Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department of the ROC for Relations between the Church, Society and the Media, spoke on RTVI about who the ROC sees as a threat of a split.

In response to the words of journalist Maria Kolomychenko that the position of the ROC regarding the war is splitting it from within, triggering the processes of secession in Ukraine and the Baltic states, Kipshidze said that those who bring politics there, speaking about peace, are splitting the Church.

“The schisms at all times occurred because of attempts to introduce political divisions into the church space – this is how those 300 priests who signed the anti-war, but in fact politicized appeal, they tried to bring into the church fence that conflict that has nothing to do with the Church.  There is a threat in this, because there should be no divisions within the Church,” Kipshidze said.