Opposition within Russian Orthodox Church over Ukraine airstrikes: "We will move from Moscow"

Kirill, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, is conducting a religious ceremony in Moscow on December 25 last year.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Opposition has begun to emerge within the Russian Orthodox Church against Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine. When Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, supported the claim of unity between Russia and Ukraine, the diocese in Western countries under the Moscow Patriarchate declared that they would break away.

According to The Guardian and others on the 13th (local time), the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Amsterdam recently declared through an extraordinary parish council meeting that they intend to separate their clergy from the Moscow Patriarchate, to which they currently belong, and transfer their canonical residence to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey, which represents the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Amsterdam Diocese stated, "We found it difficult to provide a safe environment for faith to believers or for clergy to operate within the Moscow Patriarchate," adding, "This decision was very painful and difficult." The Guardian reported, "This is the first case of a Western-based church severing ties with Russia in relation to the Ukraine airstrikes."

The reason the Amsterdam Diocese declared its intention to leave the Moscow Patriarchate is because the latter supports President Putin's claim of unity between Russia and Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill, who leads the Moscow Patriarchate and is a close aide to President Putin, has avoided criticism following Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine. More than 280 Russian Orthodox priests worldwide issued an open letter opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Kirill was not among them.

Composed of four priests and one deacon, the Amsterdam Diocese has strongly opposed Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine since they began on the 24th of last month, and from last week, they announced that they would no longer mention Patriarch Kirill's name during religious ceremonies.

The attention on the Amsterdam Diocese's move is due to the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Moscow Patriarchate are effectively in a 'rival' relationship. Following the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the ensuing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church declared a break with the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2018. After the Ukrainian Orthodox Church gained independence in 2019, Russian political and religious leaders expressed anger, according to The New York Times (NYT).

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