The Russian Orthodox Church has sent a reliquary containing a fragment of the right hand of Dmitry Donskoy, a 14th-century prince, to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine for deployment along frontline positions. Church officials stated the relic would provide spiritual reinforcement to troops and support their military objectives. The reliquary was initially brought to the Savur-Mohyla war memorial in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, where senior Orthodox clergy conducted a prayer service attended by Russian military representatives.
Metropolitan Vladimir of Donetsk and Mariupol, the Russian-installed church leader in the region, indicated the relic’s presence would assist soldiers and civilians in mobilizing their strength to achieve military victory. The Russian Orthodox Church has characterized the relic’s deployment as part of its broader engagement with the Russian war effort in Ukraine, with Patriarch Kirill, the church’s leader, frequently framing the conflict in religious terms.
Donskoy’s remains were discovered only recently during restoration work at the Cathedral of the Archangel in the Kremlin, where generations of Russian rulers are interred. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally attended the ceremony marking the unearthing. The decision to exhume the remains drew criticism from some observers who questioned whether the church had broken established protocols, noting that Donskoy had been canonized in 1988 without previous attempts to access his tomb.
Alexander Zanemonets, an Orthodox priest and historian, suggested the timing of the relic’s discovery and deployment reflected wartime considerations rather than standard religious practice. He noted that the portrayal of Donskoy as a defender of the homeland aligned with Russian government messaging characterizing its military actions as defensive. The deployment of Donskoy’s relic follows an earlier instance in which relics of Alexander Nevsky, another medieval military figure venerated by the Russian Orthodox Church, were also sent to frontline areas.
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