Patriarch Kirill has made statements in the past defending Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and sees the war as a bulwark against a Western liberal culture he sees as declining. “May the Lord help us to unite at this difficult time for our country, including the authorities,” Interfax quoted Cyril, 75, as saying in a sermon in Moscow, according to the Interfax news agency. “May the authorities be filled with responsibility for their people, humility and a willingness to serve them even if it costs them their lives,” added the patriarch, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. The patriarch’s support for the Russian military campaign, in which thousands of soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed, has angered some inside the Orthodox Church as well as in churches abroad affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. On Sunday, he said that as soon as the population unites around the authorities, “there will be genuine solidarity and the ability to repel enemies, both external and internal …” Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in a special operation to downgrade its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and kill people it called dangerous nationalists. Ukrainian forces have put up fierce resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in a bid to force it to withdraw its forces. (Report by Reuters; Edited by Frances Kerry)
