Narrating the war theologically: does Russian Orthodoxy have a future in Ukraine?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Russia’s escalation of war into a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 aggravated a pre-existing crisis of Russian Orthodoxy. Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the majority Russian Orthodox Church sustained severe losses of members and experienced an identity crisis as an institution aligned with Moscow’s patriarchate and Kremlin geopolitics. That crisis deepened as Russia pursued Putin’s dream of a restored USSR and as Patriarch Kirill condoned the war. Russian Orthodox people in Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere rejected the holy war narrative and sought alternative positions on the present crisis and the future of their church. The Russian Orthodox affiliate is struggling to reconcile its loyalty to Ukraine and solidarity with the aggressor state. That inner conflict is evident in competing theological narratives of Russia’s war, and until it is resolved the church’s future in Ukraine will hang in the balance. This article studies the wartime narratives of Orthodox officials and assesses their role in reshaping Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine.