Explained: What Is Russia-Ukraine's Battle Over Orthodox Christianity

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict isn't just a physical landscape battle; it also has a religious landscape counterpart. For the past decade, the two countries have been at odds over Ukraine's religious orientation. Ukraine's majority Orthodox Christian population is split between a Kyiv-based independent group and a Moscow-based patriarchal faction.

For the Ukrainian people, two distinct Orthodox churches claim to be the one authentic Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The two churches have quite different perspectives on the connection between Ukrainians and Russians.

The two Orthodox churches

Relations between the two countries have been especially strained since Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea in 2014. These tensions are mirrored in the two churches' extremely divergent views to Russia.

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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church 每 Moscow Patriarchate is the older and largest church. According to Ukrainian official data, in 2018, this church has approximately 12,000 parishes (parish is a part of a town which has its own church and priest). It is a Russian Orthodox Church branch that is spiritually led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Both Patriarch Kirill and his predecessor, Patriarch Aleksii II, have repeatedly emphasised the strong links that exist between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, on the other hand, is a newer church that celebrates its independence from Moscow. A solemn council met in Kyiv in December 2018 with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, founded the new church, and elected Metropolitan Epifaniy as its leader.

Bartholomew publicly acknowledged the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a separate, independent, and equal member of the international Orthodox communion in January 2019.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is completely self-governing, is the result of decades of effort by Ukrainian believers who wanted their own national church, free of foreign religious control. This new self-governing Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been a challenge to Moscow as a sign of Ukrainian spiritual independence. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine claims autocephaly in Orthodox language (i.e., self-governing).

In recent years, the split between Ukraine's Orthodox bodies has reverberated around the world as Orthodox churches debated how and whether to take sides. Some Orthodox in the United States hope to put their differences aside and work together to end the war, while others fear that the war would increase the divide.

Why are Orthodox churches important?

Orthodox Christianity is commonly described as a highly conservative faith that refuses to adapt to changing circumstances. However, it is exactly because of this that the church has become a main focus for current conservative "identity politics." According to a Pew survey done in 2017, Orthodox church attendance is considerably lower than that of Catholics.

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However, in predominantly Orthodox societies, the church has long been viewed as a more powerful bearer of national identity and guardian of national consciousness than the state. According to the same Pew survey, a substantial link exists between religion and national identity. 70 percent of people in Orthodox-majority nations favour the idea that being Orthodox or Catholic is vital to one's national identity, whereas 57 percent of people in Catholic-majority countries support this idea.

The survey results indicate how crucial Orthodox churches' conservative attitudes are in modern identity politics. This church and nation overlapping means that the church preserves soft power. But it also explains why the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was established as a function of Ukraine's "becoming" a nation-state.

Two visions of history

The Moscow Patriarchate see Russians and Ukrainians as one people and therefore believe that they should be united by a single church. Russian President Vladimir Putin in his recent speech addressed this very point. He sees the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a threat to the Russian and Ukrainian peoples' "spiritual union."

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on the other hand, maintains a totally different viewpoint. Metropolitan Epifaniy fiercely opposed "Russian imperial traditions" in an interview with the BBC. Ukrainians require their own church since they are a distinct people with a distinct culture.

Religious landscape of Ukraine:

Both religiously and politically, Ukraine and Russia are divided by a shared history. According to surveys, the majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox, with a sizable minority of Ukrainian Catholics worshipping with a Byzantine liturgy similar to the Orthodox but remaining loyal to the pope. Protestants, Jews, and Muslims make up a lesser proportion of the population.

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They can trace their roots back to the medieval kingdom of Kievan Rus, where Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian) rejected paganism, was baptised in Crimea, and made Orthodoxy the state religion. Putin used this history to legitimise his 2014 takeover of Crimea, which he described as "holy" to Russia.

While Putin claims that Russia is the actual heir to the Rus, Ukrainians argue that their current state has its own history and that Moscow did not emerge as a power until centuries later. Historically, Orthodox churches have been organised along national lines, with patriarchs having authority in their areas but being united in their religion.

Ukraine＊s orthodox churches today

The Ecumenical Patriarch delegated the right to ordain the metropolitan (top bishop) of Kyiv to the Patriarch of Moscow in 1686, as Russia grew stronger and the Constantinople church fell under Ottoman rule.

While the Russian Orthodox Church claims the transfer as permanent, the Ecumenical Patriarch insists it was only temporary. Independent-minded Ukrainian Orthodox have formed separate churches for the past century, but they lacked formal recognition until 2019, when the current Ecumenical Patriarch recognised the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as separate from the Moscow patriarch 每 who strongly opposed the move as illegitimate.

What does this schism reflect?

The split is believed to mirror the two countries' political differences. Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's previous president, made a direct link: "Our church's independence is part of our pro-European and pro-Ukrainian policy," he stated in 2018. This means that members of churches associated with Moscow and Constantinople are unable to receive communion in the churches of the other.

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The similar Orthodox character of Russia and Ukraine has been utilized by Russian President Putin to argue for closer ties. Ukraine is unique in that it practises multiple forms of eastern Christianity.

Putin's efforts to re-establish Russian status have included elevating the Russian Orthodox Church to the core of Russian identity while eroding the Moscow Patriarch's independence. Putin's Ukraine strategy included using the Moscow-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate's religious soft power. Russia, according to the Orthodox Times, used misinformation efforts to incite religious strife.

The split has spread to Eastern Orthodox churches in Africa, where the Russian Orthodox have acknowledged a separate group of churches after Africa's patriarch accepted the independence of the Ukraine church.

Many other churches, on the other hand, have opted to stay out of the battle. In the United States, where there are several Orthodox jurisdictions, most organisations still work together and pray together.

According to the Very Rev. Alexander Rentel, chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, which has Russian roots but is now autonomous of Moscow, the war may give a point of solidarity among US churches, but it may also further strain relations.

"The Orthodox Church had a tough time processing the divide that occurred in international Orthodoxy," he said. "Now, because of the war, things are just going to get more difficult."

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