A toxic holiday that revives paganism, the spiritual leader believes
In a speech, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church warned against what he called attempts to “revive paganism,” saying neo-paganism had infiltrated certain “military circles” in Russia.
Patriarch Kirill criticized the former chief prosecutor of Crimea and member of the State Duma Nataliya Poklonskaya, who posted on her Telegram channel photos of herself dressed in Celtic clothing and face paint to celebrate the Gaelic festival of Samhain.
The Orthodox high priest also complained that Russian schools continue to celebrate Halloween, with some even disguising the “toxic” Western holiday with another Slavic name.
“This replacement of values, the falsification of national history and the belittling of the role of Christianity in the construction of our nation’s statehood is, in a sense, a challenge to the true values of the Russian world,” Patriarch Kirill said.
