While letters from religious personalities questioning the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill on his moral responsibility in the face of the war in Ukraine are multiplying, the latter seems to be sticking to his positions.
The origins of the confrontation in Ukraine lie in the relationships between the West and Russia and it has become part of a strategy to weaken Russia, Moscow Patriarch Kirill has said in a letter to the World Council of Churches.
Kiril’s March 10 letter was in response to one sent March 2 by World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Ioan Sauca asking Patriarch Kirill to mediate so that the war in Ukraine can be stopped.
The United Nations Refugee Agency said March 11 that more than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.
Kiril is known to have the ear of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian patriarch made no mention of the suffering Ukraine’s civilans face as thier cities are bombarded and hundreds of them are killed and maimed.
This tragic conflict has become a part of the large-scale geopolitical strategy aimed, first and foremost, at weakening Russia.
Patriarch of Moscow Kirill
“And now the Western leaders are imposing such economic sanctions on Russia that will be harmful to everyone.”
The Russian Orthodox Church is the biggest from the Orthodox tradition in the WCC, which is a fellowship of 352 churches from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide.
The WCC includes most of the world’s Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches.
‘RUSSOPHOBIA SPREADING’
Kiril wrote that the Western leader make their intentions obvious – “to bring sufferings not only to the Russian political or military leaders, but specifically to the Russian people. Russophobia is spreading across the Western world at an unprecedented pace.”
The National Catholic Reporter wrote on March 8, Kirill, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had already refrained from criticizing the Russian invasion – alienating many in the Ukrainian Orthodox churches who had previously stayed loyal to the Moscow patriarch during a schism in their country.”
Kiril said the WCC he hopes “that even in these trying times, as has been the case throughout its history, the World Council of Churches will be able to remain a platform for unbiased dialogue, free from political preferences and one-sided approach.
The WCC letter was sent on to the Russian patriarch on March 2, the sixth day since the Russian invasion of its neighbor that has drawn widespread global condemnation from countries and at the United Nations.
“It is with great pain and with a breaking heart that I am writing to Your Holiness,” wrote Sauca who is from the Orthodox Church of Romania.
“The tragic situation of the war in Ukraine has brought tremendous suffering and loss of lives.”
Separately in a statement on March 11 the World Council of Churches said it “is appalled by the escalating impact of the conflict in Ukraine on civilians – the women, men and children of Ukraine – and by what appears to be increasingly indiscriminate attacks,”
Sauca said. “The airstrike on the Mariupol Hospital No.3 on 9 March, attacks affecting other hospitals, schools, kindergartens and residential areas, and the rising toll of civilian deaths and injuries all indicate that international humanitarian law is being disregarded.”
More: “The President of the CEC to Patriarch Kiril: Your silence disappoints and frightens” Here
If Patriarch Cyrill of the Orthodox Church of Moscow is lying to 100 million Russian-speaking faithful about the reality and truth of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine! He shows no mercy, no charity, nothing Christian, nothing human in the face of horror. This man is not fit to be a priest!
If he does not change his attitude, this friend of Putin will be summoned with him before an international tribunal as an accomplice of a war criminal as soon as this nightmare is over.
Le Patriarche Cyrill de l’Eglise Orthodoxe de Moscou ment à 100 millions de fidèles russophones sur la réalité et la vérité de l’ invasion de Poutine en Ukraine ! Il ne manifeste aucune pitié aucune charité rien de chrétien, rien d’humain face à l’ horreur. Cet homme n’est pas digne d’ être prêtre !
Si il ne change pas d’ attitude, cet ami de Poutine sera convoqué avec lui devant un Tribunal international comme complice d’un Criminel de Guerre dès que ce cauchemar aura pris fin.
Le Patriarche Cyrill de l’Eglise Orthodoxe de Moscou ment à 100 millions de fidèles russophones sur la réalité et la vérité de l’ invasion de Poutine en Ukraine ! Il ne manifeste aucune pitié aucune charité rien de chrétien ni d’humain face à l’ horreur. Cet homme n’est pas digne d’ être prêtre !
Si il ne change pas d’ attitude, cet ami de Poutine sera convoqué avec lui devant un Tribunal international comme complice d’ un Criminel de Guerre dès que ce cauchemar aura pris fin.