Ukraine’s Interior Ministry on Friday (December 15) placed Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and who has been an ardent supporter of Kremlin’s invasion of Kyiv, on a wanted list. Kirill has been accused of abetting the conflict. A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”, according to a report by Reuters. The post said he had been “missing” since November 11. Here is a look at the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, why he supports the war, and what it means to put his name on the wanted list. The Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), also known as the Moscow Patriarchate, is the largest of more than a dozen autocephalous (self-governing) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, with an estimated 100 million members. Patriarch Kirill is the leader of the Moscow-based church that asserts exclusive canonical jurisdiction over all Eastern Orthodox Christians that live in the erstwhile republics of the Soviet Union, apart from Georgia, and more recently Ukraine. In January 2019, the newly established Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted independence by the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians worldwide, signalling a historic break from the Russian Orthodox Church. The ROC traces its roots to the time of Kievan Rus, a kingdom in Northern and Eastern Europe that existed from the late 9th to early 13th century. While an organised Christian community had already existed here by the mid-10th century, Vladimir I (the ruler of Kievan Rus) is credited with having propagated the religion widely. In the year 988 CE, he converted to Christianity and established it as the state religion. The Orthodox Church in Russia was at that time, subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul today), the religious leader of Orthodox Christians across the world. The Russian Metropolitan (head of church) residence was first in Kiev, one of the most important cities in that region. However, the city began to witness a steady decline after the Mongol invasion in 1237 and by the 14th century, the Metropolitan seat was shifted to Moscow. In 1448, the Russian Church began to assert its independence when the Russian bishops in Moscow elected their own head of the church, Jonas, without the consent of Constantinople. After the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottomans in 1453, the ROC’s authority grew further and it was formally established as an autocephalous branch of Eastern Christianity. By 1589, the metropolitan of Moscow received the title of Patriarch, the highest rank within the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill’s support of the war The head of the Roman Orthodox Church since 2009, Patriarch Kirill has through his statements seemed to have supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and in the process has proved it with religious undertones. Kirill has also been a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin and called his long tenure “a miracle of God”. In April 2022, while delivering a sermon in Moscow, he stated, “May the Lord help us all in this difficult time for our Fatherland to unite, including around the authorities, so as to repel external and internal enemies” of Russia. Commentators state that Kirill has sought to portray the war in Ukraine as a kind of spiritual battle. While Putin has tried to justify his “special military operation” by claiming to “denazify” Ukraine, Kirill has reprimanded the Western world for forcing gay pride marches onto the people of the Donbas region. While referring to these supposed developments in a sermon in early March, Kirill said, “We’re talking about human salvation.” The Patriarch has also frequently bestowed his blessings on the Russian armed forces, giving the symbol of the Virgin Mary to a senior commander. What does being a wanted means for Patriarch Kirill According to Reuters, the move to put Kirill on the wanted list was “purely symbolic as Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest.” It was the latest step in Ukraine’s bid to diminish the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
