CODES OF “HOLY WAR” AND “TRUE FAITH” IN THE CONCEPT OF “RUSSIAN WORLD”

Abstract

The article is designed to illustrate the formation of the concept of the “Russian world” in terms of the Orthodox worldview. The author analyzes the sermons of the Moscow patriarch, delivered during 2022-2023, for the presence of ideological clichés, reveals the mechanisms of falsification of historical facts, emphasizes the neglect of scientific approaches, and reveals the inconsistencies of propagandistic postulates with the current history of the church accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church. The study focuses on the use of images of saints of the Middle Ages, the formation of the concept of invincibility on the basis of stories about historical and semi-legendary events of the annals of the past. The idea of the Battle of Kulikovo and the concept of a blessed war are considered as parallels for the justification of undisguised Russian armed aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The article offers a scientific critique of the use of the sacred idea of the “Blessing of Sergius” of Prince Dimitry Donskoy’s army to influence the patriotic feelings of the average churchgoer of the Moscow Patriarchate in order to form a loyal attitude towards the Putin regime and the military campaign in Ukraine. A special place is devoted to the analysis of the maxims of Patriarch Kirill about the sacred unity of the “Russian world” and the concept of “historical Rus” promoted by him as an outpost of Christian civilization. The author presents arguments against the truth of the patriarch's propagandistic sermons about the indivisibility of the Orthodox world under the omophorion of the Moscow patriarch, based on the use by Patriarch Kirill of the idea of the connection of Metropolitan Cyprian of Kyiv and All Rus with the blessing of Dimitry Donskoy for the battle with the Tatars in 1380. The scientific publication characterizes the attempt of Patriarch Kirill to justify the leading worldview role of the Russian Orthodox Church not only in the period of separate principalities of the Middle Ages, but also in the latest Russia- Ukrainian war.