'Russia an Island of Freedom in Raging Sea of Cancelled Morality'

St. Peter of Kiev and Moscow was at the helm of the Russian Orthodox Church in the most painful historical moment, early in the 14th century, when our land was trampled underfoot and pillaged by the Mongol nomads. Capital city of Kiev was in ashes, and the ruling Metropolitan moved his See to a small and modest town of Moscow.

From that time on, the Principality of Moscow began to gain power and eventually led the whole country to freedom and independence, from a set of scattered rural tribes to nationhood.

On September 6, when the Church observes the memory of Metropolitan St. Peter of Kiev and Moscow, Patriarch Kirill celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Moscow Kremlin where St. Peter was buried nearly seven centuries ago. In his sermon the Patriarch said:

...This act of St. Peter was providential: the city of Moscow, though it was twice conquered by foes, never bowed before the enemy and never gave up her place as the capital of Russia. Moscow has been an of courage, resolve, love of Christ, love of the Fatherland, and love of the Church. Even today, this majestic Cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the main cathedral of Holy Russia, built according to the saint's plan, bears witness to the great deeds and amazing insight of Metropolitan Peter, who established here his See.

Today, just as in the days of St. Peter, we are threatened by many dangers. Back then it was nomads who attacked the land of Russia, robbed it, killed people, and destroyed the economic opportunities of the country; but even today, as we all know, there is no peace on the Planet Earth. And a very special ministry, undoubtedly by the will of God, is now entrusted to this city and to our country.

As regards Orthodox in Russia, research says,

"63% of Russians consider themselves Orthodox believers" and 66% of Russians – the population as a whole, without reference to one’s faith – trust the Russian Orthodox Church." - https://www.pravmir.com/over-65-of-russians-trust-the-russian-orthodox-church-poll/

More findings from that same source are that,

For many people, however, “Orthodox” is basically a cultural identification label and does not necessarily imply adherence to specific religious doctrines—a Levada poll found that 30 percent of those who saw themselves as “Orthodox” did not even believe in the existence of God. To single out the believers from the “culturally Orthodox,” we started by asking whether respondents considered themselves as belonging to any religion at all. Slightly more than half, 55 percent, answered in the affirmative. Of these, 81 percent indicated Russian Orthodoxy. This means that altogether 45 percent of our respondents considered themselves Orthodox believers.

Moreover...we found that Orthodox Christians, despite the ROC’s strong stance on abortions, were only marginally more opposed (48 percent) than the non-Orthodox/nonbelievers (46 percent) (see Table 2).

On whether certain other behavior could be justified, 55% of self-declared Orthodox believers affirmed fornication could be, which is actually just slightly less than non-Orthodox/nonbelievers (57%)

Pew research finds that in Russia,

just 6% of Orthodox Christian adults say they attend church at least weekly, 15% say religion is “very important” in their lives, and 18% say they pray daily. Other former Soviet republics display similarly low levels of religious observance. Together, these countries are home to a majority of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/08/orthodox-take-socially-conservative-views-on-gender-issues-homosexuality/

We have come to end gay marriage by blowing up buildings at random without finding out who lives there or what they believe. Sounds like a great act of divine justice alright. Complete with hired killers.

It begs the question, if God is supporting Russia then why are they not winning?

Anyway, what the patriarch said is basically chauvinism.

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