Any sign of church dissent is telling...
THE situation in Ukraine has implications for the links between politics and religion.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Orthodox Church in Russia, has backed the war, having consistently supported the government through intervention’ in Syria and the Caucasus.
There are precedents for this. The Orthodox Church and the Romanov tsars were hand-in-glove, and although the 1917 revolution ended the Church’s privileged status – with Stalin executing thousands of priests during the Purges – the Second World War changed his attitude.
The Orthodox Church cooperated, describing him as ‘our God-given leader’ and after the war active persecution was quietly abandoned.
In the 1980s the last Soviet leader, Gorbachev, was photographed with the then Patriarch – unthinkable even 10 years earlier.
The fall of communism in 1991 rehabilitated religion. But has Christianity now slid backwards into tribalism?
Of recent years the Patriarch has moved even closer to the government. He has welcomed the seizure of the Crimea and ignored Russian atrocities’ in the present war.
Putin appeared at this year’s Good Friday Service, candle in hand. He sent a message to the Patriarch. ‘During the Easter holiday believers’ hearts are filled with special joy, a desire to do good and to help those in need.’ No comment.
Reactions in the rest of the Christian world have been hostile. Pope Francis has warned the Patriarch against becoming ‘Putin’s altar boy’.
In Britain the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has expressed ‘grave concern’, and his predecessor, Rowan Williams, has raised the possibility of removing the Patriarch from the World Council of Churches.
Even within Russia some priests have signed a petition demanding an end to the war. In other words Christianity in Russia is becoming isolated from the world community of believers.
Kirill and Putin are becoming like ‘the German Christian Church’ created by Hitler, loyal to national socialism and closed to nonnationals.
The point of Christianity is that it is inclusive - or should be. If Putin’s regime collapses, what will happen to the church so tightly bound to its chariot wheels?
Perhaps even non-believers should keep an eye on developments. Slackening bonds? When Patriarch Kirill’s remarks on Putin become first evasive, then hostile, it is time up for the government.
MARGARET BROWN BURSLEM