Eight months after Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine began, pro-Kremlin patriarch Kirill has described Russia as an "island of freedom."

In a century of globalization and the "blurring of the lines between good and evil," Russia's mission is to help humanity avert the apocalypse, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said in Moscow on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.

According to the Church leader, questions of ethical decision-making have a special meaning in the world today. They also determined the fate of entire countries and peoples. "And as long as our fatherland is an island of freedom, there will also be a glimmer of hope for the rest of the world to change the course of history and avert the global apocalyptic end (...)."

Patriarch Kirill is considered one of the key supporters of President Vladimir Putin's war drive against Ukraine. At the end of August, at a church congress in Karlsruhe, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier accused the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church of leading its believers down a misguided path hostile to faith.