The modern militaristic spirit of Russia was formed by the Russian Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill.
This opinion was expressed in an interview with Galinfo by Metropolitan Dymytry (Rudyuk) of Lviv and Sokal of the OCU.
“The so-called spiritual basis for the militaristic things that have flooded Russia today has been fully developed by the Russian Church and, in particular, Patriarch Kirill - “staples”, “Russian world”, “Russia - Ukraine - Belarus-altogether make the Holy Rus”. All this was carried throughout Ukraine in the 2000s. It all turned into such” poisonous stuff” - ideological poison,” the hierarch said.
According to the Metropolitan, in Ukraine, the “Russian World” faced patriotism, although it still sits in many heads of Ukrainians from the Donbass and even up to Lviv.
“By the way, we constantly talked about this: how the UOC-MP will behave in the event of a war between Ukraine and Russia. And it didn’t take much thought to understand that it would take an anti-Ukrainian position. It’s good to sit and say, “we are without politics,” while simultaneously looking back at what Moscow will say and how,” he said.
The Metropolitan of the OCU believes that the UOC-MP is the fifth column that is waiting for Putin.
“As Russia raises its voice of war, so they are probably waiting for a liberator. I am sure that this is the fifth column that is waiting for the “fruitful” time for them when Putin comes and frees them all. When Putin talks about the” Russian-speaking population”, he means not only Russians in the Donbas but also other territories of Ukraine. In particular, we are talking about the “deprived” “canonical” Church in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate.