The Tragedy of Compromised Leadership: Patriarch Kirill, President Putin, and the Crisis within the Moscow Patriarchate

On July 12, 2025, within the grand and somber walls of the Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of the Moscow Patriarchate delivered a speech that can only be described, grievously and sorrowfully, as a profound betrayal of the Gospel. Before clergy and laity, in the presence of icons and the Lord’s holy altar, he offered what amounted to an open and shameless eulogy to state power, praising Vladimir Putin as “an Orthodox man… a church-going man, sincerely believing.”

But with these words, spoken so casually and triumphantly, came the heavy weight of scandal and sorrow. For what we now “have,” as Kirill so disturbingly proclaimed, is not a godly miracle, but a brutal, unrepentant regime whose hands are soaked in blood. We witness the deaths, injuries, and forced displacements of millions, many of them Orthodox Christians, whose lives have been torn apart by war. Sacred churches lie desecrated. Ancient cities, once bright with Slavic grace, now smolder in ruin. And through it all, the Patriarch offers not lament, not intercession, but a blessing.

Lord, have mercy. Kyrie eleison
This is no ordinary failure of ecclesiastical prudence. This is a profound spiritual crisis, a heartbreaking moment when the Church, meant to be a refuge for the weary and a witness to Christ’s peace, is instead yoked to the machinery of death and domination.
And the tragedy is compounded by Kirill’s own forgotten words:

“The Church should never serve national interests but the Gospel alone. When the Church becomes a tool of the state, it loses its spiritual authority.”

Sadly, these were not idle reflections. They were once the truth he preached. But he has not heeded them. In aligning the Church with temporal power, he has traded the Cross for the sword, the voice of Christ for the voice of Caesar.

A Church Co-opted
Patriarch Kirill’s rhetorical question, “Could we have dreamed of this?”, carries with it a deep spiritual irony. For the dream he speaks of is no miracle. It is a nightmare dressed in liturgical garments.

The regime Kirill glorifies did not restore the Church. It merely clothed itself in its vestments. The collapse of the Soviet Union did not bring about a religious revival, it brought about a clever illusion. A Church long persecuted by atheists was not rebuilt in glory, but repurposed as a vessel for nationalist myth and imperial propaganda.

Russian identity, Orthodox language, and even the name “Russia” itself have been manipulated for state agendas. But the gravest theft of all has been the Church, co-opted, corrupted, and used as a tool of empire.

True Orthodoxy Cannot Be Manipulated
The Orthodox Church is not an appendage of the state. It is not beholden to emperors or generals, but to the Crucified Lord. When it becomes a mouthpiece for injustice, when it loses its prophetic courage, it ceases to fulfill its sacred vocation.

Contrast this present-day capitulation with the courageous witness of Metropolitans Philip of Moscow and Arseny (Matseyevich), with Patriarch Nikon’s reforming spirit, and with the martyrdom of Patriarch Tikhon under the early Soviets. These were men who, in the face of tyranny, spoke with the voice of truth, who chose suffering over silence. Their voices were firm but compassionate, stern but rooted in love. They bore witness not to the state, but to the Kingdom of God.

That witness must be reclaimed.

A Time for Lamentation—and for Courage
We do not say these things with triumph or self-righteousness. We say them with tears. For it is a sorrow beyond words to witness a Church so central to the soul of a people become captive to powers of darkness. The institutional life of the Moscow Patriarchate has become a tragic echo of its past: once oppressed by tyranny, it is now fused with it.

Where once were sacraments and sanctity, we now find propaganda. Where once were spiritual fathers, we now see political spokesmen. And worst of all, communion with such falsehood endangers the soul. As Scripture warns, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Cor. 15:33).

This is not about politics, it is about salvation.

The Right—and Duty—to Resist
Canon 15 of the First-Second Council affirms that those who separate from a bishop for heresy publicly preached before a synodal condemnation are not schismatics but saviors of the Church. The faithful in Russia and abroad who no longer recognize Kirill as a true shepherd do not do so out of pride or rebellion, but out of fidelity to Christ.

His alignment with state violence, his theological distortions, and his refusal to repent mark a break not just with Orthodoxy, but with Christ Himself. To remain silent, or to pretend all is well, is not humility. It is complicity.

And while Kirill’s recent statement, that “in mosques they turn to God”, may seem charitable to modern ears, it must be theologically clarified. Unless one turns to Christ, the Living God made flesh, one has not turned to God in fullness. To suggest otherwise, without distinction, is to deny the saving reality of the Incarnation. That, too, is a grave theological error.

A Call to Return to Christ
Yet still, we believe in the mercy of God. No man is beyond redemption, not even a Patriarch. Our desire is not revenge, nor vengeance, but repentance and restoration.

May Kirill’s conscience be stirred. May those around him find the courage to speak. May the faithful clergy and laity of Russia rediscover their voice, echoing the holy New Martyrs who gave everything to preserve the integrity of the Church under Soviet persecution.

We must pray, fast, and labor for the healing of the Russian Church. For Orthodoxy in that land is not dead, it is buried beneath rubble, waiting to rise again. The saints are watching. The Lord is calling.

To All the Faithful: Be Not Afraid
To every Christian struggling in these times: stand firm. Do not mistake the voice of the tyrant for the voice of the Shepherd. Know the difference between the glories of empire and the glory of the Cross. Do not settle for a Church that is safe, but one that is true.

Let us raise our voices with the saints. Let us walk the narrow path of Christ, even if it leads through fire. And let us remember always:

“Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”
(Revelation 18:4)
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May God protect His Church. May truth triumph. And may love, even now, call the lost home.

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