On Thursday, April 14, 2022, the Moskva, the flagship vessel of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, reportedly sunk to the bottom of the ocean. As AP reported:
The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, a guided-missile cruiser that became a potent target of Ukrainian defiance in the opening days of the war, sank Thursday after it was heavily damaged in the latest setback for Moscow's invasion.
Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles, while Russia acknowledged a fire aboard the Moskva but no attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze.
Back in 2020, the Russian State-owned news agency TASS reported that this same ship had been armed with a piece of the True Cross, a Christian relic that is believed to have been part of the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified approximately 1,989 years ago today:
A Christian relic, a piece of the True Cross on which the believers say Jesus Christ was crucified would be kept at the Moskva missile cruiser, the Black Sea fleet flagship, archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church's Sevastopol District Sergiy Khalyuta told TASS.
He explained that the relic is a wood chip only several millimeters long. It is embedded into a 19th century metal cross, which, in turn, is stored in a special reliquary.
The Washington Post has some more information on the sinking of the ship, but even they can neither confirm nor deny whether the Russian news agency was actually telling the truth about the True Cross. Either way, it's hanging out somewhere at the bottom of the sea now.
At press time, Jesus's extant foreskin could not be reached for comment.
What happened to the Russian flagship Moskva? [Adela Suliman / Washington Post]
Russia's damaged Black Sea flagship sinks in latest setback [Adam Schreck / AP News]
Christian relic, a True Cross piece, to be kept at Russia's Black Sea fleet flagship [TASS News Agency]
