sentiment of the Russian people. Unfortunately, he succeeded in leading a part of the orthodox clergy down this road. Mainly, it adopted and reinforced the heretical approaches of the tsarist regime in a context of misinterpretation of church canons, partly due to the spiritual rot of the Soviet period.
The consequences are very serious. The ethno-religious fanaticism instilled in Russian youth is stifling the prospects for peace and reconciliation. The Orthodox world is divided and this fragmentation is projected in poor countries, whose people hoped to find relief in the faith. Above all, it harms the Russian Church, since sooner or later people will realize the excesses of a Church subject to goals that have nothing to do with its original mission».
Concluding his speech, His Holiness emphasized that sometimes experts in international relations tend to ignore or marginalize the role and importance of the religious factor, authentic or manipulated.
“We have, however, entered a period in which this factor is becoming increasingly important. Theologians and other specialists in issues related to the functioning of the Churches must undoubtedly open themselves to other perspectives and develop a dialogue with other scientific disciplines. It is also important that social science, political science, and international relations majors overcome any reluctance to delve into religious issues. Understanding a new world that is taking shape before our eyes cannot ignore the religious facts”.
His Holiness arrived in Abu Dhabi late yesterday afternoon, where he was received at the airport by a representative of the United Arab Emirates government and the ambassadors of Greece, Antonios Alexandridis, and of Turkey, Tugay Tunçer, with his wife, Burcu Keriman Erdoğdu-Tunçer, with whom he had a short and cordial conversation.
RES-EMP
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