Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called on the faithful to pray for the church, Russia, the country's leadership and all participants in the special military operation, noting that if Russia ceases to be a sovereign state, then there will be no Russian Orthodox Church. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke at the plenary session of the World Russian People's Council.
"The time has come for the church to be solely responsible for our people and our country. Today, when many forces have rebelled against us, it is my duty to call to pray for our church, for our President Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], for the motherland, which is going through very difficult life circumstances, as well as for the fraternal peoples of historical Russia. We pray for the support of those forces that are today at the forefront of the struggle for the freedom of our Fatherland, no less - for the freedom of our Fatherland. And if there is no free Russia, then there will be no Russian Church," the patriarch said.
In this case, he continued, "there will be those who will betray from the inside, and those who will absorb from the outside." "Let it not be so," concluded the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Russian Russian People's Council XXV plenary session, dedicated this year to the theme "The present and the future of the Russian world", was held in the State Kremlin Palace with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who made a video conference call.