Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill calls Russian nuclear weapons ‘God’s grace’

Meduza reports that Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has framed his nation's nuclear arsenal as divine grace. Speaking at a monastery in Nizhny Novgorod, Kirill praised scientists in the city of Sarov—home to Russia's main nuclear research center—for creating the Russian atomic bomb, which he said stopped enemy plans to destroy Russia. He described their work as the channel through which God's grace and mercy appeared over the country, preventing total devastation. This reflects a pattern: in twenty twenty-three, Kirill called nuclear weapons the product of God's providence, crediting them with keeping Russia independent.

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