This is a link that takes you to a must-see movie by The New York Times about Father Ioann Burdin who is being persecuted for his opposition to the Ukraine war. The host and narrator is Gary Shteyngart (smarty-pants Soviet emigre writer). These are the lines from the sermon that led to Father Ioann being arrested and charged with treason.
“We Christians can’t stand by and watch as brother kills brother, Christian murders Christian. We can’t close our eyes and pretend that everything is fine. It is not possible to call black and white the same thing. The blood of Ukrainians does not lie only with the leaders of the Russian Federation or the soldiers who execute their orders. Their blood is on the hands and feet of all those who supported this war or who kept silent.”
Although I could have done it without Shteyngart’s vesting as an Orthodox priest in order to read a portion of the sermon, that minor sacrilege (if it is sacrilege) is nothing when compared to the sacrilege committed Patriarch Kyrill. Father Ioann is a great hero and confessor to the faith. You can watch and marvel at him, and you can pray for him.
