Recently, I accompanied a delegation of civil society activists to Washington to brief members of Congress on Russia’s ongoing atrocities against Ukraine. After speaking with President Nancy Pelosi, we saw that she was holding a number of prayer beads in her hand, offered to her by a Ukrainian priest in DC. We took this opportunity to propose an admittedly harsh but necessary measure: the imposition of sanctions on the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.
High-ranking politician
For some, such a measure is unthinkable, as religious leaders fall outside the political order. But Patriarch Kirill or, to use his secular name, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gudyaev, is far from a servant of God and above all a servant of the warlike arm of the Kremlin, the driver of the atrocities in Ukraine. The 70-year-old leader has labeled Moscow’s “special military operation in the Donbas” (the official Orwellian term for war across the country) as just and even holy. Vladimir Putin’s 2012 election victory was, in his words, “a miracle from God.” Simply put, Gudyaev is one of the country’s highest-ranking politicians, except in name.
On April 10, the spiritual leader called on his followers to rally behind the authorities to help fight the enemies, both external and internal. Earlier, in a sermon on March 6, he depicted the war in Ukraine as part of a metaphysical struggle between “traditional Eastern values” and “Western decadence and immorality.” The rape, murder and looting of unarmed Ukrainian civilians is therefore excused, according to Gudyaev, because a gay pride parade is held in Kyiv once a year. He also says that “the truth of God” is that Russia and Ukraine share a national and spiritual heritage – the echo of Putin’s belief that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation.
Russian society is not only going along with this bellicose rhetoric against the mythical ‘Nazi government’ in Kyiv, but is now also becoming actively resentful of all Ukrainians. In an unhinged speech just before the start of the invasion, Putin himself referred to Ukraine as “an inalienable part of our own history, our culture and spiritual space.” The Kremlin is using Gudyaev — like other priests who have blessed missiles bound for Crimea and Syria — to make all of Russian society complicit in their war crimes.
Take in custody
Therefore, Gudyaev should not be allowed to travel freely around the world to spread the Kremlin’s hate message everywhere. His own much-discussed fortune, which Russian and international journalists say is hidden in banks and overseas assets, must be immediately investigated and seized. It is astonishing that as one of the main supporters of the Russian regime he has so far escaped sanctions.
Apart from the man himself, we must be wary of additional risks. Americans and Europeans should consider whether they will continue to allow offices of the Russian Orthodox Church, long used as a base for espionage and subversive activities, to operate on their territory. Is it a coincidence that street protests and tensions fueled by the Moscow-backed church are on the rise in Montenegro’s newest NATO member state? Given the suppression of the Church during the communist era, many believe that the past relationship between clergy and intelligence agencies has stood the test of time.
Clerics Against War
This is not just a Ukrainian complaint. While Russia has already become a pariah state, some spiritual authorities elsewhere in the world are also distancing themselves from their church. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – head of the worldwide Orthodox Church – recognized in 2019 that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is independent from the Moscow Patriarch. On February 27, Bartholomew condemned Putin’s war as a “violation of human rights” and spoke of “brutal violence against our fellow human beings.”
As early as March 16 of this year, Pope Francis rebuked Gudyaev’s bellicose rhetoric by saying, “At one time, our churches also talked about a holy war or a just war. Today we cannot speak like that.” The current Russian Orthodox Church acts as a communications agency for Putin’s regime, selling Moscow’s attack on Ukraine to churchgoers as an instrument of “soft power.”
In Soviet times, countless churches were destroyed and tens of thousands of priests were executed. In 2022, Russian troops will bomb our churches and murder our priests. The goal is to destroy our identity, but our faith is indestructible. There will be many Russian Orthodox followers who are disgusted by Gundyayev’s antics and indeed a large number of clerics have criticized Russia’s war with unprecedented harshness in recent weeks.
But the West must send a strong message that no one, including those who claim to serve God while supporting the wicked actions of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, will go unpunished. Gudyaev is a front man of Putin and his lifestyle and possessions need to be addressed accordingly.
Hanna Hopko is the former head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian Parliament and heads the board of the National Interest Advocacy Network (ANTS), a group of former parliamentarians who support human rights and democracy in Ukraine.