Russian Orthodox Bishop Kirill blames Ukraine war on western culture and Gay-Pride parades

In his sermon held on Sunday, the Patriarch of Moscow and Russian Orthodox bishop, Kirill, justified Ukraine's invasion in the sermon. Kirill blamed western liberal values, particularly gay-pride parades, for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

So far, Kirill, a long-time ally of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, has remained silent on the Russian incursion into Ukraine. However, during the Sunday sermon, the Russian Orthodox bishop justified the actions taken by Putin and called the current war 'a metaphysical significance'.

"We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance," Kirill stated during the Sunday Sermon. 

Donbass, the eastern region of Ukraine, which has been held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, was also the point of Kirill's sermon. Speaking of the breakaway region of Ukraine, he voiced his support for President Putin's unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine was involved in the extermination of Russian loyalists in the region of Donbass.

"For eight years, there have been attempts to destroy what exists in Donbass. And in Donbass there is a rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called values that are offered today by those who claim world power," Kirill said.

There have been attempts to destroy what exists in Donbass: Russian Orthodox Bishop Kirill

Kirill described the current scenario as a struggle against sin and pressure from western liberals. "For eight years, there have been attempts to destroy what exists in Donbass. And in Donbass there is a rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called values that are offered today by those who claim world power," Kirill said. He apprised that an unnamed international power is putting countries to the test by requiring them to hold gay pride parades to join a worldwide club of states with its notions about freedom and "excess consumerism."

Kirill, the leader of Russia’s dominant religious group, also spoke about gay-pride parades. "Pride parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of human behaviour. That's why to join the club of those countries, you have to have a gay pride parade," said Kirill. 

"If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God's law, if humanity accepts that sin is a variation of human behaviour, the human civilisation will end there," said Kirill.

Kirill is a Russian Orthodox bishop and became Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009.

Image: AP