Russia is mulling the idea of canonizing Generalissimo Aleksandr Suvorov. ROC monk Kyprian (Burkov) tells about the fact that Suvorov was a religious person and “served God and the people.” Based on this, the ROC cleric concludes that Suvorov can be counted a saint.
“…never started a battle without prayer. He was such a believing man that he infected all soldiers with this faith. Just like our naval commander, Admiral Fedor Ushakov,” Burkov said in a comment to Russian media.
It is worth noting that the idea of canonization was put forward by the head of the Russian “Heroes of the Fatherland” Foundation, which deals with spiritual care for the Russian occupiers participating in the war on Ukraine.
Also, the ROC representative, who returned from the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine, reported that a number of battalions took the names of Orthodox saints, which indicates that many Russian fighters who encroached on the territorial integrity of Ukraine supposedly understand the importance of the spiritual factor.
At the same time, the Russian monk provides no arguments that make Suvorov worthy of canonization. There are no references to any of his actions that prove that he lived and worked in the name of God and people. Also, the claim that Suvorov deserves to be canonized is not sufficiently substantiated, given that this issue is within the competence of the Synodal Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church on the Canonization of Saints.
It can be argued that Russia began to prepare a new ideological basis for the further militarization of the Moscow Patriarchate and its further transformation into a “church of war,” not peace. In addition, earlier the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation addressed the Patriarch of the Russian Church Kirill with the question of the possibility of Suvorov’s canonization. Russian oligarch Malofeev also expressed such a request.
In addition to all of the above, the Russian Orthodox Church organizes services and consecrations with the use of weapons, as well as conducts services in the “Armed Forces of Russia” temple.
