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CDS, June 11, 2023
In a politically motivated case, the Russian Orthodox Church's Court declared pacifism a heresy, alien to the Church. The reason for such a verdict was an anti-war statement made by Priest Ioann Burdin, "we Christians do not dare to stand aside when a brother kills a brother; a Christian kills a Christian. We cannot bashfully close our eyes and call black on white, evil on good, say that Abel was probably wrong when he provoked his older brother."
"His pacifism is imaginary, one-sidedly oriented, his anti-Russian political position is clearly visible behind him, perceived in our country as unacceptable, and, it is important to emphasize, radically at odds with the position of the Russian Orthodox Church," the verdict reads.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Orthodox Church held a liturgy for the first time in more than three centuries, praying for the repose of Hetman (military ruler) Ivan Mazepa in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Hetman Ivan Mazepa was a close ally of Moscow's Tsar Peter I but turned to Swedish King Charles XII when the Muscovite refused to honor an agreement and help to defend Ukraine. "Ukraine's Hetman, calm and bold" inspired Lord Byron to write a poem in his name (Mazeppa). By order of Tsar Peter I, the Moscow Church imposed an anathema to the Hetman Ivan Mazepa. In September 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople stated that they never recognized the validity of the anathema of Ivan Mazepa because it was imposed purely for political reasons.
Both cases prove that the Russian Orthodox Church has been a political tool of Russian rulers throughout the centuries.
"In Russia's wars, the very senselessness seems to be the sense," Peter Pomerantsev argued about the Russian death cult in the Guardian. "In a culture such as Russia's, where avoiding facing up to the dark past with all its complex webs of guilt and responsibility is commonplace, such oblivion can be especially seductive."
"Putin's war has become the war of all Russians. His legacy will remain part of their legacy, and it will continue to weigh heavily on their domestic affairs and the country's relationship with the rest of the world," wrote Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment for Foreign Affairs.
Source: Center For Defense Studies (Ukraine)
