The US and its allies have ganged up against Russia because it has taken its own path and refuses to renounce its Christian traditions, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said.
Speaking about the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine during a sermon on Wednesday, the Patriarch suggested that Russia and its people have entered “a very special period” in their history.
“Many have turned on us, and I keep asking myself: why have they done so? We are the same as many others. In general, we represent the same European cultural tradition. We are Christians,” he said.
According to Kirill, he eventually came to the conclusion that it happened because “Russia has dared – and it has dared because it is an independent and great power – to follow a different civilizational path,” compared to that of the West.
“Today, even in Christian countries, they are rejecting Christ, God and the Church. The churches are being turned into entertainment venues or used for some other purposes, but in our country the Church is building thousands of churches,” he explained.
Now is the time of “God’s special mercy” to Russia and its people, the Patriarch insisted. This understanding “strengthens the hope that the Lord will be with us as long as we do not refuse His guidance,” he said.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who celebrated his 78th birthday on Wednesday, said that all his efforts are aimed at “ensuring that our Orthodox people never change the direction of their spiritual life.”