Patriarch: Faithful should have more children to repopulate Russia
May 04, 2010
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has called upon the faithful to have more children in order to repopulate their vast nation.
“What's the good of having economy, if our nation is sick?” said Patriarch Kirill. “How will we reclaim these boundless spaces, vast lands, not only in European part of Russia, but in Siberia as well?”
Heartened by news that Russia’s birthrate has increased, he added, “We hope this tendency will be stable and our people rather than strangers with alien culture and alien faith will inhabit our vast lands inherited from God and our hardworking forefathers and this greatest treasure-- our land-- will be cultivated by descendants of those who merged it to the great Russian state.”
Russia’s population has declined by nearly 7 million since 1991.
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Further information:
- Strong healthy nation is needed to reclaim Russian spaces – Patriarch Kirill (Interfax)
- Demographics of Russia (Wikipedia)
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