MOSCOW, September 30 – Novosti. The entry of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson region into the Russian Federation, dictated by the need to protect their inhabitants, testifies to a tectonic shift in the world order, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) continues to pray for the unity of the peoples of historical Russia, the chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations told Novosti with the society and the media of the Moscow Patriarchate Vladimir Legoyda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday at a ceremony in the Kremlin signed the Treaties on the admission of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to the Russian Federation and the formation of new subjects in Russia.
“The accession of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia, is an event of enormous scale, indicating tectonic shifts in the entire world order. This decision was dictated by the need to protect the people living there, to help them. The Russian Church, despite the fact that external forces provoked a division in the space of historical Russia, will continue his prayer for peace and unity of peoples who have common spiritual roots and are called to brotherly love and harmony,” Legoyda told Novosti.
He noted that it is too early to answer questions about how church administration will be organized in these territories.
Referendums on the question of joining Russia were held from 23 to 27 September in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics , as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions . According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots in the DPR , 99.23% of those who voted for joining the Russian Federation, in the LPR – 98.42%, in the Kherson region – 87.05%, in the Zaporozhye region – 93.11%.
