ROC priest: Those who call for peace are acting under Antichrist spirit
Archpriest Andrei Tkachev of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed his belief that those who advocate for peace ("netvoynisty") actually want to "sin as they did before."
On May 6, 2025, the Feast of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, Archpriest Andrei Tkachev, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Khokhlovka, Moscow, said in his sermon that those who do not want war and call for peace actually just want to return to their usual sinful way of life.
Speaking about the Great Martyr, the priest urged people to pray that "he may help our troops today in the offensive, that he may protect our skies from enemy shells and missiles during the parade and all the celebrations."
Commenting on the topic of war, Tkachev stated that wars will only fully cease during the reign of the Antichrist.
"The longed-for peace, about which Soviet newspapers wrote – peace and security, peace and détente, peace for the whole world – all this will happen, but only on the eve of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and during the times of the vile Antichrist. Until then, people will fight," the priest declared, assuring that the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and all branches of the military will be needed until the very Last Judgment.
"And those who want peace and security out of time have the spirit of the Antichrist. All these 'netvoynisty' [literally no-to-war advocates], those among us who are for everything good and against everything bad – they, of course, don't think of it this way. They think they are great Christians. But in reality, the spirit of the Antichrist is at work in them," Tkachev insisted.
In his opinion, those who call for peace actually seek it only to continue sinning.
"A cowardly, faint-hearted, carnal spirit of the Antichrist that wants peace not for God, but peace for sin. Give me a peaceful life so I can sin like before. And don't interfere with my life. Don't stop me from traveling, drinking, eating, earning, and sinning. That's why I need peace. Give it to me. That is the peace of the Antichrist," the priest affirmed.
According to him, "normal people understand that everyone wants peace, but since sin lives within man, there will be no peace until the world is entirely recast in the fire of a great flame."
Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Tkachev, Russia's destruction of the infrastructure of Ukrainian cities and villages is "a war according to Christian principles."
