Archbishop Elia of Finland sharply criticised Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill over his recent statement that “the atomic bomb was created in Russia through the prayers of St Seraphim of Sarov”. Elia said the Church must not be used to legitimise weapons of mass destruction.

This was reported by The Orthodox Times.

Archbishop Elia expressed outrage at Kirill’s claim that it was no coincidence that “Soviet nuclear weapons were created in the very place where the saint prayed”. The statement implied that the saint’s intercession had contributed to the development of Russia’s nuclear programme.

The archbishop firmly rejected this interpretation, describing it as an expression of a “political agenda” rather than Orthodox theology. He stressed: “It is appalling that he associates the name of Seraphim of Sarov with the blessing of weapons of mass destruction”.

He also recalled the history of the Sarov Monastery during the Soviet era. The archbishop noted that after the monastery was closed in 1927, its monks were persecuted and executed, the relics of St Seraphim were desecrated, and the monastery itself was successively turned into a home for homeless children, a corrective labour camp and, finally, a secret nuclear centre known as Arzamas-16, where the first Soviet atomic bomb was created.

According to Archbishop Elia, “the weapons came to Sarov not because of holiness. They came there because holiness had first been removed”. He added that portraying the nuclear complex as the fruit of St Seraphim’s prayers effectively makes the Church’s new martyrs “guarantors of the deeds of their murderers”.

The archbishop also said: “When Kirill speaks about God in the language of politics, he is no longer proclaiming the Gospel. He is voicing the position of the state”. He recalled that at every liturgy the Orthodox Church prays “for the peace of the whole world”, not for the victory of any army.

“There is no such thing as an Orthodox nuclear weapon. Let the state assess this weapon and its use. Blessing weapons of mass destruction is not the task of the Church”, he concluded.

As is known, Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill stated that the atomic bomb was created in Russia through the prayers of St Seraphim of Sarov and called this “the grace and mercy of God”. In a sermon, the patriarch said that scientists working in Sarov had created the Russian atomic bomb, “which thwarted the enemy’s plans to destroy and enslave the Fatherland”.

According to LF, in November 2025 Patriarch Kirill Gundyayev said that military heroism was “inseparable” from spiritual heroism and that participation in war could be regarded as a form of Christian service. This attempt to justify war through spiritual rhetoric prompted an immediate and sharp reaction within church circles.

According to Regina Elsner, a scholar of Eastern Christianity and ecumenism at the University of Münster who holds a doctorate in theology, the Russian Orthodox Church has become one of the key institutions of mobilisation and propaganda.

We previously reported that Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I condemned attempts to use religion to justify violence.