Yuri Josef Koszarycz

Senior Lecturer in Theological Ethics (rtd).

Australian Catholic University

June 22, 2026

Catholic priest Fr. Francis Marsden, who speaks Ukrainian & Russian, wrote this in Quora in response to this question:

𝐈𝐬 𝐔𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬?

Kyiv and Novgorod were the most prominent princedoms of the ancient Rus’. Moscow did not exist at that time. As a river port and trading centre, Kyiv began c.500 AD.

Muscovy began as a village in a swamp under Mongol rule. Its earliest historical mention is in 1147. For 240 years (1240–1480) it was a vassal of the Mongol Great Khan, collecting taxes for him from other Slavic cities and princedoms, attacking them, massacring them and absorbing their territories one by one. Only in 1721 did Peter I declare himself Tsar and change the name of his state from Moscoviia to Russia. In this way he tried to steal the history of Kyivan Rus and give Moscovia a more ancient historical pedigree.

Tsarina Catherine II destroyed many of Kyiv’s historical artifacts. She employed historians to write new histories glorifying Moscow as the “true inheritor” of the ancient state of the Rus’.

Those whom you call Russians today (Muscovites) are a mixture of Finno-Ugric, Mongol and Asiatic tribes, along with some Slavic blood. Their political system has always been totalitarianism and autocracy, inherited from the Mongols. They never had the democratic traditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Ukrainian Cossacks. They are happier living under despots and tyrants.

Ukraine today inherits the mantle of the Slavic Rus’ princedoms. Muscovy is a mongrel people, largely primitive Asiatic, with a mentality to match. Sorry if that is a bit unfair on Asians generally. 🫶🇺🇦

https://www.quora.com

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𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌: 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐌𝐲𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤 𝐂𝐒𝐬𝐑 –
𝐔𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐙𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚

The recent Russian missile strike on the Dormition Cathedral in the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra is not only an act of wartime brutality — it is an assault on one of the holiest sites in Eastern Christianity and a spiritual treasure of global significance. This was not an accident. It was a deliberate attack by Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, on the spiritual heart of the Ukrainian people. And it is part of a centuries long pattern in which Moscow has sought to extinguish Ukrainian faith, culture, and language.

The Lavra is more than a monastery. For nearly a thousand years, it has been a centre of prayer, learning, and Christian civilisation. To strike the Dormition Cathedral — a place where countless generations have sought God’s mercy — is to strike at the very soul of Ukraine. It is an attempt to sever a people from their spiritual roots, to destroy what cannot be conquered by force of arms.

This aggression is not only military. It is being given theological cover by Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has repeatedly blessed and justified Russia’s invasion. His rhetoric has transformed a war of conquest into a supposed “sacred mission,” distorting the Gospel and betraying the Christian duty to defend human life and condemn injustice. When religious authority is used to sanctify violence, the harm is doubled: bodies are wounded, and consciences are deformed.

Russia’s attempt to erase Ukrainian identity is not new. For centuries, Ukrainian language, literature, and worship have been restricted or banned by Russian rulers. The Soviet regime imprisoned bishops, executed priests, destroyed churches, and eighty years ago attempted to liquidate the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church entirely. Today’s missile strikes, deportations, and cultural suppression follow the same logic: a people without its faith, without its culture, without its language becomes easier to dominate.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, more than 700 places of worship in Ukraine — churches, synagogues, mosques, monasteries — have been destroyed or damaged. This is not collateral damage. It is a systematic campaign to break a nation’s spiritual backbone. And in the territories currently occupied by Russia, there is no freedom of religion. Churches not aligned with Moscow are closed or seized. Clergy are detained or disappeared. Believers are interrogated, threatened, or forced to flee. A religious landscape that once flourished in diversity has been replaced by fear, coercion, and silence.

This is why Australia, and the wider Western world, must do more. Expressions of concern are no longer enough. When sacred sites are bombed, when clergy are persecuted, when a nation’s cultural memory is under systematic attack, the international community has a moral obligation to respond with clarity and strength.

Australia has been a steadfast friend to Ukraine, and for this we are deeply grateful. But the scale of the threat demands greater resolve: stronger diplomatic pressure, increased humanitarian support, expanded military assistance, and a louder voice in international forums defending the principles of religious freedom and cultural preservation. The West must make it unmistakably clear that the destruction of sacred places and the persecution of believers will carry consequences.

The Dormition Cathedral will be rebuilt. Stones can be restored. Icons can be repaired. But what Russia seeks to destroy — the faith, dignity, and identity of the Ukrainian people — has survived every empire that tried to crush it. It will survive this one as well.

Yet survival is not enough. The world must stand with Ukraine not only so that it endures, but so that justice prevails, culture flourishes, and sacred places remain sanctuaries rather than targets.

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𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐰 – 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 🤔

So, Ukraine hits Moscow with drones… and suddenly Russians started protesting — wait for it – against Great Britain!

You couldn’t make this s*** up.

Completely ignoring the obvious — that Russia is at war with Ukraine, and Ukraine is striking back — the narrative instantly jumps into an alternate reality where the UK is somehow responsible. No mention of the invasion, no mention of months of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, no cause and effect. Just: “It’s Britain’s fault!”

In their minds, they’re just living a peaceful, innocent life — and Britain and Ukraine secretly conspired to attack them, poor innocent people, and Britain is “sponsoring Ukrainian terrorism.”

The mental gymnastics is almost unbelievable.