This blog is written during the Russian battle to take over Kiev (Kyiv). This Russian move is not a surprise if you live within a walking distance of Jacob’s well in Samaria.
On top of Jacob's well in the city of Nablus stands a great Russian Orthodox church. What has this got to do with the Russian battle for Kiev? The link is crystal clear. To grasp the link requires a journey into history and readiness to accept that at the heart of the Russian state is religion.
The journey starts in Nablus around year 100 A.D., when a son called Justin was born to Roman parents. Later, Justin accepted the Christian faith and he became one of the early Church fathers known as Justin Martyr.
However, Justin Martyr made a serious misinterpretation of the New Covenant. He wrote in “The Dialogue with Trypho” that, because of the New Covenant, gentiles have been chosen to replace Israel as God´s chosen people. Of course this is not true, but this 2000-year-old misinterpretation (called replacement theology) still affects the world, including Russia's behavior.
The replacement theology ended up in Russia via the Roman Empire.
Early 400th century Roman Emperor Constantine the Great adopted Christianity with the ideas of Justin Martyr's replacement theology. Constantine made this twisted Christianity the main religion of the Roman Empire.
After the death of Constantine, the Roman Empire was divided into two. The western part of the Roman Empire collapsed soon after, but Eastern Rome lasted thousand years. It was called the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium.
During the era of the Byzantine Empire, the replacement theology took a new form. Not only did the gentile believers replace Israel as God´s chosen people, but the Byzantine Empire was believed to be the nation chosen by God. Many Christians at that time believed that the Byzantine Empire was the God's millennial kingdom on earth promised in the book of Revelation.
During the Byzantine era, Russia was born. Vladimir the Great, an early ruler of Russia, converted to the Byzantine kind of Christianity in year 988. Soon after, the entire Russian people were baptized and converted to Christianity as a nation. It happened to happen in Kiev, what was the capital city of the Russians at that time.
Baptism of the whole Russian people is called the Baptism of Rus. From the start Christianity in Russia didn´t mean a personal relationship with God through Jesus the Messiah. Instead, Russia adopted the idea of being God´s chosen nation.
The era of the Byzantine Empire ended in 1453. Russia continued on with the Byzantium idea of being the nation chosen by God.
In the Wind of the Kingdom series is an excellent analysis of Russia as the Third Rome by Israeli professor Anna Geifman.
During the early beginning of the Byzantine era, Queen Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, visited the Holy Land (326-328 A.D.). She identified (not all correctly), multiple sites in the land where churches were later erected.
Among them was Jacob´s well. Patriarch Jacob´s well near ancient Shechem was the place where Jesus met the Samaritan woman, recorded in the Gospel of John.
When Russia became the successor to the Byzantine Empire, Russia inherited both the faith of being God´s chosen nation and the dominion over Byzantium churches in the Holy Land, including Jacob´s well.
These places in the Holy Land are still under Russian control through the Russian Orthodox Church.
In Samaria, busloads of dedicated Russian pilgrims visit these Russian dominated holy sites. Besides Nablus (ancient Shechem) they visit places like Aboud and Burqin, of which most of the Western pilgrims have never even heard. Russian pilgrims say that they have a “program” to visit this places.
In 2001 Zhanna Bichevskaya, a Russian folk music star, recorded a song called "The Field of Kulikovo." It is named after the battle of Kulikovo 1380, where the Russians defeated the Mongolians who had occupied Russia.
This famous singer sings to the Russian crowds that Russia will conquer (liberate) again area after area. In this song, Crimea is mentioned 13 years before Russia actually took over it. The song goes on saying that “We’ll retake the Bosphorus, our Constantinople, and the sacred city of Jerusalem.”
In the Russian mentality, Kiev is just one step on the way to the Holy Land.