Russian Orthodox Church

As the world turns its attention to Ukraine, the important but often neglected issue of Orthodox Christian geopolitics has received renewed interest from Western media.

Russia’s unwarranted aggression toward Ukraine has not only shattered the peace of Europe and unleashed a torrent of economic and physical destruction, but it has also thrown into stark relief the moral chasm between Russia and its rivals. As Putin dismembers Ukraine, he shows the importance and value of America’s empire of nations.

It is past time for Orthodox leaders to consider how to address and prevent future rogue actions by Russia that aim to “overthrow the Church’s canonical order.”

If we are to take a constructive part in world politics our leaders cannot assume that religious questions are unimportant.

The basic distinction between American conservatism and Eastern European conservatism lies in different attitudes toward freedom.

Eight weeks after the falsified Belarusian presidential elections, country-wide protests remain steady, and fervent democratic activism has arisen among an unsuspecting source—the Catholic Church. American Christians should follow and take a vocal stance for the Belarusian future.

To better grasp Russian conduct, past and present, we would do well to understand its religious sources in Orthodox Christianity.

While many aspects of the Russo-Ukrainian war—such as the annexation of Crimea, the shootdown of passenger airliner MH17, and the creation of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church—have been widely discussed by experts, the plight of religious minorities in occupied eastern Ukraine has largely gone ignored.

Fyodor Dostoevsky uses “Russian God” to refer not to European, or Western God, but to unique aspects of Russian Orthodoxy with its unique emphasis on sobornost’.