Here is a link to a must-see film by The New York Times about Father Ioann Burdin, a Russian Orthodox priest who is being persecuted by the Russian state for speaking out against the Ukraine war. Gary Shteyngart, the smarty-pants Soviet emigre novelist, is the narrator and host. Lines from the sermon that got Father Ioann arrested and charged:

"We Christians cannot stand on the sidelines while brother kills brother, Christian kills Christian. We cannot bashfully close our eyes. We cannot call black, white. The blood of Ukrainians is not only on the hands of leaders of the Russian Federation and the soldiers who carry out their order. Their blood is on the hands of each of us who approved this war, or who stayed silent."

I could have done without Shteyngart vesting as an Orthodox priest to read a section of the sermon, but that mild sacrilege (if sacrilege it is) is nothing compared with the sacrilege committed by Patriarch Kyrill. Father Ioann is a true hero and confessor of the faith. Watch and marvel -- and pray for him.