Russian priests against the war: Targeted by Moscow, opposed by Ukrainians

Of 300 priests who had signed an appeal against the invasion in March 2022, few today can support pacifist positions. Some have been suspended, others driven out, most silenced. The difficult relations with the community, Russian control and the feelings of hostility of Ukraine, which does not believe 'in good Russians'. Russian orthodoxy is in danger of not surviving Putin.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In his speech from the Omsk concentration camp, the dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, along with his pain at the patriarchal support for the war, also expressed gratitude to the priests who instead took a public stand against it.

Of the 300 priests who in March 2022 had signed an appeal to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine, very few are today able to officially support pacifist positions; some of them were suspended or kicked out, and the majority were silenced.

Parish clergy in Russian Orthodoxy are necessarily married, and priests also have the responsibility to protect their wives and children. Some of them were forced to move abroad, as documented in a report by The Moscow Times.

One of them is Fr. Aleksej Volčkov, who recounts how after signing the appeal "many people close to me reproached me, some thought that I had betrayed them, but I think that that signature was one of the most spiritually true gestures that I made in the years of my priesthood".

He left, knowing that many others had to suffer much greater sacrifices and he is sure that "in reality there are few of my brothers who support the war, even if the majority are afraid to express themselves publicly".

Since last year, there has also been an association made up of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian priests, called "Christians against the war", whose website was blocked in Russia in September. One of the leaders of the group is the theologian Natalia Vasilyevich, who explains how "we are trying to create space for an alternative Orthodoxy. Some of the adherents are very well-known people in the Orthodox world, we try to bring everyone together, especially to protect the persecuted priests."

One of the promoters of the anti-war appeal is Fr. Andrej Kordočkin, who has exercised his ministry for almost twenty years in the Russian cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene in Madrid.

He promoted another project together with some Russian priests in emigration, "Peace to all", which intends to "spread the stories of priests who have suffered for their positions against the war". In addition to information, the group also tries to help financially the families of priests who have lost jobs and salaries because of their opinions; as explained by p. Andrej, whom the patriarch suspended a divinis, "we Russian pacifist priests are divided geographically, but we communicate and support each other".

Russian priests also find it increasingly difficult to interact with the flock entrusted to them, both at home and abroad, due to mistrust in the leaders of the Church and the great confusion between those who are against or in favor of war actions. Kordočkin himself says that "many left because they are in favor of Putin and Kirill, after I spoke out against the war".

Several priests went abroad spontaneously, without waiting for suspension measures, trying to settle in other Orthodox jurisdictions, especially that of the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople.

The paradox is that the Russian exarchate of Constantinople in Europe was closed by Patriarch Bartholomew before the war, due to the break with Moscow due to Ukrainian autocephaly, fearing internal opposition from the Russians, who today would instead like to take refuge under the omophorion (stole) of the ecumenical patriarch.

And in any case, as expert Ksenja Lučenko of the European Council for International Relations says, "the Russian FSB services monitor all these priests wherever they are, trying in every way to prevent them from settling down and acting freely".

Not to mention that Russian priests in the West are viewed with suspicion, despite their anti-war stance, and are often opposed by Ukrainians, who are also largely Orthodox faithful, and who do not want to see them in churches, because in their opinion “there are no good Russians”. As Luchenko states, "the Russian Orthodox Church risks not surviving Putin, its moral authority is strongly compromised, and its entire structure risks disintegrating."