For four months “iFact” together with Moldovan colleagues has been investigating how the representatives of the orthodox church spread disinformation and propaganda in these two counties. Today Georgia and Moldova due to the geopolitical situation are most affected by the pressure of the Russian information war.
What did the Georgian and Moldovan churches preach about the war in Ukraine?
For the last four months, we have been collecting statements by priests shared in traditional and social media, and during religious ceremonies and then comparing these statements voiced while their parish related to the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, human rights, the western world, and domestic political issues.
In this episode of the investigation, we will inform you about how Moldovan and Georgian clergy responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you read the article carefully, you will also find the source of information for the Georgian and Moldovan Orthodox churches.
Opinions expressed by Georgian clergy regarding the war in Ukraine are grouped into four main categories:
- The West started the war and plans to involve other countries.
- The sanctions against Russia do not work and we should not join them.
- Russia is an invincible bear and we should call it “Babaya” (From the Georgian proverb).
- Ukraine and its president are full of sins, and therefore the war is the wrath of God.
Moldovan clergy actively uses the first and the last message too.
Three weeks after the war in Ukraine the Patriarchate of Georgia did not criticize the aggressor country, it did not even mention its name.
Moldovan patriarchate also published the first official statement in response to the current events in Ukraine 40 Days after the war started.
The war was indirectly or directly mentioned in 9 statements issued by the Patriarchate and Ilia II from 24 February to 7 January 2023. Russia has been mentioned in five of them.
Ilia the second touched on this topic shortly in this year’s Christmas epistle – “I would like to congratulate everyone and, first of all, the children affected by the severe consequences of the war in Ukraine, congratulate any young person in general, on the glorious celebration of Christmas.”
At the same time, Ilia II did not hesitate to publicly congratulate Russian Patriarch Kiril on his birthday not taking into account the ongoing war in Ukraine. On 20 November he sent a congratulatory letter to Kiril with the following text: “I wish that with your and joint efforts, peace is restored as quickly as possible between Russia and Ukraine, as well as between our states.”
We all are very well aware of what a peacemaker the Patriarch of Russia is in reality.
“They did this to Russia on a purpose”
In parallel with the ongoing war in Ukraine, we heard from Georgian priests that Russia did not want to engage in the war itself, but the third power, the West, made Russia do it. Consequently, you would rarely hear from priests that Ukraine was invaded by Putin. According to them, this war is America’s initiative for the sake of its interests and to conquer Russia. However, not with his forces, but with the hands of Ukrainian soldiers.
The Russian Church supported the Kremlin propaganda. Patriarch Kirill publicly stated that Russia did not invade anyone, it only defends its borders, and this war was initiated by other evil forces to destroy two Orthodox countries (Russia and Ukraine).
We heard the same narratives in Georgia from the church not only during the liturgy but during the live broadcast and their posts on social media. Disinformation scholars explain to us that this cannot be just a coincidence.
“We should not consider these statements as an abstract. Our observation showed that to a significant extent, these messages were consistent with the messages published by the Russian Patriarchate. Consequently, it is important to understand that we are dealing with a large and interconnected action, and not only with an opinion by one specific priest,” – Media Development Foundation (MDF) researcher Sandro Gigauri told us. MDF has been studying Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns for eight years.
Davit Dzidzishvili, a researcher of the Russian hybrid war, explains to us what could be the reason why the Georgian church representatives decided to share the Kremlin’s propaganda.
“They try not to irritate their friends and then tell them – we are on your side, as you see, we don’t say anything bad. The second reason is that they are not friends, but they are agents of direct influence and now they have the task of somehow justifying Russia’s policy wherever there is an opportunity to do so. The third option is even more difficult. The Georgian authorities use the church to present that Georgia is doing right by not getting involved in this war.”
“Let’s not forget, the U.S. was established at the cost of the lives of indigenous people and African tribes. . Similarly, today: USH [United States of Europe] is created at the cost of the lives of Orthodox Slavs!” wrote Basil Akhvlediani, deacon of the Church of the Mother of God of Akaurti Villages on his Facebook page in October.
We would like to know the sources the deacon relies on and his access to information related to USE. . We got the response from his eparchy “ Father Basil said that he has a blessing to act so and he no longer communicates with media”.
“In the world of the game, big countries have always opposed each other. They do not try to attack each other directly but through satellite countries. It is the interest of the West to make fire around Russia,” said Spiridon Tskifurishvili, the abbot of the Vardigora monastery in Terjola, on 13 July.
We wanted to ask Tskifurishvili about the basis of his conclusion that the war is in the interest of the West and Russia has nothing to do with it. He replied through social media: “I have a lot of work to do and I can’t find time for liberal media who support sodomy.”
It is an interesting coincidence that the pro-Russian propagandist group “Alt-Info” had the same message to spread. According to them, the goal of the West was to “create an arc of fire around Russia” and initiate a war with someone else’s hands.
“The “Georgian Dream” with a pro-Western course has put us in danger and on the edge of war. They admit those things that we have been talking about for so long, that we will be in danger of war because of Western demands. The West needs from us a fiery arc around Russia and in the end, they will push us against Russia, as they did in 2008,” Shota Martynenko during “Alt-Info” live broadcast in August of last year.
The Russian propaganda message, as if the West wants to open another front, meaning drag us into the war, has spread to different countries. Among them, in Georgia, Moldova, Hungary, Belarus, Italy, Greece, and Serbia. The version about “being drawn into the war” was most often heard in Belarus and Georgia. “iFact” has published this information before that even government officials do not shy away from voicing this opinion in Georgia.
The members of the Georgian government package as if we have peace thanks to them and we should be thankful that the Tbilisi sky has not been shelled. From the very first week of the war, Irakli Gharibashvili’s flattering statements toward Russia were also welcomed by the priests. Some of them also thanked for “ rescuing the political path”.
“Thanks to the Prime Minister of Georgia, for announcing a political discourse that is unpopular among the liberal crowd and will save Georgia as a country! May God strengthen and help to overcome the numerous obstacles on this path,” Zosime, priest of the monastery of St. George of Dvani, wrote on his Facebook page on 28 February 2022.
“We should not join the sanctions”
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, American and European countries imposed economic sanctions on Russia one after the other, and large international brands left the territory of the occupying country. In parallel, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, informed us that Georgia would not even take a step against Russia, since the sanctions would not be effective and, on the contrary, would harm our “national interests”.
The action of the Georgian government not joining the wave of sanctions was applauded in Russia. “Friends, Georgia has recovered!” – this is how the editor-in-chief of the Russian propaganda media, “Russia today”, Margarita Simoniani responded to this news on “Twitter” on 25 February.
You would not be surprised, but this idea was also liked by Georgian clergy. At first, Andria Getsadze, priest of Lavra of Trinity Patriarchate, responded to Gharibashvili’s statement and called the decision “dignifying”. On the same day, priest Yakob Mestvirishvili also published a letter of solidarity to the Prime Minister. The next day, Davit Rukhadze, the priest of the Saburtalo Cathedral, published a post with the same content.
He was followed by Tsageri and Lentekhi Metropolitan Stefane Kalaijishvilii, who touched on this topic during the Sunday sermon. According to him, Georgia is tied to Russia and by going against it, we will no longer have electricity or gas.
The message regarding rivalry with Russia hurting us is also openly highlighted by Russia. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Denis Gonchar, said in December that the growth of Georgia’s economy is the result of a non-hostile attitude towards Russia.
He also added that if we continue to operate on the same page, they will “reward us” by canceling the visa regime and restoring direct flights between countries. At the end of January, we Georgians personally have been praised by Sergey Lavrov because of our easygoing positions toward Russia opposing the West.
We asked the researcher of the hybrid war, what is the purpose of the Georgian church while confronting the country at war, “blacklisting” it and at the same time trying to justify Russia’s evil actions. Davit Dzidzishvili thinks that now the only goal of the clergy is to maintain their authority and influence on people and for that, they will do anything, including threatening the public with war.
“The only way to maintain this authority is to maintain cooperation with Russia, to constantly scare people that the West will come and change your sexual orientation. These are not people who give up on their power easily. They don’t want a large number of people to be part of another ideology. When you have slaves, you don’t want them to start thinking about freedom. When you see this danger you easily scare them with what you can – with war, homosexuality, and everything…” – Davit Dzidzishvili told us.
“We will lose the fight with Russia”
Georgian clerics also said that we should not fight Russia because it is invincible, it will defeat us, and it is better not to start a problem where we know the end. Most often they focused on the fact that we are small and Russia is big, we don’t even have an army, so fighting with them is suicide.
Metropolitan Ioane Gamrekeli told us that he does not interfere in politics and does not touch the issue of Ukraine during our telephone conversation. When we reminded him of his words, he replied: “This is not what I think about, it’s a fact. Compare the possibilities, military, or economic. We tried it once in 2008 and what did we get … Georgia was defeated in one day.”
Shota Orvelashvili, the pastor of St. George’s Church in Kachreti, wrote on 7 March on social media that we don’t have military resources and we can’t properly analyse Russia’s power: “One who worships power is a coward, but one who does not consider power is an idiot.”
We were wondering about the pastor’s sources of information around Zelensky’s sexual orientation, or whether the war in Ukraine was initiated by the West. He told us that he does not follow TV and learns everything from the internet.
He was also on the Internet that he organized A satanic performance in one of the Ukrainian churches he claimed he saw on the internet. We asked him about the origin of this video, but he did not remember exactly where he saw it, and on which Facebook page. We explained that this video might not be real, but this is what he replied:
“Who made it fake then? Why shouldn’t I believe the thing that I saw and should I believe in your fakes? They named the city, the church, and the whole history.”
Some church representatives foresee a great victory for Russia and the annexation of Ukraine by the occupant country.
“Battles will end. Peace will prevail. The Orthodox Church will unite. Russia will get back the lands that belonged to it since the beginning of time,” said Giorgi Pavlov, the priest of the Church of the Mother of God in Giorgitsminda, Sagarejo, in March.
We remember some of the clergy mentioned in this chapter because of the happenings two years ago. Giorgi Pavlov and Ioane Gamrekeli were also at the July 5 violent rally.
“Clown” and “Gay activist” – Priests against Zelensky
Apart from promoting evil with their own words and pouring water on the Russian mill, the clergy also did not avoid blaming Ukraine. According to them, this country is heavy with sins, because they follow depravity, they have a homosexual as their president, and as a result, God’s wrath has fallen on them.
Similar messages directed against Volodymyr Zelensky were often heard in the heart of the Georgian Church. The priests said that he is a “gay activist” appointed by the Americans, He fights against the Christian Church, knows nothing about the ruling of the country, and kills innocent Ukrainian people.
That this is purely Russian propaganda can be detected from the fact that Sergei Aksyonov, the head of the Russian administration of the annexed Crimea, is also engaged in discrediting Zelensky with similar narratives.
On 18 April, he called the President of Ukraine a “clown” and a “drug addict”. He also added that Ukraine needs a new leader who understands reality adequately and makes independent decisions.
It’s easy to guess where these ideas come from. 10 days after the start of the war, the Patriarch of Russia Kiril said that to become a “happy” and “free” part of the Western world, you must pass the “loyalty test”, which involves holding PRIDE march.
“The test is very simple and at the same time scary – gay parade. If any nation or country won’t meet this requirement, it cannot join the [Western] world.”
Georgian and Moldovan clerics also copy-pasted these ideas.
Psychologist Megi Sajaya tells us that our unconscious easily stores information heard from trusted people. Therefore, it is especially important to be cautious about phrases containing propaganda voiced by preachers in the church. According to the psychologist, it should also be taken into account that the awareness of Georgian society is not that strong due to historical traumas and wars.
“People unknowingly trust opinions that are given without arguments. They don’t want to analyze. The mind is characterized by cognitive stinginess. Whatever information they give us, we will remember… Public awareness is fragile, after the war, we didn’t have time to heal pains and analyze caused trauma. Maybe such an emotional background forces us to consider the opinions of “significant others” as truth. We are not yet in a mental recovery phase.”
Colleagues from Moldova told us that the Patriarchate of Moldova has taken measures against the priests who support the war and spread Russian propaganda.
“Those priests who came out with such statements and supported the war were verbally warned to stop this action and not to spread such messages again. The church is an institution that preaches love, unity, and peace,” Moldovan bishop Joan Mosnegutu, who is the official representative of the Metropolitanate of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, told the journalist of “Independent Press Association”.
We asked Andria Jagmaidze, the press speaker of the Patriarchate of Georgia, how they react to the events happening inside the church where ideas flattering to Russian and harmful to Ukraine are preached. He interpreted disinformation as freedom of speech. He also emphasized that we should not pay special attention to the words of a cleric.
“Priests are not an exception. In general, what happens in all spheres of society, happens here. We see some anti-Ukrainian and anti-Russian expressions. This is how it happens, both among the priests, society and journalists… There is no requirement to restrict freedom of speech in today’s society, on the contrary,” archpriest Andria Jagmaidze answered in writing.
Hybrid war researcher Davit Dzidzishvili tells us that it is a well-tried common Russian trick to sell lies as democracy and free speech.
“They did not have such knowledge before. Now they have learned how to use democracy as a weapon. After all, Russia was doing nothing more in the hybrid war. For example, it used “Russia Today” to spread misinformation and lies but used it as freedom of expression. They (the church) have an alternative opinion, and they would say as if you are against that alternative opinion. They are great students of Russia…”
Priests supporting Ukraine
“Ukraine was left alone in this war by NATO, the Anglo-Saxons, and the dark forces behind it,” – Shota Orvelashvili, Kachreti St. George’s Church
“I don’t have an anti-Russian attitude, I never had and I still don’t have any, but I can’t understand this action, which [the Russians] did now is nothing more than foolishness. They fell into a trap and it did exactly the same what he was fighting against,” – Metropolitan Bishop of Tsageri and Lentekhi, Stefane Kalaijishvili.
“Ukraine follows the U.S. that’s why all this is happening. Russia didn’t like that its brother subordinated to America,” Sergiu Aga, priest of St. Basil’s Church in Orhei, Moldova.
“If you approach it critically, you will learn that no one wants peace in Ukraine. Everyone sends them military support but no one sends them a call for peace. “Biden said, we will fight Russia until the last Ukrainian,” Sergiu Ivanov, Abbot of Archangel Michael and Gabriel Church in Varzarest, Moldova.
“I don’t understand, apart from empathy, prayers, and humanitarian assistance, what support should we provide for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters? What sanctions should we impose on Russia, a country that is small and already full of problems?” – wrote Davit Rukhadze, the priest of Saburtalo Pentecost Cathedral.
“If you have even a little brain, you will not raise this topic at all. What kind of sanctions should Georgia impose on Russia so that it does not harm itself?” – Metropolitan Bishop of Tsageri and Lentekhi Stefane Kalaijishvili.
“I welcome the decision of Mr. Irakli Gharibashvili and our government not to intervene in this conflict and join the sanctions. It would show us as taking sides, incite and there is nothing you can do about it… it is a very serious sin,” – Archbishop Spyridon of Skhalti.
“When you don’t have the power, it’s better to be quiet, so that during the battle you won’t accidentally get some part thrown at you. It is better to be silent and upon ourselves,” – Metropolitan of Tsageri and Lentekhi Stefane Kalaijishvili.
“Who should open [the second front]? With whom you have already had a war and have been defeated… do you call for it to battle and are you ready for it? Ukraine is a ten times bigger country, the West was preparing it for war, the armed forces cannot withstand that pressure, and have you been trained, do you have weapons and such a large army?” – Metropolitan Ioane Gamrekeli of Kutatel-Gaenateli.
“You can’t talk about a war where you know you will surely die. Zelensky himself does not love Ukraine, he sacrifices his own people for death and the country for disaster,” – Spiridon Tskifurishvili, Vardigori Fathers’ Monastery.
“if you choose a gay activist as president in such a holy place, it’s not good and of course, you should expect punishment,” Bishop Spiridon of Skhalta.
“When a spiritual fall begins, God’s wrath comes upon those nations. We received as many wraths as many mistakes we made,” – Shota Orvelashvili, pastor of St. George’s Church in Kachreti.
“We ask to fight the darkness. It is a sin and darkness to hold sodomist demonstrations in Kyiv, an Orthodox country. We have two paths: path to life or death. If we choose life, then we go to Christ; If to death – then to darkness,” – Iona Grigora, bishop of the church named after the Mother of God in the village of Chotova.
“The Slavic-Russian world is against the spread of homosexuality, lesbianism, and other similar sins. It is a battle between life and death. It’s not just a fight between Russia and Ukraine, it’s a fight between the pro-Christian, anti-homosexualist Eastern world and the anti-Christian Western world,” – Deacon Genadie Varuta from the city of Anenii Noi.
