Moscow Again: The Worst Public Theology

Moscow Again: The Worst Public Theology

PT 3306. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Steals Christian Symbols to Support Scapegoating and War

Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus, steals precious Christian symbols to scapegoat the people of Ukraine and to justify Russia’s war. Just how does this work? His Holiness Patriarch Kirill scapegoats the people of Ukraine by cursing them as evil. The Ukrainians are evil, he says, because they sponsor liberal values. Then, Kirill steals the redemptive power of Jesus’ blood and fences it to the Russian soldier. Russian soldiers sacrificing their lives in war against Ukraine are “holding back the Anti-Christ,” claims Kirill.

In these Patheos posts I have attempted to delineate just how the mechanisms of scapegoating and sacrifice bind us together in community. We curse the visible scapegoat–our nation’s enemies–as being evil. And this cursing justifies going to war against them. Then, we send our soldiers to risk dying on the battlefield. We sanctify our soldiers, turning them into the invisible scapegoat. All this binds the nation together in a spirit of self-justification.

In previous articles I had used America as my chief example. Here in this post, Russia is the example.

Patriarch Kirill Scapegoats the Ukrainian People

Patriarch Kirill has long believed that the patriarchate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine should be united with his own, even subordinate to Moscow. That Ukrainians want an autocephalous church unnerves him.  Kirill blames this rebellious spirit for allowing liberal Western values to corrupt Ukrainian morality. A military victory over upstart Ukraine could return the prodigal to the fatherland’s authority.[1] [2] Peter Smith reports for Religious News Service:

“Kirill has characterized the war as part of a larger metaphysical struggle against an encroaching liberal West, which he depicts as demanding gay pride parades. He has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s depiction of Ukraine as spiritually and politically tied to Russia through their common medieval roots.”

In short, the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian Church are on the evil side of the line Kirill draws. This justifies war.

Patriarch Kirill Steals Christian Symbols to Justify War

Who died on the cross for the redemption of the world? Last I looked, it was Jesus. Can we take the power of redemption off of the cross of Jesus and give it to the Russian soldier? Well, that’s just what Patriarch Kirill has done.

In his Easter 2022 sermon, Kirill stole the redemptive power of the cross from Jesus and gave it to Russian soldiers invading Ukraine. Again, Peter Smith reports.

“If someone, driven by a sense of duty, the need to fulfill an oath, remains true to his calling and dies in the line of military duty, then he undoubtedly commits an act that is tantamount to a sacrifice,” Kirill said in the sermon.

“He sacrifices himself for others,” Kirill said. “And therefore we believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed.”

On the one hand, Kirill bribes soldiers to risk their lives in war by declaring their sins forgiven. On the other hand, Kirill ascribes sanctifying power to their military sacrifice.

Now, imagine that you are a Ukrainian. You see a wall of Russian missiles and Iranian drones coming to destroy your apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, and power generation plants. Imagine you see the bodies of your family members, hand cuffed, tortured, and shot in the head execution style. And then you learn that Patriarch Kirill has declared the Russian killers as holy sacrifices, blessed by God, for the redemption of Russia. Imagine!

This symbol theft combined with unspeakable cruelty could be nothing short of blasphemy. The shedding of innocent blood in the name of Christ is an act of the Anti-Christ. The original symbol of the cross should make this clear.[3]

Well, I guess anybody can have a bad day. Even a patriarch.

Can Patriarch Kirill be shown the error of his ways?

In a previous post, Moscow: The Worst Public Theology, I reported how Christian sisters and brothers have gently tried to persuade the Moscow church leader to repent. Interventions have been attempted by Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America; One hundred American church leaders;  Evangelical leaders; Amvrosijus, Vicar of the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese and Bishop of Trakaid; the Public Orthodoxy website, and Pope Francis.

This past week (October 17, 2022), Ioan Sauca, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, met with Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, to talk peace. Christians are in the business of making peace, not war, declared Sauca. According to the WCC report on the meeting…

“You are aware of the concerns” that WCC member churches have with regard to the war between Russia and Ukraine, said Fr Sauca, “and of our statements that condemn the war and violence which we made in our governing bodies – the statements which were elaborated with the participation of delegates from the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Patriarch Kirill stated that he does not think that any church or Christian can have a supporting position to wars and killings, and that churches “…are called to be peacemakers and to defend and protect life,” he said. “War cannot be holy.” Whew![4]

Is the patriarch having a better day?

Conclusion

In the service of discourse clarification, I believe the public theologian should render transparent religious symbol stealing when it occurs. Most often, it is the political leader who steals religious symbols to provide depth of meaning for ideology. In this case, it is a religious leader who steals the blood of Christ and then fences it to a political thug.

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Ted Peters pursues Public Theology at the intersection of science, religion, ethics, and public policy. Peters is an emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union, where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His book, God in Cosmic History, traces the rise of the Axial religions 2500 years ago. He previously authored Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom? (Routledge, 2^nd ed., 2002) as well as Science, Theology, and Ethics (Ashgate 2003). He is editor of AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? (ATF 2019). Along with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he co-edited the new book, Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics hot off the press (Roman and Littlefield/Lexington, 2022). Ted has just published The Voice of Public Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com. His fictional spy thriller, Cyrus Twelve, follows the twists and turns of a transhumanist plot.

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[1] In addition to laying the spiritual groundwork for the war, reports Jack Jenkins for Religious News Service, Kirill spent years promoting a concept of a “Russian world” or “Holy Rus’” that insists Ukraine is part of Russia’s spiritual space — the patriarch has described Russia’s enemies in Ukraine as “evil forces” and suggested the conflict amounts to a “metaphysical” battle with the West and “gay parades.”

 

[2] The people and churches of Ukraine are not categorically on the evil side of Kirill’s line. Kirill does not want them decimated. Rather, he wants them conquered and returned to the fatherland, to Holy Russia. This is the ideology Kirill and Putin share. Here is a summary of the Russian World (Russkii Mir) ideology offered by the Public Orthodox declaration.

A DECLARATION ON THE “RUSSIAN WORLD” (RUSSKII MIR) TEACHING

“Putin and Patriarch Kirill have used Russian world ideology as a principal justification for the invasion. The teaching states that there is a transnational Russian sphere or civilization, called Holy Russia or Holy Rus’, which includes Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (and sometimes Moldova and Kazakhstan), as well as ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people throughout the world. It holds that this “Russian world” has a common political centre (Moscow), a common spiritual centre (Kyiv as the “mother of all Rus’’), a common language (Russian), a common church (the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate), and a common patriarch (the Patriarch of Moscow), who works in ‘symphony’ with a common president/national leader (Putin) to govern this Russian world, as well as upholding a common distinctive spirituality, morality, and culture.”

“Therefore, we reject the ‘Russian world’ heresy and the shameful actions of the Government of Russia in unleashing war against Ukraine which flows from this vile and indefensible teaching with the connivance of the Russian Orthodox Church, as profoundly un-Orthodox, un-Christian and against humanity, which is called to be “justified… illumined… and washed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Writing in America, prominent Orthodox theologian John Chryssavgis reminds us of the marriage of church and state in Russia. “Such initiatives are by no means a geopolitical collateral of nationalism. They are a consequence of the doctrine known as ‘Russian World’ (Russkiy Mir), whose platform is an ideological worldview that rejects most forms of diversity and tolerance from any long-standing Russian Orthodox positions.”

With the Russia World ideology having developed over two decades, it’s likely that His Holiness Kirill might not even grasp what I’m saying when I object to his theft of the cross symbol for nationalistic purposes.

 

[3] In the fictional Leona Foxx suspense thriller series, we read about Leona’s Law of Evil. Here is Leona’s Law: you know it’s the voice of Satan when you hear the call to shed innocent blood.

 

[4] His Holiness Patriarch Kirill spoke encouragingly at the WCC meeting. Churches today “must not add fuel to the fire,” he added. “On the contrary, we must do everything within our power to put out the fire. In this regard, the World Council of Churches has a very important function.”