On Saturday, January 11, in Moscow's St. Sergius of Radonezh Church in Rogozhskaya Sloboda, Orthodox believers, representatives of charitable and public organizations lit 3,000 candles in memory of children killed by abortions. A large floor candlestick in the shape of a cross was made especially for this event.
The event was organized by the social service of the Central Vicariate of Moscow, the charity organization for the support of pregnant women in crisis situations "Save a Life".
"Believers lit candles during the penitential prayer service to the Lord God, the Most Holy Lady Theotokos, and the holy martyrs of the 14,000 infants who were slaughtered by Herod in Bethlehem for Christ's sake. Some were crying, feeling the weight of a tragic mistake they had once made," said Archpriest Alexander Mikheev, rector of St. Sergius of Radonezh Church in Rogozhskaya Sloboda and responsible for social service at the Central Vicariate of Moscow.

"Last year, Tatyana Butskaya, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, said that the number of abortions in Russia could double the official statistics, that is, about 800-900 thousand abortions annually. Taking into account abortions that occur due to the use of intrauterine devices and hormonal contraception, the real figure is much higher. We believe that Russian women kill at least one millionth of their children a year with abortions. There are about 3,000 children every day, so today we lit so many candles," said Maria Studenikina, coordinator of the charity organization Save a Life.
Also last year, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called for the exclusion of artificial abortion from the list of services provided by private clinics in Russia.
"Abortion continues to be not only the so-called free medical care, but also a means of enrichment for private clinics. According to a number of experts, commercial medicine often fails to comply with the important "anti-abortion" restrictions that have been adopted by the state in recent years with the full support of society and the Church. The time has come to legally remove abortions from the list of so–called services that allow merchants to profit from medicine on the mountain of a woman," His Holiness the Patriarch said, speaking in the State Duma at the plenary session of the XI Christmas Parliamentary Meetings.
The social service of the Central Vicariate of Moscow said that the event was the starting date on the 11th, and a number of projects aimed at preventing abortions are planned to be implemented during the year.