(Reuters) – Russian soldiers who die in the war in Ukraine will be washed away from all their sins, the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church said days after Vladimir Putin announced the country’s first mobilization since the Second World War.
Patriarch Cyril is an ally of the Russian president. He has already expressed his support for the military intervention in Ukraine, criticized the opponents of this war and called on the Russians to show solidarity with the Kremlin.
“The Church prays for this battle to end as soon as possible, so that as few brothers as possible kill each other in this fratricidal war”, declared Cyrille, 75, in his first Sunday sermon since the order of mobilization.
“But at the same time, the Church realizes that if someone, driven by a sense of duty and the need to honor his oath (…), dies in the fulfillment of this duty, then (… ) she will have sacrificed herself for others. And so, we believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed,” he added.
(Report Reuters; French version Alizée Degorce)
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