Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Church Offers Atomic Blessing

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A 12th Main Directorate officer crossing himself at a service celebrating the unit's 60th anniversary Tuesday.
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Wednesday, September 5, 2007. Issue 3736. Page 1.

By Alexander Osipovich Staff Writer

Christians have long believed that the world will end with the Apocalypse. On Tuesday morning, the Russian Orthodox Church gave its blessing to the men and women who could make it happen.

In a ceremony at Christ the Savior Cathedral, priests chanted prayers in honor of the Defense Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, which is responsible for the storage and maintenance of the country's nuclear arsenal.

The highly secretive directorate on Tuesday celebrated the 60th anniversary of its establishment by Stalin in 1947, when the Soviet Union was racing to build nuclear weapons after the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

About 200 men and women from the directorate attended Tuesday's ceremony, which would have been unthinkable in the days of official Soviet atheism.

Dressed in uniforms with a stylized atom logo on their sleeves, they occasionally crossed themselves as Bishop Amvrosy of Bronnitsy ...READ THE REST HERE

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