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“Many Ukrainians are going to spend the holy season under siege, hiding in basements. Others will not live to see the holiday at all. ... This is not Christian behavior at all, as I understand it. On Easter they will kill, and they will be killed.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
I am not certain which Easter President Zelensky is referring to - The Western or the Orthodox. It seems that his statement will apply to both as it is. American intelligence sources are preparing Ukraine for a new invasion in the eastern part of the country, possibly sometime this week. Yet, many have died in Ukraine as it is over this last weekend on the Western Easter. The week that just began happens to be Holy Week for Orthodox Christians, so the world may again be treated to the spectacle of Orthodox Christians - Russians and Ukrainians - killing each other during the week in which we commemorate the Prince of Peace ascending the Cross for our salvation. One more occasion to witness the utter moral bankruptcy of Russia's "Orthodox Christian" president.
Ukraine will thus continue its painful march toward a collective Golgotha and further suffering of an untold magnitude. The brutality of Bucha and Mariopul defies comprehension. There is every indication that Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow continues to bless Putin's unconscionable assault on a free and sovereign country. This once again reveals not only the hollowness of Patriarch Kyrill's support of the Russian war effort, but it is an open offense to everything that we, as Orthodox, proclaim in the Gospel and in our entire theological/moral tradition. It can only fill the soul of a believer with moral revulsion. Will Patriarch Kyrill really be able to serve during Holy Week with a good conscience? Will he convince Putin that a "cease fire" should be declared on Great and Holy Friday and on Pascha? But Patriarch Kirill is so steeped in mendacity and twisted reasoning, the question becomes: Would it even matter at this point?
In an article entitled "Inside the Campaign Against Putin's Pope" in the journal Politico, we read the following in reference to Patriarch Kyrill's immoral stance on the war and on his sermonizing in defense of the war:
"The bill of complaints against Patriarch Kirill is long and ugly. Since taking over Russian Orthodoxy’s highest job in 2009, he’s rearranged the church on more authoritarian lines, cemented a close alliance with Putin, and lent ecclesiastical legitimacy to the quasi-mystical, hyper-nationalist Russkiy Mir theory that Putin has used to dismiss the existence of Ukraine as a separate country."
"Since the war began, it’s been uglier still. He delivered a sermon calling on Russians to rally around the authorities and “repel enemies both external and internal.” In another, he likened the battle to the struggle between the church and the antichrist. He’s said the war for “Holy Russia” has “metaphysical significance,” the conquest of Ukraine a matter of eternal salvation. For good measure, he’s also said that part of what the Russian forces are combating is the horrific possibility of gay pride parades. Plenty of oligarchs have been canceled for less."
Does the Christian world really need to be "saved" from "gay pride parades" by a vicious and aggressive war in which innocent men, women and children will be killed? As Putin is now considered a pariah on the stage of international politics, so Patriarch Kyrill is fast becoming a pariah on the stage of worldwide Christianity. For there is now a movement within the World Council of Churches to expel the Russian Orthodox Church. Regardless of one's evaluation of the World Council of Churches, this is a notable rebuke of the patriarch's alliance with an authoritarian regime that has so morally compromised the Russian Orthodox Church.
Holy Week is a time of deep reflection on, and participation in, the oikonomia of God that culminated in His Son's voluntary Passion on Golgotha, and the ultimate victory over death itself in His glorious Resurrection. As we do so, the Ukrainian Golgotha is unfolding in real time. For the victims of this war, that victory of our Lord's will hopefully bear fruit in the eschaton. Perhaps we can stand in prayerful solidarity with Ukraine, and ask God that this sovereign nation will experience rebirth with its freedom and dignity intact.
Fortunately, other prominent Orthodox hierarchs are denouncing the war with great moral clarity. I am providing a link to one such articulate statement by Archbishop Elpidophoros, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America:
This next link is to a more detailed article tracing the steady decline of the Moscow patriarchate's moral stance as it further entwined itself with Putin's vision of Russia:
And here is a link to a more positive approach to this tragic war; an approach that will allow us to do something concrete in order to assist this beleaguered nation and people.The title is: "Rebuid Ukraine: The Long March to Becoming Fully Human."
"Rebuild Ukraine: The Long March to Becoming Fully Human:"
