Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov, honorary chairman of the patriarchal commission on family issues, protection of motherhood and childhood, died at the age of 70.

This was announced by Vasily Rulinsky, press secretary of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Now it has become known about the death of father Dimitri Smirnov.

Kingdom of heaven to dear father, ”he wrote in Telegram. 

According to him, Vladyka in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk performed a requiem for the newly departed.

The funeral service for Archpriest Smirnov is scheduled for Friday, October 23, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, RIA Novosti was told in the Synodal Department for the Church's Relations with Society and the Media.

Metropolitan Dionysius of the Resurrection, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, is expected to sing the priest.

The Russian Orthodox Church did not rule out that Smirnov died of chronic diseases that could worsen after a coronavirus disease.

The chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Church Charity and Social Service, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, said that Smirnov had many chronic diseases, including diabetes mellitus.

“I had problems with my heart and my legs.

The fact that he had had coronavirus may have aggravated some diseases, but he did not die of COVID-19.

From this, thank God, he was cured.

But other diseases led to his untimely death, ”said the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In May, it was reported that Smirnov suffered from a coronavirus infection COVID-19.

At the beginning of the month, the archpriest contracted the virus, but a few weeks later it became known that he was returning to work in the patriarchal commission on family issues, protection of motherhood and childhood.

However, in August he was dismissed from the post of head of the commission due to his health condition.

Smirnov was appointed honorary chairman of the corresponding patriarchal commission.

Smirnov was born on March 7, 1951 in Moscow.

In 1977 he graduated from the graphic arts faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute by correspondence (now the Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities).

He also studied as an external student at the Moscow Theological Seminary (1980), and in 1983 graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy.

In August 1979, Smirnov was ordained a priest.

In 1980, he became a priest in the staff of the Moscow Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Altufyevo.

In 1991, Smirnov was appointed rector of the Church of St. Mitrofan of the Voronezh city of Moscow, in 1997 he also became rector of the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Later, Smirnov held leading positions in several synodal departments, and from 2011 to 2020 he was a member of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Along with this, Smirnov was dean of the Department of Orthodox Culture at the Academy of Strategic Missile Forces named after Peter the Great.

Vladimir Legoyda, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, said that Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov "always spoke with love, even when at first glance it sounded harsh."

“Father Dimitri was a bright, courageous, direct and very kind man.

He always spoke with love, even when at first glance it sounded harsh.

His sermons were easy on the heart, his phrases became part of our language.

He was also very happy.

And understanding.

We will all miss him very much, ”Legoida commented on the death of Smirnov.

Over the years of church service and social activities, Smirnov became known for the many resonant statements that were often replicated in the media.

For example, the archpriest stated that the ability to be a good mother for girls is more important than education.

As an example of his point of view, he mentioned a woman who did not send her daughter to school so that she would help her with her newborn child.

“What is there in this school to do?

Learn envy, name-calling, bad words, rudeness to teachers?

What?

And so she will be a ready-made mother.

He will be able to do everything, ”Smirnov said.

In addition, the archpriest compared common-law wives with "free prostitutes."

He believed that Russian women did not understand what marriage was.

“I’m reluctant to say that“ I’m a free prostitute, ”so they say:“ I have a civil marriage. ”

Hello!

No, you just provide services for free - that's all, otherwise no one considers you a wife, ”the priest said.

Later, commenting on this statement, he also called Russian men "a national disaster."

“Our men are our national catastrophe, because they leave their girlfriends, they devour the best years of their lives.

A woman spends her best years on him, then he finds a new one ... These are generally shameless people of mama's sons, ”he said.