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The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) declared Moscow's war of aggression against Ukraine "sacred" and called on all Russians and "branches of this people", including the "Eastern Slavs", to unite under the Kremlin's umbrella, BGNES reported.
The declaration came during a meeting of the World Russian People's Council, where the country's religious, political and cultural figures met at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an ally of Putin, Patriarch Kirill, presided over the council. Since the start of the full-scale war, he has been criticized for providing a religious justification for the war and not unequivocally condemning the aggression.
The event brings together the top church leadership, officials, businessmen and cultural figures. The document is addressed to the legislative and executive authorities in Russia.
"From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people defend the unified spiritual space of Holy Russia," said the document published on March 27.
It goes on to claim that the war is aimed at "protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism."
"After the war, the entire territory of modern Ukraine should enter Russia's zone of exclusive influence. The possibility of the existence of a Russophobic political regime hostile to Russia and its people in that territory, as well as a political regime controlled by an external center hostile to Russia , must be completely excluded'.
In February 2022, Patriarch Kirill said Ukraine and Belarus were part of "Russian lands" and called Ukrainians defending themselves against Russian aggression "forces of evil", casting the war as a battle for the future of Christianity.
Russian world
"Russia is the creator, support and defender of the Russian world. The borders of the Russian world as a spiritual, cultural and civilizational phenomenon are significantly wider than the state borders of both the current Russian Federation and great historical Russia. Along with the representatives of the Russian ecumene , scattered all over the world, the Russian world includes all for whom the Russian tradition, the sanctuaries of Russian civilization and the great Russian culture are the highest value and meaning of life.
The highest meaning of the existence of Russia and the Russian world created by it - their spiritual mission - is to be a global "keeper" protecting the world from evil. The historical mission is again and again to destroy attempts to establish universal hegemony in the world - attempts to subjugate humanity to a single evil principle. The construction of a millennial Russian statehood is the highest form of political creativity of the Russians as a nation. The division and weakening of the Russian people, the deprivation of their spiritual and vital forces have always led to the weakening and crisis of the Russian state. Therefore, the restoration of the unity of the Russian people, as well as of their spiritual and vital potential, are key conditions for the survival and successful development of Russia and the Russian world in the 21st century," the appeal of the so-called People's Council also states.
The political document emphasizes that Russia should become one of the leading centers of the multipolar world, leading integration processes and ensuring security and stable development of the entire post-Soviet space.
"As the geopolitical center of Eurasia, located at the intersection of the global axes West-East and North-South, Russia must regulate the balance of strategic interests and act as a pillar of security and a just world order in the new multipolar world. The unification of the Russian people should become one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy. Russia should return to the doctrine of the trinity of the Russian people, which existed for more than three centuries, according to which the Russian people consist of Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians, who are branches of one people. and the term "Russian" covers all Eastern Slavs - descendants of historical Rus. In addition to recognition and development in local science, the doctrine of the Trinity should receive legislative codification, becoming an integral part of the Russian legal system. The Trinity should be included in the normative list of Russian spiritual and moral values and to receive appropriate legal protection," it added. /BGNES
