While Russian troops on the front lines in the east Ukraine fortify themselves for another winter, they get an unusual kind of support: the remains of the warrior prince who fought for Moscow more than six centuries ago.
Part of the remains of Dmitriy Donskoy - a prince celebrated in Russia for his victory in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 - was sent to the front in early September and is now touring military bases in parts of Ukraine under Russian occupation, CNN writes.
The military department of the Moscow Patriarchate, the ecclesiastical administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, announced that this "military leader-saint" will stand invisibly "side by side" with Russian soldiers. The church added that the relic - a part of his right hand - is the very hand with which he swung his sword on Kulik's field.
Sending a religious relic into battle may seem unusual, but since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has sought to use every means of mobilization possible; this includes invoking religious symbolism to present its cause as "righteous" and divinely blessed. As a result, the relationship between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church has become closer than ever.
"The church has practically merged with the state, to the point where they can no longer be distinguished," said Sergei Chapnin, a religious affairs expert and director of communications at Fordham University's Center for Orthodox Studies.
"In my opinion, the maximum of that closeness has been reached."
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"Mobilizing Myth"
Sending holy relics to troops is a long-standing practice in Orthodox Christianity.
"That combination of the sacred and the material attracts attention," said Chapnin, who once worked at the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate. "Of course, propaganda uses it."
The remains of Donsko also carry a contemporary message, experts say.
"He himself was not an aggressor, but a defender of the homeland," this expert told CNN. From the government's point of view, "it is very important to show that Russia is not an aggressor, that we are defending our territory."
Chapnjin called it a "mobilizing myth".
"These myths, which connect different times and eras, can have a very strong effect on the consciousness of the masses," he said, adding that the relics are presented as a "magical artifact."
Photo: Photo: AP photo/Alexander ZemlianichenkoKissing relics in Russia
Metropolitan Vladimir, the Russian-appointed Orthodox head of Donetsk and Mariupol, said the relics would help soldiers and civilians "mobilize their spiritual and physical strength" and "triumph over the enemy".
Donskoi is not the first saint-warrior whom Russia has invoked during the war in Ukraine. The relics of Prince Alexander Nevsky, another medieval ruler who has become a symbol of Russian military glory, were also carried among the troops earlier this year.
The moment when the remnants of Donskoy were sent to the battlefield was also opportune. The prince's remains were discovered during restoration work at the Cathedral of the Holy Archangels in the Kremlin in August, weeks after unconfirmed reports that Nevsky's relics were lost.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the discovery of the remains - whose location had been known since the time of their original burial - "absolutely unique" and a "miraculous discovery". Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church close to the Kremlin, described it as "a special sign of God's providence."
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However, for Father Aleksandr Zanemonets - a Moscow-born Orthodox priest and historian who lived abroad for years before leaving Russia permanently after its invasion of Ukraine - the revelation "has nothing to do with Christianity".
"It is undoubtedly a misuse of Christianity and the church for 'patriotic' purposes." In a church that has relatively few active believers but enjoys strong state support, interests are often aligned with the state's, he said, calling the use of those remains a "cynical calculation."
