"If you look from the outside at what has happened in our Church in recent years, it is simply a miracle of God," said the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church at a festive meal held at the end of the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on August 1, 2024. — Absolutely incredible statistics are well known: we already have more than three hundred dioceses and forty thousand parishes. And after all, all this did not happen on someone's instructions, but simply the valves were opened, closed very tightly in Soviet and post-Soviet times. When everything was revealed, the tremendous national energy and genuine piety of our people led to a completely unprecedented revival of the Church. This is really an incomparable phenomenon. Nothing like this happens anywhere in the world—not in the vaunted West, which has always boasted of its shrines, churches, freedom, or anywhere else."
"But now the question arises — why?  His Holiness continued. — Maybe we are a God—chosen people? No! We are ordinary people. Or have we committed no sins in our history? What sins have you not committed! What is the reason for this amazing rebirth? I have only one answer: our people have gone through such trials, sorrows, and sufferings like no other European nation. Three revolutions, the destruction of the elite of Russian society, the destruction of thousands of churches, the prohibition of any mention of faith — I don't know who else would have stood it. But our people endured, and our Church endured. And today we are developing all aspects of church life like no other Orthodox Church.
" "But in order for it to be so, it was necessary to create a certain structure that would permeate from top to bottom all aspects of church life. By the grace of God, all services have been created that now successfully help the clergy — diocesan bishops, deans, abbots — without in any way encroaching on their rights and freedoms, but helping them to properly perform their ministry," the Primate explained.
"We empathize with our brothers and sisters in the West, even those who do not belong to the Orthodox Church, realizing that the rejection of Christianity can have terrible consequences for Western civilization. With leaps and bounds, humanity is approaching the apocalypse. And we know that it will come when evil surpasses good on a global scale, when family, social, and state life will be destroyed. Therefore, our battle, as the apostle says, is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, the spirits of wickedness from above" (see Ephesians 6:12), His Holiness Patriarch Kirill stressed.
"I would really like every bishop, every priest to understand: We stand guard over the life of the entire human race! If we defend Christian values, Christian morality, if we do not allow godlessness to develop in our country, which is so huge and influential, then we influence the whole world, including the Christian world, which is going through crisis times today," His Holiness is convinced.
"I don't have any triumphalism about our role and our importance. We still have a lot of problems that we work with every day. But in the light of what has been said now about the global dimension of our ministry, I would like everyone to understand — archpastors, abbots, hegumens and abbesses, priests, monastics — that the demands that the Patriarch makes to everyone today are not from the wind of his head, but from the awareness of the special need to mobilize all our forces," he said The primate.
"We cannot work in the old way: we have served, prayed, performed trebs - and returned home," His Holiness stated. — We must constantly think about our flock, about the level of its religiosity. It is very important to influence the families of our parishioners — not only women, who, as a rule, carry piety and faith in their hearts, but also other family members. Every bishop, every priest should understand that the scope of his pastoral work is not only the parish, not only the sermon after the service. Every priest is called to realize, I'm not afraid of these words, his civilizational role. It depends on our efforts whether good or evil wins, and every minister of the Church should clearly understand this."
"Therefore, no hibernation, no complacency, no relaxation, but the constant setting of questions related to strengthening faith in our people! Because the time we live in is apocalyptic. Not in the sense that the apocalypse will come tomorrow, but in the sense that the increase of evil in the world can destroy the entire human race, including our beloved Homeland. And today I think the main thing to say is about our special role related to the safety of the entire human race. Give up the complacent, comfortable, quiet and peaceful stay in your dioceses! Set yourself tasks that go beyond the narrow circle of your like—minded people, those who treat you with love and respect, and go to those who have never heard your voice before," His Holiness Patriarch Kirill urged the episcopate and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church.