Amulets and prayers against catastrophes in Smolensk and Crimea

Masks and powerful amulets against coronavirus are "blessed" and sold online. Proximity of Patriarch Kirill to the victims of the virus in China. A message to Xi Jinping. Shifts for running water in Simferopol. Daily litanic prayers to ask for rain.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Orthodox diocese of Smolensk has warned the faithful against those who offer to "bless" masks and powerful amulets against the coronavirus. The community on the border with Belarus has in fact issued a notice for all the inhabitants of the region stating that they are only fraudsters.

In fact, in various parts of Russia the sale of objects and formulas attributed to the shamans of Karelia (in the far north of the country) is spreading, together with a particular species of "miraculous masks" to protect themselves from the epidemic, even touted on the site avito.ru.

The text of the advertisement specifies that for every additional dollar added to the purchase, an even more effective and strong prodigious remedy is obtained, given that the object is also brought to church to be blessed by the Orthodox priest.

The diocese specifies that the belief that the church blessing "expands the area of ​​action" of amulets is outright sacrilege, since it "contradicts the Church's doctrine on holiness and blessings". The statement added that Moscow Patriarch Kirill (Gundjaev) sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping expressing the Orthodox Church's closeness and support to all victims of the infection.

The coronavirus is not the only scourge for which the Russians are asking for healings: prayers and intercession rituals are also being said to avoid the environmental catastrophe in Crimea, due to an exceptional drought.

In Simferopol, the capital of the annexed region in 2014, all the reservoirs have dried up, and the authorities have issued a notice that decrees the alternated suspension of the supply of hot and cold running water. The ordinance has sparked heated reactions, especially in view of the tourist season, on which the region's economy is based.

According to Elena Protsenko, mayor of Simferopol, the water reserves would be enough for only about three months, and will still need to be rationed. The main Crimean cities receive water supplies from 14 natural basins and another 8 from the northern Crimean canal. Until 2014, this system was powered for 85% by the waters of the Ukrainian Dnipro river (Dnieper in Russian), which has now been closed to transit, given that the region is "occupied" by the Russians.

Natural sources are not enough to maintain the previous water supply regime, and the reserves accumulated previously are now running out. All this, for now only puts the city of Simferopol in crisis, but the drought is now threatening other areas as well. The inhabitants of the capital are industriously building machinery to heat the water directly in the house, and they stock up on mineral water, wet wipes, dry shampoo and plastic dishes. In times of coronavirus, many are terrified that the lack of running water can lead to spikes in the spread of infections. Several service companies are forced to temporarily close.

Faith groups have appealed to Orthodox priests, making offerings for the celebrations of Moleben, litanic prayers in favor of the rain. On 5-6 February, a sudden change in the climate brought abundant rain and snow (photo 2), which temporarily supplied the reserves in crisis. In part, this change is attributed to the effectiveness of ritual intercessions, which are therefore being urged with increasing intensity.

Metropolitan Lazar (Shvets), administrator of Crimea (photo 1) of the patriarchate of Moscow, has ordered that these Moleben be celebrated every day in all the churches of the region, with the intention of "dispensing water" (nisposlanie vlagi). These prayers are solicited not only by the faithful, but also by the administrators themselves, starting with the president of the Crimean region Sergei Aksenov and the president of the local government Jurij Gonatsjuk.