They Prayed for the Führer: Deal With The Devils ( How the Russian Orthodox Church supported Hitler)
Hypocrisy.
"Hypocrisy" is a word that can be best used to describe the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church today. Now with its fashionable rebranding, its probably not even the worst word you could call it. Now, on every Victory Day May 9th, the Kremlin rewrites the story on how selflessly the Orthodox Red Army soldiers fought for the common Victory, how believers donated money for new planes and tanks for the Red Army or how holy icons helped save cities from the Germans. Outright fakes and isolated facts, even if they existed, are presented as a trend. The reality however, was exactly the opposite. The Orthodox Church actively and openly cooperated with the Nazis in the occupied territories.
Seven million people died on the occupied lands, five million were forced to concentration camps in Germany, half of whom died or went missing — all this with the blessing of many of the Orthodox hierarchy. The "crusade" of the Reich approved by the clergy on Russian soil took the lives of more than 30 million people. One and a half thousand destroyed cities, about 70 thousand cities and villages, wiped off the face of the earth, millions of destroyed buildings, distorted destinies. A serious blow to the future of the Russian people, for whom everything was dependent on the outcome of that war - this is what guilt the Russian Orthodox Church bears moral responsibility for, because its followers, for the most part, justified and supported the Nazi madness.
They Prayed For The Führer
Of course, the Russian Orthodox Church has had a long-standing difficult relationship with the Bolshevik regime. The Soviet government deprived the Orthodoxy of the status of the state religion, the Reds blew up churches, insulted many shrines, destroyed icons, but, what is more important for priests, the robe of a churchman became a heavy burden and a test, not a guarantee of access to the powers in charge like today. By the beginning of the Second World War, not a single functioning Orthodox church remained in many regions of the RSFSR.
At most, those parishes numbered no more than 5,000. In Ukraine and Belarus, the situation was no better. About three thousand temples were scattered across the lands of the western republics of the Union, as well as the Baltic States, Poland and Finland. Religion was burnt out with a red-hot iron throughout the country, clergymen were persecuted. Therefore, it was not surprising when, during the war, many priests of the Russian Orthodox Church not only supported Nazi Germany, but also blessed the Wehrmacht to fight against the USSR. "At least with the devil, but not with the Bolsheviks." For the sake of their privileges, for the sake of further subjugation and transformation of a free people into a herd, they did not hesitate to praise Hitler as a liberator. Here are excerpts from church newspapers and magazines of those years:
Thankful Address of Metropolitan Anastasia to Adolf Hitler. June 12, 1938
Your Excellency. Honorable Mr. Reich Chancellor!
When we look at our Berlin cathedral, which is now consecrated and erected by us thanks to the readiness and generosity of your Government after granting our Holy Church the rights of a legal entity, our thoughts turn with sincere and heartfelt gratitude, first of all, to you, as its true creator.
We see a special effect of God's providence in that precisely now, when in our country the temples and national shrines are trampled and destroyed, the creation of this temple has a place in the matter of your construction. Along with many other omens, this temple strengthens our hope that the end of history has not yet come for our long-suffering Motherland, that the Lord of history will send us a leader, and this leader, having resurrected our Motherland, will return it to national greatness again, similarly, how He sent you to the German people.
In addition to the prayers that are constantly offered for the head of the state, at the end of each Divine Liturgy, the following prayer is said: "Lord, sanctify those who love the beauty of Your house, You will restore them with Your Divine power...". Today, we especially deeply feel that you are also included in this prayer. Prayers for you will be raised not only in this newly built church and within Germany, but also in all Orthodox churches. For not only the German people remember you with warm love and devotion before the Throne of the Most High: the best people of all nations, who desire peace and justice, see you as a leader in the world struggle for peace and truth.
We know from reliable sources that the believing Russian people, groaning under the yoke of slavery and waiting for their liberator, constantly pray to God that He would preserve you, guide you and grant you His almighty help. Your feat for the German people and the greatness of the German Empire made you an example worthy of imitation and a model of how one should love one's people and one's family, how one should stand for one's national treasures and eternal values. Because even these latter find their sanctification and perpetuation in our Church.
National values constitute the honor and glory of every nation and therefore find a place in the Eternal Kingdom of God. We never forget the words of the Holy Scriptures that earthly kings will bring their glory and honor and the glory of their nations to the Heavenly City of God (Rev. 21, 24, 26). Thus, the creation of this temple is a strengthening of our faith in your historical mission.
You built a house for the Heavenly Lord. May He send His blessing also to the cause of your state construction, to the creation of your people's empire. May God strengthen you and the German people in the fight against hostile forces who want the destruction of our people. May He grant you, your country, your Government and army health, prosperity and good speed in everything for many years.
Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad,
Metropolitan Anastasy. "Church Life". 1938. No. 5-6.
From the Call to the Congregation of the ROCOR Archbishop Seraphim (Lyade). June 1941
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! The punishing sword of Divine justice fell on the Soviet government, on its henchmen and like-minded people. The Christ-loving Leader of the German people called his victorious army to a new struggle, to the struggle that we longed for - to the sanctified struggle against the God-fighters, executioners and rapists seated in the Moscow Kremlin... A new crusade has truly begun in the name of saving nations from the power of antichrist ... Finally, our faith is justified!... Therefore, as the first hierarch of the Orthodox Church in Germany, I appeal to you. Be participants in the new struggle, because this struggle is your struggle; this is a continuation of the struggle that began back in 1917, but alas! — ended tragically, mainly due to the betrayal of your false allies, who in our days raised arms against the German people. Each of you will be able to find your place on the new anti-Bolshevik front.
The "salvation of all", about which Adolf Hitler spoke in his address to the German people, is also your salvation - the fulfillment of your long-standing aspirations and hopes. The last decisive battle has come. May God bless the new military feat of all anti-Bolshevik fighters and grant them victory and victory over their enemies. Amen!
From the Epistle of Metropolitan Seraphim (Lukyanov). 1941
... May the time and day be blessed when the great glorious war with the Third International began. May the Almighty bless the great leader of the German people, who raised the sword against the enemies of God himself...
"Church Life". 1942. No. 1.
Telegram of the All-Belarusian Church Council to A. Hitler. 1942
The first in history All-Belarusian Orthodox Church Council in Minsk, on behalf of Orthodox Belarusians, sends you, Herr Reich Chancellor, heartfelt gratitude for the liberation of Belarus from the Moscow-Bolshevik ungodly yoke, for the opportunity given to freely organize our religious life in the form of the Holy Belorussian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, and wishes for the speedy full victory to your invincible weapon.
Archbishop Philofey (Narko)
Bishop Athanasius (Martos)
Bishop Stefan (Sevbo)
"Science and religion". 1988. No. 5.
From the Easter Message of Metropolitan Anastasius, 1942
... The day awaited by them (the Russian people) has come, and he is truly rising from the dead, as it were, where the courageous German sword managed to cut his chains... And ancient Kiev, and long-suffering Smolensk, and Pskov brightly celebrate their deliverance as from hell itself. The liberated part of the Russian people has already sung everywhere... "Christ is Risen!"...
"Church Life". 1942. No. 4.
From the Paschal Message of Metropolitan Anastasia, 1948
... Our time has invented its own special means of exterminating people and all living things on earth: they have such destructive power that they can turn large spaces into a complete desert in an instant. Everything is ready to be incinerated by this infernal fire, summoned by man himself from the abyss, and we again hear the lamentation of the prophet addressed to God: "How long will the earth cry and the grass of the countryside will wither from the malice of those who live on it" (Jer. 12, 4).
But this terrible devastation fire has not only a destructive, but also its cleansing effect: because those who ignite it burn in it, and with it all the vices, crimes and passions with which they defile the earth.
Imagine if modern-day Caliguls and Neros, all tyrants, debauchers, murderers, would not be struck by death: life on earth would become unbearable, turning into the entrance to hell. There is an immutable divine law according to which evil brings its own retribution. "The fruit of sin," says St. Grigory the Theologian, "there was death that prevented sin, so that evil would not be immortal."
But you will say that the exterminating sword of death falls not only on the corrupt and evil, but also on virtuous people, and even on saints, and on the latter even more often than on the former. But for such people, death is not a calamity, because the way to the endless blessed true life, acquired for us by the death and resurrection of Christ, is opened for them.
The more greedy death becomes, the more victims it tries to devour among people, both good and evil, the more it opens the door to immortality for a greater number of mortals, raising them from decay to incorruption and joining them to eternal, unfading life...
Atomic bombs and all other destructive means invented by today's technology are truly less dangerous for our fatherland than the moral decay that the highest representatives of civil and church power bring to the Russian soul by their example. The decomposition of an atom brings with it only physical devastation and destruction, and the corruption of the mind, heart and will entails the spiritual death of the entire nation, after which there is no resurrection...
"Holy Rus". April 1948, Stuttgart.
As you can see, many clergymen did not change their opinion much, if at all, even after the war and witnessing all the horrors of Nazism first hand. Of course, the inhumane Soviet regime was a terrible test for both the parishoner as well as the church, and one way or another it should have been ridden away with as soon as possible. But the desire to change it to a no less foreign Nazi regime, an Ortho Fascist nightmare, provoking a bloody mess inside the territory of Russia - reviving its privileges and political status
On May 9, 2009, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) called the Great Patriotic War "payment for the sins committed by the people of the USSR during the Revolution and Civil War." Judging by these statements, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church not only condemns the unfortunate and disenfranchised residents of Russia, who freed themselves from the power of the degenerate parasitic "elite" a hundred years ago, but also justifies those animals who killed, tortured, burned in ovens, and drove millions of Russians . He considers that war a "God-pleasing cause"! He, in fact, justifies the Nazis, as the popes did more than 60 years ago.
Pskov Mission
Taking advantage of the fact that after the arrival of the Bolsheviks there was not a single active parish left in the Pskov region, Hitler together with Alfred Rosenberg developed a plan for the revival of Orthodox life there. So that the people in the occupied lands did not grumble against the invaders, but, on the contrary, praised Hitler's rule. Metropolitan Serhiy Voskresensky of Vilna and the entire Baltic region became the main actor. Staying in Riga, he welcomed the entry of the Germans into the Baltic region. He also became the organizer of the Pskov Orthodox Mission, which was naturally a defender of the occupying power.
Orthodox priests actively agitated the people for Hitler. Most often, they appealed to the memory of Russian soldiers who fought for the family, recalled the images of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donsky, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, and other "saints", which instilled in people's hearts the confidence that the Russian people would sweep away the Bolshevik antichrists very soon and forever
When Sergius of Stragorodsky was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in Moscow, Hitler demanded that all Russian priests in the occupied territories anathematize him and condemn the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and all the churches obediently fulfilled the will of the Führer. Representatives of the Russian Church abroad, gathered in Vienna and cursed the Stalinist patriarch. The Pskov mission, however, did not do this, because it saw how tank columns of the Red Army were moving towards North-Western Russia. Sensing in his gut that incurring the wrath of the Bolsheviks and subscribing to their complete destruction are still different things, Metropolitan Sergiy and his subordinates decided to try to gain their trust and bow to Moscow.
But it didn't work out. Soon after the return of Soviet power to Pskov, the NKVD began to arrest all members of the Pskov Orthodox Mission. They were given harsh sentences. From ten to twenty years old. Many did not return from the camps afterwards. The head of the mission, protopresbyter Kirill Zaits, who was arrested in Shauliai, received twenty and four years later ended his days in the Kazakh camp. The head of the chancellery of the Pskov mission, archpriest Nikolai Zhund, also received twenty years and died of tuberculosis in a camp in the Krasnoyarsk region. Pechersk bishop Pyotr Pyahkel received a ten and also perished in the camps. This is the fate of many, many others who, like them, met their death behind the Soviet barbed wire.
Not Only Everything
If someone has counterarguments regarding the cooperation of the ROC with the Third Reich, they say that only foreign Orthodox churches cooperated with the Germans, and the Pskov mission was only an isolated case, then here are some other facts for you.
During the German occupation, the former bishop of Rostov-on-Don Nikolay created the Diocesan Administration, which worked with the Cossack units of Krasnov. Collaborationism on the Don was widespread, the Cossack circle, gathered in Novocherkassk in 1941, fully supported Hitler, the Wehrmacht , and after the circle, all the Orthodox priests of the region supported them. Since the end of 1942, Rostov-on-Don and together with Bishop Nikolay were under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Autonomous Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the name of the already known Metropolitan Sergius was raised in the churches of the diocese. Just in case, apparently.
The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Nikodim (Muntianu), who entered into correspondence with Archbishop Nikolay, who had long-standing accounts with the Bolsheviks, who sent him into exile in Bashkiria, also sought to spread his influence in the Rostov region. In 1943, during the retreat of the Germans, Archbishop Nikolai was taken to Odessa, then evacuated to Romania, where he came under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Church and received the rank of metropolitan.
Bishop Stefan of Smolensk and Bryansk also collaborated with the Germans. He was one of the authors of the appeal to Hitler, which contained a promise to call on the Russian population to fight against the Soviet regime. After the capture of Smolensk, the Holy Dormition Cathedral was opened almost immediately, which housed the Museum of Atheism since 1933. On August 3, a Lutheran service for the German army was held in the cathedral, which was conducted by a young pastor who arrived with the occupiers.
The commander of the second tank group of German troops, Heinz Guderian, wrote about what happened in the Dormition Cathedral immediately after the capture of Smolensk:
The city of Smolensk suffered little as a result of hostilities. Having captured the old part of the city on the southern bank of the Dnieper, the 29th Motorized Division crossed the Dnieper River and captured the industrial district of the city, located on the northern bank of the river. Taking advantage of my visit to the positions in Smolensk, I decided to visit the cathedral. He remained unharmed. At the entrance, the anti-religious museum, located in the central part and the left half of the cathedral, catches the eye of the visitor. At the gate stood a wax figure of a beggar begging for alms. In the inner part of the room there were wax figures in natural human growth, showing in an exaggerated form how the bourgeoisie exploits and oppresses the proletariat. There was no beauty in it. The right half of the church was reserved for worshipers. Apparently, they tried to hide the silver altar and candlesticks, but they did not have time to do it before our arrival in the city. In any case, all these extremely valuable things lay in a heap in the center of the cathedral. I ordered to find someone from the Russians who could be entrusted with the responsibility of preserving these values. They found a church watchman - an old man with a long white beard, to whom I entrusted through an interpreter to take charge of the valuables and put them away. The most valuable gilded carved frames of the iconostasis were in perfect condition. I don't know what happened to the cathedral after that so that he took responsibility for the values and put them in their place. The most valuable gilded carved frames of the iconostasis were in perfect condition. I don't know what happened to the cathedral after that so that he took responsibility for the values and put them in their place. The most valuable gilded carved frames of the iconostasis were in perfect condition. I don't know what happened to the cathedral after that
But already on August 10, on the day of the celebration of the day of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God Hodigitria, Archpriest Timofey Glebov and Archpriest Pavel Smyryaginy consecrated the Dormition Cathedral and celebrated the Divine Liturgy. By the 15th, a choir of professional singers was organized at the cathedral under the direction of Mikhail Ivanovich Andreev. The revival of church life in the Smolensk region began even before the appointment of a bishop in Smolensk and the establishment of the Smolensk diocese as such. Thus, church life in the region began to be revived by the clergy without an archpastor, which shows the far from personal nature of the Russian Orthodox Church's cooperation with the Germans. When asked where the priests came from in Smolensk, when at the time of the occupation there was only one church, the answer is very simple: the clergy came here from Belarus. There were priests who hid their rank from persecution for many years. The Germans issued them certificates authorizing them to perform religious services and perform pastoral duties for the people under the conditions of military occupation.
The church in Belorussia itself, a region that was one of the first to be under occupation, deserves a separate paragraph. As the historian of the Belarusian Church Bishop Athanasius (Martos) wrote:
German troops found church and religious life in Eastern Belarus in a ruined state. There were no bishops and priests, churches were closed, turned into warehouses, theaters, and many were destroyed. Monasteries did not exist, monks scattered.
Belarus, together with the Baltic countries, was part of one Reichskommissariat (Ostland), where the Russian Orthodox Church suddenly did not have its exarchs, but the arrival of the Germans unleashed a well-conscious religious upsurge. In Minsk alone, where there was not a single functioning church left before the arrival of the Germans, after only 3-4 months, seven were opened and 22,000 were baptized. children 120 churches were opened throughout the Minsk diocese. The occupation authorities opened pastoral courses that produced 20-30 priests, deacons and psalmists every few months. Similar courses were also opened in Vitebsk. In November 1942, the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk. In May 1944, the relics of the saint were transported to Polotsk, where there were 4 churches and a monastery.
In some areas of Belarus, for example, in Borisov, up to 75% of pre-revolutionary churches were restored (21 churches in Borisov itself). The process of revival of church life continued right up to the retreat of the Wehrmacht. In February 1944 (!) it was stated in the report of the command of the army group "Center" that 4 churches were reopened in the area where the 4th Army was located, and in Bobruisk, for the first time during the war, a procession was held on the Berezyna River with the participation of 5,000 man In Belarus alone, 42 priests were executed by partisans for collaborating with the Germans. The obvious interest of the Belarusian Orthodox in the Reich is understandable, on the other hand, it causes bewilderment when the Russian Orthodox Church talks about the widespread struggle of the believers of the entire USSR against the invaders. We see how this "struggle" took place, especially among the church hierarchs themselves.
Good Under Any Power
The Russian Orthodox Church is a structure that is surprisingly able to survive seemingly in any of the most unfavorable conditions. The main instrument of such survival has always been not firmness of spirit, but quite the opposite — incredible flexibility of the agenda and the ability to adapt to the rhetoric of absolutely any regime. Be it Kyiv or Vladimir princes, Mongolian khans or Moscow tsars, emperors, general secretaries or presidents - with all the ROC managing to find a common language and get a benefit as a result. From the point of view of self-preservation, it is essential, from their point of view, for the people be manipulated to trust the clergy, that itself is a very good skill. As the Bishop hypocritically pours curses on his former masters from the pulpit, just a few short years later, he exalts them according to a new decree - this is the real art of rebranding, Master classes in manipulation, on which the Russian Orthodox Church can hold seminars for years to come.
All the current demands to connect the 9th of May with the "feat of Orthodox ministers" are simply ridiculous. The overwhelming majority of Orthodox priests cut their teeth against the Bolsheviks and the Soviet government, and sought to settle scores with it in every possible way, but then, when the church received a whip in the form of the incoming NKVD officers and a gingerbread man in the form of the restoration of the patriarchate, all the creeping of the Russian Orthodox Church and its lowly slavery to the Nazis, ended. Of course, there were examples when ordinary Orthodox priests participated in the partisan and underground movements; when they organized humanitarian aid to prisoners of war, they saved people. And there were many such examples. Such as the story of the Serbian patriarch Gabriel and the Serbian bishop Nikolay, who were arrested for helping the partisans and being openly anti-fascist, and were eventually sent to the Dachau concentration camp. The ROC hierarchs however, did not utter a word of support for their bretheren and purposely stayed nowhere near this subject. The goal of Orthodox ministers was to sit silently, obey and observe, which many have successfully done.
Now their descendants and successors, sometimes without even changing the wording, bow down to the godless Soviet power, which is no less hypocritical of Putin's rise to power, and his decision on how to model the Russian statehood. But history will always remember the bows and embraces of Russian priests together with SS and Wehrmacht officers. History remembers the prayers for Hitler's victory, it remembers the justifications for the actions of the Nazis during WWII, to which were also added the justifications for the atrocities of the Bolsheviks. And this will be remembered more than once. History always finds a way to be remembered.
No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.
TRANSLATED BY RPB -PUBLISHED BY RUFABUL
What is Russian Ortho Fascism?
Nazism for the modern age
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| Russia for Russians, what used to be a Neo Nazi march celebrating far-right, Russian Imperialism, Ortho Fascist nationalism, Russion Orthodox Church, Neo Eurasianism and Neo Stalinism. The march slowed down after Covid in 2020. Though Nationalists were not always on the side with Putin, his recent nationalist rhetoric and pandering to the far-right, combined with his actions in Ukraine, has sparked talks for an upgraded revival to coincide with the new Z propaganda. A 2020 independent Lavada poll showed 20% of Russians support the Russia For Russians xenophobic platform and 55% approve with reasonable limits |
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| Member of The Sorok Sorokovs, or 40x40s. But simply just called the SS. (pun intended)The militia of the ROC and the muscle for Kirill's mafia style construction racket. Known as Kirills own "SS" personal guard, with a membership of over 10k with many links to the FSB. The leadership of the SS includes boxers (for example, Vladimir Nosov), former football fans (Vasily "Killer" Stepanov), various athletes (for example, Alexander Mikhailovich, a powerlifter and part-time big fan of swastikas) it also includes influential figures like Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov, rumored to be Putin’s confessor |
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| The SS and the Russian Orthodox Church, with goals of attracting younger followers, opened up MMA and boxing clubs, run by Skinhead football hooligans, Ultras and Neo Nazis. With the new cleaned up Russian image, Kirill hired these same Nazis to be his official bodyguards and ROC security. |
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