Church spokesman: Attempts to scare the Primate of the Russian Church or force him to renounce his views are senseless, absurd, and futile

This is no surprise to me. A little over a hundred years ago King George V was the King of the United Kingdom, I.E. the British Empire. Not only was he the first cousin of Holy Tzar Martyr Nicholas II, but they also looked like identical twins, and they were very close. Sinister internationalists had been conspiring for decades to overthrow the Romanov Dynasty in Russia. Many of them were allegedly based in the United Kingdom, the USA, Germany, and elsewhere. Leon Trotsky traveled to New York City before the Revolution, where he allegedly obtained financing, and also recruited revolutionaries. The monsters made their way to Holy Russia and began organizing the revolution. Satanic bolsheviks eventually captured Tzar Nicholas II and his family, and held them prisoner, before savagely murdering them. (Russian guards were dismissed because they would not dare kill their King Nicholas II, and they were replaced by german-speaking communists guards from Hungary). King George V in England did not rescue his own flesh and blood. Was he warned that if he tried to rescue his own family, that the sinister internationalists would forment revolution in the United Kingdom also? Ask yourself why all of the Orthodox Monarchies were overthrown, every last one of them......... God Almighty, when are people going to start using the brains that Almighty God gave them? Do not believe everything that you hear and read from western sources. Remember the "weapons of mass destruction" lie that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq? My oh my, what other lies have been told? Just my humble opinion.

Doug Carlson: Of course that's obvious, but does everyone really know the full history behind all this? Do they know what everyone is thinking about it? Does everyone know Russian well enough to analyze the Russian media? Do people even try to see things from their point of view? And we can't underestimate the power of a media barrage. If it didn't work on the majority of people, interested parties would not spend so much money on it. Many comments here show that it does work. This is also not in keeping with the Orthodox practice of discernment and not judging lest we be judged.

To the editor: I'm sorry, but claims like "you in America have a very skewed idea of what's going on" are simply relics of a bygone era. There is no longer superiority of knowlege based on location. With the internet and social media, literally everyone everywhere has access to the exact same media. We all have direct access to both Russians and Ukrainians who are openly talking about what's going on, and we can see that the issue isn't so neat and tidy as either side would have us believe. It's not so bloody obvious that attacking Ukraine is the answer to the problem in the Donbass, and sorry, but no, not everyone in Donbass is welcoming the Russians with open arms. It's messy, and the whole worl is watching the whole thing pan out, with the same access to information as anyone in Russia or Ukraine.

Editor: I'm just not sure why it's the Russians' shoes I should be trying on rather than the Ukrainains'. Sean: That's a pretty bold claim to just throw out there without a lick of evidence. Where is the proof that Metropolitan Onuphry is a sellout? Seems like just MP wishful thinking to me - like surely he's actually on the side of the war if only he could speak freely! I find this slanderous and in extremely poor taste. Metropolitan Onuphry is known as a holy man of prayer, and so many people who stood by his side until yesterday are now throwing him under the bus ... because he doesn't like that his country is under attack! It's embarrassing, really.

Metropolitan Tikhon Shevkunov: “Psychology of collaboration is one of the most serious dangers that is willing and unwillingly forced onto today’s Russia. In our days, some historical figures who have passed into the other world long time ago have become a real weapon possessing enormous destructive power, because this weapon is used in order to destroy traditional spiritual identity: evil is portrayed to be good, and treason as a heroism; while real heroism is depicted as ignorance, backwardness, and even sin.” See: THE IDEA OF COLLABORATIONISM IS NOT JUST A HISTORICAL DEBATE https://pravoslavie.ru/31959.html

Mark Wright: I am saying that you in America have a very skewed idea of what's going on. We won't be going into details here, but it's better to put yourself in someone's shoes before deciding whether he is right or wrong. But the details will eventually come out, and then you may have a different take on the matter.

Mark Wright: If someone puts a gun to your head and says, distance yourself from the MP or we'll kill you and everyone in your family, what will you do? Amazingly, not everyone in the UOC is distancing themselves.

Editor, and doesn't the Ukrainian Church know about the situation? It's mostlt against the war and is distancing itself from the Russian Church because of it. Is the UOC a victim of the media?

Gerianne Rossi: The people of Donbas are also part of the Russian Orthodox Church, and their brothers in Ukraine were and are killing innocents there. As Fr. Zachariah of Essex said, we don't know everything and therefore are not in a position to judge. Americans especially know almost nothing about the situation. This is made worse by the outrageous disinformation in the media. The Russian Church knows a good deal more about the situation in Ukraine than you do.

How does the Russian Orthodox Church think the Ukrainian people feel about their church if it won’t condemn the killing of innocents? You can’t say you hold Eastern Orthodox members in Ukraine within your church! How can they be part of your church when you don’t defend them even verbally.

I don't understand Legoida's statements. So no amount of pressure can convince the Patriarch to be against the war? Is that supposed to be a good look for the Patriarch?

The State has no say, NONE, in affairs of the Church. Any coercive acts are doomed to backfire. However, in grave matters: heresy, immorality, open blasphemy, etc. the Church , conciliarly must address these.