Metaphysical War? – Patriarch Kirill and Multi-Level Information Engagement Around the War in Ukraine

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12663133
AutoresEdwin Bacon (University of Lincoln, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Páginas1-19
Fecha de publicación2025-10-13
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Theology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1462-317X • E-ISSN: 1743-1719
EditorialRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1462317x.2025.2573609
OpenAlexW4415110581
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas18

Analysis of Patriarch Kirill's discourse around Russia's war against Ukraine, identifying different discursive levels from the perspective of political theology. The Russian Orthodox Church is known for its closeness to the Putin regime and is seen as supportive with regard to Russia’s war against Ukraine since 2022. How does the Church justify this from the theological perspective? Analysis of arguments used by Patriarch Kirill reveals that many are at the material-rational level of political discourse that requires no transcendent reality or belief in God. Identifying two further levels of discourse facilitates the analysis of theological questions. At the ecclesiological level, the Patriarch engages with other churches – notably in the World Council of Churches – where arguments can be challenged from a theological perspective. At the theo-political level the jus in bellum arguments of the Patriarch center around the conflict between the church and the world, the divine and the demonic, substituting Russia for the church and the collective “Satanic” West for the world

Gulf war · Metaphysics · Politics · Spanish Civil War · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Religion and Society Interactions