The Meaning of Moscow's Cathedral

On Sunday, February 27, 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia preached a sermon in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow in which he prayed for peace in Russian lands, explicitly including Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Russia. "God forbid that the present political situation in fraternal Ukraine so close to us should be aimed at making the evil forces that have always strived against the unity of Rus' and the Russian Church gain the upper hand." On this account, Ukraine has fallen under the influence of "dark and external forces," who have been given an opportunity to "laugh" at the Russian peoples. The only appropriate response, he argues, is to "preserve peace between our peoples while protecting our common historical Motherland against every outside action that can destroy this unity." What matters most in the conflict, then, is not the battle between democracy and authoritarianism but reuniting a common people and their common faith. The history of the cathedral in which he spoke makes his words endorsing an invasion ring with irony.