Patriarch Kirill, who actively supports the war in Ukraine, held a sermon at the Zachatievsky convent: on the day of the announcement of mobilization in Russia, he stated that the Ukrainian people were “in danger” and that the Russians should pray for “strengthening the fraternal feelings of the peoples of Holy Russia.” At the same time, “it is very important,” he said, not to consider Ukrainians as enemies.
“Today our Fatherland, historical Russia, is going through difficult trials. We know what is happening in Ukraine, we know what danger hangs over the Ukrainian people, who are trying to reformat, from part of the holy united Russia to become a state that is contrary to this Russia, hostile to Russia. It is very important that this feeling does not arise in our hearts that there is an enemy,” he said.
According to him, the Russians (who, by the way, have already begun to receive subpoenas today) should also pray that “the unity of our church, which is the guarantee of peace in the expanses of Russia,” becomes even stronger.
Patriarch Kirill has been supporting the so-called "special operation" since the beginning of the war. His support is accompanied by speeches about Russia as a "peace-loving power" that does not engage in "military adventures": "We have no desire for war or for doing something that could harm others." In May, for example, he lamented : “How much can you kill each other, how much can you suffer, how much can you destroy?” And in June he said that Russia was being “attacked” all over the world because of feelings of jealousy, envy and indignation. From the point of view of the patriarch, all this is because Russia is “different”:
“The fatherland has done nothing wrong to anyone, and they rise up against it not because we are bad, but because we are different. But we cannot change ourselves."