Religious responses to the Russia-Ukraine war

Religious leaders have increasingly condemned the use of faith to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ecumenical Patriarch rejected the Russian government’s characterization of the conflict as a ‘holy war,’ calling the concept “incoherent” and stating that no war can be holy.

This rhetoric has contributed to significant divisions within the Orthodox Church, where tensions persist regarding the autocephaly of the Ukrainian church and ethnic divisions among bishops. In Kyiv, the papal nuncio, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, highlighted the need for spiritual resilience as the invasion enters its fifth year.

Expanding on these condemnations, Archbishop Tapio Luoma addressed the misuse of Christianity during a public event in Helsinki. He stated that an aggressive war cannot be justified in the name of God and described claims from the Russian Orthodox Church that the conflict fulfills a divine plan as a “destructive misuse of the Christian faith.” Luoma called for international support for Ukraine and emphasized the role of religious institutions in promoting peace rather than war.