“Antichrist in a cassock”: Russia’s spy agency declares war on Ecumenical Patriarch

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) — the successor to the KGB's foreign operations — issued an extraordinary attack on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on 12 January, branding him the "antichrist in a cassock," a "devil in flesh," and accusing him of collaborating with British intelligence to "dismember" Orthodox Christianity.

The statement reveals the explicit fusion between Russian spy agencies and the Russian Orthodox Church, stripped of all pretense, as Moscow fears losing its religious grip on countries within its sphere of influence.

Coming five days after President Putin hailed Russia's war against Ukraine as a "holy mission" during a Christmas service, it also shows that the Kremlin increasingly appeals to divine authorities to justify its aggression.

Theologian Cyril Hovorun, who formerly worked with the Moscow Patriarchate, told Euromaidan Press the Byzantine invective resembles Byzantine "psogos"—blame poetry—and manifests the Russian version of "symphonia" between church and state, "even though it looks more like a caricature to me."

The targets named signal Moscow's religious battlefronts: after Ukraine's 2018 autocephaly, the Baltics are next, followed by the Serbian Orthodox Church—its proxy in the Balkans.

Byzantine language, modern warfare

The SVR press release deployed religious terminology unprecedented from an intelligence agency: "This devil in flesh is obsessed with the idea of displacing Russian Orthodoxy," it stated, accusing the Ecumenical Patriarch of "turning his evil eye" toward the Baltic states.

The statement cited the Sermon on the Mount, describing Bartholomew as a "false prophet" who "comes in sheep's clothing but inwardly is a ravenous wolf."

Behind the Byzantine invective lies a modern power struggle. Moscow, claiming the largest Orthodox flock, has challenged Constantinople's historic primacy since the Cold War ended. Ukraine was the breaking point: when Bartholomew granted autocephaly in 2018, Moscow severed communion entirely.

Hovorun, a professor at Loyola Marymount University who once served as Patriarch Kirill's secretary, noted the deliberate choice of words: "The additional irony of this statement is that it addresses someone who represents Byzantine Christianity, which, by the way, Russia had adopted through Kyiv."

He warned: "The statement sounds postmodern, but I would take it seriously. It is a threat and a warning."

From Ukraine to the Baltics

The SVR statement explicitly names the battlefield sequence. After granting autocephaly to Ukraine's Orthodox Church in 2018—which severed Moscow's canonical claim over Ukraine's 30+ million Orthodox faithful—Constantinople has supported church independence movements across the Baltic states.

Latvia's parliament declared its Orthodox Church autocephalous from Moscow in September 2022, citing national security. Lithuania established a Constantinople-aligned Exarchate in January 2024.

In Estonia, the situation was more complicated. Its Moscow Patriarchate-aligned church declared itself "independent" in August 2024 after Estonia expelled its Russian-citizen metropolitan for defending Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But like Ukraine's UOC MP, it refused to actually sever canonical ties to Moscow or merge with Constantinople's existing Estonian church—a paper independence that changed little.

The pattern Russia fears: losing its grip on societies within its sphere of influence as states cut their Orthodox communities' ties to the Moscow Patriarchate, following Ukraine's model.

The Montenegro front

Revealingly, the SVR statement also claims Bartholomew is preoccupied "with the idea of ousting Russian Orthodoxy from the Baltic states" and "replacing" it with "church structures controlled by the Phanar."

Particularly, Russia's spies accused him of intending to grant autocephaly to Montenegro's unrecognized Orthodox Church to deliver a blow to the "especially obstinate" Serbian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Bartholomew has previously stated he would "never" do this—the Montenegrin church's leadership was excommunicated by Constantinople for adultery and embezzlement. But the accusation reveals several important things about religion as part of Russia's war:

1. that the Kremlin openly calls the Serbian Orthodox Church not an independent entity, but an actor of "Russian Orthodoxy";
2. that the Russian spy agency openly projects its own modus operandi on other religious actors: if religion is a hybrid war tool for the Kremlin, then it must serve the same purpose for the Ecumenical Patriarch;
3. Moscow actually fears losing its essential Balkan ally.

The Serbian Orthodox Church operates in lockstep with Patriarch Kirill, promoting a "Serbian World" ideology modeled on Russia's own imperial concept—and denying that a distinct Montenegrin nation exists, similarly to Russia's denial of a separate Ukrainian identity.

When Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, it was despite a Russian-backed coup attempt the previous year that involved coordination at an SOC monastery. The Serbian church has since become a key channel for Russian influence in Montenegro.

The SVR's warning reveals Moscow's fear: that the Ukrainian precedent could spread to the Balkans, eroding the Serbian Orthodox Church's position as Russia's key religious ally in the region.

Ecumenical Patriarchate expresses "sorrow" over attack

The Ecumenical Patriarchate responded with measured dismissal: "Fanciful scenarios, false news, insults, and fabricated information of every kind by propagandists do not discourage the Ecumenical Patriarchate from continuing its ministry and its ecumenical mission."

The Patriarchate noted it has consistently refrained from responding to "countless similar attacks" since 2018.

The missing context

What the SVR statement didn't mention: the ideology of "Russian World" (Russkiy Mir) that underpins Moscow's religious geopolitics, nor that Patriarch Bartholomew has become Patriarch Kirill's arch-nemesis since Ukraine's autocephaly, which has shaken the ground under the Moscow-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its influence on Ukrainian society.

Neither did it mention that criminologists would classify Russia's assurances that divine powers bless its war as a "technique of neutralization"—a rhetorical device that allows criminals to shut down their moral compass to perpetrate atrocities. Hitler invoked Providence—divine selection of Germany to fight against "global Bolshevism." Russia's patriarch has declared Russia a "katechon" fighting against the forces of "globalism" and declaring the Ukraine invasion a "holy war" in March 2024.

The Russian Orthodox Church has long functioned as an instrument of Russian hybrid warfare.

Now Russia's spies speak directly for its church—Byzantine terminology included.