A Russian Orthodox monk filmed a video showing Russian soldiers how to load a Kalashnikov from a Christian perspective.

“What we see now is mostly spiritual warfare. The Antichrist is advancing against the holy Russian people, against Orthodoxy,” says the monk.

“I would like to teach you how to load ammunition properly. So that the bullet enters the target, destroys the enemy, and not into nothingness and not into the air, this is what we are taught [Sfinții] Parents: after receiving the ball, say these words – Holy Mother of God, save us. Holy Father Nicholas, pray to God for us. Holy Mother of God, save us. Saint Nicholas, pray to God for us,” the monk repeated, charging the bullets one by one.

He repeats the two phrases once more and then moves on to “Holy Tsar Nicholas II, pray to God for us.”

Czar Nicholas II and members of his immediate family were recognized as holy martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1981, 63 years after they were shot dead by Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.

Russian propaganda talks about the “desatanization” of Ukraine

Last week, after President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Valdai Debate Club, Russian propaganda began to change the game, talking about the “de-Satanization” of Ukraine, rather than its “denazification” and “demilitarization,” in a context that made it clear that Moscow’s armed forces cannot return a decisive victory on the battlefield.

“I use the word “Satanism” for a reason. Indeed, there in the West Satanism is openly working against Russia. Satanic democracy is when the rights of atheists are protected, and believers are insulted,” Ramzan Kadyrov, one of Putin’s closest associates, signaled last Wednesday.

“This is Jihad! And our Chechen commanders decided not to defend themselves, but only to advance. Let’s destroy these shaytans (devils), wherever they are and no matter how well they hide,” he added.

The Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Oleksiy Pavlov wrote in an article published on the aif.ru website that “with the continuation of the military special operation, it is becoming more and more urgent to achieve the de-Satanization of Ukraine, or as the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov best said, its “complete de-Satanization.”

He spoke about “hundreds” of sects that allegedly operate in Ukraine, and noted that the “Church of Satan,” which “spread in Ukraine,” is “one of the officially registered religions in the United States.”

Medvedev says the Russian military is sending enemies to the “eternal fire” of hell

The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, in turn, in a new Telegram post, noted that Russia’s war against Ukraine is a sacred conflict with Satan, warning that Moscow can send all its enemies to the eternal fire of Gehenna.

In a message to the Day of National Unity of Russia, Medvedev said that the mission of the Motherland is to “stop the supreme lord of hell, whatever name he uses – Satan, Lucifer or Iblis.”

In one of its assessments last week, the US Institute for the Study of War said that Russian officials are trying to level the war in Ukraine with religious concepts accessible to both Christians and Muslims in order to satisfy religious minorities in the Russian armed forces.

Patriarch Kirill of Russia was one of the most ardent supporters of the war of aggression launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, causing an unprecedented split among Orthodox Christianity over his remarks.

On May 27, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, loyal to Russia before the invasion, announced its independence from the Moscow Patriarchate.

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