(ANALYSIS) The Congress of the XXV World Russian People’s Council, headed by Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, issued a document on March 27 entitled: “The Present and Future of the Russian World.” In the document, the leadership of the XXV World Russian People’s Council describes the conflict in Ukraine as a “Holy War.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) Close observers of Eastern Orthodox Christianity were not surprised when the recent World Russian People’s Council bluntly rejected “abortion propaganda,” efforts to promote LGBTQ rights and this age of “sexual licentiousness and debauchery.” It wasn’t surprising when that Moscow conference urged the defense of traditional families, “strong with many children,” during an era where birth rates are falling.
Read MoreIn 2021, Navalny expressed hope that the Orthodox church in Russia could act as a mediator between the people and the state. He recognized this was unlikely; but if his demise tells us anything, it’s that moral courage in Russia’s mother church isn’t totally dead. On the contrary, we might see a resurrection yet.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Saturday marks two years since Putin’s Russia attacked Ukraine and unleashed a full-scale invasion, with horrific atrocities against the Ukrainian nation, in an attempt to destroy Ukraine as a country.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Traditional values have become a fixture in far-right movements around the world, some of which see Russia as a model of the future they desire. In Russia and beyond, many conservative Christians in these movements have focused on LGBTQ+ populations, whom they portray as threats to their vision for society — and are not deterred by antidemocratic politics, if its figures voice support for their social goals.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In October 2023, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, a nongovernmental organization founded by Amal and George Clooney, filed three cases with the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office, requesting an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine.
Read More(OPINION) Caught in the middle, leaders of the historic Ukrainian Orthodox Church say the “Holy Rus” is a historical reality but insist that this makes Russia’s invasion even worse — the sin of brothers killing brothers.
Read MoreThe arrival of St. Herman and a group of eight monks on this island on Sept. 24, 1794, planted a seed for the Orthodox Church on the continent. Since then, Alaska has been a spiritual cradle of Orthodox Christianity in North America.
Read MoreState censorship and control of religious communities increased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia, said that, at the start of the war, President Putin's administration made “a clear demand” of religious leaders to speak out in favor of the invasion.
Read More(OPINION) With the barrage of horrors from Ukraine, it wasn’t hard to distinguish between the messages released by the Eastern Orthodox leaders of Russia and Ukraine to mark Holy Pascha, the feast known as Easter in the West.
Read More(OPINION) If Russian invaders continue their current aggression, how much of Ukraine will be turned to rubble, and how many innocent civilians will be dead by Aug. 31? That's opening day for the 11th Global Assembly in the 74-year history of the World Council of Churches planned to begin in August.
Read MoreOn March 10, a court fined the Rev. Ioann Burdin of the Moscow Patriarchate's Kostroma Diocese one month's average local wages for online remarks and a Sunday sermon in church condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and stressing the importance of the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Read MorePope Francis — in a private video call on March 16 with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church — said religious leaders “must not use the language of politics, but the language of Jesus.” Francis’ remarks to Patriarch Kirill, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, were the latest in a series of moves to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Read More(OPINION) Orthodox leaders with ties to the European Union and highly European Western Ukraine have issued fierce statements after the Russian invasion. Many Orthodox churches with roots in Russian Orthodoxy have also condemned the invasion of Ukraine and urged a ceasefire.
Read MoreOrthodox churches around the world are all preparing for Easter, a celebration of Christ defeating death, by reflecting on Judgment Day. Despite this relative unity in worship, the Orthodox schism between Moscow and Constantinople that broke open in 2019 is cracking further. What is good and what is evil in the war in Ukraine is far from agreed upon.
Read MoreFrom Oklahoma to New Jersey to Nairobi, faith communities are taking up collections, helping refugees and voicing opposition to the military invasion of Ukraine. Many recognize that part of the motivation is for the Russian Orthodox Church to gain power in the Orthodox world. And Putin, at age 70, is making a desperate move to regain territory Russia once held during the Soviet Union. Both motivations create waves of anger, fear and the will to resist such totalitarian behavior.
Read More(OPINION) Ukraine's ecclesiastical history, like its political history, is highly complex. Whether the nation faces a military invasion or less bloody subversion and hoped-for domination, journalists these next few years will need to understand and depict the religious aspect of Ukraine’s nationalism and resistance against Russian expansionism.
Read MoreOf the 7.6 billion people on Earth, 2.4 billion identify as Christian, 1.9 billion as Muslim, 1.2 billion as Hindu and more than 500 million as Buddhist. Those are just the four largest religions. In other words, 310 million in the U.S. do not necessarily constitute the epicenter for all religion in the world. If anything, religion in America is a unique outlier.
Read More(OPINION) The complicated history of the royals, past and present, loomed over the short, dignified funeral for Prince Philip in St. George's Chapel, Windsor — with only 30 mourners due to COVID restrictions. The prince’s liturgical choices shaped an Anglican rite that stressed images of service, eternal hope and the beauties of God's creation.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Turkish government’s conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque has drawn sharp criticism, celebration, and now pledges to rebuild the church in Syria. The decision is part of a long-term agenda of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Islamist parties to restore national pride in its Ottoman past, drawing both sharp criticism for implications for religious minorities and mixed praise in the region.
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