Former Jesuit superior of Ukraine: ‘Putin is destroying the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine’
April 01, 2022
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CWN Editor's Note: Once Jesuit superior in Ukraine, Father David Nazar, SJ, is now rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
“The truth is that by Putin’s political adventurism, the Russian Orthodox Church lost many parishes in Ukraine,” Father Nazar said.
The Russian Orthodox Church, “like everything else in Russia, it is under the thumb of the government,” he continued. “To explain this simply, I sometimes say that if Putin says something on Tuesday, the Russian Patriarch has to say the same thing on Wednesday but just putting the word ‘God’ into the sentence.”
“Even if [Patriarch] Kirill wanted to say, ‘Let’s stop the war in Ukraine,’ he can’t do it without Putin’s permission,” Father Nazar continued. “Putin could jail him if he did so ... It took a lot [of courage] for Kirill to talk with Francis on March 16. He took the risk because he believed in Francis’ friendly approach.”
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