Following Putin’s call to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem to bring peace in the Middle East with Russian help, and the Patriarchate of Moscow to bring peace to the strife in Ukraine that it is stoking, Patriarch Kirill thinks no one notices that Russia has unilaterally annexed following a corrupt plebiscite the territory of a sovereign nation, Ukraine, in line with its track record in Georgia and Moldova. Kirill, of course, believes that there is a land and language continuum called Russky Mir (Pax Russica – Russian Sphere, or Russian Peace), embracing Russia, Belarussia, Ukraine and satellite territories, ruled from Moscow in which Ukraine is merely “Little Russia”. Not even the Russian speaking Ukrainians like this, and it is why most Orthodox in Ukraine refused to belong to the portion of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that is ruled from the Moscow Patriarchate. In other words, the Patriarchate of Moscow either acts as, or is seen as, an agent and mouthpiece of the current Russian regime’s social, foreign and military policy for creating a new Russky Mir, within the borders of the old Soviet Union, and to the detriment of the sovereign nations that once composed it. It is worth bearing in mind that in the Crimean territory annexed contrary to international law and treaties by Russia, in a formerly free society, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, and the Crimean Tatar Muslims all face restrictions on their functions, right to worship, right provide pastoral care and right to residence in and use of their own property. As Patriarch Kirill says, “Russia poses no threat … ” (Ed. MW)
Source: Interfax-Religion, 21 July 2014
May God give that everyone realizes Russia poses no military threat and no other danger to people
Sergiyev Posad, July 21, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said he urged global community not to perceive Russia as an aggressor.
“May God give that those, who do not understand Russia, understand it today. May God give that everyone realizes Russia poses no military threat and no other danger to people. We will find salvation in unity and love – we address this appeal of St. Sergius to the entire Russian world and beyond, to the entire human kind. And may God give that our homeland remains able to implement this legacy of the great Saint of the Russian land,” Patriarch Kirill said at a concert in Sergiyev Posad dedicated to the 700th birth anniversary of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Historical Rus “is the most important thing we should keep and give to next generations,” the patriarch said.
“And we should be like-minded in all this and guard our unity – spiritual unity and human one. Love is where dissidence ends,” he said.
“With God’s mercy we will overcome all internecine quarrelling and all disruption at the space of historical Rus,” Patriarch Kirill said.
The patriarch said he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended the concert, for reflecting “the consensus, which exists in our society today.”
“It is essential that the state leader is able to form common thoughts and ideas uniting people,” Patriarch Kirill said.
Source: Russia poses no military threat – Patriarch Kirill – A Russian Orthodox Church Website