The Holy War of the Russkiy mir: Religion and the war in Ukraine

Abstract

The Russo-Ukrainian war is the biggest armed conflict since the World War II in Europe. Although deeply rooted in the Soviet legacy, the war, however, has prominent religious dimension that allows for some scholars to call it the first religious war of the 21^st century. The increasingly militarized Russian Orthodox Church has strongly backed Putin's war and has long provided theological and ideological justifications for his domestic and international actions. The politicization and militarization of religion in Russia has resulted in the promotion of the ideology of Russky mir, or “Russian world,” under which Russia is destined to lead the eastern Slavic world, including Ukraine, politically and spiritually. While sharing the Soviet past, Ukraine has developed a different religious landscape in the post-Soviet period, leaning towards religious pluralism and religious “denominationalism”. However, the Ukrainian political crisis in 2014 and the following Russia’s invasion have deepened religious involvement in political life in Ukraine, caused interreligious conflicts, strengthening of the role of the state in interreligious relations.

Based on anthropological research, discourse analysis and historical analysis, this article focuses on the religious implications of the war in Ukraine and their historical roots. We examine how religious narratives transformed in both countries, drawing on the manifold ways in which religion can pervade and constitute all aspects of warfare and on religion’s relations to development of social militancy and the legitimate use of force.