President Putin Visits the Orthodox Chapel in the Kremlin Palace [사진제공 : 연합뉴스]
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting the invasion of Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas on the 7th local time.
Instead of participating in public celebrations, Putin issued the Christmas message following attending a midnight service that began on Christmas Eve at a church inside the Kremlin Palace, the presidential residence, Archyde.com and the Wall Street Journal reported.
“I am very pleased with the extremely constructive contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations to uniting society, preserving our historical memory, educating young people and strengthening the institution of the family,” he said in the message.
“Church organizations prioritize supporting our fighters in special military operations in Ukraine,” he said.
Christmas is usually on December 25th, but some countries that believe in the Orthodox Church, such as Russia and Ukraine, have been celebrating Christmas on a later date, January 7th every year.
Prior to this, on the 6th, President Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire to celebrate Christmas, but Ukraine rejected it, saying it was just a ploy by Moscow to buy time and reorganize.
In fact, even following President Putin declared a cease-fire, both sides continued shelling.
It is analyzed that President Putin reaffirms that he is relying on the Orthodox Church as a foundation for Russian social stability and national unity in a harsh wartime.
The Wall Street Journal especially noted that it was the first Orthodox Christmas following President Putin launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine as if it were a “crusade” once morest the “corrupt West.”
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, insisted in an interview on state television that believers should see the war as a holy struggle once morest the West to preserve the “Russian world” and keep the Slavic lands under Moscow’s spiritual and political leadership.
In a video released on TV, President Putin during the ceremony was also seen making the sign of the cross several times.
Even in Ukraine, believers who celebrate Orthodox Christmas gather in churches.
However, many Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are outraged by the Russian Orthodox Church’s support of the invasion of Ukraine, and have switched to December 25, which is celebrated by most other Christians instead of January 7.
There are 260 million Orthodox believers worldwide, 100 million Russian and regarding 30 million Ukrainian.
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine is divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate and the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019, but is not accepted by the Moscow Archdiocese.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, especially following the Russian invasion, does not list Russia’s Patriarch Kirill in the list of fraternal leaders in public worship and uses its own holy oil without receiving it from Moscow.
Russia’s Patriarch Kirill accused the Ukrainian government of suppressing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has long had ties with Moscow, at a service on the 6th.
Patriarch Epiphanius, head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, officiated at a service to a large crowd of believers at the Kyiu Caves Monastery, one of the most important holy places of the Orthodox Church.
The Associated Press reported that the Christmas service was conducted in Ukrainian for the first time in 31 years since Ukraine’s independence, and among the believers singing carols were Ukrainian military units in military uniforms.
Patriarch Epiphanius said, “As a nation, we sought to live in peace with understanding of all our neighbors, but the enemy, meanly, broke the peace and invaded our land.” “, he criticized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Christmas message released late on the night of the 6th that the Ukrainian army is “fighting to defeat the beast, not to fall prey.”