By Paul A. Goble, kyiv post
Just as it lost Ukraine six years ago by not speaking out against Putin’s invasion of that country, so too the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church is losing Russia by not protesting against Putin’s illegitimate constitutional changes, according to the SerpomPo telegram channel.
The channel begins by noting that earlier this month, the Vatican opened its archives concerning the second world war, something that will allow historians to explore whether Pius XII “closed his eyes” to the mass murder of Jews and thus has been justly called “Hitler’s Pope” (t.me/SerpomPo/5414 reposted at echo.msk.ru/blog/serpompo2018/2606208-echo/).
But, SerpomPo says, historians will not have to wait for the archives to be opened to determine that “Kirill is ‘Putin’s patriarch,’” that he has been a close collaborator with the authoritarian Russian regime and that he has, by failing to speak out against what has happened in Ukraine and what is now happening in Russia, has shown himself to be the regime’s defender.
In this difficult time, the telegram channel continues, “the Russian Orthodox Church has again shown itself to be not with the people, with its aspirations and needs but with the cynical, shameful and thieving camarilla ruling over them.” There won’t be any need to go to the archives; all this is shamelessly on public view.
“Having served Putin in his war against Ukraine, not making him anathema or separating the church from its vile actions, the ROC lost Ukraine. [Now] by supporting and accepting Putin’s government coup [via constitutional amendments], the ROC is losing Russia.” It still has its beautiful churches and rich lifestyle; it no longer has the Russian people.
