Anyone who trusts Russia might believe it was a mere coincidence that news of a proposal to canonise Russian military commander Alexander Suvorov surfaced on 11 November—Poland’s Independence Day, which marks the country’s return to sovereignty in 1918 after 123 years of partition.
The move to make Suvorov a saint comes from by Mikhail Sheremet, a State Duma deputy from Russian-occupied Crimea and a member of the parliament’s security committee. Sheremet argues that Suvorov ranks among Russia’s greatest military leaders and possesses every quality required for sainthood.
“I have already prepared the appropriate submission to the Russian Orthodox Church. Suvorov is rightly regarded as the patron of the land forces, just as Admiral Fyodor Ushakov is the patron of our navy. I believe this issue is particularly relevant today, as our soldiers are forging victory on the front lines, defending Russia’s future and that of generations to come,” the MP said.
However, it has since emerged that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) moved ahead of Sheremet long before his request. In August 2023, at the initiative of Patriarch Kirill, the Holy Synod began preparing for Suvorov’s possible canonisation.
For Poles, Suvorov (1730–1800) occupies an infamous place in national history. During the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising—an attempt to restore Polish independence— his forces stormed the Praga district of Warsaw and massacred between 13,000 and 20,000 residents in a single day, including women and children.
Even some Russian officers were appalled by the brutality. General Lev Engelhardt later wrote in his diaries: “At the sight of all this, one’s heart died within, and the abomination of the scene outraged the soul. During battle one feels no pity, becomes more beastly, but murder after the fighting is finished is a disgrace.”
Suvorov himself reported to Empress Catherine: “The final and most terrible slaughter took place on the banks of the Vistula before the eyes of the people of Warsaw. The Poles trembled at this dreadful sight.”
Yet, Suvorov was not only the “Butcher of Prague”. The genocidal practices of him and his soldiers were also experienced by the Nogai and Crimean Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs and many other nations. The storming of Izmail of few years earlier left around 10,000 civilians dead.
When plans for Suvorov’s canonisation first became public in 2023, Catholic commentator Tomasz Terlikowski observed in Interia that “the state has asked the Russian Church to canonise a criminal,” describing the Russian Orthodox Church as “an office for military and political propaganda.”
One year later, Vladimir Putin and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, visited Suvorov’s tomb in St Petersburg.
“His deeds remind us of him,” Putin remarked, gazing at the tomb.“His whole life,” the patriarch replied.
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