“Explaining that peace is better than war is my direct duty.” Russian archbishop on trial over anti‑war sermon

The Nevsky District Court in St Petersburg has fined Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko of the Association of Orthodox Communities of the Apostolic Tradition 30,000 roubles (~$350) for “discrediting” the Russian army. The cleric was charged over an address “to believers and non-believers” regarding the start of the war in Ukraine—a video published back in March 2022, which security forces only took notice of a month ago.In court, Mikhnov-Vaitenko and his defence lawyer highlighted errors in the administrative case file, but he was unsurprised by the outcome. After the hearing, he calmly told supporters he expects a second charge under the same law, because “without a second charge—there’s no criminal case”.Mediazona presents Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko’s court speech with minor edits.

I should remind you that this video recording appeared on March 11, 2022. I am endlessly grateful to the prosecutor, the police officers, and the court that we are discussing this recording now. Because, perhaps, it was one of the most important statements of my life.

At that time, two weeks had passed since the start of the “special military operation” announced by President Putin. For many people, the understanding of what was happening then is very different now, three years into this operation. Today, we hear—and hear with great hope—reports that peace negotiations are indeed being prepared, whereas at that moment, nothing was clear.

I am grateful to the police officers who drew up the report; they quite rightly noted that this recording does not contain any “fake news” whatsoever. Because, for example, my words quoted in the report—specifically, “The army of the Russian Federation... is hitting area targets, it is trying to destroy that resistance”—were fortunately deemed only “discreditation”, not a “fake”. They fully correspond to the press releases issued by the Ministry of Defence, which were voiced live on air by General Konashenkov, because reports of thousands of military facilities, including depots, bases, access routes, and so on, are precisely characterised as “work on area targets.”

Why do I use the word “work”? Because during my service in the Soviet army from 1986 to 1988, I was very fortunate. I served as assistant to Major General Lev Serebrov, the highly respected Lev Borisovich, later my dear friend, sadly now deceased.

Since General Serebrov had just enrolled in the first year of the Academy of the General Staff at that time, as his assistant, I naturally had to work through a large amount of diverse relevant literature, helping him prepare for exams. That’s why I understand very well how the armed forces operate, how our country’s armed forces have been organised since Soviet times. Therefore, “work on area targets” is a necessary and sufficient condition for ensuring the suppression of enemy resistance, which is essentially what I say [in the video].

Furthermore, your honour. I want to note that these phrases—quoted in the report without ellipses, without square brackets, or any indication they are taken from different parts of a seven-minute text—I find somewhat baffling, because first and foremost, in delivering this entire text, I am speaking about the spiritual component.

I will now quote several documents that define the Christian Church’s attitude towards any military actions. Since any military actions involve the killing of other people, there can be no ambiguity here. To avoid making unsubstantiated claims, so as not to give the impression that I am speaking based on some unknown doctrine or peculiarity [...] I will refer to a document with which I absolutely agree. It is called the “Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church”, available on the Russian Orthodox Church’s official website.

I can explain why I will refer to this document. The fact is that in 2008 I was ordained a deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church, and in 2009—a priest. I served in the town of Staraya Russa at St George’s Church. But in 2014, I was forced to request to be released from my appointed duties and later joined the Association of Orthodox Communities of the Apostolic Tradition.

Nevertheless, everything related to the “Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church”, which, I repeat, is posted, freely available on the internet, has not been questioned, and was adopted by the Bishops’ Council on June 9, 2008… That was precisely when I was already a clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church. I will quote just two or three small fragments.

A special chapter, the 8th chapter is titled: “War and Peace”. Paragraph 8.1: “War is a physical manifestation of the hidden spiritual malady of humanity—fratricidal hatred (Gen. 4:3-12). Wars have accompanied the entire history of humanity after the fall and, according to the Gospel, will continue to accompany it: ‘And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass’ (Matthew 24:6).”

I will explain later why this quote seems very important to me in relation to my text.

Further in the same paragraph 8.1: “Killing, without which wars do not happen, was considered a grave crime before God even at the dawn of sacred history. ‘Thou shalt not kill’, states the Law of Moses (Ex. 20:13). In the Old Testament, as in all ancient religions, blood has a sacred character, because blood is life (Lev. 17:11-14). ‘Blood… defileth the land’, says the Holy Scripture.”

I will not read it [in full]; it is not very long, but it reflects in detail the Church’s attitude towards war, and the Church’s necessary role during a military conflict.

The Russian Orthodox Church—any Christian church—strives to carry out a peacemaking ministry both nationally and internationally, trying to resolve various contradictions, bring nations, ethnic groups, governments, political forces to agreement. To this end, it addresses its word to those in power and other influential strata of society, and also makes efforts to organise negotiations between warring parties and to provide assistance to the suffering. The Church also opposes the propaganda of war and violence, as well as various manifestations of hatred capable of provoking fratricidal clashes.

This is fundamentally important because it reflects the meaning of what I am talking about in this seven-minute video, explaining to the viewers and, naturally, to the members of the Association of Orthodox Communities of the Apostolic Tradition… At the beginning of the “special military operation”, the question of how to relate to and generally how to react to the unfolding events became extremely acute for everyone: clergy, laity, members of communities, and so on.

Next, I would like to draw attention to the attitude towards wars and killing. I will certainly not read even a part. But there is a book with a somewhat strange title for the Russian ear—it’s a Greek title, “Pedalion”. It is a collection of canons, also translated as “The Rudder, or Spiritual Ship”. To avoid any doubt, I am quoting from an edition which bears the stamp “Recommended for publication by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church”. This is to show I am not inventing things or presenting a purely personal view.

One could quote a lot, because this is effectively both a criminal and administrative code for the Orthodox Church, as it details the application of penalties—the gravest penalties the Church can apply—namely excommunication, denial of communion, and prohibition from participating in sacraments.

In Volume IV of this edition—these are the canons of the Holy Fathers, which are applied by the Russian Orthodox Church, reference is most often made to the canon of Basil the Great… There is a 13th canon, it is short, I will read it with your permission: “Our fathers did not account killings committed in war as murders, but, in my opinion, pardoned those who were fighting in defence of sobriety and piety. Perhaps, however, it would be well to advise them, since their hands are not clean, to abstain from communion alone for a period of three years.”

Then follows the interpretation, prepared by the very famous theologian Nicodemus the Hagiorite. Here everything is explained at length and in detail, with references even to the Old Testament, why killing, even in war, means that a person fulfilling their duty—and no one doubts or disputes the necessity for the army to obey orders—a person staining their hands with the blood of their brother, needs spiritual healing. One element of this consists in barring them from communion, according to the canon of Basil the Great, for at least three years, and according to some canons of the Apostles, even longer… Canon 56 of the same Basil the Great states that intentional murder implies excommunication from church sacraments for up to 20 years—these are considered extraordinary circumstances.

So, unfortunately—there is no justification. And we are not talking about a person who—I emphasise—arbitrarily decided, for example, to seize a neighbour’s property, or about a person who gave a criminal order. We are talking about a person who was fulfilling their military duty. Alas, it is so.

Based on this, your honour, I believe it was essential for me to express precisely the Church’s attitude towards the ongoing events. To explain why in this case the use of armed forces—regardless of the country—represents an extreme danger.

If we use the term “discreditation” in this context—although I categorically disagree with it here, of course, because I had no goal to discredit the authorities or the military…

But what I really would like to discredit, and will continue to do so as long as, forgive me, I live—is the very idea of resolving interstate problems by force, as well as the ailments of the state. If there is a conflict, there are different ways to resolve it—civil courts, criminal courts, administrative processes, international courts exist. This is how disputes and conflicts should be resolved when contradictions arise, not by the principle: “Well, I have the ability—so I’ll hit you over the head.”

[...]

In conclusion, I still want to add, because I have spoken about this repeatedly, spoken publicly in various media outlets, including the [St Petersburg news outlet] Fontanka, [the business portal] RBC, Forbes, and others—I consistently, based on all the above, oppose any combat actions.

And I opposed combat actions when Donetsk was shelled by the Ukrainian army; I opposed it when Baghdad was shelled by the American army. And I opposed the bombing of Belgrade when NATO forces carried out bombings. I opposed the shelling of the city of Grozny when that also happened.

You see, this consistent position is based on the fact that—excuse me, one more quote from the Holy Scripture—blessed are the peacemakers. And the Church is obliged to voice precisely this position. This does not cancel our work with members of the armed forces, with employees of the very same detention centres, and with anyone else. You see, we do not turn anyone away.

But explaining that peace is better than war—is my direct duty. Thank you, your honour.

Editor: Dmitry Tkachev