There’s a good reason why modern countries try to separate church and state: religion and politics produce a toxic mix, and nowhere can that be seen more clearly than in Russia.
The Russian Orthodox Church, since the times of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, has been intertwined with the evolving Russian state. Rising in power during the czarist Russia in the 16th to 18th centuries, the church was brought to heel by Peter the Great, who established its governing body, the Holy Synod, in 1721 — a body that Peter and subsequent czars kept under their control.
During the Soviet Union’s first decade, the church was closed down with more than 1,200 priests being murdered and many more persecuted. By the late Soviet Union, Orthodox Christians were allowed to practice their faith but the church had been thoroughly co-opted by the state, and according to secret documents discovered after the collapse of communism, was riddled with KGB agents.
Under the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the church has again allied itself with the Russian state, and has been corrupted by it — the church is thought to have made $1.5 billion from a scheme in the 1990s under which it gained the right to import cigarettes tax-free. The leader of the church, Patriarch Kirill, has been seen wearing a $30,000 wristwatch.
But most importantly, the church has aligned itself politically with Putin’s regime, adopting Kremlin positions and supporting Russia’s wars against its neighbors. It is effectively an arm of the Kremlin, and it has a reach that stretches far into Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
With the likely granting of independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Russian church’s influence here will be reduced — and that can only be good for Ukraine. Like the Russian state with which it has tied its fortunes, the Russian Orthodox Church is an imperialistic, expansionist venture. Its continued presence in this country is a relic of Russian colonialism.
Nobody in Ukraine, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, is suggesting that the Russian church be expelled from the country. But hopefully, as Kyiv continues to assert its political independence from its old Kremlin masters, Moscow’s priests will see their spiritual influence on Ukraine wither away. This should have happened at least 27 years earlier, if not centuries ago.
