SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGINS OF THE HERETICAL IDEOLOGY OF THE “RUSSIAN WORLD” (RUSSKI MIR)

Abstract

The article is devoted to a topical issue that has not arisen today, but has become much more acute since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ideology of the “Russian world”, while having its origins in the Moscow Patriarchate, has nothing to do with the Orthodox Church. An attempt is made to show the Kremlin's imperial ambitions to conquer not only territories but also the spiritual enslavement of the Ukrainian people, which began to be fully implemented after the non-canonical annexation of Kyiv Metropolitanate by Muscovy through cunning, deceit and bribery, which is simony. The author highlights the consequences of imperial spiritual domination, which, despite more than a century of struggle by the Ukrainian clergy against such domination, led to complete assimilation in education, language, architecture, art, as well as in theological and even liturgical aspects. The author characterizes the positive changes in the perception of the heretical ideology of the “Russian world” by the world scientific community, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the autocephalous local Ukrainian Orthodox Church, civil society and scientists of Ukraine, who openly condemned both its creators and the doctrine itself. The author emphasizes the fact that, according to various sociological surveys, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been and still is the largest religious community in our country, primarily in terms of the level of self-identification with it by our fellow citizens and public confidence. While about 75% of Ukrainians consider themselves Orthodox believers, before the open offensive, 38% of respondents belonged to the OCU, 15% to the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, and 22% called themselves "just Orthodox," and in March, when the violent aggression of Muscovy continued, 52% of respondents identified themselves as belonging to the OCU, 11% as “just Orthodox”,  and only 4% as followers of the Moscow Patriarchate. The conclusions are made about the decline in trust in Muscovy and its church institutions, both in Ukraine and around the world. It is suggested that we think about building a Ukrainian world, that is, true peace and love for all with the nurturing of our own history and the local Ukrainian Church.