When is ROCOR’s Synod of Bishops going to censure this embarrassment to their Church and to Orthodoxy as a whole?
Archbishop Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal and Canada
ROCOR
Leader of Russian Orthodox Church in Canada defends war on Ukraine
by Tom Blackwell
Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada referred to Ukrainian forces as ‘neo-Nazi’ and inspired by ‘demonic’ forces
As Moscow’s war on Ukraine reaches the six-month mark, a top leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Canada has echoed the Kremlin’s talking points on the conflict, insisting in a recent interview the unprovoked invasion was justified and decrying as “ridiculous” Canada’s sanctions on the church’s war-boosting patriarch.
Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada referred to Ukrainian forces as “neo-Nazi” and inspired by “demonic” forces, and said his parishes would continue to commemorate in services Patriarch Kirill, the church’s head.
Gabriel — whose birth name is George Chemodakov — is Canadian head of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia (ROCOR), one of two branches of the Moscow-aligned denomination in this country.
His remarks underline that even some Canadians with ties to Russia embrace the Kremlin’s disinformation about the war and defend its actions, while various governments and human-rights organizations accuse Moscow of rampant war crimes.
“Russia was forced to take steps to protect itself from the neo-Nazis who were shelling civilians in Donbass for eight years, and continue to this day,” Gabriel told Pravoslavie.ru, a website dedicated to news about the church.
See the extensive Ukraine section in both Archives linked at the top of this page.
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