The Main Temple of Russia’s armed forces will host an “icon” of Virgin Mary protecting the Russian military, as well as thugs holding “Crimea is Ours” posters.
A real blasphemy! Do Russians really believe that the Blessed Virgin will provide a cover-up for Russian army’s war crimes? Could it be that Russians see annexation of Crimea, murders in eastern Ukraine, and other international crimes committed by Putin-led government as acts approved by God?
Of course, Virgin Mary cannot be protecting villains and violent killers. Putting such “icon” in a churh is nothing but blasphemy because portraying their president, defense minister, and army is just way too cynical.
Russian cleric Andrei Kurayev said in this regard: “But visitors of this church will be told that these lies as truth and eventually this will become a ‘canon’. In fact, long ago, they came up with a story about Sergiy of Radonezh, who allegedly blessed Dmitry Donskoy’s army for the Battle of Kulikov (and the Moscow-Byzantine hierarchs, who were in fact more than loyal to the Horde’s khans, started claiming the status of “liberators”, painting a relevant icon).
As we wrote earlier, a portrait of Putin’s grandfather, as well as Stalin, will also hang in the temple. Apparently, in a nostalgic move, reminiscing of the Soviet past and atheism, the administration of the Main Military Temple of the Russian Federation also put stained glass windows with Communist symbols.
Meanwhile, the said “icon” also depicts Russian military from 144th infantry regiment of the 49th Guards Artillery Division wearing American medals and sporting German trophy helmets. According to the veteran of this division, V.V. Wojciechowicz, in the first days after the Victory, the regiment’s leadership decided to carry out an inspection. And since the unit lacked own helmets, the regiment’s leadership ordered soldiers to put on German ones.
