THE Russian Minister of Defense suggested the tsar’s general Alexander Suvorov who lived in the 18th century, who repulsed the Turkish attacks on Crimea and crushed the revolutionary movement in Poland, to be proclaimed a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The proposal came three months after Russia sent troops to Ukraine, arguing that it needed to neutralize the threat to its security and protect the Russian-speaking population from “fascist” threats.
The Russian Orthodox Church is considering a proposal by the #Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to canonize General of the Russian Empire Alexander Suvorov as a saint, TASS reported.
Why not Stalin first? pic.twitter.com/Ac4WzT1RUa
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 24, 2022
The Russian president Vladimir Putin he invoked heroes of the past with Suvorov’s stature to promote the idea that what he called a “special military operation” was in line with Russia’s glorious military tradition. Ukraine and Western countries reject Russia’s arguments as unfounded pretexts for occupying territories.
“The personality of this great military commander naturally attracts the attention of many people,” Bishop Pangrati, chairman of the synodal committee of the Russian Orthodox Synod for sanctification, told the TASS news agency.
“Even the Ministry of Defense, and the Minister of Defense himself, have visited us and raised this issue (of sanctification).”
He said that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Fr. Patriarch Cyrilhad promised Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the issue would be addressed.
Suvorov’s most famous historical achievements include the defense of its northern coast Black Sea –including Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014– from the Turkish invasion of Empress Catherine the Great during the Russo-Turkish War of 1789-1791.
Suvorov is also known for his attack on a suburb of Warsaw, which crushed the Kosyushko uprising and suppressed the Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775, which shook the Russian imperial regime and nearly led to its overthrow.
In 1799, as a general, he led a famous retreat strategy through the Swiss Alps, with his army suffering minimal losses from the much larger French forces.
In a speech to the Russian people before announcing the launch of Russia’s “special military operation”, Putin referred to the dismantling of a Suvorov monument in the Ukrainian city of Poltava as proof that Ukraine was denying its past.
A similar Suvorov monument in Switzerland was painted in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine last week.
Patriarch Cyril has urged Orthodox believers to support the intervention in Ukraine.
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