Thread by @Favillez

1) This interview with Met. Hilarion, of the Department for External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, is from 13 May, but I only read it today.
Some interesting details to look at.
actualidadereligiosa.blogspot.com/2022/02/war-in…

2) Perhaps the most important is his insistance that: "in the West the statements of the Patriarch are viewed through the prism of propaganda carried out in the media, and Western politicians cannot adequately assess these statements"

3) This might make sense, were the Patriarch's statements not made public on his website. All the statements I have collected on my blog are not read through the prism of Wester propaganda, they are lifted directly from the homepage of the ROC. And some of them are pretty grim!

4) Met. Hilarion also addresses the conversation between Kirill and Pope Francis, and although he is quite diplomatic, it is clear that the ROC was not pleased with the way @Pontifex spoke about the conversation in his interview with Corriere dela Sera.

5) Finally, Hilarion seems to dismiss the idea that the Patriarch has any influence whatever on Putin and the Kremlin. "Political events and military actions are written without the participation of the Church. What the Church can do, she does, first of all, to help people."

6) He adds that "the Church, of course, cannot directly influence the course of negotiations or the course of hostilities."
Which begs the question, has anything been done indirectly?

7) #UkraineRussiaWar #RussianOrthodoxChurch #ROC
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