by Stefano Caprio

Patriarch Kirill's condolences on the death of Iran's supreme leader Khamenei, killed in Israeli-American raids, also express a sense of superiority of Russian Orthodoxy in defending the true faith. This was also evident in the speech he gave to the assembly of clergy of the Moscow Metropolis, which met at the same time.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow sent his condolences to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkyan on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, whom he considered “a strong man of great spirituality,” joining President Vladimir Putin's accusations against this “unlawful and immoral” assassination by the Americans.

Russia reacted to Trump and Netanyahu's war with very harsh but very formal words, given the new world order in which Moscow plays a secondary role from a military, political, and economic point of view but claims “moral and spiritual” primacy.

In this sense, patriarchal compassion for the supreme leader of the Persian Shiites also expresses a sense of superiority, reinforced by global comparison with other churches and religions.

Khamenei represented at the highest level the “militant faith” of a great people who for over fifty years have stood as a bastion of “defense of traditions” against the moral degradation of the West, the motivation behind Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution of 1979, in which Khamenei was already one of the main participants, to overthrow a monarchy that had sought to modernize Iranian society in the “white revolution” that required women to remove their veils and enroll in university.

Now, however, the highest ecclesiastical figure of “traditional values” is Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev), who ascended to the patriarchal throne over fifteen years ago and has since seen the deaths of two popes of Rome, the German Joseph Ratzinger, great guardian of traditions, and his Argentine “brother” Jorge Mario Bergoglio, whom he embraced at Havana airport in 2016, already feeling superior to him in the defense of the true faith.

The white beard of universal religion will no longer be that wrapped in a black Shiite turban, no matter how many heirs may still ascend the stage of the national guards in Tehran, but will be that reflected in the golden tiara of the Orthodox patriarch of the Third Universal Rome, in the solemn liturgies of the cathedrals around the Kremlin.

A few days ago, Kirill presided over the main temple of Christ the Savior, rebuilt in the 1990s as a symbol of Russia's religious rebirth after the “Red Revolution” that had imposed atheism, the assembly of all the clergy of the Moscow metropolis, which he called “the largest ecclesiastical structure” in the entire Christian world.

This jurisdiction was organized five years ago, uniting the eparchy of Moscow with those of the province surrounding the capital, specifically designed to highlight the greatness of the patriarchate in the context of the incipient “holy war” that was to begin a few months later. Enumerating the metropolitan figures, the patriarch recalled the 1,228 parishes, 1,682 churches, 318 chapels, 23 monasteries, and 9 abbeys, in which 1,709 priests carry out their ministry.

With these numbers, the Moscow Metropolis actually surpasses even the largest Catholic structure, the Archdiocese of Milan in Italy, which has always maintained the unity of the various areas of the Ambrosian rite, with “only” 1,107 parishes.

In reality, one could argue about the extent of the ecclesiastical province of Milan, which also constitutes the Lombardy metropolis and in which more than two thousand priests, both secular and religious, serve, or perhaps about the attendance of the faithful at liturgical celebrations, where in Milan there are about one million out of five, while in Moscow there are no more than half a million out of twenty. However, the patriarch is not interested in the actual number of the faithful: for Orthodox religiosity, what matters is the declaration of belonging, not church attendance.

Therefore, in his report to the clergy, Kirill extols “our people who devoutly preserve the true Christian faith,” with the continuous inauguration of new churches thanks to “divine mercy towards us, after the very difficult years of persecution,” during which he himself became a bishop at the age of 29 in 1976, faithfully serving the atheist Brezhnev regime.

Now, however, “young people and middle-aged people also come to church, not just elderly women” as in Soviet times, and therefore the Russian Church can embark on a “new and great missionary ministry” on a universal level.

The patriarch emphasizes that “we cannot and must not hide our faith or neglect its open confession in a world where attempts to devalue the Christian heritage continue.” In fact, “those who travel to Western countries see magnificent churches emptying and closing, in a world where the political system does not hinder religious and ecclesial life, but people are ashamed to be Christian because of spiritual devastation and contempt for everything connected with faith.”

The Russian Church must be the beacon of a new worldwide evangelization, to prevent the new atheistic secularism from prevailing everywhere, as in the days of medieval Third Rome. Yet Kirill does not deny that this religious superiority is not yet effective enough in Russia, because "not only in the West, but also here among us, there are people who question faith, the very existence of God, and the saving power of his commandments.... There are those who are indifferent to religious issues, and sometimes even negative about them.“

He does not go so far as to speak of ‘apostasy’ as is happening at the level of world civilization, because ”in our blessed country this term is not applicable,“ but we must be attentive to the spiritual condition ”not only of our faithful, but of the entire Russian society."

He therefore quotes Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” to criticize a lifestyle based solely on material satisfaction and well-being “as in the Western realm of consumerism.”

The “tendency toward comfort” is particularly visible in Moscow and in Russia's large cities, somewhat less so in the suburbs and countryside of the empire, which is one of the reasons why the Russian Church supports the campaign to “repopulate towns and villages” throughout the Federation. The attitude of the younger generations in this regard is particularly worrying, because “young people give in more easily to the temptations of the flesh.”

Therefore, “greater pastoral commitment” is needed on the part of the clergy towards young people, remembering above all that the current generations “are children of the digital age, and we must understand their language and their way of thinking.”

We must avoid at all costs “adapting” to these forms of communication and “losing our identity,” and highlight the factors that can most positively influence the mentality and “condition of the soul” of today's youth. Education, which today takes place almost entirely through computers, is not enough. We need “more love and compassion” for those who are not yet mature, indeed “for those who risk remaining children all their lives, with the digital limitations on human psychology.”

For the healthy growth of young people, a “strong Christian family” is obviously necessary, without which there can be no “strong Christian people,” so that “everyone can become a missionary, teacher, and loving father to their flock.”

In this way, the many new churches will not only be “dominant architectural centers, but authentic centers of mercy, enlightenment, and spiritual life.” Kirill quotes Protestant interlocutors who recently told him that “the beauty of your churches alone proclaims much more than we can do with our sermons,” provided that they become “true places of the Christian family.”

The Church must resist the new temptations of artificial intelligence, which “claims to replace human intellect, soul, conscience, and morality, becoming the greatest danger to contemporary civilization.”

The patriarch warns that today “attempts are being made to modify the genetic code,” one of the threats most often repeated by Russians during the Covid period, in order to “reprogram the human person,” as once could only appear “in the most terrifying fantasies.”

The Church's task is to help ensure that technology remains at the service of man and does not become a “ruthless master capable of reducing man to a manipulable object, incapable of making moral choices.”

This concerns not only the defense of the “civil and moral” sovereignty of the Russian people, but of the entire human race, and this can only be countered if we know how to defend ourselves from “interests foreign to our sacred traditions.”

In conclusion, in order to resist “pagan and psycho-deviant” threats, the patriarch affirms that we must “continue the war against those who want to destroy the Fatherland,” urging young people to “offer their lives” to rediscover the spiritual foundations against all false doctrines and deviations.

Russian Orthodox priests must consider it a priority to serve the military, offering “both consolation and support” at the front and in the most diverse social conditions, in order to “understand their experiences in the light of faith.”

The patriarch recalls that “throughout Russian history, the Church has prayed for the defenders of the homeland, inspiring their sacrifice,” even celebrating the liturgy in combat zones. Recalling that President Putin has declared 2026 as the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, Patriarch Kirill turns his gaze to all the peoples of the earth, who must unite with the Russian people to find their salvation.

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