Metropolitan Longin of Ukraine calls it as it is [Video]

One of the criticisms I have had over the recent months about the Russia-Ukraine war (for that is what it really has become now) from the Russian side, is that I do not hear much anymore about the spiritual aspect to this conflict. While we do get shown various clips from time to time about soldiers miraculously saved from death where bullets fail to pierce an icon of Christ sewn into their helmets and so on (this IS happening for some Russian troops), it has been quite a while since the usual stream of information sources I get in Russia has seriously reflected on how important this conflict is regarding the fate of Orthodox Christians in Russia, and indeed, in all the world.

My early assessments on the conflict when it first broke out in 2022 were based on what (I hope!) is/was an Orthodox Christian perspective of the American-pushed psyop in Ukraine that led to the coup in 2014, the creation of the schismatic church structure known as the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (OCU) and the notion that this structure would be used to sway Ukrainian believers away from true Orthodox Christianity to some wokified nonsense. We saw, and I reported on, the desecration of temples in Ukraine, being turned into nightclubs and theatres, becoming the site of satanic rituals and just plain weirdness.

But of late, it seems that most of the information flow is populated by a lot of nationalist cheerleading: how strong Russia is, militarily and economically, how Ukraine is “on the verge of collapse” (it has been so for over three years now… long verge!) and other things that tell of imminent victory for the Russian side.

I do think that Russia is in position to win this thing, and I do support her to the end, but one of the things in war is that if one picks a side to support, the accepted information flow tends to become distorted.

Supporting Russia means that there needs to be a sober assessment of all information regarding the war. Our guys are dying out there, too! The enemy is not “on the ropes”, they are fighting with significant ferocity. I have seen and heard drone strikes carried out in and around Moscow, personally.

I am not equivocating, but what this war really is about is being ignored, since that issue is religious, and religious issues in their pure form do not often appeal to those geopolitically-interested, who often push religion into the box of “one of the issues” in a conflict without recognizing the actual spiritual realities involved. Where Holy Orthodoxy is concerned, I think we do a disservice by not presenting the reality of Christ first and foremost, the reality of Christian faith, hope, suffering and repentance… all of it.

Metropolitan Longin of Ukraine took a huge step to remind us of what this is about. You are about to see what he has to say. He speaks to the Ukrainian people about that the impact to that side.

I can vouch for the translated text – the translation shown on screen is very accurate; I know Russian well enough to understand this is so.

This war is becoming more and more bitter. and it seems that many Russians have forgotten that the Ukrainian people in general ARE their brothers and sisters both in flesh and in Christ. They may be mentally ill, psy-op compromised, but there are many believers among them – the Ukrainians used to tell me in fact that they were more serious about the Orthodox Christian faith than many Russians are. I cannot engage that conversation, but I am saying it because it is part of what I believe is lost perspective.

Maybe this little bit will help.