The war in Ukraine has again claimed a prominent death in the Russian ranks. After senior generals have been repeatedly killed in the fighting in recent months, Mikhail Wassiljew (†51), a high-ranking church representative, has now been killed in the war.
According to the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate, Vasilyev died while “performing pastoral duties” in Ukraine. According to the well-known Russian military correspondent and propagandist Alexander Zladkov, the archpriest died in a Ukrainian rocket attack in the Kherson region. This information has not been officially confirmed.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressed his condolences to Vasilyev’s family. Vasilyev was known as the “father of the airborne troops”.
Russian Orthodox Church had to apologize
The archpriest caused a stir in October when, in an interview with Russian television, he called on Russian women to give birth to more children before the war. “God allowed most women to have many children,” Vasilyev said when asked how Russian mothers could ease the emotional pain of having a son drafted into the war.
“In most cases, if a woman fulfills this commandment from God to procreate, it means she will have more than one child.” Therefore, it is then “less painful for the mothers to divorce their child”.
This statement caused an outcry throughout Russia. Even the Russian Orthodox Church had to apologize publicly. Every child’s life is equally valuable, regardless of the number of children, the Church said at the time. (see)