The Orthodox Nationalist: New Russia and the Rise of the Republics

This week on The Orthodox Nationalist, Dr Matthew Raphael Johnson deals with what he calls “the most significant event in world history since the fall of the USSR” — the rise of the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Collectively called New Russia, this is the highly industrialized region of Ukraine that took up arms against the liberal coup of 2014.

What began as a rag-tag, popular rebellion against the proposed liquidation of all industry in payment of debt, has turned into an economic and political miracle.

There has been no “Russian invasion.” This would be unnecessary since the militia of New Russia has soundly defeated the poorly equipped Ukrainian army. Without morale and a desertion rate of over 40% in some cases, the Ukrainian army collapsed in the face of the Nationalist revolt of the Donbass. Today, the USA and the EU pay mercenaries from Poland and the Baltics to fight as the “Ukrainian Army.”

In 2016, the “Russian Orthodox Army,” “Sparta Batallion,” the “Miners Army,” the “Steppe Battalion,” “Oplot Brigade” and many others have come out of this civil war the victors. These are militant Social Nationalists and Orthodox believers. Needless to say, World Orthodoxy has been silent. They are accepted by the Moscow patriarchate, which means that they are rejected by the Catacomb Orthodox and others. Since they sometimes use old Soviet symbols, amateurs like Vladimir Moss believe that these are “Communist movements.”

It is one thing to talk about Orthodox action, but it seems that whenever action is taken, far too many are afraid of the repercussions and afraid of the sacrifices involved. One of the problems today is that the Soviet symbolism does not have the same meaning that it did in 1920. The Hammer and the Sickle are Russian Nationalist symbols in Ukraine, not Soviet cosmopolitan ones and many Orthodox are unable to see this key distinction.

These are not “Communist” movements in the sense that Lenin and Trotsky represented them 100 years ago, they are Social Nationalist fighters. They are anti-homosexual, pro-family and strictly Orthodox movements that have largely been abandoned by the Orthodox world.