Russia has sent bone fragments from the sword hand of a medieval warrior prince to the front in Ukraine, turning ancient remains into a modern morale operation.
The Russian Orthodox Church says the relic will spiritually strengthen troops fighting in a grinding war now entering its fifth year.
The remains belong to Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1389 and became a revered figure among Russian nationalists.
He is celebrated for defeating the Mongol Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.
Donskoy’s sarcophagus was uncovered this summer during restoration work at Moscow’s Cathedral of the Archangel inside the Kremlin.
Experts described the remains as remarkably well preserved despite their age.
Russian President Vladimir Putin personally inspected the discovery in August and praised its historical significance.
He called the remains “an absolutely unique and marvellous discovery” that reinforced the foundations of Russian history.
The Russian Orthodox Church, a consistent supporter of Putin’s campaign in Ukraine, dispatched a fragment of Donskoy’s right hand to Donetsk.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions Putin declared incorporated into Russia in 2022, although Kyiv rejected the annexation as an illegal land grab.
The Moscow Patriarchate referred to Donskoy as “the holy commander” and said part of his remains had been sent to stand invisibly beside Russian forces.
The message is not subtle, with church leaders openly presenting the medieval prince as a heavenly battlefield companion.
“A fragment of the Grand Prince’s right hand, the very same right hand with which he wielded his sword on Kulikovo Field, has been sent to the front to strengthen the soldiers’ spirits,” the Patriarchate said in a statement. The relic is secured in a small ornate casket beneath reinforced glass.
Church officials said the casket will be displayed to Russian combat units positioned along the front, which stretches more than 1,000 kilometers.
The effort amounts to a traveling religious morale campaign built around the remains of a warrior who died more than six centuries ago.
Donskoy was declared a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. His name was also given to a Soviet tank column financed by the church during World War Two, providing Russian officials with another convenient link between religion, military history and state power.
The carefully staged tour comes shortly before a Russian parliamentary election later this month.
It also arrives as Moscow’s military and religious leadership seeks fresh ways to sustain patriotism during an exhausting conflict that has resisted diplomatic settlement.
Russian forces are still attempting to seize complete control of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, talks intended to end the war have produced no breakthrough, leaving both sides locked in costly combat while Moscow rolls out its latest spiritual public relations production.
Donskoy’s relics were carried through Moscow’s streets during a massive Orthodox procession over the weekend.
On Tuesday, the casket appeared at a World War Two memorial in Donetsk during a ceremony attended by senior Kremlin and military figures.
Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin’s first deputy Kremlin chief of staff, joined commanders and the Russian installed regional leader in kissing the relic and making the sign of the cross.
A priest read a prayer as the carefully choreographed display unfolded before cameras.
“Both our military personnel and the people who live in Donbas need strengthening from above, need God’s help and the blessing of our saints,” said Metropolitan Vladimir of Donetsk and Mariupol, a senior cleric appointed by Moscow. Donbas includes Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, an area Russia now controls almost entirely.
Russian commanders elsewhere have portrayed the remains as proof that God supports Moscow’s forces. The Russian War Ministry released footage Wednesday showing troops in the Sverdlovsk region attending a church service with icons and Orthodox flags, while a commander said the relics would support Russian victory.
Critics accuse church leaders of bending religious protocol to satisfy the Kremlin.
They also question why Donskoy’s remains, whose general location had been known for decades, were recovered and publicly venerated only now, 38 years after the church declared him a saint.
“By the fifth year of war, the Church leadership in Moscow began to wonder what else it could do to show its support for what Russia terms its ‘special military operation’,” Orthodox priest and historian Alexander Zanemonets wrote for the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Russia has designated the center’s director a “foreign agent.”
“It had already sent priests to the front lines, instituted mandatory prayers for Russian victory in every church, and flown icons over cities.
A state embroiled in war will try to compel all institutions, including religious ones, to participate in it.” For Moscow, apparently, even the bones of a medieval prince can be drafted for duty.
