(Reuters) – The patriarch of Russia’s Orthodox Church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, stated on Tuesday that the Western world despised Russia and its “alternative path of civilised development”.
Orthodox Christians in Russia rejoice Christmas on Jan. 7, based on the Julian calendar
Patriarch Kirill, an enthusiastic backer of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, blessed icons and crosses that have been to be engraved with the president’s initials and despatched to servicemen within the 34-month-old battle in Ukraine, Russian information businesses quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Russia presents a problem to highly effective international locations not due to its nuclear capabilities or energy, Kirill stated, based on the information businesses.
“They hate us because we are offering a different, alternative path of civilised development,” he stated at Christ the Saviour cathedral, which was rebuilt on the location of a swimming pool within the Nineteen Nineties after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin levelled it within the Nineteen Thirties.
The West was in ethical collapse, he stated, however Russia confirmed the world mix science, tradition, training and religion.
“Physically, they cannot really smother us, though they try through different types of slander and the creation of blocs of some sort intended to weaken Russia,” he stated. “Nothing will work because God is with us.”
Putin has regarded to the church for assist in Ukraine and denounced what he sees as a decline in Western morals, together with the motion to guard homosexual and transgender rights.
In his Christmas message, the Russian president praised the church for “strengthening the institution of the family, the upbringing of young people and the affirmation of moral ideals”.
Earlier than the cathedral ritual, Putin attended the church of St. George the Victorious with veterans of the Ukraine battle, at Moscow’s Poklonnaya Hill battle memorial complicated.
Ukraine, which has had its personal impartial church since 2018, has moved its Christmas celebration to Dec. 25, although a minority has maintained allegiance to a church with historic hyperlinks to Moscow.
