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Hi, my dear viewers, this is Dmitriy Balkovskiy with an update on the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian military.

Look at the book that popped up on my recommendation list on Amazon, titled “Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy Paperback” by Dmitry Adamsky issued in April, 2019 by Stanford University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Nuclear-Orthodoxy-Religion-Politics/dp/1503608646/ref=pd_ybh_a_14?_encoding=UTF8&;psc=1&refRID=7QDF38JJZETAR3TEPBFG).

And I quote from the description:

“From portable churches to the consecration of weapons systems, the Russian Orthodox Church has been integrated into every facet of the armed forces to become a vital part of Russian national security, politics, and identity. This extraordinary intertwining of church and military is nowhere more visible than in the nuclear weapons community, where the priesthood has penetrated all levels of command and the Church has positioned itself as a guardian of the state's nuclear potential”.
I know that throughout history there has always been a strong tie between the Church and the Russian military, but I was completely unaware of the nuclear aspect of it.

So I did a little digging on Runet (Russian language segment of the internet) and that is what I found.

Here is Patriach Kirill is congratulating the chief of the Russian strategic nuclear force on their professional holiday which is 17th of December http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5736893.html.

And here we see Father Sergei Usolov blessing cadets of the Military Academy for the Strategic Missile Force http://varvsn.mil.ru/more/Novosti/item/110546.

That is one interesting partnership – don’t you think!