Editorial Board 22 January 2026
It is impossible to understand the Russia–Ukraine conflict—or to envision a path to peace—without examining the ecclesiological dimension of relations between Moscow and Kyiv. Kyiv has been regarded as the cradle of Russian Orthodoxy since the tenth century, making religious authority and identity deeply intertwined with political power in the region. In Ukraine today, over 72 percent of the population identifies as Eastern Orthodox. For decades, Ukrainian Orthodoxy was largely structured around churches linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, which rejected any ecclesiastical separation from Kyiv. This arrangement was dramatically challenged in 2018, when Patriarch Bartholomew I established the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Although this church now claims the allegiance of more than half of Ukraine’s Orthodox believers, it has never been recognized by Moscow.Reset DOC’s new documentary by Filippo Macelloni, “The Russia–Ukraine Conflict and the Role of the Orthodox Church”, examines how religion, identity, and geopolitics intersect at the heart of Europe’s most devastating war.