MOSCOW (Realist English). On April 3, the day of the memory of St. John the Ladder, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia performed a divine service in honor of the Resurrection of Christ in the Patriarchal Cathedral — the main church of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. At the end of the Liturgy, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the faithful.
“We are a peace-loving country and a very peace-loving, long-suffering people who have suffered from wars in a way that few European nations have. We have no desire for war or to do something that could harm others. But we have been brought up by our entire history so much that we love our Fatherland and will be ready to defend it as only Russians can defend their country.
When I say these words, I am not uttering any empty compliments at all. I am starting from the history of our people, from the history of our Armed Forces. After all, we have broken the backbone of fascism, which, undoubtedly, would have defeated the world if it were not for Russia, if it were not for the feat of our people. May the Lord help us today, so that we, being peaceful, peace—loving and modest people, were at the same time ready — always and under any circumstances — to protect our native home,” the Patriarch stressed.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church added that he does not cease to feel anxious for all the people who live in the places where military clashes are taking place today:
“For all these individuals and peoples of Holy Russia, all of them are our brothers and sisters. But, as in the Middle Ages, wishing to weaken Russia, different forces pushed brothers against each other, plunging them into internecine warfare. And so it happens today. Therefore, we need to do everything we can to stop the bloodshed, so that there is no danger of internecine warfare with all its consequences. But at the same time, we must be faithful — when I say “we”, I mean, first of all, military personnel — to our oath and readiness to “lay down our soul for our friends,” as the word of God testifies.”
On the morning of February 24, the Supreme Commander-in-chief Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in the Ukraine. The special operation forestalled and thwarted a large-scale offensive by the shock troops formations of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces of on the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, not under control of the Kiev regime, scheduled for March of this year.
