Russian Orthodox Church: How It Justified Putin's Invasion of Ukraine

The Russian Orthodox Church's staunchly pro-invasion policies have tarnished its reputation abroad, as it increasingly plays a role akin to “weaponizing religion” in service of the Kremlin.

Recently, several countries have begun banning the Russian Orthodox Church, accusing it of shifting from a purely spiritual religious organization to an active tool of Russian soft power.

Kremlin's Influence

On August 20, 2024, Ukrainian lawmakers enacted a law banning activities of the Russian-linked branch of the Orthodox Church, marking a historic break with an institution accused by Kyiv of complicity in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Although most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, the faith is divided between a branch traditionally linked to the Russian Orthodox Church and an independent Ukrainian branch recognized by the global Orthodox hierarchy since 2019.

Ukrainian leaders have accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church linked to Moscow of inciting war through pro-Russian propaganda and harboring spies.

In 2023, Bulgaria expelled three priests—two from Belarus and one from Russia—employed by the Russian Orthodox Church, citing national security concerns.

Kyiv's move against this Moscow-aligned branch represents another pivotal moment in Ukraine's long-standing struggle to define its Orthodox identity. Meanwhile, in many other countries, the Russian Orthodox Church faces increasing scrutiny and difficulty continuing its operations.

The Russian Orthodox Church, the largest and wealthiest of all Eastern Orthodox churches, claims to be the true home of Orthodox Christianity. Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow has emerged as a significant religious figure justifying President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

From the outset, Kirill has used religious rhetoric to rally support for fighting Ukrainians, even issuing a “fiery decree” stating that “dying in the fight in Ukraine cleanses all sins.”

Patriarch Kirill was among those who provided Putin with a “nationalistic-religious” rationale to legitimize Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

In mid-May 2024, ERR Estonian Radio reported Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets as seeking a statement from the Estonian Orthodox Church, under Moscow’s Patriarchate, acknowledging that Kirill’s activities constitute “heresy,” thereby severing ties with him.

Laanemets expressed regret that local Orthodox representatives did not describe Patriarch Kirill's approach as heretical. Heresy, or doctrinal deviation, involves altering or distorting established beliefs, particularly religious ones.

The Estonian government's goal is to end legal and religious ties with Moscow.

In May 2024, the Estonian newspaper Postimees reported that the Estonian Parliament adopted a statement labeling the Moscow Patriarchate as an organization supporting military aggression in Ukraine.

Orthodox Christianity

The influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, a sovereign country for 33 years now fighting for its survival against Moscow’s war, is increasingly frayed.

In both Russia and Ukraine, Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religious tradition. According to a 2015 Pew Research survey, 71% of Russians and 78% of Ukrainians identified as Orthodox.

The Moscow Patriarchate views Russians and Ukrainians as one people who should be united by a single church.

However, during the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv became aware of the Russian Orthodox Church's role in religious propaganda justifying Putin's policies.

On November 23, 2022, Ukrainian parliamentarians proposed a resolution to ban all organizations part of or affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church or those acknowledging its legal and organizational authority.

These lawmakers indicated that evidence found at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, suggested the creation of an anti-Ukrainian Kremlin stronghold.

On November 22, 2022, the Ukrainian State Security Agency reported discovering “pro-Russian literature” and funds totaling “over 2 million hryvnias, [about $54,000], an additional $100,000, and several thousand Russian rubles.”

On April 1, 2023, the Ukrainian Security Agency formally notified Metropolitan Pavel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a former head of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and conducted a search of his residence.

In a Telegram message, the Security Agency stated that it had gathered “sufficient evidence of Pavel's involvement in inciting religious hostility and justifying and denying the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine,” as reported by BBC.

Specifically, “Pavel repeatedly insulted the religious sentiments of Ukrainians in his public speeches, disparaged the beliefs of other faiths, attempted to incite hostility towards them, and made statements justifying or denying the actions of the aggressor state," the message noted.

The pro-Kremlin stance of the Russian Orthodox Church has made it “more aggressive and explicit” in its foreign propaganda, exacerbating distaste for its branches abroad.

Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, continues to label the invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war,” further inflaming tensions.

‘Weaponizing Religion’

The new Ukrainian law banning the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church aims to prevent the “weaponization of religion” in the country, according to Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Major Archbishop Shevchuk argues that Russia has used the ROC “as a tool of militarization”. He described it being used like “a neurotropic weapon” – something that is “neurotropic” affects nerve tissue, deep in the body.

Speaking to German government official Lisa Geike, Shevchuk said the new law also aims to offer protection against ideology and narratives being pushed about Ukraine being part of the “Russian world” and about establishing a “Russian peace” in Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has damaged the reputation of the Russian Orthodox Church, which first faltered after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, leading Ukrainian churches to increasingly distance themselves from Moscow.

“It has never been a secret that Russia uses the church and Orthodox values as a significant part of its foreign policy,” said Vladimir Liparteliani, a scholar at Durham University in Britain who has researched the Russian Orthodox Church, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation ROC.

“When a state bans and restricts the influence of the ROC, it is essentially trying to reduce the impact of Russian soft power.”

“Moreover, for many European states, it is critically important to address this issue because Russian religious and conservative narratives are highly anti-Western and anti-liberal, and their danger should not be underestimated,” he added.

The head of the Ukrainian church, Metropolitan Epiphany, said in a TV interview that “our people [should be protected] from Russian aggression, we must do it together not only on the battlefield, informational, diplomatic, economic, and other spheres but accordingly in the spiritual sphere as well,” adding, “Because without spiritual independence from the Kremlin, from the Russian 'evil empire,' we cannot talk about our true independence.”

Several Eastern European countries have accused Russian Orthodox clergy of collaborating with Russian security agencies, promoting Kremlin policies within the church, and even recruiting spies.

Western warnings come as evidence suggests that the Russian Orthodox Church is attempting to create Christian support for the Kremlin in Eastern European countries.

In Bulgaria, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian Zmeev, was expelled on September 22, 2023, as confirmed by Euractiv. The priest, along with two other officials from Belarus, was listed as a national security threat.

Atanas Atanasov, head of the Bulgarian parliamentary committee monitoring services, remarked that everyone in DANS (State Agency for National Security) knows this priest is a representative of Russian intelligence in disguise. He questioned why Bulgarian counterintelligence allowed someone who had been expelled from Macedonia for intelligence activities to operate freely in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian authorities indicated that there is data on actions related to implementing elements of Russia's hybrid strategy to deliberately influence social and political processes in Bulgaria in favor of Russian geopolitical interests.

In September 2023, North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski stated that security agencies received information from partner agencies suggesting that members of the Moscow Patriarchate's Holy Synod were working for Russian intelligence, though he did not name names, as per Radio Free Europe (Свободна Европа).