'Crazy people' and 'madmen' want war with nuclear-armed Russia says Kirill.

Follow us! - Telegram, Twitter, Gab, and Reddit. More great content, memes, commenting and community not available on this site.

We are also on Facebook and Instagram which have been designated terrorist organizations by the Russian government. 

In our coverage of the almost weekly comments of the Russian Church, Patriarch Kirill, we have made the case that his communication with the Russian people speaks much more accurately to the realities of Russia's conflict with the West than those of Russia's secular leaders, including the Russian president, precisely because he speaks very boldly to the spiritual dimension of the conflict.

From yesterday's service

It is interesting to note that Russia's secular leaders, including Putin himself, have increasingly brought this spiritual terminology into their own rhetoric, ever more frequently point out the Satanic nature of the West's elites. Putin's recent description of them as 'Satanic' in a speech drew a huge positive response from traditionalist Christians in the West, who have come to a similar conclusion.

Yesterday was a case in point, when Kirill, again, as he has almost on a weekly basis, was completely uncompromising in declaring the spiritual nature of what is unfolding on the international stage. The occasion came in a sermon on the celebration of Epiphany, which is when God appeared to John the Baptist as he was baptizing Jesus, a major holiday in Russia, which involves the colorful spectacle of many of the faithful plunging into freezing water through ice holes chopped into frozen ice on rivers, lakes, and ponds.

Here is a video of the sermon in Russian. It is usually published with subtitles in dozens of languages, and we will replace this video with one with captions if it appears. Full transcript below.

And here is an interesting video with captions (you have to turn them on in the video settings), of the rite in the service of the blessing of the holy water:

One could write thousands of words on the nuances of implications of what Kirill said in the sermon, but we will have to limit ourselves to a few quotes. 

One of his ongoing themes in these sermons is that the political elites of the West, are in fact, psychologically unhinged, psychopaths, pushing war on the whole world. This sermon was no different, where he says 'crazy people' think war with a nuclear-armed and militarily powerful Russia is a good idea, describing them as 'madmen'. The money quote, which made headlines around the world, was:

'This desire to defeat Russia today has taken, as we know, very dangerous forms. We pray to the Lord to talk sense into those madmen and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world.

But not only about that we should pray, but that instead of such madness the human race will gain some new consciousness ...  toward the preservation of faith in God, without which all other values become distorted.'

In the sermon, Kirill describes these people as ones who 'control a large part of the world', i.e. implying that this is a supranational group, not the heads of state of individual countries. He says that they are obsessed with pushing their 'values' on the whole world, pointing out that these are not 'values' at all, but anti-values. Here, Kirill is referencing mostly sexual deviance and body mutilation through the trans cult.

He says that these 'crazy people', want everyone to be the same, and want to 'reformat' mankind to adhere to their demonic 'values', which are the direct opposite of Christian values.

When Kirill speaks of the 'end of the world', it has a dual meaning, at one literal and physical, and also spiritual. On one level, he is talking about nuclear armageddon, and on another, he is referring to the idea, widespread in Russia, that Russia is the last remaining Christian restraining power on earth against the un-trammelled hegemony of satanic powers who are in full control in the West, and by extension, the rest of the world.

The full sermon follows below. It is good stuff, and refreshing reading. It is little appreciated in the West how talented Kirill is in communicating with the public and as a preacher, which make a powerful impact on Russian public opinion.

This kind of Christian, spiritual interpretation of world events is common in Russian public discussion, on mainstream TV and in Russia's boisterous alternative media, a key difference between public life in Russia and the West.

Transcript:

My dear most reverend bishops, fathers, brothers, and sisters, I heartily congratulate you on the great feast of the Epiphany. And this cathedral in particular - because it is named and built in honor of this holiday!

The grace of God has appeared to all men - as the apostle said about the event on the Jordan River (see Titus 2:11). No other event in either the Old or the New Testament says that the grace of God appeared to all men. Not to the elect, not to the inner circle of the apostles, not to any of the circles around the Savior, but to the whole world the grace of God that saves all.

This is the whole point of this holiday.

The Lord came into the world and through His preaching, through His immortal words He renewed the minds of people, helped them to create a new system of values, moral and spiritual, in the framework of which mankind began to develop, reaching enormous heights.

We cannot say that this development has been progressive, because the enemy of the human race has always created obstacles, tried to throw us off the path, and in some ways achieved his goals. But the fact that in the 21st century, in the city of Moscow, in the overcrowded Epiphany Cathedral we celebrate this holiday, just as our pious ancestors did, we feel the sprinkling of holy water, we feel the presence of divine grace - all this is another confirmation that God's words are immortal, His preaching has no end, the power of grace will never fade.

Because God is stronger than the devil, because God is the Creator of the world, and in His hand is all the divine creation. And as we celebrate today the descent of the grace of the Holy Spirit on the Jordan River at the moment of the Baptism of the Lord and Savior, we must realize again and again that God, by the power of His grace, is with all His creation, with the living and the lifeless, the reasonable and the unreasonable.

Perhaps if not for this life-giving divine energy, which is present in God's creation, the world would have long ago ceased to exist.

Today we know that there are very great threats to the world, to our country and to the whole human race, because some crazy people have the idea that the great Russian state, which has powerful weapons, populated by very strong people, who from generation to generation have always been motivated to victory, who have never surrendered to any enemy, who have always come out victorious - that under present conditions it is possible either to beat them or, as they say now, reformat them, that is to impose on them certain "values", so that they would be like everyone else, and fall under the control of those who control a most of the world.

This desire to defeat Russia today has taken, as we know, very dangerous forms. We pray to the Lord to talk sense into those madmen and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world. But not only about that we should pray, but that instead of such madness the human race will gain some new consciousness. A consciousness of our interdependence, a consciousness of the fragility of the world in which we all live, and of the need to work together for common values and goals that would be directed primarily toward the preservation of life and, I would add as an Orthodox Christian, toward the preservation of faith in God, without which all other values either become distorted or simply reformatted into the opposite and become not values, but factors contributing to the destruction of human life.

These are troubling times today. But we believe that God will not abandon the land of Russia, will not abandon our government, our Orthodox President, our army. That Russia will be strong enough in case of need to defend its land and its people. But God grant that it has not come to such a quarrel, that God reconciles all, and helps us to work together to make the world a better place.

That is our prayer today - for peace in the world. But also for the welfare of God's holy churches, for the unity of all. We pray that all these menacing and disturbing rumors, rumors of war, would fade away, and that there would be peace in the world and the ability for all to work together to cast out all untruths, all lies from human relations.

Today is a special day. We celebrate the coming into the world of the grace of God, which was given in response to the atoning sufferings of Christ the Savior. It is through His Cross, through His sufferings, through His atoning sacrifice that grace, that is the Divine energy, was given to the human race, which lives in a special way in the Church of Christ. And we pray to the Lord that the power of grace may overcome every dangerous and sinful human thought, and that faith, godliness, and peace may be strengthened.

May the Lord preserve the land of Russia, may the Lord preserve our Church, may the Lord preserve all His creation, and may He help those who have not yet come to glorify His name to realize that faith in God is the power that can keep the world from decay and destruction. And the sooner the world realizes this, the greater will be the prosperity in people's lives.

Through the prayers of the holy saints who have shone forth in our land, may the Lord protect the Russian land, our homeland, our Church, and all of us, my dear ones, who resort to the Lord in faith and keep in our hearts the hope of His mercy for each of us.

End

Follow us! - Telegram, Twitter, Gab, and Reddit. More great content, memes, commenting and community not available on this site.

We are also on Facebook and Instagram which have been designated terrorist organizations by the Russian government.  ; - )