The news that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine was of deep concern for Bradley Nassif, a theologian and expert on Orthodox-evangelical dialogue who spent years as a tenured professor of religion at an evangelical university.
The status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has long been a source of tension.
While Ukraine is home to millions of Orthodox Christians, they are divided in loyalties, with ties to rival leaders in Eastern Orthodoxy — including the Russian Orthodox Church with its Moscow patriarch and an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the leader of Orthodoxy worldwide.
Nassif, author of “The Evangelical Theology of the Orthodox Church,” spoke in an interview about the crisis in Ukraine, how Orthodox Christians in the U.S. are responding and why events in Ukraine should concern Americans.
The conversation was conducted by email and has been edited for clarity.
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How is this news from Ukraine affecting Orthodox Christians in the U.S. — what have you heard?
The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA believe the Russians want complete domination of the land and its resources. Under the guise of the “Soviet Union,” Russia wants not only the rich natural resources of Ukraine, but also a buffer zone between itself and the Western world. These are also largely the sentiments of the Ukrainian American people.
Is there concern for the church in Ukraine?
Yes. The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA have directed all their clergy to pray specifically for the situation. Ukrainian families in America are profoundly worried about their relatives, as well as Ukraine itself. Communication, however, has been difficult or blocked. Ukrainian immigrants are shoring up their support for family members there through financial donations and organized demonstrations. I’m hearing some calling for President Biden to go beyond sanctions and use military force to defend democracy in Ukraine.
What should Americans know about how this conflict could affect religious people in Ukraine?
The religious consequences of the Russian occupation of Ukraine are enormous. There has been a longstanding dispute, recently revived since 2018, between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey over the autocephaly (self-rule) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The question centers on who has the ecclesiastical authority to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. If Russia should establish itself in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church will have much more power to control the fate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As a result, the political conflicts we are now watching on TV can soon become a major religious conflict as well.
There are some Americans — in particular, some evangelicals — who are taking a “who cares?” response, or, in some ways, are supportive of Russia — what would you say to them?
Evangelicals who take a “who cares?” attitude to what’s going on now in Ukraine will be in for a big surprise once the dust settles. One needs only to look at what the Russians did to evangelicals after they annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Evangelicals may well face similar governmental penalties for church gatherings, preaching and evangelistic campaigns. The growing concern is over evangelicals who allegedly “sheep steal” members of the Orthodox Church into their own Protestant ranks.
Bob Smietana is a national reporter for Religion News Service.
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31 Responses
Now where are some voices of Russian Christians who support what Putin is doing? Do we get just one side of this story or two? What should our evangelical Russian brothers be doing about all those American-made nuclear bombs aimed at them and their children? Should they just become Tolstoyan pacifists or should they become proactive defenders of their own property? Russia has no fear of the Ukraine. That is a transparent red herring. What Russia fears is use of the Ukraine and other nations surrounding Russia by America and the West. Short and simple.
Why should we listen to Putin apologists who support a dictator’s unprovoked decision to invade another sovereign nation? This was a war of choice, not self defense.
James Lutzweiler,
Please tell me that you are joking or using sarcasm. You want American Christians to support a Soviet KGB dictator who persecutes Christians in his own country, is building the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear system, arms the terror militia Hezbollah, and is attempting to rebuild the USSR???
The defense of Russian aggression by American christians is revolting.
Is the encirclement of Russia with American-made nukes revolting? Is it passive aggression?
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and not conformed to the CIA and NATO.
Just a prayer for you.
Tim O,
Do you have the same righteous anger/judgement concerning American christians defending unjustified US aggression?
How many time has the US interfered in other countries politics with military intervention, political influence or outright lies? Color Revolution in Ukraine, election interference for the candidate the US wants elected, Arab Spring in Libya, lies told for 2nd Iraq invasion, leaving military equipment for ISIS, same for Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran-Contra, Bay of Pigs, Gulf of Tonkin, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, etc …
Do other countries have the same “rights” to act as the US has in other countries? If not, why not? Our country is not innocent, and we act as if the US has some moral high ground to do what ever it wants in other nations. We need to hold other countries to the same standards as the US practices, or we are hypocrites.
In 2014 a coup occurred in Ukraine removing a legally elected president. In 1990 it was agreed NATO wouldn’t expand. Since then NATO (actually America) has pushed closer and closer to Russia. What if Mexico and Canada were friends of Russia and had troops and tanks and bases sitting on our borders? I believe we would have the same concern.
“In four years Mr Yanukovych and his friends looted around $100bn from a country with an economy the size of Nebraska’s. Leaned on by Mr Putin, in 2013 Mr Yanukovych abandoned Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU—a framework for closer economic ties—and moved to join its Russian-led rival. Mr Yanukovych ordered police to shoot protesters who opposed him.” – The Economist
Yanukovych fled Ukraine, rather than represent the wishes of his own people. He ordered them shot. That’s a coup d’detat?
Exactly, and we drew a line in the sand or sea when Soviet Russia tried to put missles in Cuba during the Kennedy administration.
Not one nuclear missile has been sited in any new NATO nation in over 50 years, and Ukraine wouldn’t get them either, even if they joined NATO. Other than Turkey (since 1959) no NATO country that shares a land or sea border with Russia (other than the US itself, via Alaska) has nuclear weapons, and you won’t get any protest from me if the US brought their nukes home from Turkey.
More Russian propaganda. There was no coup in Ukraine in 2014. The then president of Ukraine lost the support of his own party in parliament and a majority of MPs voted to remove him from office. By that measure, you could call Nixon’s impeachment a coup too.
President Yanukovych was incredibly corrupt and was well on his way to becoming a mini-Putin after arresting his political opponents and amassing a personal fortune of billions through well documented Mafia-style demands of tribute from thousands of Ukrainian companies as well as raiding the country’s treasury.
One and Peter. My only doubt about how much the previous president was evil is because the coup was accomplished thanks a Zionist named Neuland and funded by George soros. Sorry. I am not ready to accept the current version of truth.
@ Gary Weigel
My first comment above was posted then deleted. I guess the links I provided were problematic. My second comment was agreeing with yours, but it looks like I’m agreeing with One Olsen. I didn’t research the coup. I just don’t know who’s wearing the white hats in this situation. Zelensky was very close to a particular billionaire and then distanced himself. We’ve been involved with Ukraine for many years. It’s anyone’s guess.
Gary, can you explain what being a Zionist has to do with the matter?
Well spoken. Just like Joanne Herring paid for Charlie Wilson’s war.
I observe that the discussion thread is focusing more on geopolitics than Christianity. It seems to me that Christians should be more concerned about the welfare of their brethren than whether Putin has a legitimate claim to invade Ukraine. Christians should also remember the unhealthy history of state-controlled churches. (Remember Hitler and the German Church?) They should condemn evil acts regardless of the actors’ religious claims. I hope that Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Church members as well as evangelicals can rally together in support of their Ukrainian brethren.
We should be in prayer concerning our Orthodox Brethren during this unsettling time. I am sure there are Russian Orthodox who have family in the Ukraine and vice versa.
Hey Brendan. Do your own homework. Victoria Nuland along with other Zionist do everything they can to keep the Middle East and Russia on fire. Learn the dangers of a Zionist. And we also have Christian Zionist such as John Hagee and other ilk that think if the Middle East is a blaze then the second coming will be sooner than later. They think God is happy they are helping to push the clock to the rapture. I Have followed these people since the seventies and they have yet to be right at anything other than profiting off their books. I know. I was a young fool who bought their books until God was kind enough to give me discernment. They are the people Jesus warned us to watch out for.
Gary, thank you for your clarification. I do not need to do any homework. It is interesting that you used this term exactly as I thought: to convey conspiratorial intent on the part of the Zionist in question. These stereotypes have fed much that is evil in this world.
Gary Weigel,
No offense–but you are using the *exact* language of Stormfront, the N.S.M., the National Vanguard, and other such groups. How is your rhetoric in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, who was and is a Jew?
You hit the nail right on the head. see Pat Robertson‘s latest comment that God is directing Putin to invade the Ukraine as a staging ground for an invasion of Israel. Pure baloney. The Zionists are behind this 100%. Blinken, Nuland, Sherman, Burns, Finer and Zelensky are all Zionists to the core.
Sloppy dispensationalists are poor evidence for blaming Israel for hundreds of years of bad blood between Russia and the Ukraine. This theory smells like the work of a Russian troll farm to me.
One more thought. Compare how the world is responding to this invasion that actually has some valid reasons vs our invasion of IRAQ or Afghanistan or Panama or Granada or our conquests in Latin America or our support of Kuwait (who was actually slant drilling into Iraq and the nurse that witnessed the brutal treatment of the babies was actually a diplomats daughter and was in Europe at the time). She must have great eyesight. Where were the world wide spontaneous protests? Russian has been the target of nato and the right wing war mongers and Zionist since I can remember. Even the evangelical industrial complex since the seventies have supported being aggressive against Russia. Ever ask yourself why? Why Russia and not China.
So are we going to completely ignore the Russian takeover of Eastern Europe after WW2? Why do you think NATO was created in the first place? It took 50 years for Eastern European nations to finally win self-determination free from the Russian threat. You don’t think that doesn’t have anything to do with the antipathy and suspicion toward Russia many feel today, especially since Putin is on record stating that fall of the Soviet Union was the worst geopolitical disaster of the 20th century.
The Chinese regime is awful in many ways but they weren’t the ones who acted upon expansionist designs in the post-WW2 world.
Mike W,
“So are we going to completely ignore the Russian takeover of Eastern Europe after WW2?”
Are you personally going to fly over to Ukraine and join the fight?
@ Mike Walker
“The Chinese regime is awful in many ways but they weren’t the ones who acted upon expansionist designs in the post-WW2 world.”
What few Korean War and Vietnam War veterans are still alive would most likely disagree with the statement above. Taiwan would definitely disagree.
The Chinese regime got smarter, and now has economic hooks in the governments of multiple countries through their “belt and road” initiative. The Panama Canal Zone could soon become part of the same initiative.
When China does make its move against Taiwan, a country we don’t even recognize diplomatically for fear of offending someone, I hope there’s as much of an outpouring of support. I’m skeptical.
Don’t forget the Ukranian CATHOLIC Church.
Some centuries ago, a good-sized chunk of the Ukrainian church transferred its allegiance from the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Pope in Rome, becoming the Ukrainian Catholic Church. They’re still an Eastern-Rite church with the same Byzantine Rite and married clergy (but single bishops), just Catholic instead of Orthodox.
Naturally the Russian Orthodox Church (the ONLY True Church in its own mind) considers them Traitors and Heretics. And when the Russian Empire (under whatever name) periodically takes over Ukraine, the RO (now the official State Church) goes Heretic-hunting against the Ukrainian Catholics.
There was an excellent interview of the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church on Catholic radio in the days before the Russian invasion. He greatly fears what will happen to their church under Russian occupation. It wouldn’t be the first time the Russians have persecuted them into near oblivion.
And Brendan. A Zionist may be a Jew or a Gentile. It’s a belief. And Zionist and Jews are mutually exclusive. Many Jews do not abide by a Zionist. The Jew or gentile version.
So disheartening to see pro-Putin trolls on this thread. And talks about ‘Zionists’, reminds me of the rhetoric that Iranian president Ahmadinejad used to spout out. Sorry guys, you cannot use examples of lazy and vain preachers like Hagee who only want bigger audiences, to promote president Putin’s agenda. And as someone pointed out, that’s the same justification that the fascists used to murder the Jews and Eastern Europeans. Whataboutism like Iraq and Afghanistan is not an excuse for blatant colonialism. As for the 2014 ‘coup’, please get your news from somewhere other than Russia Today. Our church is closely associated with a conservative Baptist Russian church, who to a person oppose this invasion (and yes, they include Ukrainians too). They get their news from relatives who’ve lost homes or loved ones.