Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian and pro-Russian priests have demonstrated not only support for the invasion, but also involvement in this process. According to the SBU, during the Russian occupation of the Kharkiv region, a RUOC priest called on local residents to support the occupiers with his sermons.

During stabilization measures in the liberated territories of Eastern Ukraine, the SBU [SSU] another accomplice of the Russian invaders was discovered. The accomplice turned out to be a priest of one of the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which remained connected to the Moscow Patriarchate (UPC MP) in the Kharkiv region, “Ukrainian Pravda” reports.

During the Russian occupation of the Kupyan district, he called on local residents to support the Russian invaders. In his “sermons”, he justified the crimes of the aggressor state in the war against Ukraine.

The accomplice of the Russian occupiers contributed in every possible way to the spread of the occupation regime in the occupied territory of the Kharkiv region, he personally contacted Vitaly Ganchev, whom the Russians put at the head of the Kharkiv administration.

The priest coordinated his actions directly with Hanchev regarding the use of the church to recruit citizens to the ranks of the Russian occupiers and spread lies about the Ukrainian defense forces.

To carry out his activities, the priest engaged a parishioner from the village, who helped him spread pro-Kremlin propaganda.

Patriarch Kirill, one of the main supporters of the war in Ukraine

Religious leaders around the world have criticized Cyril for his statements in support of the war launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christianity, going so far as to suggest he “sacrifice the throne”.

In early May, for example, Patriarch Kirill said that Russia had not actually attacked anyone, contradicting statements by other Moscow leaders such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov.

Patriarch Kirill has promised Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine that all their sins will be forgiven in a scandalous new video message in which he compares the Russian army to Jesus Christ.

A priest who told women to have more children so that they would not suffer from the loss of children at the front

An influential Russian priest, the pastor of a church at the headquarters of the Strategic Missile Forces in Moscow, told Russian women worried about the death of their sons in Ukraine to give birth to more children.

“I understand very well that God allowed every woman — in most cases — to have many children,” Vasiliev said, according to Business Insider.

“And if a woman fulfills this commandment of God to procreate, it usually means that she will have more than one child, in most cases. Accordingly, it will not be so painful and scary for her to lose a child,” he added.

Later, he died at the front on November 6, 2022 in Ukraine “while performing pastoral duties”

A monk teaches soldiers how to properly charge a Kalashnikov assault rifle

On November 7, a video of a Russian Orthodox monk showing Russian soldiers how to properly load a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a Christian perspective went viral.

“What we see now is mostly spiritual warfare. The Antichrist is advancing against the holy Russian people, against Orthodoxy,” says the monk.

“I would like to teach you how to load ammunition properly. So that the bullet enters the target, destroys the enemy, and not into nothingness and not into the air, this is what we are taught [Sfinții] Parents: after receiving the ball, say these words – Holy Mother of God, save us. Holy Father Nicholas, pray to God for us. Holy Mother of God, save us. Saint Nicholas, pray to God for us,” the monk repeated, charging the bullets one by one.

The war in Ukraine led to fights between priests

In July, a video of an ROC priest attacking a UOC priest in the Vinnytsia region after he accused supporters of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow of aiding the Russian occupiers went viral.

It will be recalled that the Moscow Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced at the end of May that it was severing relations with Russia after it invaded Ukraine, declaring its “complete independence” from the Russian spiritual authority.

“We do not agree with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (…) regarding the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Church explained in a press release at the end of the council devoted to “aggression” against the country and which declared “the complete independence and autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”