12
October 2011, 10:41
Patriarch Kirill against
introducing death penalty in modern Russia
Chisinau,
October 12, Interfax - Death penalty is acceptable in special cases, but
existing judicial system cannot provide its justified use, Patriarch Kirill of
Moscow and All Russia believes.
"I'm against death penalty in today's Russia. Today to get rid of a
competitor, they order a killer. Considering current state of our courts, if
there's a death penalty, people will be "removed" legally. And it's a
great danger," the Patriarch said in his interview with Moldavian, Romanian
TV channels and Rossiya-24 TV.
According to him, there have already been several cases "when suddenly, in
the last moment, it was cleared out that the person wasn't guilty."
"Thus if we speak about bringing back death
penalty in some concrete cases, when we refer to maniacs, mass murders,
terrorists, but we should have absolutely strong evidence that the person
committed it and he wasn't forced to take this guilt, such things can take
place in future," Patriarch Kirill believes.
The Primate reminded that the church tradition does not
condemn or refuse death penalty, Christ Himself "was crucified, He went
through death penalty, but He has never said that criminals shouldn't be
executed and holy fathers don't say it either."
"Rejection of death penalty is not the result of Christian tradition, but
the result of a new liberal philosophic idea that appeared in West European
space," he said.
The Patriarch noted that though the Church had never spoke against death
penalty, it spoke against applying it and there were only seven or eight cases
of death penalty in the Russian Empire for more than hundred years.
 |
A Russian Orthodox priest with a U.S Browning
1919A6; designated because of the stock
|
Head of
Russian Orthodox Church: 'Rise of ISIS is because 'godless' world has accepted
homosexuality'
- Patriarch Kirill claimed Muslims
may be fleeing from a 'godless civilization'
- The 69-year-old said it was
little surprise so many were joining caliphate
- Earlier this month, Kirill
justified the Kremlin's bombing campaign in Syria
Published:
01:56 EST, 19 January 2016 | Updated: 02:34 EST, 19 January 2016
 |
Spetsnaz
versus ISIS
Putin is reportedly
ramping up his military mission in Syria
|
The
head of the Russian Orthodox Church has suggested the rise of ISIS
is partly the result of the world accepting homosexuality.
Patriarch
Kirill claimed Muslims may be fleeing to join the terror group in Syria
and Iraq to avoid being part of a civilization that holds events like Gay
Pride.
The
69-year-old said it was little surprise so many were joining the caliphate and
that he could offer more 'simply frightening examples' of how the 'godless
civilization' was growing.
According to the Independent, Kirill told the Church's official
website: '(ISIS) is creating a civilization that is new by comparison to the
established one that is godless, secular and even radical in its secularism.'
He
added: 'We can have parades for the sexual
minorities - that is supported - but a million French Christian protestors
defending family values are broken up by police.'
'Look how they (the West) build the world – an unholy world -
but we invite you to build God's world… and they (ISIS supporters) respond to
that; it is for this they give their lives,' Kirill told the website,
according to the Independent.
Earlier
this month, Kirill justified the Kremlin's bombing campaign in Syria,
calling it a 'defensive war'.
He said Moscow's military strikes were
necessary to protect Russia from 'terrorism'.
'As long as the war is carried out in self-defence,
then it is just,' Kirill told state-run Rossiya 1 television channel.
'All that is happening is a self-defensive, responsive action. In
that sense, we can safely talk about it is a just struggle.'
The
Kremlin launched a bombing campaign in Syria in late September at the request
of its long-standing ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad saying it was
targeting jihadists who posed a threat to Russia.
But
the campaign has drawn condemnation from the West -- which accuses Moscow of
bombing moderate groups to prop up Assad - and allegations that it has caused
mass civilian casualties.
Russia's
Orthodox Church enjoys close ties with the Kremlin and has seen its influence
grow as conservative values have been increasingly promoted during President
Vladimir Putin's 15 years in charge.
