By Kostas Onisenko
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has acknowledged the Russian State’s involvement in church affairs while attacking the Ecumenical Patriarchate, speaking out against the Ecumenical Patriarch.
The head of the Russian diplomacy admitted that the Russian State considered that it had the right to intervene not only in the Russian Orthodox Church but also in the internal affairs of other Churches, which it considers “sisters” of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Since, in the church language, all the Orthodox Churches are considered “sisters,” Sergei Lavrov stated the Russian Foreign Minister considered that it had the right to intervene in all the Orthodox Churches.
Sergi Lavrov made these remarks at the Russian Knowledge Society Forum, held in St. Petersburg on May 20-22.
In addition to representatives of the scientific and technological communities (including the well-known businessman and magnate of technological development, Elon Musk), those who promote the Russian positions, who have been accused of the unprovoked spread of Russian propaganda all over the world, also spoke at this forum, which is addressed to the youth, such as the head of the Russian television network RT, Margarita Simonyan.
To avoid any misunderstanding, we publish the controversial statement of Sergei Lavrov on this issue:
“We work very closely with the Russian Orthodox Church, first of all with the Department for External Church Relations of the Church, we have many projects going.
It is important, especially in conditions where Orthodoxy as a whole —not just the Russian Orthodox Church— is being attacked.
Our US partners during Trump administration have established the position of special envoy for religious freedom, which deals specifically with what seeks to shatter the unity of the Orthodox Church, the unity of the Orthodox peoples.
In Ukraine, you have all seen, a sch… is being created (editor’s note: he probably means schism), by using the Patriarch of Constantinople for this purpose, who is a completely committed man. It is well-understood that he is an instrument (the Patriarch) in the hands of those who want to hurt the positions of Orthodoxy.
They are destroying the Serbian Orthodox Church by dismantling its canonical territory while trying to remove Lebanon from the Patriarchate of Antioch.
“This is sad. The state does not interfere in the church affairs, but when other states intervene in the affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church and its sisters in the Orthodox world, the Russian State must defend the interests of its Orthodox and the like-minded fellow believers.”
It is worth noting some points in Sergei Lavrov’s speech. For example, the Russian Foreign Minister referred to the importance of maintaining the basic principles of the UN, such as “respect for the territorial integrity of states, non-intervention in the internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of international disputes.”
However, he failed to mention that Russia itself has repeatedly violated these principles by invading countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and others.
Sergei Lavrov said he believed that the role of Western states should be limited to the modern world, among other things, by increasing the number of members of the UN Security Council by including developing countries and not Western countries.
He stressed Russia’s “beneficial” role in dealing with various crises, citing Moscow’s mediation in the crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh dispute as an example.
However, analysts from Armenia believe that the goal of Russian intervention in the region is to safeguard its own geostrategic interests and not to resolve the crisis.
Sergei Lavrov failed to mention that the crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia has not ended yet, as Armenia, France, the United States and other countries have denounced.
The territorial integrity of Armenia has been violated, a fact in which Moscow had to intervene —however, it did not so— on the basis of the agreements that exist within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Instead, according to Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry intervenes in church matters, which is not justified either by its role or by church canons.