Borys Gudziak, metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, says Russia is distorting the Gospel to justify its military ventures.
Appearing Thursday on Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show," Gudziak blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin for trying to weaponize the Russian Orthodox Church against Ukrainians.
"It's really a distortion of the Gospel, and it's a great tragedy for the Russian people because they need a church that speaks the truth," Gudziak said about Patriarch Kirill of Moscow's statement that dead Russian soldiers have their sins forgiven for fighting against Ukraine.
The archbishop also claimed that Kirill was a verified agent for the Soviet Union's Committee for State Security who "worked internationally to minimize the understanding of the persecution of religion under communist rule."
"He's been using Jihadist language," Gudziak emphasized. "As was stated, 'If you come into Ukraine — i.e., if you're participating even in these war crimes, this butchery — and you're killed, your sins will be absolved. You'll go to heaven.'
"The Russian Orthodox Church has not issued one statement against this invasion. The 300 Orthodox bishops in Russia remain silent. Only 1% of the 40,000 Russian Orthodox priests and deacons in the world have expressed themselves against the war."
Therefore, Gudziak concludes, the Russian church "has helped create an ideology for Putin to justify invasion, war crimes, neocolonialism, and imperial grab."
His comments arrive after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest for Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for allegedly deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.
"The people of Ukraine, representing all faiths and even nonbelievers, are united to keep their democracy alive against stop this war of annihilation," Gudziak wrote last month in an opinion editorial for Newsmax.
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