The Orthodox churches still think in imperial terms
An interview with Cyril Hovorun, a professor of philosophy at University College Stockholm. Interviewer: Vazha Tavberidze.
VAZHA TAVBERIDZE: I have read your essay published in 2015, titled “Christian duty in Ukraine”. I wanted to ask, nine years later, what is the duty of a Christian when it comes to Ukraine?
CYRIL HOVORUN: I think that duty stems from the Gospel, from the words of Jesus. Everything that Russia does actually violates all ten commandments, which are basic for all monotheistic religions, but particularly for Christianity.
April 11, 2024 -
Cyril Hovorun
Vazha Tavberidze
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InterviewsIssue 3 2024Magazine
So this violation of the commandments should be condemned clearly, by the Christians: thou shall not kill, shall not steal, and so forth. Yet, it seems that the Christians – and I don’t want to generalize, I should say that many Christians in different traditions, including Orthodox, are very clear about this war, they have been very explicit and have spoken up against the war, and perform their duty as Christians very well. Yet when we talk about the ecclesiastical structures, the patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops and so forth, the hierarchy of the church, and those who sometimes identify themselves with a church, I think it is a wrong identification. The church is much larger than them. The church is made up of people. And as I said, many people expressed very clearly their condemnation of the war. But the churches, the official churches, in their official statements, they are hesitant, and therefore there is a gap, a significant difference between what the people in the churches think and say, and what the official churches think and say, this is a big problem for global Christianity.
We see that while the entire world has expressed very clear concerns and solidarity with the Ukrainian people who are under Russian attack, the churches, as a rule, either keep silent, or still use euphemisms to describe the war, they try not to name the perpetrator properly. They hesitate to make their position clear. This applies to the big ecumenical communities like the World Council of Churches, which quite often uses problematic language to describe the war. And it has a tradition of putting Ukraine and Russia on the same footing, and they treat this war as a war where all sides are somehow to be blamed for the war. Even with the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest church, still, the language is not always clear. On the one hand, Pope Francis has clearly condemned the war and expresses solidarity with the Ukrainian people, but at the same time, he uses ambiguous words and language to describe the war, which upsets people in Ukraine. For example, when he called it a fratricide. He also said that the war was caused by “NATO barking at Russia’s door”. The language is uneven when it comes to explaining the war. Of course, he’s very clear in supporting Ukraine in expressing his solidarity and empathy with the people. Some churches do not do even that, especially the Orthodox churches, which seems very strange. The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox and they expected much more solidarity from the Orthodox people, Orthodox countries, including Georgia, for example.
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