Jerusalem Patriarchy’s Dangerous Ties to Russia |
One could hardly describe the Russian Orthodox Church (hereafter: ROC) as an independent institution with a clear separation from the state. It is integral to both the Kremlin’s propaganda machine in the domestic information space and to its overseas network of agents. Under the guise of religious freedom, representatives of the ROC carry out a wide range of tasks in the interests of the Russian Federation, including subversive activity, intelligence gathering, providing a platform for apologists and ideologues of Rashism, and recruitment among the local population. One of the main centres of their activity outside the Russian Federation is Jerusalem, the holiest city for Christians and Jews worldwide and the third-holiest city in Islam. Being a crossroads of the three Abrahamic religions, Jerusalem is an ideal location for expanding and spreading Russian influence on various levels. For that reason, the city and the opportunities it offers have been the object of Russian diplomatic interest for several centuries, regardless of the local regime’s attitude toward religion in general.
In order to legitimise its activities in other countries and hide behind the interests of the Orthodox Church, Russia needs religious figures “on the ground” who will serve as bridges between the ROC and local residents, religious leaders, donors, diplomats, and potential collaborators. In this article, we will examine who exactly performs this function for the Kremlin in the Holy City, and why their relationship with Russia poses a threat to both the regional and national security of the State of Israel.
Patriarch Theophilos III is the 141st Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Syria, Arabia and Jordan, Cana of Galilee, and Holy Zion. He has held this position since 2005, after his predecessor, Patriarch Irenaios I, was removed first by the Synod and then by the All-Orthodox Council in Phanar (Fener) due to accusations of involvement in scandalous deals involving the sale of church real estate in East Jerusalem, in a traditionally Arab district, to an Israeli company. However, Israel’s recognition of Theophilos’s leadership over the Jerusalem Patriarchate, unlike that of Palestine and Jordan, was delayed for two years, until Greece, of which Theophilos III is a native, demanded it from the Israeli government before the Israeli Supreme Court issued a final decision on the matter.
In 2008, Theophilos III unexpectedly made some anti-Russian statements during a press conference with a Russian delegation of journalists organised by the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. At the time, one of the journalists asked him whether he considered it normal that the faithful of his patriarchate are Arabs while the bishops are mostly Greeks. In response, the patriarch said, “Our church has never engaged in politics or business. The Lord preserves us as the cradle of all churches… But this is Greek metaphysics, which Russians probably find difficult to understand.” He added: “We lived well and peacefully until Porfiry Uspensky, founder of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in the Holy Land, appeared here… he may be a holy man, but he poisoned our life with the poison of nationalism… Since the time of Empress Catherine, Russia’s main concern has not been the Balkans, but Jerusalem itself. Since then, nothing has changed… Russia is carrying out cultural and political aggression here.” The then editor-in-chief of “The Church Herald”, the official body under the ROC of the Moscow Patriarchate, called these statements by Theophilos “boorish and Russophobic.”
However, it would be premature to rejoice over a supposedly independent Jerusalem Patriarchate. In 2013, Theophilos received the Order of Saint Vladimir, First Class, and the Order of Glory and Honour, First Class, from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the same year, in Ukraine, which back then was ruled by a corrupt pro-Russian president, he received the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, First Class, “for outstanding ecclesiastical activity aimed at raising the authority of the Orthodoxy in the world, on the occasion of Ukraine’s celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’.”
In 2019, Theophilos III visited Moscow, where he met in person with the........