Throughout history, corrupt leaders have sought to justify violence with religion. Vladimir Putin and his Patriarch are no different.

From CBN News. An unholy alliance is attempting to portray Vladimir Putin’s military action in Ukraine as a holy war for Russia. As the bloody invasion of Ukraine rages on, we now know Putin is partnering with the Russian Orthodox Church to justify the campaign as a “holy war….”

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The story of “how one priest turned Putin’s invasion into a holy war,” is outlined in a recent article in The Rolling Stone. In that article, Religion News Service writer Jack Jenkins describes the partnership between Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, along with their effort to rationalize an unjust war.

“…Kirill started preaching an ideology, this idea of a Russian world, this sort of trans-national Russian sphere of civilization that included Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other parts of Eastern Europe. The idea where Moscow was the political center, Kyiv was the spiritual heart and Kirill was of course the chief religious leader. He preached this in various ways throughout the past 10 years….”

And while Vladimir Putin is widely known to have been a Soviet KGB agent, records from the cold war have revealed Patriarch Kirill was a KGB spy during Soviet times….

Putin’s Patriarch Delivers a Disturbing Sermon Embracing Russia’s ‘Holy War’

Many in the West might have missed a key, revelatory moment in the conflict, but Religion Dispatches reports Patriarch Kirill just gave his “most dangerous speech yet” about two weeks ago. The sermon was delivered at the Cathedral of the Armed Forces, a building that symbolically and literally merges Russia’s religious and military aspirations….

It gets deeper though. Kirill refuses to admit that Ukrainians even exist, arguing they’re actually part of “Holy Russia.” As CBN’s Faithwire has reported, Putin and Kirill see Ukraine as part of Russia’s “spiritual space” because the Russian Orthodox church was headquartered in Kyiv a few centuries ago….

How are you praying for the Ukranians and the manipulated Russian people? Share this article to raise awareness of Putin’s and Kirill’s plots.

(Excerpt from CBN News. Photo Credit: Getty Images)