The invasion of Ukraine by Kremlin forces overshadows all other news both here and abroad.
Yes, the COVID is fading, and a new justice is headed to the Supreme Court; and yes, inflation is way up, and seven of the top ten college basketball teams went down to defeat last Saturday. But neither any one of these nor all of them combined carry the weight of history like this unprovoked aggression of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin cohorts.
Thousands of Russians have protested this action and many of them have been arrested. One Russian, though, who is standing by Putin is the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Kirill. He issued this statement:
“… As the Patriarch of All Russia and the primate of a Church whose flock is located in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries, I deeply empathize with everyone affected by this tragedy. I call on all parties to the conflict to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. I appeal to the bishops, pastors, monastics, and laity to provide all possible assistance to all victims, including refugees and people left homeless and without means of livelihood. … I believe that this God-given affinity will help overcome the divisions and disagreements that have arisen that have led to the current conflict. I call on the entire fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church to offer a special, fervent prayer for the speedy restoration of peace. May the All-merciful Lord … preserve the Russian, Ukrainian, and other peoples who are spiritually united by our Church!”
These bland sentiments are the result of years of collaboration between the state apparatus run by Putin and the church hierarchy run by Kirill. The church in Russia has sided with the state rather than with the people (of either Russia or Ukraine).
Sergei Chapnin, a Russian religion scholar and formerly deputy editor-in-chief of Moscow Patriarchate publishing house, put it this way: “In this new world, the Kremlin is fighting two wars at once: it has launched a major war against Ukraine and has continued a war against Russia.”
Furthermore: “Only one church hierarch from the Moscow Patriarchate had the courage to call things by their proper names. In sharp contrast to the Patriarch’s inarticulate address, Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and thus head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, said: ‘Trouble has struck. Most regrettably, Russia has begun military action against Ukraine…. The war between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who killed his own brother out of envy. Such a war has no justification either with God or with men.’”
Chapnin concluded: “The address of the Patriarch is a typical example of a propaganda text with conscious substitutions…. Every line is a fear of the truth, an unwillingness to admit it…. But today the question should be put bluntly: what happens when the Church, in the person of her Primate, loses this prophetic gift? …. Who then needs such a Patriarch?”
We need to take note.
Some American Christians have been enamored by the marriage of church and state in Russia. In fact, they see it as a model for church-state relations in the United States. This explains why Trump, then and now, has nothing but praise for Putin and why many Christian Nationalists in the United States are muted in the criticism of Putin. They like the strong leader; they like the presidential endorsement of traditional religion; they like the state suppression of minority rights and gay rights. They want to see much of this in the United States.
But the catastrophe playing out in and around Russia illustrates the tragedy that overtakes a religious community when it fails to speak truth to power. Moses, Jeremiah, and John the Baptizer are three men of God who, according to the biblical narratives, knew how to maintain their independence while announcing the word of God to the powers that be.
Of course, Jeremiah ended up in a cistern and John the Baptizer found his one and only head propped up on a platter. And that may well be the reason why Kirill has chosen his words so carefully. But speaking the mush that he did is indistinguishable from saying nothing at all. I suspect his distaste for martyrdom leaves Kirill unable to fulfill the role either of prophet or pastor.
In times like these we need both prophets and pastors, in Russia, in Ukraine, and in these United States. These vocations require courage, or they require nothing at all.
