Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of satanism

Recently, Russia asserted that Ukraine needed de-satanisation, because it would have turned into a “totalitarian hyper-sect where citizens abandon Orthodox values”, Risu.ua reports. Now, Ukraine bounces back the same accusation.

The Russian and Ukrainian statements show how both Eastern Orthodox countries speak the same language and contribute to the“theologising” of the conflict. Where at first, the verbal attacks came mainly from a political view –Russia accused Ukraine of Nazism– the countries now use religious associations to demonise each other and motivate their citizens and military to fight.

Values

Both Ukraine and Russia suspect each other of the worst of the worst: being led by Satan. The Russian Orthodox Church speaks of a decline of Orthodox values in Ukraine, which the church blames on the influence of Western values, such as the LGBT agenda.

The all-Ukrainian Council, on the other hand, questions which traditional Orthodox values can explain the mass killings of civilians in Bucha, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Izium, Risu.ua writes. “What “Orthodox motives” can explain the construction and pretentious opening of the main church of the Russian Armed Forces, which is not otherwise called online the “temple of war” or even the “Temple of Satan”?” According to the Christian body, Russia is stuck in another dimension and needs “desatanisation, demilitarisation, deimperialisation and deputinisation.”

Earlier, the Russian Patriarch Kirill compared soldiers who died on the battlefield to martyrs and said their sins would be washed away by their sacrifice for their country.

In addition, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed that the very existence of Russia is at stake. “There is only one thing behind this, the desire to weaken the Holy Rus”, he said earlier this week, as reported by Interfax.

Underworld

Earlier, CNE.news reported on a sermon in which Kirill said that the war is all about “human salvation, about where mankind will be on the right or on the left side of God the Saviour.”

On the other hand, the head of the Evangelical Christian Baptists in Ukraine warned Russian believers that the devil is using them. “This is not a patriotic and not a liberation war”, Valeriy Antonyuk said in a video, published on CNE.news. “This is a demonic guard doing the will of the underworld.”

In short, the similarities between the Russian and Ukrainian culture makes the countries understand each other's thinking, but also employ the same rhetoric, even though their interests are strongly opposed to each other.

Brothers

What strikes is that they both use the same words. They speak the same language and use the same spiritual dictionary. Would Jews and Palestinians speak about each other, much different. But Russians and Ukrainians are brothers and have grown up in the same Orthodox family.