Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said that the Church supports the efforts of the Presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, to preserve the spiritual unity of the peoples and the Union State.
"Our church strongly supports the efforts of state leaders, the leaders of Russia and Belarus, who today stand guard over the preservation of the spiritual unity of our peoples and the preservation of our common Union State," Patriarch Kirill said on Sunday.
He stated this at a solemn sermon on the feast of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which took place in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church of the Sretensky Stavropol Monastery.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed that the Russian Federation and Belarus offer the world, including the West, an alternative to civilizational development.
According to him, in Western countries there is an absolutely incorrect understanding of freedom as permissiveness.
"There, under the guise of these slogans of freedom, people's right to commit sin is not just encouraged, but legislatively approved," Patriarch Kirill said, warning that "this is the way to the end."
As it was reported earlier, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia awarded President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko the Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow (I degree). He stressed that the Belarusian leader contributes in every possible way to the protection of traditional spiritual, moral and family values, as well as to the expansion of humanitarian cooperation and the strengthening of fraternal unity of the Slavic peoples.