Russian Priests douse village with holy water to stop alcohol, drugs and fornication

Russian Orthodox priests have sprayed gallons of holy water over a city to cure drink and drug addiction and stop residents from having s.e.x.

The clerics held a prayer service on the plane before pouring 70 litres of holy water out of its open door.

The stunt took place at 800 feet, above the city of Tver, northwest of Russia's capital Moscow, on September 11, the country's unofficial 'Sobriety Day'.

A married couple man who claimed her was cured of his alcoholism were on the flight to watch one of the priests tip the holy water out from a large chalice.

Father Alexander Goryachev, one of the on-board priests, said the ritual would prevent the use of 'alcohol and drugs', as well as 'stopping fornication'.

He said:

Any disease is from a virus, and a virus is a demon. Therefore, any disease is primarily a spiritual disease.

He explained that it started the practice started in 2004 when they walked around the church sprayed water.

Russia is known for its national love of vodka but statistics from the World Health Organisation show that new anti-alcoholism campaigns have helped reduced alcohol consumption in Russia.

The figures show the average unit of alcohol consumed per person has dropped from 15.8 liters in 2005 to 11.7 litres in 2016.