Paper short abstract:

The religious aspect of Russia's war against Ukraine, importance of this aspect in the course of this conflict. Religious war as a conflict of values (ideals); the history of these values (ideals) as religious phenomena, their description and analysis. The situation in Ukraine and Latvia.

Paper long abstract:

This report is made in the context of the wider studies to be carried out within the framework of the doctoral thesis in the field of the problems of religion and ideology in interwar Latvia (1918-1940). The given report is an interdisciplinary study involving the disciplines of theology, religious sciences and philosophy. The purpose of this report is find out the (quasi)religious reasons of the Russian war against Ukraine, to compare the situation of Ukraine and Latvia. The tasks are to apply the analysis of historical facts to the current situation and its causes, also to implement a summary of the results of this application, looking at the problem from the standpoint of Christian theology. The analysis presented here is based on the results of studies of trends of Russian religious philosophy and theology, as well of the history and doctrine of the Orthodox Church; these studies are quite well represented in the many scientific publications, however, their application to the current situation in the World just starting now. The given report provides a rationale for why Russia's war against Ukraine can be defined as a religious war, which is a conflict of values (ideals). The report also provides a review and an analysis of the philosophical, theological and historical preconditions of this conflict. In this context is examined the V.Zenkovski book "Five months in power" (early 1930s), in which this war was presented as an almost inevitable future, also is presented and justified a collection of narratives of this war. The comparison of the (quasi)religious aspect of the situation in Ukraine and Latvia allows a clear survey of the problems of the conflict of values, as well as drawing conclusions that could be useful today for Ukraine and Latvia, and possibly other countries of the World.