The head of the Russian Orthodox Church made his remarks, also reported on by the Moscow Times and subsequently by American media outlets, in a March 6 sermon.

In his sermon, Patriarch Kirill appeared to justify the War in Donbas, which began in 2014.

“In the Donbas there is rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called values that are offered today by those who claim world power,” Patriarch Kirill preached. “Today there is such a test for the loyalty of this government, a kind of pass to that ‘happy’ world, the world of excess consumption, the world of visible ‘freedom.’ Do you know what this test is? The test is very simple and at the same time terrible: this is a gay parade.”

AsiaNews reported that “hundreds of people and representatives of the clergy in Russia” have publicly criticized Patriarch Kirill’s remarks; these criticisms have been “immediately censored and sanctioned.”