Kirill also dismissed Ukrainians who broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2018 to form their own Orthodox tradition based in Kyiv, saying the “schism” was “pursuing the same end.”
Yet calls for Kirill to do more are also coming from inside the Russian Orthodox Church. On Wednesday, Metropolitan John of Dubna, an archbishop of Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe, publicly asked Kirill to “raise (his) voice” with Russian authorities against the “monstrous and senseless war.”
John also challenged Kirill’s framing of the war as a “metaphysical” battle against a liberal West, saying he “cannot subscribe to such a reading of the Gospel.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Russian Orthodox priests recently signed a petition decrying the invasion, and one of the signers was later arrested for preaching a sermon criticizing Russia’s actions. And in Ukraine, Russian Orthodox priests have singled out Kirill, refusing to commemorate him during liturgies and even raising the question of initiating their own breakaway from the church.
Pressure is increasing on other Russian Orthodox leaders as well. Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s department for external church relations who spent years trying to forge relationships with American conservatives such as former-Vice President Mike Pence, lost his teaching position at Germany’s University of Freiburg this week due to his silence on the Russian invasion.
This article originally appeared here.
