US archbishop’s meeting with Putin denounced as ‘betrayal of Christian witness’
An American Orthodox Archbishop’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where hot greetings and holy icons change their gifts – are notified by Ukrainian Orthodox bishops in the United States. Russia-Ukraine War.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which is a bishop of Alaska for the Orthodox Church in Alexei-America, came together with Putin at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery in the Fort Richardson National Cemetery following the summit of Putin’s US President Donald Trump on the day of the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin also placed flowers in the graves of the Soviet aviators who were killed during the World War II.
“Russia gave us the most valuable one, this Orthodox belief and we are grateful forever,” he said. Russian missionaries Bringing faith in Alaska while a tsarist region. He added that he visited Russia regularly and when the priests and seminars went there, they said, ım I am at home ”.
Putin said to him: “Please feel your home when you come.”
However, critics said that the meeting on Putin, by Trump on the US territory on the territory of the United States, he said. arrest order He was published in 2023 from the International Criminal Court and accused Putin of war crimes in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Violent criticism of the leaders of a church
The leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States detonated the meeting between Archbishop and Putin.
In the statement signed by Metropolitan Antony and Archbishop Daniel, the best leaders of the New Jersey-based church, said: “Such gestures are not only unfortunate-not unfortunate. He said.
The Russian regime is responsible for the occupation of the independent and peaceful nation of Ukraine and the death of hundreds of thousands of people, the disappearance of numerous innocents and the tearing of families and the deliberate destruction of Ukraine, ”he said. “It is not less than the approval of their actions to expand the words of hot welcome and admiration to this ‘leader’.”
In a statement, while the church preaching love and forgiveness, he said that he could never excuse the evil or that he was whitewashed ”.
The meeting between the Archbishop and Putin is remarkable of how American churches mix. Discussions containing Orthodoxy It appeared in Ukraine even before In 2022, Russian Ukraine invasion and worsened since then. Orthodox Christianity is the majority religion in Russia and Ukraine.
In the United States, there are more than one Eastern Orthodox Judicial Zone based on various immigrant communities of different nations. It includes Jan with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Russia and the United States and Ukraine. They usually share and cooperate in some regions, but they have separate hierarchies.
Putin gave Alexei icons St. Herman – A Early Russian missionary to Alaska – and the Archbishop is the mother of God, where he took the cross and kisses every symbol. Alexei gave the Russian President a symbol of a gift after being a bishop before.
According to a video recording, the two did not discuss the war during a short conversation.
Alaska Archbishop explains itself
In a follow-up message sent to the Alaska priests by e-mail and defending the visit, Alexei said he controlled Three Days Special Services In the Orthodox communities in Alaska, they offer prayers for peace on behalf of worshipers. Alaska saints And God’s mother.
Alexei said, “When I expressed gratitude at that time, it was not praise for the current politics, but the memory of the missionaries of previous generations… He brought Orthodox belief at a great cost.”
He also advocated the change of icon. “I must be open: the respect we give to the sacred icons is not the person who gives them, but to the saint or feast they represent.” “Even if the greatest sinner is with me, honor passes him, not to him.”
“I know that sacred gestures can be misunderstood, and I feel sorry if it causes confusion or scandal.” “Opening a small door for the word Pastoral Peace” is important.
The Moscow Patriarch Kirill strongly supported the war and said that they had all the Russian soldiers who died on the task line in Ukraine. Sins forgiven And to preside a council that declares the Russian invasion as a “holy war ..
Putin himself regularly exhibits Orthodox piety – reflected in his Soviet tombs to make a cross sign and kiss the symbols he gave to Alexei. Putin lately Without being focused on the fact that one of the conditions of peace should be “to provide a sufficient environment for the Orthodox Church and the Christian belief in Ukraine”.
How are Orthodox Fractions in Ukraine affected?
The Orthodox population of Ukraine is destroyed by the schema. There are currently two main orthodox groups with similar voice names.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is historically under the Moscow Patriarchate, which claims to be jurisdiction in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the separatist Orthodox Church in Ukraine was recognized as an independent church by Ecumenic Patriarch Bartholome of Constantinople.
Both churches condemned the Russian invasion, but UOC was doubtful, although he tried to claim that he was independent of Moscow’s control. (Both should not be confused with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the US operating in American territory.)
Ukrainian Parliament last year Passed a law Prohibition of religious groups affiliated to the Russian Orthodox Church or another belief group that supports the occupation of Russia. The measure was aimed at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian government insisted on taking various steps to demonstrate the independence that the church’s leader refused to do so, and that the government’s process was defective and that the church declares its independence in 2022.
Ukrainian Churches and Religious Organizations Council – a coalition containing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – made a statement that supports the government’s insistence on complying with the UOC demands. He said that Russia has widely violated religious freedoms in the occupied Ukrainian regions. He claimed that Ukraine honored religious freedom and pluralism and maintained the right to ensure that religion is not used because of the invasion.
“The Russian Federation is widely known to use the religion, especially the Russian Orthodox Church as a weapon to follow the neo-emperor goals in various countries,” he said.
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AP reporter Illia Novikov contributed to this report.
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