Patriarch Kirill: “Cruel politicians and tyrants cannot be heroes of country”

• 28.09.2009, 14:42

Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow has made suppositions who could become a national symbol of Belarus.

He believes that a Belarusian Saint Euphrosyne of Polatsk could be a national symbol of Belarus.

“Saint Euphrosyne probably could be a face of Belarus”, Patriarch Kirill said, answering questions at a meeting with young people in Vitsebsk, “Interfax” informs.

He noted that saint Euphrosyne is a personality of the same order of magnitude as saints Alexander of Neva and Yaroslav the Wise, who have been recognized as national symbols of Russia and Ukraine respectively.

The Patriarch underlined that both Alexander of Neva and Yaroslav the Wise “belong to our common history, they have done a lot to form our spiritual and cultural space, and the White Ruthenia is an natural part of this space too”.

Patriarch Kirill has also confessed that the figure of Saint Euphrosyne had made a special impression on him during his last visit to Polatsk. “I saw her as a saint, as a righteous young woman who had tremendous love in her heart, highest culture and faith,” he said.

Patriarch noted that veneration of the saint continues 800 years after her death.

“I am completely sure that a pragmatic politician, a cruel ruler or a tyrant cannot be a hero of the county,” Kirill added.

In particular, to his mind, Ivan the Terrible or Peter I could hardly belong to this kind of national symbols.

Meanwhile, to his mind, people are called legends and immortalized for “combination of wisdom, service to their Motherland and a high level of spiritual life, holiness”.

“Everything else is up to Belarusians, if such a competition (like “The name of Russia” – Interfax) will take place in your country,” Kirill added.