Huntington’s Ideas on ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Behind Patriarch Kirill’s Development of ‘Russian World’ Concept that the Kremlin is Now Pushing, Govorun Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 18 – Patriarch Kirill was inspired more than a decade ago by the ideas of US political scientist Samuel Huntington about “the clash of civilizations” to come up with the notion of “a Russian world” more than a decade ago and develop it in the direction of full-fledged fascism, Kirill Govorun says.

            Like many on the extreme right, the Russian theologian who worked with Kirill but then broke with the ROC leader and now lives in the United States, the current patriarch is unlikely to have read Huntington’s works but rather absorbed summaries prepared by his subordinates, including the late Vsevolod Chaplin (pointmedia.io/story/6943cfc0e657f59b666dce8f).

            After Kirill accepted the idea of a Russian world, its definition was developed by Aleksandr Shchipkov, a Russian Orthodox educator and thinker close to Kirill, into the set of ideas Putin and other Russian leaders now regularly talk about, ideas that are increasingly close to fascism.

            The idea of a Russian world as articulated by Kirill and  his aides was recently denounced as a heresy by some 90 church leaders from across Europe at a conference on the subject in Helsinki earlier this month (euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/09/114-european-churches-do-what-wcc-wouldnt-declare-russias-holy-war-heresy/).