Why is Russia's church backing Putin's war?

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Patriarch Kirill’s support for the invasion of a country where millions of people belong to his own church has led critics to conclude that Orthodox leadership has become little more than an arm of the state – and that this is the role it usually plays.

The reality is much more complicated. The relationship between Russian church and state has undergone profound historical transformations, not least in the past century – a focus of my work as a scholar of Eastern Orthodoxy. The church’s current support for the Kremlin is not inevitable or predestined, but a deliberate decision that needs to be understood.

(snip)

Although 70%-75% of Russians consider themselves Orthodox, only a small percentage are active in church life. Kirill has sought to “re-church” society by asserting that Russian Orthodoxy is central to Russian identity, patriotism and cohesion – and a strong Russian state. He has also created a highly centralized church bureaucracy that mirrors Putin’s and stifles dissenting voices.

(snip)

A broader rift is clearly brewing: A number of Ukrainian Orthodox bishops have already stopped commemorating Kirill during their services. If Kirill supported Russia’s actions as a way to preserve the unity of the church, the opposite outcome seems likely.


https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-701967

[LastDemocratInSC]

1. I think it's because the church wants the coercive power of government on their side

and the government wants the controlling power of the church on their side. And I think that's true everywhere. It's not symbiosis because in the end I think churches are more likely to lose in the deal.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. They made a deal with the devil just like the christofascists did with the Pig.

[thucythucy]

3. Homophobia is one big reason.

Ukraine supposedly is more tolerant of people who are LGBTQ.

Then add antiSemitism. The Russian Orthodox Church has been antiSemitic all through its history.

Having a neighbor with a Jewish head of state must just rattle the church hierarchy no end.

[nycbos]

4. Religious churches have always had an alliance with fascism.

Christopher Hitchens his book God is not great talked about how the Greek and Russian orthodox churches supported Milosevich during the Balkans wars.

Also how the Catholic Chruch colluded with the Nazis and other facscist.

&t=517s

[OnDoutside]

5. And even the Catholic Church bishops siding with Trump against Biden.

[slightlv]

6. Christianity in the extreme would like nothing more

than to see themselves as the ultimate arbitrator of societies the world over... most often in tandem with the autocratic rulers of the countries. That relationship gives them more power to enforce their version of the religion.

I'm sorry, I really feel Christianity, as an organized religion, needs to be broken down and abolished. It is entirely too vicious an organization to continue as a complete entity. Older, non-violent sects could continue as individual churches to their flocks... I'm thinking of the mainstream Protestant religions. But the Catholic church must either change to get with the times... including their opinion on birth control and other women's rights... or be banned in the country. I say the same thing about all religions who are violently pressing their "faith." This includes Islamists as well as Christianists.

At that point, those who are actually searching for a faith to belong to would have the peace of mind to actually become Seekers of Truth. That Truth may lead to Atheism for some; Agnosticism for others; or to alternative religions for many others. But if we continue to let "the church" play footsy with government officials in the administrative bed, we're gonna all be living under a theocracy, civil rights be damned. There will only be THEIR interpretation of the Bible that will be allowed. We are so close in this country to being a theocracy right now, it's damned scary. People need to wake up and put these people in their place. They can worship as they want; but the government MUST enforce that wall of separation between church and state.

I feel sorry for true Christians out there trying to live the life of Christ's teachings. I do not malign you. I respect you. But your brethren must be held to task and stopped. Just like we're saying only the Ukrainians can defeat Putin, only you can put the extremists in your midst in their place. And I've really not heard a lot of pushback from the mainstream Christians. Warriors for Christ can have several meanings. Do you really want to cede that label to the White Christian Nationalists and the Dominionists?

As a note, I've got a BIG dog in this fight because I'm not Christian. I wouldn't step foot in a church now if my life depended on it. And if these Dominionists get any further into power, my life WILL depend on it. Has anyone with a TV notice all the "Jesus" ads on TV lately? The really sweet ones... not the stupid televangelists. That's the Dominionists trying to conquer that Media Mountain. How much more government are we going to let them have? This Supreme Court will go right along with them; shoot, most of them are in league with them. I've lost all respect for these religious types and for the organized churches, in general.

[Elessar Zappa]

8. Sorry, we don't ban religions in this country.

Move to North Korea if you want that.

[slightlv]

9. I'm not banning religions...

only the extremist versions. And if you can't get behind that, you might to check out the Middle East history.

[SCantiGOP]

7. Why did America's church back Bush's War?

There was no shortage of chaplains, priests and rabbis in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[dalton99a]

10. The KGB owns the Russian Orthodox Church

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church

Gleb Yakunin, a critic of the Moscow Patriarchate who was one of those who briefly gained access to the KGB archive documents in the early 1990s, argued that the Moscow Patriarchate was "practically a subsidiary, a sister company of the KGB".[45] Critics charge that the archives showed the extent of active participation of the top ROC hierarchs in the KGB efforts overseas.[46][47][48][49][50][51] George Trofimoff, the highest-ranking US military officer ever indicted for, and convicted of, espionage by the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment on 27 September 2001, had been "recruited into the service of the KGB"[52] by Igor Susemihl (a.k.a. Zuzemihl), a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church (subsequently, a high-ranking hierarch—the ROC Metropolitan Iriney of Vienna, who died in July 1999[53]).

Konstanin Kharchev, former chairman of the Soviet Council on Religious Affairs, explained: "Not a single candidate for the office of bishop or any other high-ranking office, much less a member of Holy Synod, went through without confirmation by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the KGB".[49] Professor Nathaniel Davis points out: "If the bishops wished to defend their people and survive in office, they had to collaborate to some degree with the KGB, with the commissioners of the Council for Religious Affairs, and with other party and governmental authorities".[54] Patriarch Alexy II, acknowledged that compromises were made with the Soviet government by bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate, himself included, and publicly repented of these compromises.[55]

[Jacson6]

11. The patriarch is afraid that Putin will invite him to the Kremlin for a cup of tea.