Ukraine conflict must not damage unity of Russian Orthodox Church – Patriarch
(Interfax – Moscow, April 20, 2015)
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill believes the Ukrainian crisis is a challenge to the unity of the Russian church and is opposed to attempts to lend the crisis a religious dimension.
“The Ukrainian crisis and the desire of certain political forces to place it in the context of faith are a challenge to the historical unity of the Russian Orthodox Church,” the patriarch said on Monday [20 April] at an Easter reception at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s mansion.
At the same time, according to the patriarch, when diplomats ask for an explanation of “the problem in relations with Ukrainian religious organizations, and you tell them that the only connection is praying for the patriarch in churches, then your interlocutors, even those who are very critical of Russian foreign policy, cannot understand the reasons for the conflict”.
“That’s particularly the case if they are Catholics, who are used to praying for the Pope in all churches, and who cannot understand why praying for the patriarch of Moscow causes such resentment, why it is the focus of huge political efforts intended to destroy even this minimal connection,” the patriarch noted.
He expressed his conviction that what lies behind this are “very serious ideas and a serious policy, the aim of which is to destroy everything that connects Russia and Ukraine, that connects our peoples”.
“Preserving the unity of our church was always a priority. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the country’s largest community, brings together believers from across Ukraine, irrespective of their political views or their ethnic and cultural identity. That’s part of its huge spiritual and moral force,” Patriarch Kirill insisted.
At the same time, in his opinion, “only by remaining above political conflict does it manage to preserve its spiritual unity and its exceptional peace-making potential”.
“Attempts to sway the church towards one of the parties to the conflict could lead to an even more profound schism in Ukrainian society,” he said, expressing hope that the trials being experienced on Ukrainian land would end in the establishing of a stable peace.”