The Russian Orthodox Church's Call for a Holy War Against Western Globalism

Given that the West, in the eyes of the Orthodox Church, has 'fallen into Satanism', it follows 'the need for a holy war to protect the world from the assault of globalism'. Practically Armageddon. All in black and white. During the meeting of the Russian Orthodox Synod that took place on March 27th in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow - under the presidency of Patriarch Kirill - a long and articulated document titled 'The present and the future of the Russian world' was approved, summarizing some identity themes considered fundamental. It is a programmatic text for the coming years in which the leaders of Russian Orthodoxy ask civil authorities, the Duma, and President Putin to urgently modify even several internal laws to preserve the Russian soul from external contaminations. It talks about banning abortion, stopping the immigration of people who cannot integrate, strengthening large families by granting generous economic incentives, and reorganizing the distribution over the vast territory by also resorting to 'mass resettlement of city dwellers to more favorable suburban settlements'. The first point is reserved for the war against 'the criminal regime of Kiev and the collective West that supports it'. According to Patriarch Kirill, 'the Russian people defend with weapons in hand their own life, freedom, statehood, civil, religious, national, and cultural identity, as well as the right to live on their own land within the borders of the united Russian state. Once the conflict is completed, 'the entire territory of contemporary Ukraine must enter into an exclusive zone of influence of Russia. The possibility of existence on this territory of a political regime hostile to Russia and its people, as well as of a political regime governed by an external center hostile to Russia, must be completely excluded'. The mission of Russia remains, according to the Orthodox Church, that of protecting the world from evil. 'The historical mission consists in collapsing time after time the attempts to establish a universal hegemony in the world - the attempts to subordinate humanity to a single evil principle'. Naturally, there is much emphasis on foreign policy and the hope that Russia can reunify the entire Russian world composed of Great Russians, Little Russians, and Belarusians who 'are branches of sub-ethnicity of a single people and the Russian concept includes all Eastern Slavs'. The Russian Church dreams of a future land culturally homogeneous, inspired by Christianity, purity of identity, with few immigrants but only if incapable of integration. 'Russia must become a refuge state for all compatriots in the world who suffer from the assault of Western globalism, wars, and discrimination. In addition to compatriots, our country can become a refuge for millions of foreigners who support traditional values, are loyal to Russia, and are ready for linguistic and cultural integration in our country'. The new stance will make the ecumenical path that had been started with the Church of Rome even more problematic. A few days ago, Patriarch Kirill also condemned with rather harsh and critical words the recent Vatican document on the blessing of gay couples, issued by Pope Francis last December, defining it outside of Christian teachings.