Patriarch Kirill of Moscow believes that although Vladimir Putin has been declared the national leader of Russia, he is the real soul and mind of the country.
This was stated in an interview with LRT.lt by a theologian and professor Archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun).
“He made the choice to support Putin and the war freely - no one forced him to do so. (...) This афсе increases his responsibility for the war: he is not a victim, not an exploited head of the Church, deprived of freedom and the ability to act,” he said.
“Deep down Kirill believes that Putin is an ordinary person, devoid of great ideas, and that he needs someone to offer these ideas to him. And this is exactly what the patriarch is doing. Thus, Kirill considers himself more important than Putin in this 'tandem',” the clergyman emphasized.
Archimandrite Hovorun is confident that the Russian Orthodox Church created and sold to the Kremlin an ideology that has become the political religion of Russia - Putinism. That is why Patriarch Kirill considers himself the true “mind and soul of the Russian people” who is able to “inspire ordinary rulers like Putin.”
“Although most Russians would say that they believe in what Kirill tells them to believe, they do not believe in God. Instead, they believe in a political ideology that is merely disguised as religion,” the clergyman says.