An Orthodox archbishop has publicly broken with the Moscow Patriarchate over its blessing of nuclear weapons. The head of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop Elia, said he is shocked that Russian Patriarch Kirill uses Christian rhetoric to bless nuclear weapons and justify their use, the Finnish broadcaster Yle reported.
The rebuke comes from within Orthodoxy against a patriarch who has sacralized Russia's war. Kirill is considered a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Orthodox Church under his leadership openly supports Russia's aggression against Ukraine, calling it a "holy war," per the Institute for the Study of War.
On Saturday, Kirill called Russian nuclear weapons a manifestation of "God's grace" and linked the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb to the prayers of Saint Serafim of Sarov, saying during the divine liturgy that the bomb was created "by God's grace and mercy."
The archbishop says there is no "Orthodox nuclear weapon"
Elia rejected the theology outright. In Orthodox liturgy, the church always prays for peace in the whole world, not for the victory of one country's weapons, he said, and there is no such thing as an "Orthodox nuclear weapon."
The archbishop drew a clear line about the church's role.
"The task of the church is not to bless weapons of mass destruction," Elia said in a statement published on the Finnish Orthodox Church's website.
Invoking a saint of love and humility angers him most
What most disturbed Elia was the act of tying a beloved saint to a nuclear blessing. He was especially angered that the name of Serafim of Sarov was linked to blessing nuclear weapons, calling the association a profound distortion.
Elia contrasted the saint with the patriarch. Serafim "was a man of love, forgiveness, and humility, and essentially embodied everything diametrically opposed to the current patriarch," he said. Serafim of Sarov is one of the most revered saints among Orthodox believers in Russia and beyond, including in Finland.
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