closely aligned with putin. why hasn t the orthodox church in america more forcefully condemned putin himself and callecall called him out by name? well, finally, just a few days ago the orthodox church in america did issue i think a fairly descent statement condemning russia s actions in ukraine and the invasion so it took awhile. it took longer than it should have but they have finally come out. lots of or thodox christians, te head of the orthodox church like lithuania and so on also condemned russia s invasion of ukraine. right. they did. they did come out and finally, as you said, condemn russia. but didn t call out putin by name, which is interesting.
in the world and in ukraine. right. the religion is very similar, obviously, russia ukraine. i m wondering, some experts say the russian orthodox religion is crucial to putin s vision of recreating a russian empire. help us better understand what that connection might be. so this is it s an alliance you can say made between president putin about ten years ago. these ideas haven t always been central to putin but ten years ago, when putin faced the most serious opposition in the runup to his third term, he embraced the ideas the patriot developed of the russian world and belarus and ukraine as being distinct civilization as you touched on that represents these patriotic
he called on the world to pray for peace and offer help to the people who are suffering. it is quite a contrast to the leader of the russian orthodox church. he s an ally of putin and says the war is a culture clash between russia and western liberal values but a former superior says putin is destroying the russian orthodox church in ukraine. professor scott kenworthy is an expert on eastern orthodox christianity. thank you for coming on. you also belong to the orthodox church in america. i m wondering what do you make of the claim that putin is destroying it? well, i think it s there s a lot to it and the fact that he s aligned so closely with president putin and to the point of supporting the war is discrediting the orthodox church