At the end of March 2023, the Russian-language segment of the Internet bypassed a strange statement from the head of the Lithuanian parliament. We checked whether Viktoria Chmilyte-Nielsen made a similar statement.

As reported in the news, at a meeting with the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, the speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, Victoria Cmilyte-Nielsen, “reproached God.” She allegedly said: “It is completely unacceptable for us, the residents of the city and the descendants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for God to cover up the imperialist aspirations of the Kremlin regime.”

With a similar emphasis in the headlines (for example, “she complained to the patriarch about God helping Russia”), information was disseminated by such media as Lenta.ru, Eurasia Daily, "News» «Gazeta.ru", "Moskovsky Komsomolets", TV channel "Constantinople" And "Public news service" Among the Telegram channels in which the news became popular, we can highlight “Russia now"(328,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Leprosy" (114,000) "Special Operation Z"(93,000), "Gasparyan"(77,000), "Feed of the day" (65,000) and "Nikita Mikhalkov on Telegram"(46,000).

March 20, 2023 to the Republic of Lithuania for a three-day visit arrived Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. He laid flowers to the monument to the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania, spoke at an international conference on the role of religion in wars, and met with the top officials of the host country - the president Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and Speaker of the Seimas Victoria Cmilyte-Nielsen.

The last of the mentioned meetings took place on March 22, dedicated to it press release published on the website of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. As follows from the text, the conversation concerned five Lithuanian priests who had previously been defrocked by the Vilna-Lithuanian diocese (subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church). Official occasion - schismatic activities (they advocated the transfer of local Orthodox Christians to the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople), unofficial version — refusal to remember Moscow Patriarch Kirill at the service because of his support for Russian aggression against Ukraine. One way or another, in February the Patriarchate of Constantinople restored disgraced priests ordained, taking them under their jurisdiction. This is the decision of the Vilna-Lithuanian diocese didn't recognize.

Victoria Cmilyte-Nielsen thanked Patriarch Bartholomew for his support, recalling that from the 13th to the end of the 17th century, the Lithuanian Orthodox Church was part of the Kyiv Metropolis and was thus subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the transition to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate occurred “in subsequent historical circumstances.”

Further, saying that the current capital of Lithuania has always been known as a city of religious tolerance, the speaker of parliament noted: “In Vilnius, the word of God was spread by an expression of love, and not by the sword. Therefore, we, residents of Vilnius and descendants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, consider it absolutely unacceptable for the imperialist goals of the Kremlin regime to be disguised as the will of God. I told His Holiness that it is in this light that we see the situation of the Lithuanian Orthodox.”

Thus, Chmilyte-Nielsen did not talk about God “covering the imperialist aspirations of the Kremlin regime” and did not complain about the Creator to the patriarch. Her thought - consciously or not - was mistranslated. The politician said that the Russian political regime disguises its goals as the will of God and hides behind it. A similar thought expressed and the patriarch himself during his visit to Lithuania.

Many Russian websites and Telegram channels, citing the statement of the speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, referred to the publication of the news agency Baltnews. And indeed, as the analysis of “Verified” shows, this media outlet was the first to disseminate an incorrect version of the translation of Chmilyte-Nielsen’s words in its Telegram channel.

Cover photo: Flickr