Message from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War

Most Reverend Archpastors;

All-Honourable Fathers;

Beloved in the Lord Brothers and Sisters:

From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you on the significant jubilee – the 60^th anniversary of the Victory of our people in the Great Patriotic War. For us all it is a common and very precious feast. The disaster that befell our homeland in those remote 40s rallied our people who, in one impulse, stood up in the defence of our Motherland. The crucible of trials purified and tempered the soul of the people. As it happened many times in our history, the world witnessed the examples of the noblest self-sacrifice and selfless commitment to the homeland. In those hard years, a great many people turned to the faith of their forefathers – Holy Orthodoxy and drew from its depository strength and courage, fulfilling in deed the commandment of Christ: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ (Jn. 15:13).

The feat performed by our people in war and labour during the Great Patriotic War became the height of Russia’s military glory. In former times too, our warriors set examples of true heroism, courage and valour. They fought under the leadership of the Holy Princes Alexander Nevsky and Dimitry Donskoy, Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky, great military commanders Suvorov and Kutuzov, the Holy Righteous Warrior Fyodor Ushakov and Admiral Nakhimov, defeating powerful enemies who had seemed unconquerable. Yet the War of 1941-1945 became an unprecedented trial.

The entire country stood up at the defence of her sacred boundaries. The war was waged not only in the front; through misfortunes and deprivations, death notifications and bitter sufferings, it entered every home and every family. The Victory was won at the price of tremendous sacrifices and efforts. It was forged not only by the war feat of military commanders and soldiers who defended the Motherland with arms in their hands. It was also forged by the feat of those who, under bullets and shells, carried the wounded from the battlefield and nursed them in frontline and base hospitals; who, working in plants round the clock, brought the Victory nearer by their work; who cultivated the war-parched land so that soldiers and their wives and children might not starve. In the days of hardships, the people of our country, rallying into one family without ethnic, religious or ideological differences, manifested the striking unity of spirit and will.

Our soldiers were united by a lofty goal. They defended not only their Motherland, their families and homes, they defended the whole world from a lethal threat that hovered over it. A strong and cruel enemy armed with the anti-Christian ideology of nazism, wage a war for world dominion. In that bloody war for the salvation of humanity from total enslavement we suffered the greatest losses, and today we bow down our heads before the memory of those who fell in action in the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and behind enemy lines, who died of wounds and hunger, who died during the siege, who were tortured to death and killed in captivity.

The Russian Orthodox Church firmly believed in the coming Victory and, on the very first day of war, blessed the army and the whole nation for the defence of the Motherland. Our soldiers were guarded not only by the prayers of their wives and mothers, but also the everyday church-wide prayer for the Victory. Responding to the call of the Church, millions of believers took part in the raising of funds for building the Dimitry Donskoy Tank Column and the Alexander Nevsky Fighter Squadron.

In the fiery crucible of hardships, many found or strengthened their faith. There were not a few soldiers who, having fulfilled their duty of the military service of the Motherland, came after the war to serve God and their people in holy orders.

My dear ones! The common past unites us, and we should be worthy of the sacrificial feat performed by our fathers and grandfathers during the war years. We should not forget what price was paid for the Great Victory and that we gained it fighting side by side so that our children and grandchildren could live in peace and friendship. The new generations should cherish the brotherhood that was bequeathed to us as it was sealed by the blood shed in the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War. However many years pass since that remote day, the memory of it should live in the soul of the people so that the link of times may not be disrupted. I call upon our youth to be worthy of the memory of their fathers and grandfathers and learn to be committed and courageous from those who have survived all the war burdens and trials and won peace for the whole world.

On this great day I address with a special feeling those who lived and fought in those remote fiery years. Dear veterans! You gave to the world an example of sacrificial service of the Motherland and the people. May the Lord grant you many more years of life so that, strong and healthy, you may give joy to your families and to all of us who honour your feats and efforts with gratitude.

+ALEXY
,

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA