Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia has condemned euthanasia as a type of suicide and said it was Satanist propaganda.
"We should claim that euthanasia is a kind of conscious suicide. According to religion, this is the greatest degree of the denial of God. The Orthodox Church regards the propaganda of euthanasia and suicide as concealed or open Satanism," the patriarch said at the eparchial meeting of Moscow's clergymen on Wednesday.
"The opinion that the man has the right to be the lord of his life is widely popular today. There are many proposals to legalize this sinful right and attempts to explain suicide by medical terms calling it euthanasia," Alexis II noted.
In his words, "the worst thing is that doctors whose duty is to take care of people's life are supposed to commit murder."
"There is nothing worse than suicide, however, the number of suicide cases keeps growing," the patriarch said. In his opinion, the main reason of this most terrible sin is the lack of life goal and belief in the future life."