Patriarch of Moscow: “Russia’s atomic bomb was created also through the prayers of St. Seraphim of Sarov”

Patriarch Kirill delivered a sermon on… Russia’s nuclear program, continuing the wartime rhetoric that has characterized the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine.

On August 1, the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Patriarch Kirill visited the Holy Trinity-Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, where he presided over the Divine Liturgy.

Speaking about St. Seraphim of Sarov, the Patriarch claimed that Russia’s development of nuclear weapons was the result of… St. Seraphim’s prayers.

Although Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has, in recent years—particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—grown accustomed to making statements and delivering sermons that fuel rather than ease tensions, speaking of a “holy war” (referring to Russia’s war against Orthodox Ukrainians) and even promising the remission of sins to Russian soldiers killed in the conflict, his invocation of a saint in connection with the creation of the atomic bomb raises, at the very least, questions about the ecclesiastical and theological direction of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In his homily, Patriarch Kirill described St. Seraphim of Sarov as…