{"id":680633,"date":"2026-01-07T20:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/680633\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T20:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:05:25","slug":"putin-branded-the-anti-christ-by-church-leaders-after-claiming-ukraine-war-is-holy-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/680633\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin branded the \u2018Anti-Christ\u2019 by church leaders after claiming Ukraine war is \u2018holy mission\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Church leaders have branded President Vladimir Putin<\/a> the \u2018Anti-Christ\u2019 after the Russian leader said his war with Ukraine<\/a> was part of a \u201choly mission\u201d<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Putin called Russian soldiers \u201cwarriors\u201d who were acting \u201cas if at the Lord’s behest\u201d in a speech marking Orthodox Christmas<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Despite appearing to position himself as a saviour using messianic messaging, Putin is \u201cmore like the Anti-Christ\u201d, according to Father Myroslav Pushkaruk, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to do this with power and violence, which is not about love, not about Christian<\/a> values is more like the Anti-Christ in the Christian world,\u201d the Rector at the Paris of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God in central London told The Independent.<\/p>\n

\"Vladimir<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin made the comments during an Orthodox Christmas celebration (POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Last year, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that Putin\u2019s \u201cRussian World\u201d ideology<\/a> was heretical. <\/p>\n

The teaching suggests that Russia<\/a>, Ukraine and Belarus are part of \u201cHoly Russia\u201d, ideas that Putin has used to justify his expansion into Ukraine as part of a wider cosmic purpose. At a conference in Helsinki last month, over 90 church leaders condemned the ideology. <\/p>\n

Putin\u2019sremarks have also drawn backlash from across the UK as church leaders criticise Russia\u2019s military campaign as a \u201cslaughtering\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeen from a Christian perspective, you don\u2019t use unholy means to pursue a holy mission,\u201d former Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines told The Independent. \u201cWhen that unholy means involves slaughtering people, invading their country, and telling lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Father<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Father Myroslav with military chaplains and Ukrainians in London (Ukrainian Orthodox Parish of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God in London)<\/p>\n

Father Myroslav works with military personnel and is often in touch with those on the frontlines of the battlefield in Ukraine, offering people affected psychological and social support amid the brutal and relentless battle that is now entering its fourth year. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Russia\u2019s] message is totally misleading and goes against with all the teachings of the Christian world,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey are using the teaching to serve their needs, it has nothing to do with Christian values. It is heresy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Taras Khomych, a Catholic Priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and senior lecturer in Catholic Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University, warned of a pattern in concerning Putin\u2019s language. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The aftermath of a Russian drone strike in Ukraine (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

He called the Russian leader\u2019s religious claims \u201cidolatry\u201d and a \u201cdistortion of Christianity\u201d, adding: \u201cIt exalts war, destruction and death in order to lay the foundations for Russia\u2019s territorial claims.\u201d He added: \u201cThis is a devilish demonic way of using the word of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

As US-backed peace talks in Paris aimed at halting the fighting continue, Father Taras urged caution. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to negotiate with someone who is as radical as Putin,\u201d he said. The ideology must be tackled at the root if a ceasefire is to be secured. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe war of Russian aggression started with the war of ideology and the full scale aggression was just the consequence of it. In order to stop the war we need to address this ideology and stop the ideology that fuels the war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-680633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115855617325060031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}