Support of Ukrainian Churchmen Major Reason Kirill Became Moscow Patriarch, New Book Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 8 – A new book on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church from Gorbachev’s time to the present says that the support of Ukrainian churchmen who viewed Kirill as more liberal regarding Ukrainian autocephaly was a major reason that he was chosen to be patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

            The book, With the Best of Intentions. The Russian Church and the Authorities from Gorbachev to Putin (in Russian; Moscow: 2025) by Kseniya Luchenko, thus calls attention to the paradox that Kirill’s initial success may very well have led to his most serious defeat and may cause him even more trouble in the future.

            Novaya Gazeta, which jointly sponsored the book with the Straightforward Foundation, publishes an excerpt that makes this clear (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/06/08/kak-kirill-stal-patriarkhom-i-kakuiu-rol-v-etom-sygrala-ukraina). The paper promises to publish more, potentially equally revelatory excerpts in the future.

            According to the book, Kirill had the reputation of being pro-Ukrainian, even making what proved to be a failed effort to learn that language and suggesting that he would be quite ready to become head of a possibly autocephalous Ukrainian church, something anathema to his opponents in the election.

            In the 2009 election, of the 198 church hierarchs, 55 were from Ukraine and another 46 from other countries. They thus formed more than half. And of the 711 participants in the broader Local Council, only 44.8 percent were citizens of the Russian Federation (web.archive.org/web/20141209172152/http:/sobor09.ru/participants/297/).

            The Ukrainian hierarchs and the non-Russian participants voted overwhelmingly for Kirill given the Russo-centric position of his opponent. As a result, he was elected to head the Russian church, where he subsequently adopted a Russo-centric position himself, a shift that some of his supporters considered a betrayal.

            The chapter published by Novaya Gazeta traces the back and forth before and during the election not only among the hierarchs but also among Council participants in detail, with the votes in each. But the message is clear: Kirill won because he was viewed as pro-Ukrainian, something that Putin and his regime have not forgotten or forgiven.