On the eve of the Victory Day, when Russia observes the victory over the Nazis in the WWII, Patriarch Kirill, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in his sermon after the Liturgy in the main military Cathedral near the Russian capital recalled the historical events related to the previous wars in which the Russian people spilled their blood.
Please watch this short video clip having turned on the captions in English or any other language of your choice. You can also follow the speech of the Patriarch by the text presented below.
It so happened that our country almost never waged aggressive wars. There were two cases that could present a cause for accusation: “But what about the First World War? And before it, the Balkan war? After all, you went to the Balkans, and Samsonov's army moved to East Prussia, which means you were the aggressors”.
Not at all! Our army went to the Balkans not to expand the territory of our country, not to enrich the country with war trophies, not to subjugate other peoples, but to save the Bulgarian people from the slavery of five hundred years long. And name another nation that sacrificed thousands and thousands of its sons to help a fellow nation the way we helped the Bulgarians!
And the First World War? Serbs became the main goal and target of the Western forces. And the infamous provocation in Sarajevo - everything was aimed at ensuring that Serbia, an Orthodox country close to Russia in spirit, but living surrounded by Western countries, ceased to exist.
The West did not want to have this courageous Orthodox nation loving Russia among its peoples, and provoked the First World War. And Russia entered this war not to acquire land for itself, not to enrich itself, not to gain power over others, but to save the fraternal Serbian people.
So, the two wars about which we can be accused of an attack are the defense of the Bulgarians and the defense of the Serbs. These goals were not related to mercantile, material, political, or geopolitical interests - Russia was exhausting itself, Russia was sacrificing itself to help others. That is why we call our army Christ-loving - because what power, other than internal spiritual strength, can explain the great exploit of our soldiers in those two wars?
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