The Great Cathedral of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the outskirts of Moscow was supposed to be inaugurated earlier this year. The ceremony was postponed due to the coronavirus.

However, this Wednesday the ceremony went ahead in the presence of Deputy Defence Ministers General Andrey Kartapolov and General Timur Ivanov, thus marking the completion of the construction.

According to Asia News and contrary to expectations, the mosaics representing Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin were nowhere to be seen. Evidently, the controversy sparked by their possible inclusion led to their removal.

This outcome, however, was not welcomed by all. Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, head of the Experts’ Council for Church Art, Architecture and Restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church, opposed the removal of the images of Stalin and President Putin.

“It seems to me that notwithstanding the wave of criticism, we see a huge and beautiful church that celebrates the memory of heroes, in honour of the great victory. This is worth much more than those small fragments of mosaic (compared to the entire volume of the church) that raised so much noise”, he said.

General Kartapolov has expressed an even more interesting opinion about Joseph Stalin. According to him, the former Soviet leader “restored religion in Russia”. 

As  is well known, Stalin introduced severe oppression and was a persecutor of all religions, including Orthodox Christianity. 

Mosaic representing Putin removed from Russian Orthodox military church

See full article here.

Photo: Asia News