Ukraine war: religious leaders are playing an important (and unusual) role

By Jennifer Mathers, Aberystwyth University

The Russian Orthodox Church has approved a statement describing Russia’s “special military operation” as a holy war, arguing that all of Ukraine should be Russia’s exclusive zone of influence. Said Ismagilov, one of Ukraine’s top muslim leaders, joined the armed forces to fight against Russia’s mass invasion, claiming a Quranic justification for his decision. Moscow’s chief rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt, fled Russia after refusing the invitation of state officials to make a public statement in support of the war.

These are just a few examples of the ways that religious leaders are responding to the war in Ukraine. Throughout history it has been common for nations at war to claim that God is on their side. The extent and scale of active participation by some religious leaders in this conflict, however, is exceptional.

Political leaders in both Russia and Ukraine have looked to their religious communities for support. In some cases, religious leaders have offered explicit support and even donned uniforms to serve in the armed forces, providing important sources of legitimacy for their countries’ position on the war. In other cases, religious leaders have fled under the pressure to take sides.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has enjoyed the highest public profile of any of the leaders of the major faiths in Russia or Ukraine during the war. Rumoured to have long-standing ties to the Russian security services, Kirill has been an important bastion of support for Russian president Vladimir Putin’s campaign to defend “traditional family values”. Putin has argued that Russian traditional values will be diluted or even replaced by the more “decadent” attitudes prevalent in the west, such as tolerance for LGBTQ+ rights, including gay marriage.

In addition to leading a church that blesses Russia’s soldiers and weapons on their way to war, Kirill also performs a vital service to the Kremlin by echoing Putin’s efforts to use key moments in history to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

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