Russian Orthodox Church Holds Nationwide Prayer Against Abortion

The Russian Orthodox Church conducted a nationwide prayer service on Sunday to urge women against abortion, framing the act as the destruction of unborn life amid Russia’s ongoing demographic challenges.

The specially approved rite, described as an “admonition for those intending to destroy an infant in the womb,” was held in churches across at least 15 regions, according to the Kommersant business newspaper.

The Holy Synod sanctioned the prayer service last month, and the Rybinsk Diocese in the Yaroslavl region stated that the Russian Orthodox Church mandated it be held annually on Jan. 11, per reporting by the Meduza news website.

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The initiative coincided with the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the biblical Massacre of the Innocents. In Moscow, one church lit 3,000 candles in tribute to “children killed by abortion.”

State Duma lawmaker Tatiana Butskaya attended the service there, according to the Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti.

Some services featured visual displays from anti-abortion groups, including fetal models from a U.S.-based Christian organization, as reported by the exiled outlet Mediazona.

In the Novosibirsk region, a priest encouraged women who had undergone abortions to “dedicate their lives to praying for forgiveness and assisting abandoned children.”

The Russian Orthodox Church has long opposed abortion, having equated it with murder in 2023.

Patriarch Kirill, the church’s leader, previously stated that talking banning abortions would solve Russia’s demographic crisis “like a magic wand.” Abortion remains legal in Russia on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

The prayer effort aligns with intensified debate over restricting access, driven by the country’s falling birth rate, natural population decline and rising male mortality. The Russian government has pursued measures to reverse population decline, providing broader context for the church’s action in defending unborn life.

The prayer service represents a formal, church-wide expression of the Orthodox commitment to protecting the sanctity of human life from conception.

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