Putin turning Ukraine into Orthodox religious war against Christ

Kyiv Theological Seminary (KTS) had earlier issued a general warning. “Generating panic through the spread of manipulative false information is exactly what the enemy seeks,” a communications professor wrote on Tuesday. “This war is not as much for our territories, as it is for our soul and our mind.”

That was on Christianity Today. As Russia Invades Ukraine, Pastors Stay to Serve, Pray … and Resist Prayer requests from Donetsk: “First, to stop the aggressor. But then for peace of mind, to respond with Christian character and not from human hate.”
When you think about what Putin has done, remember this. Matthew 25

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

This is not just about democracy and the right of the Ukrainian people to control their own futures, it is about Putin trying to force them to believe the way he wants them to, when he does not even know what a true Christian is supposed to be!

Putin is ‘making it a religious war’

Salt Lake Tribune
By Lew Nescott Jr.
Religion News Service
Feb. 25, 2022

Head of U.S. Ukrainian Orthodox Church slams Russian leader, Moscow Patriarch Kirill “The responsibility is on him and his soul,” Archbishop Daniel says of the Russian president.

(Alexander Zemlianichenko | The Associated Press) Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, left, talks to President Vladimir Putin, right, during the Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 28, 2019. As Archbishop Daniel, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, watched his home country endure an invasion at the hands of Russia this week, he found himself waffling between two emotions: shock and devastation.

It’s not that he was surprised by tension between the two countries, which is long-standing. The rifts between Russia and Ukraine even extend to the religious realm: In late 2018 and early 2019, Orthodox Christians in Ukraine declared independence, or autocephaly, from the Orthodox Patriarchate in Russia. The Orthodox Church in Constantinople promptly set about recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, while Russian Orthodox leaders refused. The result: two opposing Orthodox factions in the country.

But seeing such tensions escalate to the level of armed conflict — with deadly consequences for Ukraine and its people — tore at Archbishop Daniel’s heart.

“I came to the United States of America in 1995, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” he said Thursday in an interview for Religion News Service with Lew Nescott Jr., an independent producer covering religion and politics. “I lived through the images of tanks going through Moscow and when the Soviet Union fell.

“Now, 30 years later,” the archbishop said, “I am living through the images of Russian tanks going through the streets, through the sovereign borders of Ukraine.”

I’m asking people of Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Catholic Church and people of goodwill regardless of background to use the weapon of prayer, to soften the heart of the aggressor against Ukrainian people, and to stop the crimes against humanity that we’re experiencing."

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Ukraine Orthodox Church granted independence from Russian Church

BBC
Published 5 January 2019

Ceremonies are taking place in Istanbul to recognise the independence of Ukraine's Orthodox Church from Russia

The Patriarch has signed what is known as a "tomos", a decree officially recognising an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in the presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who travelled to Istanbul for the occasion. Istanbul remained the centre of the Orthodox Church after the Muslim Ottoman Turks occupied the city, then known as Constantinople, in the 15th Century.

The event at St George's cathedral was broadcast live on Ukrainian television.

The tomos will be handed over on Sunday, and brought back to Ukraine on what is the Orthodox Christmas Eve. On Monday - Christmas Day - a celebration and rally will take place in central Kiev.

Upset at losing its Ukrainian parishes, the Russian Orthodox Church - which is the world's largest - has already cut ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual authority of the world's Orthodox church after it recognised the Ukrainian Church's independence.
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Greek Orthodox Church becomes first to recognize Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Ukrainian Weekly
By Alya Shandra/Euromaidan Press

Metropolitan Epifaniy (right) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos II, president of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

The Greek Orthodox Church has essentially recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which in January was granted autocephaly, or independence, from Moscow by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a move that angered Russia and caused what some termed the greatest Christian schism since 1054.
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UPDATE
Why does this matter?

Russia’s War on Ukraine Roils the Orthodox Church 2018

By using the Russian Orthodox Church as an instrument of state power in its conflict with Ukraine, the Kremlin galvanized a Ukrainian campaign for independence, or “autocephaly,” for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It also provided justification for the titular head of global orthodoxy, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, to approve that request.....

Because Constantinople is the ancient seat of the Eastern Orthodox faith, the more than 200 million Orthodox Christians traditionally regard its patriarch as the “first among equals,” and thus the formal leader among the 14 major Orthodox churches. But since the 15th century, the Russian church, as the largest and wealthiest single congregation, has pressed a rival claim to leadership.....

The Kremlin and the Moscow Patriarchate have mounted a diplomatic and disinformation campaign to press the Orthodox patriarchs to question Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision and his authority. More aggressive actions are likely to follow. Even if Russia cannot annul Bartholomew’s decision, it will seek to undermine its implementation by swaying opinion, sowing dissension, and instigating conflict. The Associated Press recently documented the invasion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s computers by Russian hackers. Meanwhile, an iconic Kyiv church, St. Andrew’s, was attacked with a Molotov cocktail after the government transferred it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. And Ukrainian authorities are investigating priests for allegedly inciting hatred and violence.....

UPDATE
Local churches shun Vatican's moderate stance on Russia
The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has done what Pope Francis has avoided doing by publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
ABC News
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
March 5, 2022

ROME -- The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has done what Pope Francis has so far avoided doing: He publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urged the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to use his influence with Vladimir Putin to demand an end to the war and for Russian soldiers to stand down.

“The time will come to settle these crimes, including before the international courts," Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki warned in his March 2 letter to Patriarch Kirill. “However, even if someone manages to avoid this human justice, there is a tribunal that cannot be avoided.”

UPDATE