In a recent letter to The Times Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002 – 2012, lamented the lack of any condemnation by the leaders of the Russian Orthodox church of the indiscriminate killing of the innocent and other atrocities in Ukraine. Dr Williams, who loves the Orthodox Church and is an expert on Russian language and its literature, concluded, “Those of us who owe a lasting debt to the thought and witness of Christian Russia through the centuries find it hard to believe that all moral norms of warfare painstakingly explored by Christians in both East and West from the earliest ages onwards have been forgotten.”
There are two closely interlinked themes I would like to explore: first, how President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions are driven by his views on the Russian Orthodox church; and second, the current position of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox church, seemingly unable to criticise the President’s actions, and in thrall to the President.
The history of the Russian Orthodox Church, born from political intrigue, is interesting: Basil II, Emperor of Byzantium, threatened by his own Generals, requested help from the pagan Vladimir (yes!) of Rus with the offer of his sister in marriage. Vladimir was thrilled at the prospect of marrying into the Imperial family and was only too pleased to convert to Christianity to do so. On his return to Kyiv, he got the whole of the city to be baptised in the river Dnieper in AD 988. This was the beginning of the Russian Orthodox Church, in the now Ukrainian city of Kyiv. Christianity spread from there and Vladimir was later declared a Saint.
When the Byzantine Empire fell and the influence of the Greek Orthodox church diminshed, Russian Orthodox Church became the leader of Eastern Orthodox churches. The Russian people, who were always strongly patriotic, now developed a strong spirituality mixed in with patriotism.
Fast forward to the present, and we see that the Church survived Communism in Russia, although in a much-diminished way. However, the post-Soviet period saw building and rebuilding of churches on a massive scale, in contrast to the decline in church-going in the West. Given the mix of nationalism and spirituality, it isn’t surprising that military glory is equally celebrated in Russia, alongside religious images.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, the church in sovereign Ukraine set up its own Orthodox church patriarchy, separate from the Russian Orthodox church. This was highly resented by Russia, seeing the hand of America in that development. They in turn started setting up Dioceses around the world, especially in African countries. This should not surprise us who know how ‘religious colonisation’ worked for imperial Britain!
Also in the post-Soviet opening up of Russia, American evangelical agencies poured money and personnel into Russia, apparently not recognising Russia’s ancient Christian heritage. This was not welcome to Putin and he started to identify the West as a spiritual as well as a political enemy: ‘[The West] are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious, and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan.’ (Speaking in 2013).
Vladimir Putin was brought up by a pious mother, and sees his country as ‘Holy Russia’. Speaking of his namesake, St Vladimir, and the mass conversion of Russia to Orthodox Christianity, Putin declares that this ‘predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilisation and human values that unite the people of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus’.
This is the heritage of Putin. He apparently wants his legacy to be the restoration of Russia to what he sees as its former glory.
[I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to articles by Canon Dr Giles Fraser for some of the narrative I have used here.]
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