Nuclear Weapons as ‘God’s Grace and Mercy’?
A prominent figure recently declared that the creation of nuclear weapons was proof that “God’s grace and mercy were bestowed upon our country.” While that might sound like the Crusader theology of Secretary of Pulp Fiction Pete Hegseth, it’s actually a claim made on Saturday (Aug. 1) by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriarch Kirill, who has sanctified Russia’s imperial war against Ukraine, claims the prayers of a 19th-century Russian Orthodox hermit led to God helping the Soviet Union create nuclear weapons more than a century later. He made the remarks while at an old monastery that’s a few miles (or a few more kilometers) from where Russia’s nuclear research program is still run.
“Scientists working here in Sarov created our Russian atomic bomb, which thwarted the enemy’s plans to destroy and enslave our Fatherland,” Kirill declared during a service at the Holy Trinity Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery about 15 kilometers (or 9.3 miles) from the nuclear facility in the neighboring city of Sarov. “Thus, through the labors of the scientists, engineers, and workers who toiled here, God’s grace and mercy were bestowed upon our country. It is clearly no coincidence that scientific research and engineering work were conducted in this very place, preserving our people and country from the terrible destruction that might have left neither our country nor our people.”
Or, maybe it really is a coincidence. After all, there are some pretty big theological holes in this account. A monk whose most famous quote is “acquire a peaceful spirit and then thousands of souls will be saved around you” has now been conscripted to justify nuclear weapons. So this issue of A Public Witness looks at how Kirill nukes God’s grace and mercy before considering how it serves as a warning about militaristic Christian Nationalism more broadly.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009, is a longtime ally and defender of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Kirill’s called Putin’s reign a “miracle of God” and has used his close ties to put the word “God” in the Russian Constitution and gain special privileges for the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kirill has, in Christian Nationalistic terms, wholeheartedly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine — even heretically telling Russian soldiers that to die fighting for Russia is a salvific act. His use of the phrase “Holy Rus’” is imperial language dressed in religious garb as he includes the land of Ukraine (and others) in that territory he believes the Russian state and Russian Orthodox Church should rule over. And he has weaponized saints as part of the propaganda battle against Ukraine.
So it’s not really surprising to hear him bless the Russian state’s weapons of mass destruction. But his argument still seems to miss the mark.
If the nuclear weapons were a sign of “God’s grace and mercy” on the Soviet Union, then why did the United States get them first? Did God want to bless the United States more? But that doesn’t make sense since the United States is clearly the “enemy” in the story that God was allegedly saving the Soviet Union from. Wouldn’t real “grace and mercy” by God have been to block anyone from developing these weapons?
Also, this development came not in a godly nation but during the time when the Soviet officials were suppressing Christianity. Kirill even mentioned that in his homily on Saturday, as he often does. He referred to the “storm” of the “terrible revolutionary events” and “the terrible turning point in the life of our people and country.”
The monastery at which he spoke was actually shut down in 1927, a fate that the communist officials brought to many Orthodox and other Christian sites. Here’s how the monastery’s website describes that moment: “It rained heavily during the days the monastery was closing, as if the nature wept.” The site adds, “The cathedral was desecrated and its crosses were taken down. When the crosses were ripped down, the domes and the roof were damaged, so water leaked inside the cathedral.” The building was used as a granary and then a construction warehouse. It was returned to the local parish late in 1989 as the Soviet Union was crumbling, with services resuming the next spring. The site records that “in the spring of 1990, a shining rainbow marked the day its cross was raised.”
The monastery in nearby Sarov, one of the cities used for the Soviet nuclear program, suffered even more. It too was forced to close and became a place for building rocket launchers until Soviets blew it up in 1951 because they claimed it was at risk of collapsing. In 2016, the work of rebuilding the monastery started.
Kirill referred to this history on Saturday as he mentioned the nuclear gift from God, but he didn’t explain why God blessed the Soviet Union as it was persecuting the church. After all, he frequently insists today that the nation must follow God in order to be blessed, which is why he argued they needed to put the word “God” in the Constitution.
“For many years, this holy monastery lacked a place to pray,” he said on Saturday. “Secular institutions existed here, seemingly contradicting everything good, kind, and right, including the Christian Orthodox faith. But history has shown that it was in this very place that the shield of our Motherland began to be forged.”
And then there’s the matter of the saint Kirill credited with bringing the nuclear program: Seraphim of Sarov. He’s a big deal in the Russian Orthodox Church even if he’s little known beyond that — although he is remembered in the Anglican Communion on Jan. 2 and was referred to as a saint by Pope John Paul II. But for Russian Orthodox believers, he’s one of the most revered saints. So Kirill drafting him to bless the nation’s nuclear program is a big deal.
Seraphim was a mystical hermit who actually only went once to the monastery where Kirill spoke. He instead lived in a monastery in Sarov (thus his moniker, Seraphim of Sarov). Born in the 1750s, he died in Sarov in 1833 and was glorified as an Orthodox saint in 1903. As one who practiced strict asceticism and proclaimed the values of contemplation and self-denial, he hardly seems like a good candidate for patron saint of nukes. He’s known for extreme practices like praying on a rock for 1,000 straight days and his unusual eating habits like only eating grass for three years. On another occasion, he refused to fight back when attacked by a gang of thieves. Although he survived when they left him for dead, he suffered a hunched back after that and publicly forgave his attackers as he urged the judge to show them mercy.
That’s the guy Kirill credited with helping the Soviet Union create weapons that could ultimately destroy the whole world and all human life.
“Venerable Seraphim, who revealed his power to the Russian people during the most difficult period of their history, is undoubtedly a special saint of God, a special miracle worker, for all of us,” Kirill said in his sermon before talking about the nuclear program. “That this happened precisely in the place where Saint Seraphim prayed was no coincidence. I’ve spoken with our physicists, scientists who work in this field of scientific knowledge and ensure our country’s security — many of them are Orthodox Christians. In my conversations with them, I realized that they fully understand that the creation of a formidable weapon in our country in this particular place was no accident; all of this occurred, in part, through the prayers of our venerable and God-bearing father, Seraphim of Sarov. Thus, the humble elder, through his holiness and through his prayer, contributed to the continued existence of our people and our country.”
“I would like to reiterate that the Lord truly works miracles; he is the Lord of history, and the life of all mankind depends on him. That by his grace, through Elder Seraphim, the miracle of his presence was revealed here, and that in this very place the shield that protected our homeland was created — all of this is not a coincidence, but part of a single whole,” Kirill added. “Through his prayers, may the Lord protect the Russian land, our country, our Orthodox president, the authorities, and the military, defending our homeland from every enemy and adversary.”
And that’s how a revered, peaceful saint was weaponized to bless nuclear weapons.
Mirror Image
The rhetoric by Kirill on nuclear weapons and the war against Ukraine represents an extreme version of militaristic Christian Nationalism. But it’s also not that different from what we’re hearing today from the U.S. Department of Holy War.
Just three days before Kirill said nuclear weapons were a sign of “God grace and mercy,” the preacher at the Pentagon’s monthly worship service called the U.S. military a “means of God’s grace.” On the same day as Kirill’s remarks, the Pentagon again misused Isaiah 6:8 to make the prophetic call about joining the U.S. military (and this has been the verse they have most co-opted to justify imperial violence). Hegseth himself has conscripted numerous Bible verses — and a Pulp Fiction monologue — to argue that the U.S. military is acting as God’s instrument for divine justice (and “furious anger”). And like Kirill, Hegseth has argued that a soldier dying for the nation “finds eternal life,” thus following the theology of Crusader popes that makes salvation something one earns by sacrificing one’s self for the nation.
Bad theology can kill. Kirill’s theology helped lead the Russian military into Ukraine and Hegseth has distorted Christianity to justify launching a war against Iran and killing more than 200 people — including fishermen and perhaps human trafficking victims — in boats off the coasts of South America. The most dangerous form of Christian Nationalism is that deployed to justify using military force to kill people.
That’s why we must call out the heresies of Kirill, Hegseth, and others. We must not stand by quietly as they nuke the Christian witness.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor