The Russian Orthodox Leader at the Core of Putin’s Ambitions

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unfolded, Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, had an awkward Zoom meeting with Pope Francis.

Kirill spent 20 minutes reading prepared remarks, echoing the arguments of President Vladimir Putin of Russia that the war in Ukraine was necessary to purge Nazis and oppose NATO expansion.

“Brother, we are not clerics of the state,” Francis told Kirill, as he later recounted to the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Francis added that “the patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin’s altar boy.”

Today, Kirill stands apart not merely from Francis, but from much of the world. The leader of about 100 million faithful, Kirill, 75, has staked the fortunes of his branch of Orthodox Christianity on a mutually beneficial alliance with Mr. Putin. Kirill offers Mr. Putin spiritual cover while his church — and possibly he himself — receives vast resources in return from the Kremlin. Read more

@nytimes