Military archpriest says women should have more children to stop worrying about sending them to war

If women in Russia gave birth more often, it would be easier for them to send their sons to war, says Mikhail Vasilyev, rector of the Church of Great Martyr Barbara at the headquarters of the Strategic Missile Forces, in an interview with the Spas TV channel.

The priest was responding to the anchor's story about a woman who hid her son from mobilization on the Canary Islands.

“Every lady is allowed by God to give birth to a lot of children. And if the lady, in fulfilling the commandment “be fruitful and multiply,” has renounced artificial means of pregnancy termination, in the broadest sense possible, then obviously she will have more than one child. This means that it will not be so painful and scary for her to part with it, even if just for a while”, Vasilyev said. He added: “The devil is not as scary as they paint him. If God does not give us up, a pig will not eat us.”