Patriarch Kirill: well-being cannot be built on spiritual ruins

September 27, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill urged the residents of Vitebsk who met him not to abandon their national identity and to build their lives on clear ideas of good and evil. Several tens of thousands of people gathered on Victory Square in Vitebsk to see and hear the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, BELTA correspondent reports. "When people's national consciousness contains clear ideas of good and evil, and these ideas are formed by the Orthodox faith, the people become very strong. The strength of spirit is such that there are no obstacles for these people," the Patriarch said. His Holiness recalled the heroic and tragic pages of Vitebsk's history. Throughout its centuries-long history, the city has known times when faith went hand in hand with people's efforts, and they achieved great victories. But there were also other pages when violence against the country and against people destroyed the foundations of social life. Vitebsk witnessed violence and fascist aggression, occupation, and complete destruction. The ancient city also remembers the time when there was violence against human freedom. "This turned into the greatest evil, it went against our national traditions, against the will of the people. In favor of abstract ideological concepts, there was an attempt to destroy the foundations of our spiritual life, and it was not an foreign enemy who did it, we did it ourselves," Kirill noted with bitterness. Destroying churches and monasteries, people thought that a just and prosperous life could be built without God. "Now we know that prosperity cannot be built on spiritual ruins. Prosperity cannot be created where the moral essence is undermined and national identity is weakened," he emphasized. The Patriarch is convinced that a new era has come today. "It is important that we talk about wanting a bright and joyful future and wanting to build it on a new and at the same time eternal foundation," he said. In his opinion, the changes he saw in Vitebsk, the reviving churches, testify to this. "Usually, soldiers take an oath at the graves of heroes. We have the opportunity to take an internal oath. In this holy place, to say that what we have done should never happen again in our lives, that mass apostasy, rejection of national identity, and rejection of the wonderful and great principles on which the power of the Fatherland was built should never be repeated," the Most Holy Lord urged all the city residents. "May God's blessing be upon Belarus, upon Vitebsk," he said. -0-