Ideology and blasphemy meet in Russia | The Catholic Weekly (2024)

Ideology and blasphemy meet in Russia | The Catholic Weekly (1)

In May 1993, the “World Russian People’s Council,” a “meeting place” for those “concerned about the present and future of Russia,” was created at the instigation of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk (now Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church).

Kirill is now the presiding officer of the council, which met on 27 March in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, built to replace an earlier church dynamited in 1931 on orders of the Soviet Politburo.

The 27 March council meeting did its own dynamiting, however. In this instance, the truth was destroyed. So was any claim that Kirill is committed to Christian orthodoxy.

In a document entitled “The Present and Future of the Russian World” (a notion already condemned as heretical by hundreds of Orthodox theologians), the Kirill-led council described the war in Ukraine in these Orwellian terms, which combined lies—of a magnitude that might have made Nazi mouthpiece Joseph Goebbels blush—with heresy:

The special military operation [SVO] in Ukraine is a new stage in the national liberation struggle of the Russian people against the criminal Kyiv regime and the collective West behind it, waged on the lands of Southwestern Russia since 2014.

During the SVO, the Russian people, with arms in hand, defend their lives, freedom, statehood, civilisational, religious, national, and cultural identity, as well as their right to live on their own land within a single Russian state.

From a spiritual and moral point of view, a special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people, defending the single spiritual space of Holy Rus’, fulfill the mission of “Holding,” [A reference to the Greek term “katechon” in 2 Thess 2:6-7 – Ed.] protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism.

The lies and heresies then bled into a colossal falsification of history and a genocidal policy prescription built around the ideology of the “Russian World,” of which Patriarch Kirill has been a principal propagandist.

The highest meaning of the existence of Russia and the Russian world it created—their spiritual mission—is to be the global “Holder,” protecting the world from evil … The reunification of the Russian people should become one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy.

Russia should return to the doctrine of the trinity of the Russian people, which has existed for more than three centuries, according to which the Russian people consist of Great Russians, Little Russians, and Belarusians, who are branches (sub-divisions) of one people. The concept “Russian” covers all the eastern Slavs—the descendants of the historical Rus’.

Forgive me the analogy to the 1930s that some find strained or obnoxious, but this is madness on the scale of Mein Kampf.

Such madness must be taken seriously, however. Just as a failed artist and political agitator, scribbling his ravings in Landsberg Prison in 1924, was in deadly earnest about his ideological pretensions and geopolitical aims (which led in due course to the Second World War in Europe and the Holocaust of European Jewry), those responsible for “The Present and Future of the Russian World” are in deadly earnest about the future they seek, however crack-brained that future may seem and however wicked their alleged justifications for pursuing it.

To ignore what the World Russian People’s Council has just proclaimed is dangerous folly. These people—and Czar Putin, to whom they give nauseating “spiritual” cover—are serious.

Those who seem incapable of grasping that, from Tucker Carlson to Senator J.D. Vance to the nine House Republicans who voted against a bipartisan resolution deploring Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children, are threats to both world peace and American national security.

In light of this most recent statement of Russian genocidal purpose, calls for “peace” negotiations in Ukraine serve no purpose except to foul the global information space further.

If Vatican leaders want to contribute to resolving the crises of the new world disorder for which Czar Putin and Patriarch Kirill are responsible, the Holy See should put its efforts into rallying international Christian leaders to condemn the heretical claim that Russia is engaged in a “holy war;” to condemn the genocidal claim that Ukraine is simply “Little Russia” and not a nation with its own cultural and political identity; and to denounce the blasphemous claim that the “Russian World” has a unique, messianic mission in the 21st century.

Willingness to take bold leadership in such an effort to defend Christian orthodoxy against its expropriation by child kidnappers and war criminals should also be a criterion in assessing candidates for the papacy of the future.

Ideology and blasphemy meet in Russia | The Catholic Weekly (2024)

FAQs

Is Russia Catholic or Orthodox? ›

Christianity in Russia is the most widely professed religion in the country. The largest tradition is the Russian Orthodox Church. According to official sources, there are 170 eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church, 145 of which are grouped in metropolitanates.

When did Russia become Catholic? ›

The first Catholic diocese established in Russia was the Roman Catholic Diocese of Smolensk in 1636. Smolensk covered all of Russia until the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mohilev was established by Catherine the Great in 1772 without Papal authority, but it was approved by Pope Pius VI in 1783.

Which is the fastest growing religion in the world? ›

Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.

Which country has the most Catholic percentage? ›

The country where the membership of the church is the largest percentage of the population is Vatican City at 100%, followed by East Timor at 97%. According to the Census of the 2023 Annuario Pontificio (Pontifical Yearbook), the number of baptized Catholics in the world was about 1.376 billion at the end of 2021.

Why is Catholicism better than Orthodox? ›

Catholics historically, at least in the past 500 years, have invested more than Orthodox in evangelism, world missions, work with the poor, and issues of social justice. Orthodox liturgy—its fast pace and repetitions—leaves me feeling like I am lost in a foreign country.

Does the Russian Orthodox Church believe in Jesus? ›

Russian Orthodoxy holds, just as other Christian sects, that God sent Jesus Christ, his son and an aspect of himself, to promulgate a new covenant to the people of the world. Jesus Christ was crucified but resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Can a Catholic go to an Orthodox Church? ›

Thus, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church attending the Divine Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Church will be allowed to receive communion and vice versa but, although Protestants, non-Trinitarian Christians, or Catholics may otherwise fully participate in an Orthodox Divine Liturgy, they will be excluded from ...

Is Poland mostly Catholic? ›

In the 2021 census, the most common religion was Roman Catholicism, whose followers comprised 72.4% of the population, followed by the Eastern Orthodoxy with 0.4%, Jehovah's Witnesses with 0.3%, and various Protestant denominations comprising 0.4% of the Polish population and 0.1% for Greek Catholic Churches.

What religion did Russia follow before Christianity? ›

Early Slavs were pagans and had a multitude of deities. Most of the information about the Slavic religion comes from the records made by Christians who brought Christianity to Russia, as well as from Russian folklore, but there is still a lot that we don't know about the early Slav paganism.

What two saints brought Catholicism to Russia? ›

Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".

Are there Roman Catholics in Russia? ›

The Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow or simply, Archdiocese of Moscow (Latin: Archidioecesis Moscoviensis Matris Dei, Russian: Архиепархия Матери Божией в Москве) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Moscow, in Russia.

Are most Russians Catholic? ›

The most widespread religion in Russia is Russian Orthodox Christianity. The Orthodox faith is very strict. Upon entering a church, women must cover their hair, while men have to take off any headwear.

How much of Ukraine is Roman Catholic? ›

Surveys show that Christian Orthodoxy is Ukraine's majority religion, with faith adherents comprising 60–70% of Ukraine's population. Catholicism with the UGCC as an Eastern Catholic Church (10%) and the Roman Catholic Church (2%) is the second largest denomination in Ukraine.

Which is the biggest religion in Russia? ›

Today Russian Orthodoxy is the country's largest religious denomination, representing more than half of all adherents.

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