“Orthodoxy in Kiev and Moscow: History of an Ecclesial Union or Subjugation” by John McGuckin – an online presentation hosted by the CSRS

*11:00am-12:00 p.m. PT (please note the special time) *online only*

Join us via Zoom: uvic.ca/csrs/events

The recent Russian aggression in Ukraine is a resurgence of a pattern of often fatal dominance that has been played out in relations be- tween Ukraine and Russia over past centuries. In recent times, Kirill, the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, has even called the aggression a “fight for religious values”: a statement which, along with his overall wholehearted support of Vladimir Putin’s Irredentist views of Ukraine’s role within a resurgent Russian empire, has earned him much criticism outside Russia. The talk will ask how this situation came about before moving on to focus on the role of religious ideas particular to Russian Orthodoxy, which might have fomented unhealthy views about the value and meaning of unity, and obedience in politics and religion.

John McGuckin is the Nielsen Emeritus Professor of Byzantine Chris- tianity at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, and currently serves on the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford.
https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/csrs/