Dieu et mon Droit - Orthodoxy and the apotheosis of murder. Mother Russia as the Orthodox Church

In 2022 Russian war criminal Putin (for whom the ICC has issued an international arrest warrant), with the blessing of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, ordered his forces invade neighbouring Ukraine. Russia defends its actions by decrying critics of its war and the crimes committed by it as manifestations of ”Russophobia” - a term of specious meaninglessness much like the term “Islamophobia”. Russia is supported in its quest by batshit crazy China while Donald Trump has a man crush for Vlad (Putin).

(ICC arrest warrant: https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and ).

With god as his right (per Kirill) Putin orders murders for Christ

In February 2022 Russia’s post-Soviet era Tsar, Putin, without provocation, ordered the invasion of Ukraine describing it as a “special military operation”.

This invasion needs to be considered within some context: in 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church at Constantinople, Bartholomew, had declared the Ukrainian Orthodox Church autocephalic (self-governing), and no longer subject to Moscow. Kirill, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow who in the past has praised Putin as a “miracle of god”, was outraged, describing this as “schismatic”. To understand Russian (Putin’s, Kirill’s) outrage one needs to have an awareness of the pretensions of Moscow. Since the fall of Constantinople (to the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century AD) Moscow has claimed for itself the mantle of the “Third Rome” (Constantinople was the Second Rome). Putin/Kirill, 21st century Mussolinis, believe they have a destiny and duty: the recreation of a holy Russian empire.

Kirill has provided a disgraceful apologia for the depraved murders being committed by Russians, describing the war against Ukraine as “part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold ‘gay parades’”. Civilians, babies, children, women and men killed indiscriminately and deliberately by Russia are deemed “sinners” who should be killed simply because they are not Russian. The day prior the invasion Kirill wrote on the Patriarchate’s website to praise Putin, declaring: “The Russian Orthodox Church has always striven to make a significant contribution to the patriotic education of compatriots, seeing in military service an active manifestation of evangelical love for neighbors, an example of fidelity to high moral ideals of truth and goodness.” (Google translation from Russian) In summary, Kirill declared that for the love of god Russians should kill their neighbours and that these murders should be seen as an “evangelical” act of love and goodness toward those they kill.

The sanctification of war is evinced not merely by Kirill’s words but also by the Russian state’s monuments such as the Christian monument for the apotheosis of war erected in Moscow; the “Main temple of the Russian Armed Forces”, the “Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ”, which was built to commemorate “the military feats of the Russian people in all wars”.

In my image the dicephalic eagle of the Orthodox Church – with reference to its iteration as the coat of arms of the Russian Federation – is portrayed as a skeletal cadaverous “Mother Russia” held together with barbed wire and given female genitalia. Out of her central crown extends a phallus ready to fuck her: Russia – as the Ukrainian forces on Snake Island responded to the Russian invasion force – go fuck yourself!

The banner inscription reads “Dieu et mon droit”, Latin for “My right with god”, which though not something used by Russia (it is used by the Anglo monarch as well as by various legal institutions in the Anglosphere), captures the sentiment governing Russian actions pursued in the delusory belief of their righteousness under god. All Russian actions in this war, irrespective of their depravity, are “justifiable” because of religion. (My reference to religious justifiability to commit acts of cruelty pertains to a study where children suffering from severe religiosity were studied and it was shown that the greater the religiosity, the meaner and less altruistic the child – because in their minds they “know” their actions are done by the right of god. This does not appear to diminish in adulthood).

The scepter held by the Orthodox eagle in its talons on one side is transformed into a sword dripping with the blood of the murdered, as befits an entity for whom war, murder and rape are done. The globus cruciger, the orb and cross, held by the eagle’s talons on the other side dissolves into a skull with putrefying flesh falling off it and dripping blood – symbol of the “glory” of war crimes being committed by Russians.

In the background of my image is a mound of skulls. This is a take on the 19th century painting by Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin, which is titled The Apotheosis of War, a painting banned in Russia at the time it was painted because it was “considered to be profoundly anti war and seen by some as portraying the Russian army in a bad light”.

Witnesses to, and supporters of, Russia’s depravity are China and Trump. China, batshit crazy, is represented by the Chinese guardian lions with their heads lost in a swirl of bats. China would have you believe it is on “the right side of history”. On the ground mushrooms bloom. They represent Donald Trump whose penis is shaped like a mushroom (per porn actress Stormy Daniels) and who has described Putin and his actions as “a smart move”, “genius”, “very savvy” and that the Russian invasion force was “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen”.

References:

- “Patriarch Bartholomew handing the formal signed decree to Metropolitan Epifaniy, the new leader of an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in January 2019”: https://theconversation.com/why-church-conflict-in-ukraine-reflects-historic-russian-ukrainian-tensions-175818

- “2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Moscow–Constantinople_schism “Moscow, third Rome” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_third_Rome

- Putin, “miracle of god”, Kirilll https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-putin-religion-idUKTRE81722Y20120208

- “Kirill on Sunday depicted the war in spiritual terms. ‘We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance ... [a] test for the loyalty’ … describing the conflict as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold ‘gay parades’” https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-religion-europe-moscow-0670305be2e010e02a4e195ced2b7523

- Russian Orthodox Church statement, signed Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5900861.html

- “Religious belief appears to have negative influence on children’s altruism and judgments of others’ actions even as parents see them as ‘more empathetic’” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/religious-children-less-altruistic-secular-kids-study

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_warship,_go_fuck_yourself

- The Apotheosis of War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apotheosis_of_War#Reception

- “China on the right side of history over Ukraine war, [Chin’s] foreign minister says” https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-right-side-history-over-ukraine-war-foreign-minister-2022-03-20/

- “Trump praises ‘genius’ Putin for moving troops to eastern Ukraine” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/23/trump-putin-genius-russia-ukraine-crisis.

 

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