{"id":16048,"date":"2022-10-19T13:33:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16048"},"modified":"2022-10-19T13:33:46","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:33:46","slug":"orthodox-patriarch-believes-god-is-using-vladimir-putin-for-russias-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/10\/orthodox-patriarch-believes-god-is-using-vladimir-putin-for-russias-good","title":{"rendered":"Orthodox Patriarch Believes God is Using Vladimir Putin for Russia\u2019s Good"},"content":{"rendered":"
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www.kremlin.ru<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated his 70th<\/sup> birthday last week and was lauded by Russian officials for his leadership. One notable supporter was Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. \u201cGod put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care,\u201d the Patriarch said<\/a>. He wished Putin \u201chealth and long life\u201d saying, \u201cYou gained the reputation of a national leader selflessly devoted to the Fatherland, sincerely loving the Motherland and giving all its strength to it,\u201d and asked that God would grant the president\u2019s ongoing 20-year rule with \u201cabundant assistance.<\/p>\n

Russia and Vladimir Putin continue to be a hot topic of global conversation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February<\/a>. Putin\u2019s annexation of several regions in southern and eastern Ukraine have further escalated speculations that nuclear war is imminent<\/a>. Patriarch Kirill has been a staunch supporter<\/a> of the Ukrainian invasion, calling its detractors, including members of his own church, \u201cforces of evil.\u201d\u00a0 The war has been a source of religious conflict, with 92 churches in Ukraine being reported as being under attack in May. Kirill has framed the war in Ukraine in religious terms, with the Russian forces being seen as defending \u201cdivine law.\u201d Kirill\u2019s words include turning on members of the church as Ukraine is the home of over 12,000 Russian Orthodox churches and yet they have not been spared from Russian munitions or violence. Over 400 parishes that had remained loyal to Kirill have cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church since the invasion.<\/p>\n

In September, Kirill preached a sermon<\/a> in which he said, \u201csacrifice in the course of carrying out your military duty washes away all sins,\u201d seemingly encouraging a Russian-style \u201cjihad\u201d or \u201choly war.\u201d Britain imposed sanctions against Kirill in June while the United States<\/a> has not taken similar action. Hanna Hopko, a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament has criticized the lack of action by the United States, saying, \u201cAs a chief cheerleader of the Russian regime, it is baffling that he has so far escaped sanctioning.\u201d Pope Francis has rebuked<\/a> Kirill\u2019s support of Putin and the war after the two had spoken, saying, \u201cI listened and then told him: I don\u2019t understand anything about this. Brother, we are not state clerics, we cannot use the language of politics but that of Jesus. We are pastors of the same holy people of God. Because of this, we must seek avenues of peace, to put an end to the firing of weapons.\u201d He also warned that, \u201cThe patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin\u2019s altar boy.\u201d Kirill responded to the Pope\u2019s remarks, writing in a statement, \u201cIt\u2019s regrettable that a month and a half after the conversation with Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis chose the wrong tone to convey the content of this conversation.\u201d Since that statement, the war in Ukraine continues without a peaceable end in sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated his 70th birthday last week and was lauded by Russian officials for his leadership. One notable supporter was Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. \u201cGod put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":16051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOrthodox Patriarch Believes God is Using Vladimir Putin for Russia\u2019s Good<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church wished Vladimir Putin a happy birthday, adding that he believes that God is using him for Russia's good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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