Orthodox Christianity fractures as religious leaders turn on Moscow patriarch for blessing Putin's war: report

On Thursday, the National Catholic Register reported that tensions are growing among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, as key religious leaders begin to cut the patriarch of Moscow — one of Vladimir Putin's key allies — out of decision-making.

"On Friday, Pope Francis consecrated Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On Sunday, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was in Warsaw," wrote Father Raymond J. de Souza. "The timing and manner of the Holy Father’s consecration of Ukraine and Russia were possible because Russian Orthodox sensitivities are no longer given deference. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, in blessing Russia’s war of aggression against fellow Orthodox and fellow Slavs in Ukraine, has lost all credibility as an ecclesial figure and ecumenical partner."

That decision by Kirill to bless Putin's war is sharply escalating religious tensions that have been growing for years. Already it has alienated Ukrainian Orthodox clergy and congregants — and now it is tearing Kirill apart from the other patriarchs.

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"Bartholomew had already felt the sting of Kirill’s cult of pseudo-czarist, quasi-Soviet imperialism," wrote de Souza. "In 2018, when Bartholomew, first among the Orthodox patriarchs, recognized an Orthodox Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv autonomous from Moscow, Kirill broke off communion with Bartholomew and declared him in schism. Bartholomew stood his ground but was careful not to further inflame tensions in the fractured Orthodox communion. No longer. Bartholomew traveled to Europe’s most Catholic country to stand in solidarity with and to bless the 2.3 million refugees from Ukraine in Poland, most of them Orthodox."

"That Bartholomew comes to Rome often to pray with the Holy Father for unity and to advance common projects is no longer remarkable. That he would travel to Warsaw to stand alongside a Catholic bishop to call out the Russian Patriarch of Moscow is altogether remarkable," concluded de Souza. "The tectonic plates have shifted; the aftershocks are serious. And there are more to come."

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