Putin

Rev. Franklin Graham said he wrote to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ask for a cease-fire in the war in observance of Holy Week.

Two days before he launched an invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the ideological justification for it. His motivations had more than a little to do with religion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin quoted Scripture Friday in a speech where he emphasized that the “special military operation” in Ukraine is an effort to “save people from genocide.”

The war in Ukraine has split Russian Orthodox parishes across Europe, forcing believers outside Russia to either stay loyal to the church leadership in Moscow despite its support for the invasion, leave the church in protest or seek a messy middle ground.

More than 275 Russian Orthodox priests and deacons from around the world have signed an open letter expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Greek Orthodox Catholic priest who once survived a brutal kidnapping by pro-Russian forces is now performing daily exorcism rituals aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church will officially unify in December, signaling the end to their 359 years of subordination to the Russian Orthodox Church.

If a split between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church happens, it will be the most significant split since 1054, when the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church parted ways.