Zvenigorod, December 16, Interfax - Metropolitan Kirill of
Smolensk and Kaliningrad, interim head of the Russian Orthodox Church, appealed
to believers to remember that the unity of modern Russia has been overseen and
safeguarded by Russian saints.
"Today, everybody is saying that modern Russia should
be a great country. But this greatness must be attained through the Holy
Spirit, rather than through the force of power and the force of arms,"
Metropolitan Kirill said during the festive service in Savvino-Storozhevsky
Monastery in Zvenigorod, the Moscow region.
According to Metropolitan Kirill, Russia (Rus) was named
"Holy" not because it had put up so many churches (Western Europe had
"by all means no fewer" churches). It was named "Holy
Russia" because "Russian saints were the national leaders in Russia,
it was them who formed popular consciousness and traditional values,"
Metropolitan Kirill added.
"We have united many peoples and even members of other
religions around us through this "poverty in spirit" [of the Russian
saints - IF] and created a great country which ranges from the Baltic Sea to
the Pacific Ocean," Metropolitan Kirill said.
According to him, "everything will collapse, including
the peoples around Russia" without the Orthodox faith.
“Let us pray that Holy Rus which today lives in the people's
hearts become our national ideal once again," Metropolitan Kirill said
addressing the worshippers.
