Holy Smoke: Holy War and Antichrist, the rise of extremist rhetoric inside the Russian Orthodox Church

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🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

The subject of Ukraine shattered the unity of Eastern Orthodoxy long before Russia’s full-scale invasion began. In 2018 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared independence from Moscow with the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. In response, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow broke off all relations with Constantinople, creating arguably the greatest schism in Orthodoxy for 1,000 years.

There are now two main Ukrainian Orthodox Churches: one that supports independence and one still loyal to Moscow. As The Spectator’s Ukraine correspondent Svitlana Morenets points out, Ukrainians who previously didn’t care which church they attended now have to decide which to attend.

Meanwhile, Dr Yuri Stoyanov, a fellow at SOAS, describes the alarming escalation of apocalyptic rhetoric encouraged by Kirill, whose talk of a Holy War against the forces of Antichrist is popular with soldiers but means little to the average Russian.

As we approach the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Svitlana and Yuri join host Damian Thompson to discuss the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in perpetuating the conflict. Has Holy War returned to Europe? And is it true that President Putin has secretly been taking part in bizarre quasi-shamanistic rituals?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.
0:06.4	Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online,
0:11.7	along with a free £20 £10 £10 or Waitrose voucher.
0:14.6	Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.
0:28.6	Welcome to Holy Smoke, the Spectator's Religion podcast.
0:30.3	I'm Damien Thompson.
0:40.3	The human and physical devastation created by the war in Ukraine also encompasses the spiritual. In particular, it's created spectacular divisions in the always fragile communion of the Eastern Orthodox churches.
0:48.3	The patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, widely seen as a puppet of Vladimir Putin, does not recognize those Ukrainian
0:56.6	Orthodox Christians whose churches are independent of Moscow. Meanwhile, Constantinople and
1:02.8	Moscow are now formally out of communion with one another. The second and third Rome, as they
1:08.8	sometimes call each other, are hurling furious anathemas at each other.
1:14.6	One thing any possible peace deal negotiated by President Trump cannot hope to achieve is unity between Moscow,
1:23.0	the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to a law to Moscow,
1:28.8	to say nothing of Ukrainian Greek Catholics who recognize the authority of the Pope,
1:33.5	but are far from happy with his approach to the conflict.
1:37.0	What's going to happen?
1:39.3	Before we can begin to answer that question, we need to know what has already happened. And here to guide us
1:46.5	through the minefield of Eastern Orthodoxy, with its growing apocalyptic overtones in Russia and
1:52.4	Ukraine, is Dr. Yuri Stoyanov, research fellow at SOAS, and we'll also be talking to Svetlana
2:00.2	Molenetz, who's the spectator's a Ukrainian reporter.
2:05.7	Yuri, could we just begin with a little panorama of the different churches in Russia and Ukraine,
2:16.9	who either recognize or don't recognize each other and are intimately
	...

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