The head of the Russian Orthodox Church today called on the Russians to rally around the authorities as Moscow continues its military intervention in Ukraine.
Patriarch Kirill has made statements in the past in support of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and believes that war is a wall against the Western liberal culture which he considers to be decadent.
“May the Lord help us to unite these difficult times for our country, and around the authorities,” said 75-year-old Kirill during a service in Moscow, as reported by the Interfax news agency.
“May the authorities be filled with responsibility for their people, humility, and readiness to serve them even if it costs them their lives,” added the Patriarch, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Kirill said that if the population rallies around the authorities “there will be genuine solidarity and the ability to repel enemies, external and internal…”
Russia sent tens of thousands of soldiers to Ukraine on 24 February in what it called a special military operation to downgrade the military capacity of its neighboring country and eradicate what it calls dangerous nationalists.
The Ukrainian forces put up strong resistance and the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an attempt to force it to withdraw its forces.
