Patriarch Kirill I and the Russian Orthodox Church are staunch backers of Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine. Sister Vassa, a US-born nun of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, has faced serious consequences for her criticism.
00:00Sister Wasser is a nun with powerful enemies. Since she spoke out against Russia's invasion
00:12of Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church has wanted to silence her.
00:16I ended up being penalized and finally also defrocked because I would not be silent on this issue.
00:27Church leader Patriarch Kirill is a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin. He denies that Russia has engaged in a war of aggression.
00:37Russia has never attacked anyone.
00:42For the nun, standing up to the powerful church hierarchy has had serious consequences.
00:48Good morning, everyone. It's Sister Wasser and welcome back to Morning Coffee.
01:01Hey, June 3rd.
01:02Sister Wasser isn't your average nun.
01:05For years, she's been putting out a weekly podcast dealing with questions about faith and counseling.
01:11She makes a living from giving lectures and publishing books.
01:14This week, I'll be talking to you about the upcoming Feast of Pentecost.
01:19And I'll also be talking to you about what we celebrated this past Sunday,
01:24which was the Sunday of the 318 Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
01:30Her secular name is Barbara Lahren.
01:33She was born and raised in New York State, the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest.
01:40She's currently living in Rome, making use of the city's libraries while she researches a new book.
01:46Sister Wasser has done something very few have dared to do,
01:51criticize Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
01:56Just like the Russian president, Kirill is a former KGB agent.
02:01And he supports Putin's military invasion of Ukraine,
02:05even though it has cost hundreds of thousands of lives in the two countries,
02:09devastated Ukraine and destroyed numerous Orthodox churches.
02:15Russia has never attacked anyone.
02:19It's incredible that such a large and powerful country has never attacked anyone.
02:30It has only ever defended its borders.
02:36It's an absurd distortion of reality.
02:40In Ukraine, Russia's army has destroyed over 600 churches, many of them Orthodox.
02:47Sister Wasser accuses Kirill of pandering to the powerful Russian leadership.
02:56He is pronouncing that all the sins will be washed away from someone in the Russian army,
03:03he's talking about, that goes and kills in a war of aggression.
03:08After she publicly denounced the church's stance, a bishop in New York ordered her to remain silent.
03:14She refused.
03:17I ended up being penalized and finally also defrocked because I would not be silent on this issue.
03:28I was told that I have to stop all of my work, that I'm not allowed to do any internet work anymore,
03:34and that I must enter an unspecified convent within a few weeks' time.
03:40The decision was published by the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia.
03:45DW asked the church to comment on how the decision was reached and its stance on Sister Wasser's criticism, but didn't get a response.
03:54Where does she find the courage to keep speaking out?
03:57She shows us a place in Rome that's especially meaningful for her, with churches originating from the first centuries after Christ.
04:06We have pagan depictions alongside biblical and Christian depictions here because we're in a time that is a transition from paganism to Christianity, if I really oversimplify.
04:24She sees alarming similarities between then and now.
04:29Worshipping the god of power or of war to the point where you're sacrificing your own people, the way we see the Russian regime doing, these are signs of paganism.
04:43Next door, there's a mosaic dedicated to Saint Agnes.
04:48Beneath the church are the catacombs, an underground cemetery that includes the tomb of Saint Agnes.
04:54It is said that the young Agnes died a martyr in the third century after refusing to get married.
05:02She wanted to dedicate her life to God alone.
05:07Following her conscience and overcoming fear, these qualities make Saint Agnes a role model for Sister Wasser.
05:14The fear of taking responsibility for your words and saying what's not popular sometimes,
05:21I think that that is a very crippling thing that doesn't allow us to grow or to really live worthwhile lives.
05:34Such courage also exists much closer to the here and now, including in Russians who have stood up to the regime.
05:42We have examples also in our day of faithful Christians, Orthodox Christians also, like Alexei Navalny, who stood up to falsehood and corruption.
05:55And at the same time, they had this really surprising fearlessness and even joy.
06:04Sister Wasser takes us back to the city center.
06:07The recently deceased Pope Francis is buried in this church.
06:19While he was Pope, he met with Patriarch Kirill.
06:22After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sister Wasser asked Pope Francis about the Russian Patriarch.
06:29He said to me, but we are all brothers.
06:33He said, siamo tutti fratelli.
06:35And I said, I don't think Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church is your brother because he is calling the war something holy.
06:45He's supporting this war.
06:47And I find that to be a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
06:54Today, Sister Wasser is attending a conference with other theologians from all over the world.
07:00They are meeting at the Angelicum Pontifical University in Rome, which originated in the 13th century.
07:12The attendees are Catholics, Copts, Orthodox clergy and representatives of Eastern churches.
07:19Almost all of them are men.
07:21Sister Wasser, who holds a doctorate in theology, is one of the few women here.
07:27Proceedings begin with a performance by a choir from the Coptic church in Egypt.
07:32Here, I have people that I know, and I also know a lot of the people speaking at this conference, not only Orthodox scholars.
07:47So, for me, it's important to reconnect with friends. It's important to find out what they're working on.
08:06Not far from the conference venue is St. Peter's Square with its famous basilica.
08:27Both are part of Vatican City, the seat of the Catholic Church, and home to the Pope.
08:34Both pilgrims and tourists come here in their thousands every day.
08:40But very few people are allowed here.
08:44This is where Sister Wasser and the other conference participants are heading.
08:50Amid these magnificent surroundings, they'll have an audience with the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.
09:01In fact, the Pope makes a rather modest entrance and apologizes for running late.
09:07He leads the group in prayer.
09:09After half an hour, the participants head back to continue the conference.
09:24We want to find out more about the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the State.
09:30At Rome's Pontifical Oriental Institute, we meet Orthodox Church expert Stefano Caprio.
09:37Historically, the role of the Patriarch has always been to support the State, from the Tsars to the Russian Federations.
09:49It corresponds to an ideal from the late Middle Ages, where Moscow was said to be a third Rome.
09:57So the Church determines the state.
10:04In communist times, millions of the Orthodox faithful were brutally persecuted.
10:11Because of this history, Kirill has a lot of credibility among many Russians.
10:16That reputation is something Putin has taken advantage of when it comes to his invasion of Ukraine.
10:22And anyone who speaks out, like Sister Vasa, faces punishment.
10:29They want to discredit me by saying she's not a real nun, she's not Vasa, she's somebody else.
10:36This would be degrading to me in the Orthodox world.
10:41She says that the world of Christian Orthodoxy will always be her spiritual home.
10:48But not the Russian Orthodox Church.
10:51Today she's taking part in a service at San Teodoro, a Greek Orthodox Church in Rome.
10:57Orthodox Churches are often specific to a nation.
11:02In recent years, Ukraine has also established an Orthodox Church.
11:07Sister Vasa feels welcome there.
11:10It was natural for me to switch to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine,
11:14because I have friends there and I have long collaborated as a liturgical scholar
11:21with professors at the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's Theological Academy in Kyiv.
11:33Sister Vasa is a remarkable woman and an unusual nun.
11:38In her free time and when she's exercising, she chooses not to wear a habit.
11:44Male Orthodox monks sometimes take off their habits, but when nuns do it,
11:49some in the church see it as a provocation.
11:53Despite her conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia,
11:57Sister Vasa has no doubts about her identity as a nun.
12:02I would say I became a nun because it's my vocation.
12:06I believe I was called to it and my mother always thought that I would not get married and become a nun.
12:13It's a calling that she won't allow anyone to take away from her,
12:19especially not bishops who condone the war in Ukraine.
