Priests and anti-abortion activists will hold a communal prayer Friday in a Sverdlovsk region forest where locals found 248 preserved fetuses discarded in plastic barrels.
A church official told Interfax that local clergy had chosen the prayer "For those innocently slain" to mark the occasion and that the prayer would be recited in front of the Babes of Bethlehem icon.
Anti-abortion activists from Yekaterinburg, the regional capital, Moscow and other cities are also planning to pray in the forest Friday, the news agency said.
Early last week, locals discovered the fetuses in a wooded area five kilometers from the Yekaterinburg-Nizhny Tagil highway.
Attached to the fetuses, which had been preserved using formaldehyde, were tags containing surnames and numbers.
Police believe that the numbers indicate the hospital wards where the women who produced them had been patients and that one or more of the four nearby hospitals are responsible.
Church officials have said that the dumping of the fetuses reflects the degradation of modern society.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
