The president of Russia; Vladimir Putin is celebrating his 70th birthday today amid a raging war crisis.
Some of Putin’s subordinates have taken to various social media platforms to congratulate him and say a word of prayer for him.
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill called for all to pray for the health of the longest-serving paramount leader of Russia since Josef Stalin.
Officials hailed Putin as the saviour of modern Russia while the patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia implored the country to say two days of special prayers so that God grants Putin “health and longevity”.
“We pray to you, our Lord God, for the head of the Russian State, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and ask you to give him your rich mercy and generosity, grant him health and longevity, and deliver him from all the resistances of visible and invisible enemies, confirm him in wisdom and spiritual strength, for all, Lord hear and have mercy,” Kirill said.
Putin’s birthday comes days after Moscow mobilized its military, threatened to use nuclear weapons, and moved to annex a large portion of Ukraine. It has also been more than 200 days since Moscow invaded the now-EU-aspiring former Soviet republic.
Supporters say Putin saved Russia from destruction by an arrogant and aggressive West.
“Today, our national leader, one of the most influential and outstanding personalities of our time, the number one patriot in the world, president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, turns 70 years old!” Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said.
“Putin has changed the global position of Russia and forced the world to reckon with the position of our great state.”
As he has grown older, Putin has appeared increasingly preoccupied with his legacy. In June he compared his actions in Ukraine to the campaigns of Tsar Peter the Great, suggesting both of them were engaged in historic quests to win back Russian lands.
Putin has become increasingly fond of quoting Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, who argued that Russia had an exceptional mystical and holy path to follow that would ultimately restore order to an imperfect world.
In a televised encounter with teachers this week, Putin showed a keen interest in another episode from history – an 18th-century peasant revolt against Empress Catherine the Great – that he blamed on “the weakness of central authority in the country”.
From the man who has dominated Russia for more than two decades, it sounded as though a lesson had been taken to heart: faced with the possibility of rebellion, the ruler needs to be both strong and vigilant.
