Is Patriarch Kirill in favour of the death penalty?

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has said that Jesus Christ did not oppose the death penalty. Andreja Bogdanovski explains the context behind this surprising statement 

In the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church has transformed, embracing a militant ideology and positioning itself as the ultimate moral authority in Russian society as it wages an ideological war against “Western degradation”.

Accordingly, Russian Patriarch Kirill’s latest indirect approval of the reinstatement of the death penalty should not be seen as a standalone event but rather as a building block positioning the Church as a key feature of Putin’s ideological landscape.

What exactly did he say?

While speaking to a Russian veteran’s group at the beginning of the month…