Moscow Patriarchate’s Plan to Canonize Suvorov Outrages His Non-Russian Victims, Sidorov Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 1 – The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has a long history of canonizing Russian military figures of the past, but its decision to begin the canonization process for Aleksandr Suvorov is deepening the divide between Russians and non-Russians against whom he carried out acts of genocide, Kharun (Vadim) Sidorov says.
    For Russians, Suvorov is a hero of Russian efforts to fight Napoleon, but for the Nogays, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Crimean Tatars and many others, he remains first and foremost the organizer of genocide against them during his campaigns to expand the empire, the Charles University scholar says (idelreal.org/a/kanonizatsiya-suvorova-i-tserkovnyy-militarizm/33297664.html).
    At a time when most churches have elected to condemn genocidal actions, the Moscow church has chosen the opposite route, celebrating one of the worst criminals in that regard to as to boost the status of a Russian national military hero, an action that will offend both non-Russia activists and non-Russian officials (lenta.ru/news/2021/06/21/suvorov/ and ru.krymr.com/a/pisma-krymchan-zagnivaushij-simvol-russkogo-kryma/29982591.html).
    That even officials in these republics oppose the deification of Suvorov means that the Patriarchate in its effort to be even more Russian nationalist than the Kremlin leadership may be creating serious problems for Moscow civil and religious, problems that may mean that the Presidential Administration will intervene to prevent declaring Suvorov a saint.