Against whom are Russia’s “warriors of the Lord” fighting?

Patriarch Kirill. Photo: RBC

During the plenary session of the 26th Russian Assembly, Patriarch Kirill declared that the calling of Russians is to be “warriors of the Lord.”

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church seems to frame this “warriorhood” in a spiritual sense, citing the words of the Apostle Paul, suggesting that Russian Christians are waging a “battle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

However, the rest of the Patriarch’s “military” rhetoric raises doubts about this interpretation. In his speech at the October 2024 meeting of the Russian Assembly’s presidium, he cited the same passage but added that if “forces of evil” begin to control global politics and economics through people, Russia must “offer decisive resistance.” Here, it becomes clear that the Patriarch is not speaking of spiritual resistance but of a battle against flesh and blood – a battle in which it is not the so-called “rulers of the world” who suffer and die, but ordinary, “small” Ukrainians, whom the Patriarch, incidentally, refers to as part of the same people as Russians.

“Among the external challenges to the Russian world, the most pressing threat today is the military actions, which claim the lives of our brothers and sisters every day. I am speaking not only about the citizens of Russia but also about the citizens of Ukraine,” said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church at the time.

Furthermore, he lamented that people in Russia have grown weary of the war and criticized this weariness: “Some prefer not to notice everything that is happening – the pain, the suffering of their brothers. Such thoughtless carelessness starkly contrasts with what is now happening in the special military operation zone, where our people are dying.”

When summing up all these statements, it is hard to conclude that the Patriarch’s call for Russians to be “warriors of Christ” is an encouragement to intensify prayer. It appears to be yet another attempt to sacralize war.

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