Bridging the Ecclesial, the Academic, and the Political
It should come as little surprise that Bulgaria’s new government—which made no secret of its Kremlin sympathies long before last spring’s elections—has now stepped into the role once played by Viktor Orbán: blocking the inclusion of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in the European Union’s sanctions regime. With Hungary’s new government finally willing to let Kirill…
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For the first time, the Russian anti-war diaspora is calling on a European government to hold a high-ranking hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate accountable for his public support of the war in Ukraine. The target of the petition is Metropolitan Mark (Golovkov), appointed as Exarch of Western Europe by the Holy Synod of the Russian…
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Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian World (Russkii mir) doctrine has been extensively scrutinized and debated on Public Orthodoxy. As evidenced by public events and publications, a robust scholarly critique of this doctrine has not been lacking. A few influential church leaders have strongly criticized the Russian Orthodox Church’s collusion…
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As an Orthodox Christian witnessing the systematic persecution of clergy and faithful in Russia, I find myself compelled to break the deafening indifference within our American Orthodox communities. My heart grows heavier each day as friends—priests I’ve known for decades—suffer for their faithfulness to the Gospel of peace. Here, I must acknowledge that Ukrainians are…
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If the Government of Ukraine decides to restrict or even ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, currently in communion with the Patriarchate of Moscow, it would gravely compromise Ukraine’s standing among pluralistic democracies. In an essay posted on Public Orthodoxy (May 22, 2024), John Burgess pleaded with Ukraine’s elected officials against taking such action. He presented…
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The hatreds created by war can last for centuries. Putin said recently (in his interview with Tucker Carlson) that ties between Russia and Ukraine would eventually be rebuilt. “It will take a lot of time, but they will heal,” he declared. In the light of Russia’s brutality in the Ukraine war, this feels unrealistic, not…
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In early May, Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets met with representatives of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (EOC-MP) and shortly thereafter gave an interview to the ERR news channel in which he stated that he had given them a way out of the predicament created by the Russian leadership’s war against Ukraine,…
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Since the recent article by my deeply respected friend and teacher Fr. John Chryssavgis caused heated arguments, I, as a Ukrainian, would like to respond by clarifying certain issues, expressing my appreciation, and presenting criticism. The most important points that Fr. John makes are the following: (1) that church and world are not two separate…
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Orthodox Christians in Russia are sometimes surprised to learn that Patriarch Kirill is only representing the Russian Orthodox Church and that his views can in no way be taken as the views of the entire Orthodox Church. Orthodox in the West sometimes complain that their church leadership has remained silent about the war in Ukraine….
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I happened to be in Sweden when the country joined NATO two months ago. On March 6, an American nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bomber overflew the capital region in a show of solidarity with the newest alliance member. On the ground below, in the Stockholm suburbs, I was beginning my field work with Orthodox Christians to…
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On March 27, 2024, an extraordinary session of the World Russian People’s Council (WRPC) was held in Moscow. Patriarch Kirill personally presided over the congress. The main event of the Congress was the approval of the Edict (in Russian: Nakaz) of the XXV World Russian People’s Council, “The Present and Future of the Russian World.”…
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On March 27, the World Russian People’s Council (WRPC), headed by Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev), met at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow to ratify its programmatic document, “The Present and Future of the Russian World.” The document opens with a section on the Russian war in Ukraine, followed by a section on the…
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Lena Zezulin addresses the bishops of ROCOR on support for the Moscow Patriarchate two years into Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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On February 7th, 2023, still a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, I boarded a plane and left the Holy Land, where I was serving as a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (REM). Only after landing in Antalya (Turkey) did I publish a post on social media in which I announced my…
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What problems are of concern to Patriarch Kirill and the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church? This question, in particular, is answered by the documents of the Bishops’ Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church, one of the highest authorities of Church governance. However, the difficulty is that Patriarch Kirill has been unable to convene another…
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On May 11th, 2023, Moscow priest John Koval was defrocked by the ecclesiastical court after being suspended by Patriarch Kirill in February of the same year. His offense was replacing the word “victory” with “peace” in the “Prayer for Holy Rus’” mandated by the Patriarchate of Moscow to be included in all litanies. The “offensive”…
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The last year has been a difficult and conflictual one in Ukraine. It seems that war has become a way of life and thinking. It reanimates conflicts, exposes people’s feelings, opens old wounds, provokes intolerance and the search for an enemy, embitters, and most importantly, it makes people believe that there are simple solutions to…
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First of all, let me make my standpoint clear: I am from Ukraine, I am Orthodox, I have experience and interest in peacebuilding, and I co-translated the document For the Life of the World: Towards the Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church (FLOW) into Ukrainian and Russian. I find this document a profound and inspiring…
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As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its second year, prayers throughout the world continue to be offered for a quick and just end. One question that needs to be raised is what will this just end look like? Regardless of who the victor will be, regardless of whether the political players—Putin and Zelensky—will…
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It can be difficult to fathom the mindset of the followers of Jesus in the early to mid fourth century, as they gradually abandoned their commitment to the Way of total love towards all, even enemies. Before being called Christians, the disciples of Jesus were known as the people of the Way. What Way? The Way that…
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In an interview reported by The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations, Rossiya TV asked Patriarch Kirill about his visit to Latin America in February 2016. At the time, Kirill commented about his impression of South America and his hopes for that country. As a comparative lesson, he reflected on the experience of…
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In his 2006 book titled The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, historian Mark Noll argued that the American Civil War of the 19th century was, among other things, a crisis not only of differing biblical interpretations but of the very concept of the Bible. The South and the North interpreted the Scriptural outlook on…
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The decision of the Ukrainian government to terminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s (UOC) lease at the Kyiv Pechers’ka Lavra monastery complex has dominated Orthodox news in recent weeks. The events leading up to the decision have stirred up emotions, generated debate, and given birth to rumors on the state’s objectives. Dispassionate analysis is at the…
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Students of Kyiv Theological Academy In 2022, the Russian Federation began full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. There are already many thousands of victims in this terrible war, not only military, but also civilians. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church took the side of the Ukrainian people from the very beginning of the war. Already on February 24,…
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On February 16, the second face-to-face meeting of initiative groups of clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was held in Sophia National Sanctuary Complex in Kyiv. Its final appeal we published on Public Orthodox earlier. Now we follow up with the impressions and comments of…
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Icon painting is rightly considered to be the visual expression of the Orthodox tradition. The icon speaks of the Gospel, the liturgy, the hymnography, the saints, the dogmas, and the pedagogy of the church. Icons testify to the reality of God’s Incarnation, the image of God in each of us, and mystically lead us…
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Your Eminences! My letter is addressed to the Orthodox bishops in Russia. I have intentionally not collected signatures or involved any Church structures or public organizations, because I am addressing not the episcopal body, not the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchy, but each of you personally. My letter’s addressee is an Orthodox Christian who…
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Any conflict, especially a military conflict, needs a clear rationale for why it occurs. Usually, this question should be answered by official representatives of the state. However, the situation in Russia after the beginning of the armed conflict with Ukraine is gradually beginning to be explained in religious terms. This language has moved beyond the…
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On 20 November 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow celebrated his 76th birthday. At a reception to mark the occasion, held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the Patriarch warned his guests in apocalyptic terms of the current dangers facing Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Without explicitly mentioning the war in Ukraine,…
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This year, on Christmas Eve, Patriarch Kirill wrote the shortest text in the fourteen years of his patriarchate: the appeal for a Christmas truce. This document might well have become a masterpiece of the anti-war, peacemaking stance of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, it turned out quite differently. The appeal for a ceasefire is yet…
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