An 88-year-old church mystic close to Vladimir Putin has performed a blessing in an executive jet above Moscow and St Petersburg to ‘protect Russia from coronavirus’.
Orthodox elder Iliy Nozdrin was seen alongside another prominent priest with icons and a cross blessing residents.
The elder – who is confessor to Russia’s most senior churchman Patriarch Kirill – prayed to rid the country of the ‘destructive infection’.
A church source said: ‘Iliy today flew over our capital cities with a pray to protect Russia from coronavirus pandemic.’
The hunched, grey-bearded Nozdrin is seen as having sway over Putin and one ex-official told Proyeky investigative journalists he is Russia’s ‘most important and fashionable elder’ who is ‘popular among VIPs’.
Seen as a healer, he has been sought out by many leading officials.
The elder is a schema-archimandrite, a monastic priest who has attained the highest level of spiritual excellence.
It was unclear who had supplied the business jet.
