Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov died

Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov, the rector of the church of St. Mitrofan Voronezh, died in the Khutorsk and another seven churches in Moscow and the Moscow Region, died. This was announced in Telegram by the press secretary of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service Vasily Rilinsky.

Smirnov was 69 years old. In the spring, he was ill with a coronavirus infection and underwent rehabilitation.

At the end of August, the Synod dismissed him from the post of chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, Protection of Maternity and Childhood for Health Randies. He also left the positions of the rector of the seven churches of Moscow and stopped conducting television and radio programs that caused a resonance in society.

At the end of September and early October, the surroundings of the Archpriest denied rumors about his emergency hospitalization and death.

Smirnov called the Pandemia of Coronavirus "an extremely useful phenomenon." According to him, since the pandemic began, "selfishness began to be compressed, and in place volunteering is activated, the desire to do something for the neighbor, an understanding of some kind of very important of the Christian qualities of the soul." He also called on believers to ignore the prohibitions of the authorities in connection with coronavirus.

Archpriest was known for his ambiguous statements. He called nuclear weapons a “wonderful invention”, thanks to which Russia exists. He believed that Russian girls should not go to school, but learn to future motherhood. He called women living with men without official marriage.