adam zivo: russia is systematically persecuting ukrainian christians
a new documentary challenges notion that russia is a defender of christian values
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file - russian president vladimir putin attends an orthodox easter service in the christ the savior cathedral in moscow, russia, april 15, 2023. (sergei karpukhin, sputnik, kremlin pool photo via ap, file)
russian president vladimir putin often portrays himself as a defender of christian values, but, in reality, his government has systematically persecuted christians who do not belong to the state-controlled russian orthodox church. in ukraine, this has meant murdering faith leaders, banning religious gatherings and shuttering churches.
this aspect of the war has received scant media attention, but a new documentary, “a faith under siege: russia’s hidden war on ukraine’s christians,” gives a voice to these victims and exposes moscow’s predatory relationship with faith-based communities.
the film stars colby barrett, an evangelical american businessman who joined an aid convoy to ukraine last summer after researching moscow’s persecution of non-orthodox christians. “it blew my mind, and i knew i needed to tell this story… there was so much misinformation about what’s going on in russia, what’s going on in ukraine. what the war is about,” he told me in a video interview last month.
he learned that, contrary to putin’s claims, russia is not a bastion of traditional values: church attendance is dismal (a 2023 poll suggests that only 15 per cent of russians considered religion very important), while the country’s divorce rate is among the highest in the world.
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during the soviet era, moscow weaponized the russian orthodox church as an instrument of espionage and control. clergymen were recruited as informers, and kgb spies were placed within the church to monitor believers. this exploitation of organized religion has continued unabated since then — for example — the current head of the russian church, patriarch kirill, was reportedly a kgb agent in the 1970s.
“(putin is) a defender of control and wants to co-opt religion for this purpose,” barrett said.
he noted that, in 2016, the kremlin passed the “yarovaya law,” which outlaws public proselytization within russia. the legislation was designed to curtail the influence of protestants and evangelicals, whose faith operates beyond the domination of the russian orthodox church, and permits the imprisonment of non-compliant believers.
when russia invaded ukraine, it transplanted these restrictions into the occupied territories and systematically persecuted independent christians. “evangelicals and protestants are the first churches destroyed or shut down. then they would move on to catholics, and then to other religious minorities,” said barrett.
according to barrett, russia has destroyed over 630 religious buildings and tortured or killed at least 67 priests, pastors and monks in ukraine since the beginning of the war.
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barrett described in our interview how, according to religious leaders he met in ukraine, one woman was sentenced to 20 years of prison simply for holding a bible study in her home — an activity which moscow’s occupiers deemed “terrorism.” as described in his film, another church was shut down and turned into a secular russian cultural centre.
“these people that are living under occupation cannot worship freely in the slightest, and that’s a big deal,” said barrett.
“they were very cruel, and they forced us to leave the city,” said one evangelical pastor in the documentary, who recounted how russian soldiers entered his church, arrested his ministers and checked his congregants’ documents. his story was not unique: many independent believers have reportedly been tortured or forcibly deported for refusing to submit to the russian orthodox church.
but ukrainian christians are maintaining their integrity. “our churches never want to be under government, under communistic party, under kgb, under regime. we have just one leader: it’s jesus christ,” said another faith leader featured in the documentary.
even religious leaders living outside russian occupation are not safe. in kherson, a ukrainian-controlled frontline city, russian forces have spent the past year hunting civilians with small drones in a practice dubbed the “human safari.” the documentary features an evangelical pastor who was repeatedly bombed by these drones while commuting to his church — he and his children barely survived one such attack, arriving home covered in blood.
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with a relatively religious population and flourishing evangelical community, ukraine is sometimes called the “bible belt” of eastern europe. while 72 per cent of the population is eastern orthodox, there is a sizable catholic and protestant minority (9 and 4 per cent, respectively). moscow claims that ukraine is persecuting these christians, but barrett said this is “simply not the case.”
before 2018, orthodox ukrainians had no choice but to attend the ukrainian orthodox church (uoc – moscow patriarch), which is merely a branch of the kremlin-controlled russian orthodox church. however, a new kyiv-based church was established in 2018 — the orthodox church of ukraine (ocu) — which most ukrainians subsequently transferred to.
polling data shows that, in june 2021, only 18 per cent of ukrainians identified with the moscow-controlled uoc, while 42 per cent identified with the ocu. after russia’s full-scale invasion, uoc attendance further plummeted, stabilizing at around 4-6 per cent.
after several uoc clergymen were caught engaging in pro-kremlin espionage and preaching surrender, ukraine’s parliament demanded that the church formally cut ties with moscow. the church refused, so its activities were legally curtailed. it now faces a possible ban — a move which is supported by 80 per cent of ukrainians, according to a 2024 poll.
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barrett supports banning the now-fringe church, arguing: americans wouldn’t tolerate al qaeda-run mosques in their country, so why should ukrainians tolerate a kremlin-run analogue?
nonetheless, russian propagandists now claim that ukraine is banning christianity. this narrative, which inverts the truth, has gained some traction among western evangelicals, but barrett hopes that his film can correct the record, because “the best way to present the truth is through first-hand stories from people who have lived it.”
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