Church in Caesar's service: the Ukrainian war in the Christian conscience

The opposition politician from his prison released an article on the Church and Moscow's war in Kiev. The patriarchate's position contradicts not only the fundamentals of the faith, but also its own official documents. Priests punished for calling for peace. Gratitude to those, including religious, who rebel against the conflict 'regardless of the consequences'.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced in Russia to 25 years in concentration camps, wrote an article during his detention which he managed to spread in "The Church and the War". In the text he explained that patriarchal support for the invasion of Ukraine is unacceptable for the conscience of Christians. Translation by AsiaNews:

Russia has long been living according to Orwell, and after February 2022 this parallel reality has finally established itself. “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.” It would seem that we should not be surprised at the craziest distortions, the most shameless distortions, the most scandalous attempts to say "white" to black. Yet, even in this flow, the recent news from the Tver region was jarring, where the priest Ilja Gavryškiv was forced to apologize publicly, in front of the camera, for the fact that during the liturgy he did not pray for the "victory" over 'Ukraine, but for peace. Furthermore, it was not the FSB, nor the Investigative Committee or Ramzan Kadyrov who forced him, but his bishop into his hierarchical faculties.

“If he doesn't repent, he will be removed. Go for a walk” Bishop Adrian (Ulyanov) of Ržev and Toropetskij said directly. And His Excellency's threat to him is not unfounded: previously, the Moscow priest Ioann Koval had been dismissed for a similar "crime", and in Kostroma the diocesan court had banned the priest Ioann Burdin from serving for his position against war. Now the former rector of the Church of the Resurrection in the village of Karabanovo has been accused - and I quote - of “heretical pacifism”.

Similar stories are increasingly being told throughout the country, in the various eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church. Christian priests are punished because, following the biblical commandments, they speak publicly about the inadmissibility of bloodshed, and ask for peace. This probably wouldn't have occurred to Orwell either.

Such news may be disconcerting to some, ridiculous to others, and satisfying to still others. For me, as an Orthodox Christian, this only causes pain, anguish and a sense of deep mourning - both for the unjustly persecuted clergy, and for our entire Church, through the mouths and hands of our hierarchs today, as if they put the Caesar's power above the fundamental power of the Christian faith. Because the rejection of murder and violence is at the very heart of Christianity. The Holy Scripture speaks of it unequivocally: from the curse of the Old Testament to Cain, who shed his brother's blood (Gen. 4:10-12), to the sixth commandment of the Decalogue “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13) , and the words of the prophet concerning swords and plowshares that “they shall not shake the people with the sword against another people, neither shall they learn to fight again” (Exodus 2:4), before the Savior's call to the disciple to put away the sword in its sheath, “for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52) and the commandment “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9).

We find the same attitude towards war and violence in the early Christian texts and in the sayings of the Church Fathers. The “Apostolic Tradition” (3rd century) speaks of the rejection of the very idea of military service for a Christian: “Catechists or Christians who want to become warriors will be rejected, because they have despised God”. Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258), bishop and theologian, emphasized that "the hand that receives the Eucharist must not be contaminated by sword and blood".

In modern times, one of the most important proofs of the Christian rejection of war is the book of Archimandrite Spiridon (Kisljakov) (1875-1930) “Confession of a Priest before the Church”, recently published in Russia. During the First World War, Archimandrite Spiridon served as an army chaplain, so his thoughts are, first of all, a reflection of his experience. “What have I transformed the Holy Mysteries into?” - he asks - “isn't this one of the most powerful means of inspiring soldiers to kill soldiers like them? Through the communion of soldiers engaged in a bloody battle, have I not sent Christ himself to kill people and be killed?”.

It is important to note that the position taken by the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate regarding the war in Ukraine contradicts not only the foundations of the Christian faith, but also its own official documents. Therefore, among the actions “in which the clergy and canonical ecclesiastical structures cannot provide assistance to the State or collaborate with it” (“Foundations of the social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church”, adopted with the direct participation of the current Patriarch during his period as metropolitan), directly mention “the conduct of a civil war or an aggressive external war” (III. 8.). This formulation does not allow the Church to support the war, even if one accepts the Kremlin mythology that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people" - and even more so given its real nature of an aggressive external war, repeatedly confirmed by the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

I note that the previous Patriarch, who was often (and rightly) criticized for the “Serbian” line of submission to the secular authorities, nevertheless took a clear public position during the war in Chechnya. “The Church raises its voice in defense of the innocent victims of the bloody conflict,” Alexy II said in a statement at the beginning of the first Chechen war. “No, even the most just and legitimate considerations of state benefit cannot justify the sacrifices and suffering of the civilian population. No goal, not even the most noble, should be achieved through violent methods, which could ultimately lead to the multiplication of evil." Today, for such words, the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church is threatened with a ban on serving and dismissal.

A few lines above I wrote that what is happening causes me pain, sadness and mourning. But there is another feeling I feel: gratitude. Gratitude to those pastors who raise their voices to put an end to the war, regardless of the possible consequences for themselves, and who today defend the honor of the Russian Church despite its own hierarchs. I know this is important to many people in our country. And this will be all the more important if we understand everything that is happening and the responsibility that will inevitably fall on our society - including the Church - when all this is over.

*Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian dissident and activist, from the Ik-6 concentration camp in the Omsk region