PATRIARCH: RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLE ARE PEACE-LOVING AND LONGSUFFERING
Institute of Religion and Policy, 3 April 2022
Russians do not have a desire for war or for doing something that could cause harm to others. Russia and its people are peace-loving and longsuffering, Patriarch Kirill said at the main church of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and he urged the army and people to realize the "historic importance of the moment."
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill urged Russian service personnel to be faithful to their oath to the end and "to realize the historic importance" of current events, and urged the whole people to understand that a special time has arrived upon which its fate may depend. The patriarch spoke about this on Sunday after the liturgy in the main church of the Armed Forces of the R.F.
"The majority of countries of the world are under the colossal influence of a single force, which today, unfortunately, has become a negative force opposing our people. . . . And we must be very strong. When I say 'we' I have in mind both the armed forces, primarily, but not only them—all our people today must, as it were, wake up, wake up and understand that a special time has arrived on which may depend the historical fate of our people. It is for this reason that here today in this church I performed the Divine Liturgy, in order to meet, in the first place, representatives of our armed forces, and to appeal to them, and through them our army and navy and all defenders of the fatherland, so that they would realize the historic importance of the present moment," the patriarch said.
He said that Russia is a peace-loving country and its people are a "longsuffering peace-loving people," who have suffered from wars as few European peoples have. The primate of the Russian church is sure that Russians have no desire for war or to do anything that could cause harm to others.
"But we have been so trained by our whole history that we love our fatherland and we will be ready to defend it as only Russians are able to defend their country. . . . I start with the history of our people, our armed forces; after all, we broke the back of nazism, which would undoubtedly have conquered the world if . . . not for the achievement of our people," the patriarch declared.
He added that he never ceases to feel anxiety for those people who live in places where armed confrontations are happening. The primate of the RPTs urged doing everything so that bloodshed will cease and "there be no danger of internecine strife."
"At the same time, we must be faithful—I have military personnel primarily in mind—to our oath and readiness "to lay down our life for our friends," the patriarch concluded.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the conduct of a special military operation in Ukraine in response to the appeal for help of leaders of the republics of the Donbass. He emphasized that Moscow's plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territory and that the goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The Russian Ministry of Defense has declared that Russian troops are not striking blows at cities but are disabling only military infrastructure and therefore the civilian population is not threatened by anything.
It was on Sunday, 3 April 2022, that numerous reports began to arrive concerning the discovery in the city of Bucha and other cities of Ukraine of bodies of civilians with signs of torture and executions, and the world came to realize the scale of what was happening. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 April 2022)
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