Russia’s strong aggression against Ukraine had profound and irreversible political, economic and social consequences in the country presided over by Volodymyr Zelensky.
But while troops are fighting on Ukrainian soil, a less visible conflict is also taking place in the country.
It is a religious rebellion that, according to experts, is unprecedented and that directly affects the very popular Russian Orthodox Church, which is highly influential in Kiev.
Since the beginning of the invasion, several bishops and priests faithful to this Church have expressed their rejection of Cyril, the Patriarch of Moscow and the highest representative of this religious institution.
Many Ukrainian believers even stopped praying for him during services, the strongest symbol of disobedience in the Orthodox world.
But why are these signs of revolt important? How relevant are they in the context of war? And why is Ukraine so crucial to the Russian Orthodox Church? Understand here.
Cyril, an ally of Putin
Currently, there are two major Orthodox communities in Ukraine: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow (UOC-MP) – which is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) – and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
The latter was created in 2018, after separating from its Russian counterpart after more than 300 years linked to it, which represented an important step towards breaking the religious subordination to Russia.
But, according to the latest official data, the UOC-MP remains the largest in the country, with around 12,000 parishes. The UOC, in turn, has about 7,000.
Even before the invasion, this meant that Russia continued to exert substantial influence in the Ukrainian spiritual realm.
This is even more important considering that Ukraine has the third largest Orthodox population in the world (behind Russia and Ethiopia), according to Pew Research.
In this country, 8 out of 10 adults (78%) identify as Orthodox.
But the aggression led by Vladimir Putin – who, incidentally, destroyed hundreds of churches with his air strikes – came to shake the power of the UOC-MP.
The breaking point was triggered after Moscow’s Patriarch Cyril failed to condemn the military actions. On the contrary, he blessed Russian troops and so far has not called for a ceasefire.
The top representative of the Russian Orthodox Church is a former ally of Putin. In 2012, for example, he called Putin’s rule a “miracle from God.”
“The Russian patriarch sees the war in Ukraine as a kind of culture war between a Western and an Eastern conception of life,” says Thomas Bremer, professor of ecumenical theology and researcher at the Russian Orthodox Church at the University of Münster in Germany.
According to several scholars, Cyril, like Putin, shares a vision of a “Russkiy Mir” (or “Russian World”) where Ukrainians and Russians are “the same people”.
Your mission, then, is to bring them together to face the threats that come from abroad.
“Cyril provided Putin with ideas and ideology,” says Cyril Hovorun, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest who teaches ecclesiology, international relations and ecumenism at Stockholm University.
“Personally, I think that without the contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church, the war would have been impossible because it justifies it. Putin has this self-confidence also because the Church has encouraged him,” he adds.
internal rebellion
Cyril’s attitude — and that of other religious leaders who support him — has generated widespread rejection among Ukrainian believers.
Even Metropolitan Onofrio of Kiev – who represents the UOC-MP in Ukraine – strongly condemned Russian actions and appealed directly to Putin, calling for an immediate end to the “fratricidal war”.
He also called upon Cyril himself to help resolve the conflict.
“It’s an internal rebellion, a unique fragmentation of the Church,” says Hovorun of Stockholm University.
“Cyril seems to be completely ignorant of all the deaths, the destruction. He has not uttered a single word in support of the Ukrainian victims”, adds the academic.
This caused several dioceses in Ukraine to stop praying for the patriarch, which is a major act of disobedience.
“Usually in the liturgy, the highest hierarch is mentioned, he is prayed for. But many have stopped doing so. I have seen videos on the internet where priests say, ‘he has let us down and he is no longer our patriarch, we cannot trust him. ‘” says Thomas Bremer.
“And this is a very bold step,” he adds.
This rebellion crossed Ukrainian borders and unleashed unprecedented internal opposition to Cyril within the Russian Orthodox Church itself.
About 300 Russian priests and deacons recently signed an open letter entitled “Russian priests for peace”, calling for an “immediate ceasefire”.
“We think with bitterness of the chasm that our children and grandchildren in Russia and Ukraine will have to overcome in order to be friends, respect and love one another again,” the letter reads.
“The entire Russian Church is a little shaken. Although many support the war, there is growing dissent over the policies of their patriarch,” explains Cyril Horovun.
“And in other places, in the structures of the Russian Church outside Russia, something similar is also happening. In the Baltic countries, for example, they are trying to distance themselves from Moscow, expressing their distrust of the patriarch,” he adds.
Why is Ukraine so important?
Ukraine is not just another country in the world for Vladimir Putin or the Russian Orthodox Church.
The dominant view of Russian nationalism is that Ukraine is a sister nation and, moreover, that it is the heart of the “Russian nation”.
In particular, the capital Kiev has a very important spiritual significance for the Orthodox.
In 2019, Cyril compared Kiev to the significance of Jerusalem for global Christianity, according to Russian news agency Tass.
“That’s right. What Jerusalem means to Christianity, Kiev means to Russian Orthodoxy,” says Thomas Bremer.
“Ukraine is a very important part of Russian methodology. For them, the country is part of their founding myth”, explains Cyril Horovun.
Because of this, Cyril justified what the Russians call a “special military operation” in Ukraine as a way of “saving” that country from the Western world and its values.
In one of his sermons, the patriarch highlighted that one of the reasons for the conflict is the supposed opposition of his people to “gay parades”.
“Cyril’s Church presents Russia as a defender of traditional and family values ​​against the supposedly decadent and corrupt West that supports the LGBT group and all sorts of ethical distortions,” explains Horovun.
“For them, the West is almost like an incarnation of the force of evil. And Putin also has that image in mind,” he adds.
What can happen?
Several dioceses within the UOC-MP have already expressed their intention of independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Some even want to convene a council of bishops with the aim of making a decision that moves towards abandoning their historic relationship with the institution led by Cyril.
However, according to the BBC’s Ukrainian service, there are others who urge to keep a “cool head”, pointing out that it is impossible to build a new Church during war.
What is clear is that, after the invasion, there will be a before and after in relations between Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox.
“If the Russians gain control of Ukraine, which is possible, they will have a church in Ukraine that they don’t trust. There will be bishops who said ‘I don’t trust you anymore,'” notes Thomas Bremer.
“Possibly, they will have to change the episcopacy and many of the bishops. And I believe that many priests and faithful will no longer go to church because they no longer have confidence in Russian orthodoxy,” he concludes.
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