‘Far from harmless’: Patriarch Kirill backs Putin’s war, but at what cost?
Al Jazeera
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is the president’s spiritual leader, but he risks losing global clout.
A masked, uniformed, gun-toting soldier has the letter Z, a Kremlin-approved symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on his shoulder.
Jesus Christ, frail and devoid of aggression, is portrayed right behind him.
Both are depicted on the billboard that reads “Christ triumphed over hell, and Russia will too”. This image is part of an outdoor art exhibition in central Moscow that urges Russian men to enlist.
Moscow Patriarch Kirill, head of the world’s largest Orthodox Christian Church whose clout transcends Russia’s borders to believers in former Soviet republics and diasporas, has defended the Kremlin’s “right” to start the war.
Russia has “the right to stand on the side of light, on the side of God’s truth”, he said days after the invasion began in February 2022.
