Elias of Finland: The Church does not bless weapons of mass destructiontranslated

"Shocking" the Archbishop of Helsingborg and all Finland Mr. Ilias characterizes the fact that the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Mr. Cyril associates the blessing of a weapon of mass destruction with the name of Saint Seraphim of Sarov.

The occasion for His Eminence's comment was the recent sermon of the Patriarch Mr. Kirillou, who, among other things, connected the development of Soviet nuclear weapons in Sarov with the ascetic life and prayers of Saint Seraphim of Sarov.

In his statement, Archbishop Elias emphasizes that holiness cannot be used to morally legitimize military power, underlining that "this is not a matter of theology, but of a political agenda".

The Archbishop points out that Saint Seraphim was a symbol of peace, humility and forgiveness and recalls his well-known teaching: "Obtain peace of soul and then thousands around you will be saved." Contrasting this message with nuclear weapons, he characteristically notes: "One nuclear warhead and thousands around you are destroyed. There is no interpretative distance between the two."

Referring to the history of Sharov, he recalls that the…