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Head of Eastern Orthodoxy condemns Putin, Russian invasion of Ukraine
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The worldwide head of Jap Orthodoxy provided a uncommon public criticism when he condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying “the entire world is towards Russia.”
Throughout an interview with CNN TÜRK, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated he maintained “an excellent relationship” with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whereas he described how Russia’s latest army actions have strained the nation’s relationship with the remainder of the world.
“We’re coming into a brand new period of Chilly Struggle,” stated Patriarch Bartholomew, based on a report. “The gap between Russia and never solely Ukraine however the entire Western world, Russia and the Western world is getting greater. It signifies that we’re coming into a brand new Chilly Struggle interval.”
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“Anybody who thinks proper and acts proper doesn’t need this case, this new Chilly Struggle interval. As a non secular establishment, our Patriarchate, has all the time been in favor of peace and unity, and we proceed to take action. Now we have particularly strengthened our prayers nowadays,” he added.
Present archbishop of Constantinople and ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople serves the service on the principal Jap Orthodox St. George’s Cathedral in Istanbul, Turkey, November 30, 2020. (Picture by Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto by way of Getty Photographs)
The patriarch of Constantinople serves as the primary amongst equals of the decentralized Jap Orthodox communion. He presides over any council of Orthodox primates, and he serves as a spokesperson for the Orthodox communion.
When Ukraine gained its independence from the previous Soviet Union, the Ecumenical Patriarch stated the Orthodox church additionally granted the nation its personal unbiased Orthodox Church. In 2019, a Ukrainian Orthodox Church primarily based in Kyiv formally separated from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that appears to Moscow for management. Each church buildings, nonetheless, have garnered criticism from Russia’s Orthodox Church.
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The top of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has voiced assist for Putin and even went so far as to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a struggle towards sinful residing and in response to the “extermination” of Donbas separatists.
“Now we have entered right into a wrestle that has not a bodily, however a metaphysical significance,” Kirill stated throughout a church sermon on Sunday, earlier than the beginning of Lent.
FILE – Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill delivers the Christmas Liturgy within the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (AP Picture/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
He additionally stated the Donbas residents are struggling for his or her “basic rejection of the so-called values which might be provided at the moment by those that declare world energy.”
The continued wrestle, then, was a “check for the loyalty” of those that peddle their very own concepts of freedom and “extra consumption.”
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The controversial feedback have cut up Ukrainian Orthodoxy as some are nonetheless loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, regardless of Putin’s militaristic invasion.
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill on the thirteenth anniversary of his enthronement in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Picture by way of AP)
A number of bishops from Ukraine’s unbiased church have despatched a letter important of Kirill’s feedback.
“And the reason being apparent. The treacherous open invasion of Ukraine is a large mistake of Russia,” wrote Rev. Mykola Danilevich, who additionally famous that “a lot of our monks have stopped commemorating the Moscow Patriarch for worship companies.”
“Individuals didn’t hear from the patriarch a transparent evaluation of this struggle and his name to cease this insanity,” Danilevich added.
A 2018 survey discovered that about 67.3% of Ukraine’s inhabitants identifies as one or one other strand of Orthodox Christianity, with 28.7% a part of the Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), 23.4% merely “Orthodox,” and 12.8% Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.
Fox Information’ Tyler O’Neil and The Related Press contributed to this report.