Archbishop of America Mr. Elpidophoros spoke about Russia’s instrumentalization of religion in the Ukraine war during a speech he gave at the US National Intelligence University. The Archbishop was invited by the president of the academic institution as part of the Presidential Lecture Series organized by the university.

This is the first address by an Archbishop of America to the US intelligence community, as the National Intelligence University (NIU) faculty and students are drawn from all 18 intelligence community agencies (including the CIA, NSA, and FBI). , as well as from all branches of the US Armed Forces.

For his part, Archbishop Elpidophoros analyzed the religious dimension of the war in Ukraine, focusing on the granting of autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the consequences of Russia’s distortion of the Orthodox faith. These specific issues have been attracting more and more interest in Western academic and political circles lately.

In this context, the Archbishop of America tried to help the representatives from the US national security community to understand the geopolitical impact that religious ideas have in this particular region of the world but also how ecclesiastical affairs take on broader dimensions that touch on certain aspects of war and conflict.