For Ukrainians in a Russia-tied church, war brings a crisis of faith

Inside the 16th-century Orthodox Christian monastery’s cavernous cathedral – where the ornate gilt interior is hung with religious icons, and the air is thickly scented with burning candles and incense – a crisis of faith swirls among black-clad monks and parishioners standing for an hourslong service.

For centuries, Sviatohirsk Monastery and nearly all Orthodox churches in eastern Ukraine have been officially loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Indeed, despite the widespread destruction of Ukraine wrought by Russia’s 15-month-old invasion, this service includes a traditional request to pray for the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill, who has unabashedly backed President Vladimir Putin and supported the war as a “metaphysical struggle.”

The historic attachment to Russia has led critics – which include the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) – to consider such Orthodox churches and their adherents in Ukraine to be