Russia’s non secular chief, Patriarch Kirill, on Thursday, Jan. 5, called for a ceasefire in Ukraine on Orthodox Christmas, celebrated this week by each international locations.

The 76-year-aged Orthodox chief is a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin and his offensive in Ukraine.

He has specified his blessing to Russian troops preventing in Ukraine and sent intensely anti-Western and anti-Kyiv sermons all through the conflict.

“I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and of all Rus, attraction to all parties associated in the internecine conflict with a simply call to cease hearth and set up a Xmas truce from 12:00 on January 6 to 00:00 on January 7 so that Orthodox persons can go to products and services on Xmas Eve and on the day of the Nativity of Christ,” he mentioned on the church’s official web site.

The Russian Orthodox Church has lost sizeable affect in Ukraine because Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and combating in jap Ukraine in 2014.

In 2019, aspect of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church broke ties with Moscow — which has experienced non secular dominance in a lot of Ukraine for centuries — in a historic schism.

The Kremlin’s choice to mail troops into Ukraine in February 2022 resulted in a lot of clerics who had ongoing to remain loyal to Kirill turning away from Moscow.

In Could, the Moscow-backed branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church severed ties with Russia, citing Patriarch Kirill’s lack of condemnation of the preventing.

Patriarch Kirill has been sanctioned by Britain and Canada for his outspoken backing of Putin’s Ukraine offensive.