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.
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE 