In this article I will try to collect the statements and words of relevant relgious leaders regarding the current war in Ukraine. Please feel free to submit any statements you cannot find on here in the comments section, with links please. Any highlights in bold are my own, and intended to point out key passages. Over these two months the list has become very long, and unfortunately Blogger does not provide tools to make it more user-friendly. All statements are published in order of date, so a helpful tip can be to click on the link to the hierarch below the one you want to consult, and scroll upward.
Neste artigo vou juntar as palavras e declarações de líderes religiosos relevantes sobre a actual guerra na Ucrânia. Agradeço que submetam quaisquer declarações em falta nos comentários, com links, por favor. Quaisquer destaques nos textos são da minha responsabilidade, com o objectivo de sublinhar pontos chave. Todos os comentários de líderes internacionais serão postados em inglês. Para compreender melhor as dimensões religiosas deste conflito, leiam este artigo. Ao longo destes dois meses esta lista tornou-se muito extensa e infelizmente o Blogger não tem ferramentas que tornem a pesquisa mais fácil. Todas as declarações estão por ordem de data, por isso uma dica útil é, caso queiram ler as mais recentes declarações de um hierarca, clicarem no seguinte e andarem para cima.
Beloved
and God protected Ukrainian people!
Once
again, our homeland is in danger!
The
treacherous enemy, despite his own obligations and assurances, breaking the
basic norms of international law, as an unjust aggressor set foot on Ukrainian
soil, bringing with him death and devastation.
Our
Ukraine, which the world rightly called "bloody lands", which so many
times was sprinkled with the blood of martyrs and fighters for the freedom and
independence of its people, calls us today to stand up for our homeland, our
dignity before God and humanity, our right to exist and the right to choose our
future.
It is
our inherent right and a sacred duty for everyone to protect their land and
their people, their state and everything that is most dear to us: their family,
their language and culture, their history and their spiritual world! We are peaceful people who love children of all
nations with Christian love, regardless of origin or beliefs, national or
religious affiliation. We do not encroach on someone else`s property and do not
threaten anyone, but we do not have the right to give our own to anyone! At
this historic moment, the voice of our conscience calls us all as one to stand
up for the free, united and independent Ukrainian state!
The
history of the last century teaches us that all those who started global wars
were the ones who lost them, and the idolaters of war brought only destruction
and decline to their own states and peoples. We believe that the Lord
God is with us at this historic moment! He, in Whose hands lies the fate of the
whole world and every person, in particular, is always on the side of the
victim of unfair aggression, on the side of the suffering and enslaved. It is
he who declares his Holy Name in the history of every nation, catches and
throws down the powerful of this world by their own pride, the conquerors by
the illusion of their omnipotence, the proud and bold by their own
self-confidence. It is he who grants victory over evil and death. The victory
of Ukraine will be a victory of God`s power over the baseness and insolence of
man! This was always the case, so it is now and so it be!
Our Holy
Martyr Church has always been with her people, it remains here for them and
stands by! This Church, which has already known death and resurrection,
as the Body of the Risen Christ over whom death has no power, was bestowed by
the Lord to his people in the baptismal waters of the Dnieper. Since then, the
history of our people and their Church, the history of their liberation
struggle, the history of the embodiment of God`s word and the manifestation of
his spirit of truth in our culture have been intertwined forever. And at this
dramatic moment, our Church, as our Mother and Teacher, remains with its
children to protect them and serve them in the name of God! God is our hope and
from Him will be our victory!
Today we
solemnly proclaim: "We will lay down our souls and bodies for our
freedom!” Today, with one heart and mouth, we pray: "Great and one
God, save Ukraine for us!’
Holy
Righteous, Martyrs and Confessors of the Ukrainian land, pray and intercede for
us before God!
The
blessing of the Lord may be upon you!
Together we are a nation that builds and defends peace in Ukraine and the world, at the price of our own blood.
Truly the words of Christ are being fulfilled. “No one has greater love than this: that someone would lay down his life for his friends.” We see that not hatred, but love conquers. Love gives birth to heroes, but hatred to criminals.
That is why I encourage all of us: let us learn to love in this tragic time. Let us not be taken captive by hatred. Let us not use the language of hatred. The one who hates the enemy is already overcome by him. We will conquer with the power of love, for our homeland, for God, and for our neighbour.
Let us pray not only for peace in Ukraine, but let us pray for our enemies, for their conversion, for the conversion of Russia, as Our Lady of Fatima requested of us.
01/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
To you, dear children, daughters and sons of our people, I say: we are waiting for you back home, when there will be a peaceful sky over Ukraine. Your mother Church will accompany you, help you where the hardships of war will take you.
(…)
I want to thank and bless the Ukrainian army, our soldiers, girls and boys who defend peace in Ukraine, thanks to whom today, on the ninth day of the war, we are still alive, thanks to which Ukraine wins, Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights.
(…)
Today we feel that Archangel Michael is fighting for Ukraine with the whole heavenly army. We are praying today: Archangel Michael and all the heavenly army, all the heavenly forces fight for Ukraine, overthrow the devil who attacks us, kills us, brings destruction and death.”
4/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
We pray for the enemies who came to our land to kill. We pray that the Lord God will stop their murderous hand. God bless Ukraine! God, save your children! God, forgive our sins and grant Ukraine victory!
06/3/2022 (Source)
(…)
Today
in Ukraine there is a war for the hearts and minds of the people – a struggle
that affects all humanity, all people and encourages everyone to make their
choice. The
internal battlefield is crucial. If in the mystery of the evangelist and which
the Father sees, evil prevails, man will be the source of war around him in the
outside world, will provoke the new battlefields, where entire nations will
perish ... Then that
battlefield with its disgusting face and devastation will break out by force
and cause great suffering to people. As evil prevails inside a
person, in his heart, he will become the cause, the source of evil around him
and will not be able to resist it in the outside world.
At the
end of this Gospel passage, we hear that when it comes to victory, it is not
the outer world but the inner world that comes first. What does it
take to win this war? What does it take to destroy the enemy, to defeat evil?
The
Lord gives us a special "secret" weapon. He says the secret of
victory is forgiveness. This may surprise us: what is it like to think
about forgiveness during the war? From a human point of view, in times of war we should talk about hatred –
hatred of those who attack us. However, if on the inner battlefield,
which is our heart, we act under the influence of hatred, then we are already
defeated by evil. That is why today's Gospel speaks not so much of man's
forgiveness as of the key to victory over the devil, which is first and
foremost forgiveness that comes from God.
(…)
Today we
say: God, forgive my sins. May Your victory dwell in my heart. And
God's victory is always the victory of good over evil, truth over untruth,
peace over war. Entering the time of repentance, we begin to learn to
overcome. It is so important for us to know the secret of victory and to have a
power over which our enemy is powerless.
Therefore
we ask: Lord, as You have forgiven us, so we want to forgive all those who have
forgiven us. This is the position of the winner. Today it is very
important to defeat the enemy on the inner battlefield. Then we will overcome
it, defending our cities and villages, our Motherland.
To
defeat the enemy who came to our land, you must first be spiritually and
morally superior, stronger than him, in any case not to imitate his behavior, position,
language and insults!
By affirming the victory of good over evil, we become warriors of light
and defenders of peace, and thus gain that true treasure of the eternal and
just. That is why Christ says: "For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also" (Mt 6:21).
Today,
this most important treasure that we, as a nation, need is the treasure of the
victory of good over evil. That must be our greatest wealth, which will
be in our hearts - the Truth of God, in which is His all-conquering power.
We also
ask: Lord, give us the weapons with which we can defeat the devil and all his
angels. Give us the weapon with which we can win not only the war, but
also the war itself and all those who cause it and brought it to the land of
Ukraine.
Today
we especially pray for our army, for those who really defeated the enemy on the
battlefield of their own hearts, because it is out of love for the Motherland
that they overcome those who attack us with greater, from a human point of
view, strength.
"Gather
up your treasures in heaven" (Mt 6:20) is a great call to all of us. Because
war is always destruction. War is always a waste of resources. Evil, hatred and
sin dry up and exhaust the soul, bleed and weaken a person. Instead, God's
forgiveness, received and transmitted, mercy and love for God and neighbor
revive and renew the mental and physical strength of man, give him the ability
to endure the struggle to the end and gain an advantage over the enemy. Therefore, in the field of spiritual
struggle, one cannot lose or scatter, but on the contrary – to obtain and
collect such treasure, which "neither moths nor worms destroy and where
thieves do not break through walls or steal" (Mt 6:20).
Today
Christ asks us to gather... When we overcome evil, we overcome
destruction, we gather real, eternal treasures, over which Russian tanks and
cruise missiles are powerless. Our Taras Shevchenko tells us about these treasures, who at one time
emphasized the importance of telling the world about "what was going on in
Ukraine, why did it die, what Cossack glory became for all over the world
!?" (Before Osnovyanenko, 1839, St. Petersburg.) These are the
treasures of our ancestors, which are still our common national treasure and
inspire us to victory.
God,
give us the victory of Ukraine! Give us victory over the enemy! Give
peace to our Motherland. And
most importantly – give us victory over sin and death in our hearts, so that
with You and in You was our treasure. Amen.
06/03/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
He [Pope Francis] clearly said that this was not an operation, but a war. The war, first of all, is against civilians, civilians [For Pope Francis’ words, see below]
(…)
Today we ask the world community to close the skies over Ukraine, because Russian cruise missiles kill the most people in our lands
07/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today, that miracle over the Dnieper is created by our Ukrainian army, stopping the invasion of the northern neighbour, who stepped on our land, bringing destruction and death, trying to destroy the freedom-loving Ukrainian people (…) We are working a miracle for the people, who are showing their love of freedom to the whole world. And it amazes the whole world.
[To the international community] Do everything you can to stop this madness! Because today, before our eyes, Ukraine is being crucified. There is no night when bombs do not fall on the heads of civilians. Let's stop the war together! Let us together be instruments, instruments of God's peace in our time!
08/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today, my conscience, the conscience of every Christian, forces us to take a voice to say a sharp word “no” to the whole world, to protest against the mass murder of people in Ukraine. In particular, in the last minutes we saw mass killings in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Yesterday we saw horrific footage of the bombings of the maternity hospital, as well as mass graves, mass graves, in which there are hundreds of lifeless bodies. And today we must tell the whole world "no" to the massacres in Ukraine.
We are telling the whole world today: stop the mass killings!
10/03/2022 (Source)
Ecumenical
prayer for peace in Lviv
O God,
Father almighty, Lord, Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ and You, O Holy
Spirit—one Divinity and one Power! Before Your eyes today we present
the sorrow and pain of Ukraine. Mountains of corpses, rivers of blood, and seas
of tears. We prayer for all those who gave up their lives for the homeland, for
our army, for the sons and daughters of Ukraine, who shield lives with their
own bodies in the face of the enemy. We pray for all those innocently
killed peaceful people of Ukraine: women, children, the elderly. We pray for
the victims of Mariupol who are being buried in massive common graves without
Christian burial and honour. Receive our prayers for their eternal repose!
10/03/2022
(Source)
Daily video message
Ukraine is healing the wounds of war, rescuing and embracing her children who are suffering. It really seems that this war is becoming a war primarily against the civilian peaceful population. Even according to official statistics, in these days there have been more deaths among civilians – women and children – than among the military. We mourn the children of Ukraine who have become innocent victims of this war.
We amaze the whole world with our strength which gives us the possibility to believe in victory. The great majority of people in Ukraine believe that Ukraine will be victorious.
Our soldiers constantly ask us: Pray for us. I want to pass on this request of the Ukrainian army, in whose hands lies the fate of Ukraine, to all of you who hear me. Pray! Pray for our Ukrainian army, which today is defending peace in Ukraine, Europe and the world.
Today I wish to sincerely thank all those who, at the international and inter-religious level, are doing everything to stop the war. I thank the Orthodox brethren, particularly in Germany and Western Europe, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, which is trying to serve refugees and which is appealing to the church hierarchy in Russia for the need to end the war immediately. I thank the WCC which is doing everything to stop this war. I thank the Catholics and Protestants of France who with a particular appeal, are doing everything to stop the bloodshed in our land.
11/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
War is always a failure for humanity. War is always a moment of shame, a moment in which man's dignity is humiliated.
When we strive for peace, everything is possible. When war breaks out, we can lose everything. In Ukraine, today, we are seeing great contempt for human dignity. With war, man loses his humanity, especially he who starts war, he who starts war diminishes himself in his humanity. He who kills his neighbour, before all else, destroys the humanity within himself, destroys his own dignity.
As Christians what can we do to counter this contempt for humanity during the war in Ukraine? Firstly, we must do the works of mercy, we must do all we can to show respect for human dignity.
Today we pray for the Ukrainian army, which defends and reaffirms this dignity. We pray for the civilian population of Ukraine, for our refugees, for those who find themselves in cold cities, and sieged towns without water, food or heating, we remember them and we want to help them.
Today we fight for humanitarian corridors and for a way to save people respecting their dignity, regardless of what language they speak, what nation they belong to, what Church they are part of. Today in Ukraine there is a war for human dignity.
We know that to bury the dead is one of the works of mercy. We are now faced with the fact that the Russian aggressor who has transgressed upon Ukrainian soil does not respect the bodies of its own dead. He does not want to pay the due respects to his dead in Ukraine. And our own volunteers, our good people, want to return the bodies of the Russians who have been killed, but nobody will take them back to bury them with dignity.
Today, in Ukraine, we see mountains of bodies, rivers of blood and a sea of tears. Our heart aches to see thousands of people buried without a prayer, without Christian respect, in mass common graves, with no identification. Only in Mariupol, according to official numbers, close to 1.500 civilians have died during these days and been buried in mass graves. How important it is for us today to show respect for the bodies of our dead, be they military or civilian. Our people kneel before the bodies of our dead soldiers when they are returned to their cities, towns and families.
Today I ask all our priests all across Ukraine, to celebrate Divine Liturgies and pray for the souls of the dead, as a sign of our respect for those who have died on Ukrainian soil as a result of this horrible and inhumane war.
12/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from the sermon for the first Sunday of Lent
Get
out of your comfort zone and defend your land, do everything you can where you
are, so that the truth may prevail. If you are a warrior – defend the
country, if you are a teacher – teach children, if you are an entrepreneur – do
everything to make your business work, give profit to the state and work to the
people. If you are a doctor, treat the wounded. If you are a
spiritual person, pray for your Motherland, for your Ukraine.
Today,
the Ukrainian people are asking where God is when the enemy kills Ukrainian
children? Where is God when Russian bombs and rockets fall on our
heads every night? Where is God when the enemy bombed even the Svyatogorsk
Lavra in Donetsk region? Where are you, God? I think this is a deep cry of
prayer of the Ukrainian people to our God and Creator.
Christ
suffers today in the body of Ukraine, suffers as the Head of that Body, the Church
of Christ.
13/03/2022
(Source)
Excerpts from interview with Radio NV
I am
impressed by the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, its structures in
Europe, which assess the war in a completely different way. In particular, I was
impressed by the position of the representatives of the Munich hierarchy, who
condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine and appealed to their faithful
Russians to accept refugees from Ukraine. They are organizing a fundraiser
for our refugees to help us
We
see that the truth is being manipulated by Russia itself, the Church is being
used for its military propaganda. I think this is unacceptable. But
the whole free world, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, strongly opposes this
position. I know that dozens of letters have been written to Kirill
demanding an immediate end to the war.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate supports
our statehood, we see clear messages given by His Beatitude Onuphrius.
13/03/2022
(Source)
Daily video message
In such circumstances, there can be no neutral position. Because he who is silent, who does not condemn this war, becomes an accomplice in the crime, the aggression of killing peaceful people of Ukraine, so thank you to all those who together with Ukraine are fighting for the right to peaceful existence
14/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
God is with us. Today he is on the side of Ukraine and all those who suffer innocently. The Lord is always on the side of the victim of unjust aggression. Therefore, believing in such a God, I believe in the victory of Ukraine
(…)
The Church teaches that we have the right to defend our homeland. Moreover, it is a natural right and a sacred duty. We are not talking about the right to kill, but about the duty to defend ourselves. The defence must be proportional to how the attacker attacks us
15/3/2022 (Source)
Comment on the announcement of the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to Our Lady
The Ukrainian people have long been waiting for this spiritual event. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in 2014, Ukrainian Catholics have asked to carry out this act as a necessary condition to prevent the outbreak of war and all the dangers coming from Russia.
(…)
With the beginning of a full-scale war, our faithful from around the world have asked to fulfil the words of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima.
(…)
We are grateful to the Holy Father for responding first of all to Mary's call at the proclamation of Fatima on July 13, 1917, and to her children's request to defend Ukraine and stop the mistakes of Russia, which promotes war and persecution of the Church. Today we are witnessing the fulfilment of the words of the Mother of God, who said: The righteous will be persecuted, the Holy Father will suffer, many nations will be destroyed.
16/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today it is 17 March 2022 here and we are experiencing already the twenty-second day of war. We are beginning the fourth week of this great horrible and unjust aggression against Ukraine. But every morning I am able to tell you that Ukraine is standing, Ukraine is fighting. As our national anthem states, “Ukraine’s glory and freedom has not perished! Still upon us, O Ukrainians, fate shall smile!” But when we speak of our homeland, our Ukraine, which is standing, which is fighting, I see before my eyes the image of a woman.
A woman as a symbol of Ukraine. A woman who bears the unbearable burden of war, who amid the grief of death keeps vigil over life.
A woman who builds and defends the future. Every day when we talk to people who come to our parishes, especially in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, we see first of all women.
Women who care for the elderly and feed their children. When we care for our people who are hiding in bomb shelters, we see first of all women. The woman is today the symbol of the strength and courage of Ukraine. Perhaps it seems odd: courage and woman. It used to be that courage was always associated with a man, but here we see the female strength that gives Ukraine hope.
Today we especially give thanks and pray for our girls, our women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine who today with arms in hand defend their homeland. Today we especially empathize, we especially think about and pray for the women who are victims of this war in occupied territories. In our villages in the Kyiv region, women are becoming the first victims of the occupation, victims of violence, victims of humiliation, victims of rape. A image has circulated throughout the world of the so-called “Kyivan Madonna,” a young woman who is breastfeeding her newborn child on the steps of a bomb-shelter in Kyiv. But we behold today the face of women who are forced to flee her homeland with her children and travel abroad. Today we hear about more than three million refugees. Until this time Europe, especially Italy, has seen women who travelled for work.
The Holy Father called them heroines who once more brought the Christian faith and Christian values to Italy families. Today Europe has seen mothers who hold their children by the hand, rescuing them from war, but their parents turn back to defend their land with arms. Who can fully comprehend the pain of a woman, a mother, who mourns the death of her son killed in war? Or a woman who has lost her husband, brother, or sister?
But most of all we are amazed by women who stand in prayer before God. Women who are like the Kyiv Oranta, the Unshakeable Wall, who day and night with upraised arms prays for her city, prays for her country.
Today the woman is the symbol of hope for Ukraine, a symbol of fearlessness, a symbol of victory of life over death, a symbol of the fact that Ukraine will stand even through such inhumane circumstances.
Today we pray to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, preparing for this consecration of Ukraine and Russia and her Immaculate Heart, which Pope Francis announced. We would like to dedicate women and the women of Ukraine to the protection of the Immaculate Theotokos.
17/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Do not close up to the pain of Ukraine! Because one day the Lord God will tell you: I was wounded in Ukraine, and you turned your face away from me.
19/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from the Sermon on the Second
Sunday of Lent
This word about God's
mercy, about God's movement towards man, sounds especially in our ears during
the war. Because war is a time of cruelty. This is a time when
charity seems empty. During the war, the word about hatred and anger is
more understandable, that the enemy must be destroyed in order for him to leave
our land. Indeed, when the enemy comes to kill us, there is no other way
to stop him than to act with the same military force to repel the murderous
hand of the assailant. But in this great
tribulation, when God's mercy seems to be a distant or naive Christian belief,
we now feel the full force of God's word, which "breaks" into the
space of hatred and death, sown with sin.
Today we ask: God, have mercy on
Ukraine! On the one hand, we are now asking the world to close the skies
over us with deadly Russian missiles and bombs, but on the other hand, we, as
Christians, must ask God to open the skies over Ukraine for God's mercy.
In order to win, you need to believe –
we realize that. Because faith gives strength. We must believe in
God, who is able to overcome our paralysis, which does not allow our body, in
particular state or national, to act effectively and resist external
aggression.
We need the closeness and mercy of
the Lord God. God's mercy heals, and war is always wounds, mutilation, and
suffering. That is why this Sunday the Church proclaims the good news that
God is coming to us even as we experience pain, rift, and death. He sees
our suffering and has mercy on us.
Today, every Ukrainian must accept
God's mercy. Because we are now in danger of death. We do not know
what will happen to us in a minute, what a deadly face of war we will see, even
after leaving this temple. That is why it is so important, according to
the traditional teaching of the Church, that we live in God's grace, be
reconciled to God, have no grave sin on our conscience, and be ready to die at
any moment. We must hurry to confession.
(…)
May God's mercy be the
strength of Ukraine. May God's mercy, which unites us with God, give us
the inner living, healthy strength to overcome. May God's mercy heal the
wounds of Ukraine inflicted on us today by the enemy. Let these words: "I say to you: Arise,
take up your bed and go to your home" (Mark 2:11) – be the words of God
that will give us the victory of Ukraine: take yours, get up and be at home, in
your homeland, God to you, this Ukrainian land!
(20/03/2022)
Daily video message
In the temporarily occupied territories real crimes against humanity are being committed. We receive daily news about humanitarian catastrophes, murders, looting, rape. But even there, in the south of Ukraine, peaceful people are protesting against the occupying power – people are protesting against rapists and murderers. People show that Kherson and other occupied cities are Ukraine. They want to live in an independent Ukrainian free state.
21/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today I would like to express my special thanks for a very unique event that took place on Monday, literally the day before yesterday, in Jerusalem. At the initiative of the international Elijah Interfaith Institute, an international, interfaith, inter-church prayer for peace and victory of Ukraine in this war took place in front of the Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Pizzaballa, personally took part in this prayer. Representatives of the Melchite Greek Catholic Church, various Protestant, Anglican, and other communities, intellectuals, leaders, religious figures of the Jewish community, Islamic thinkers, and religious leaders took part. I would like to thank you very much for the fact that this prayer took place and a corresponding declaration for an end to the war in Ukraine was signed.
(…)
Let us pray together. Let us pray before the cathedrals of the Russian Orthodox Church throughout the world for peace in Ukraine. We shall see that the Lord God will hear our prayers and this war will be won. May the Lord God bless all of us.
23/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today, I especially want to address Ukraine and the world, all statesmen of the world’s nations, to the leaders of religious communities, churches, denominations. The greatest pain of Ukraine is the city of Mariupol.
Remember, a few weeks ago we said that we were struck by these mass graves of civilians, which we saw for the first time since World War II and Stalin’s repressions. So, today I want to tell you that the city of Mariupol is covered with the lifeless bodies of hundreds, thousands of people who have no one to bury them.
So today I want to raise my voice in the name of this heroic, dying city: Let us save it! Let us defend life! Today, this city needs humanitarian corridors. It needs even the international community to help break through the siege and bring humanitarian goods, which we have, to those who are slowly dying of hunger today.
Last week, these people survived on snow that was melting and could thereby have drinking water. Today there is no more snow in Mariupol. Let us save this City of Mary! Let us do everything to save this city, which really is today a place of clash of good and evil, a place where the fate of Ukraine, Europe, and the world is decided.
24/3/2022 (Source)
Sermon during prayer service
(...)
Ukraine's victory is the victory of
good over evil, the power of God over the cruelty and lust of the invader. Victory
is already beginning, and we can feel it, experience it, even during this
prayer.
A
special tradition of such prayer is preserved in Kyiv. Apparently,
everyone knows the ancient princely belief about the Kyiv Oranta, which is also
called the Indestructible Wall. Our Lady of Oranta is an ancient mosaic of
the 11th century, which depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary in full length with her
hands raised in prayer. It is an icon of the prayer of intercession. As
long as the Kyiv Oranta stands, as long as the Immovable Wall is between us,
God is in the middle of his city, as it is written in the apse of St. Sophia
Cathedral, as long as the city stands, the people and Ukraine stand.
We
feel that the Blessed Virgin Mary stands today in prayer over Kyiv and the
mountains of Kyiv, and it is in this prayer that we join her. Before Her
eyes, which have been looking at us from eternity, various events in history
have taken place. We know that during the destruction of Kyiv during the
invasion of Khan Batu, the whole city was destroyed, but Oranta in Hagia Sophia
remained as a living unconquered root, the core from which everything is
reborn. She saw the invasion of the city of Moscow princes, communist
invaders Vorobyov and many others, but always incessantly raised his hands in
prayer over his people.
By
joining the Immovable Wall in this prayer, we prepare for a special event to be
held on Friday. According to the petitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
which she proclaimed in the early twentieth century in Fatima, Pope Francis
together with the bishops of the Catholic Church around the world will dedicate
Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The
Mother of God asked to pray for the conversion of Russia, because otherwise the
evil that will come out of it will destroy other countries. Earlier it was
said that we should not talk about the Fatima revelation, so as not to offend
Russia, but now the Holy Father wanted to pay attention to this request of the
Virgin for consecration to defeat the evil that comes to our lands from that
part of the world and Europe.
Dedication
of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is something we know. At one
time, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, having built the Cathedral of St. Sophia and
created a mosaic of the Immovable Wall, dedicated his city, his people and his
State to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And when the war in
eastern Ukraine began, on April 6, 2014, we restored this dedication of our
people and State to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the enemy
was stopped by the power of God's truth and His light. We believe that
this dedication of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, carried
out in the unity of all bishops of the Ecumenical Church under the leadership
of the successor of the Apostle Peter, will be the highlight of victory over
evil, the devil and his servants.
May this evil be defeated in the north, south, west and east of Ukraine. We know that the
Immaculate Heart of Mary is a symbol of Her holy and pure will, which she
showed when she said "yes" to the Archangel Gabriel. " Let
it be to me according to your word " (Luke 1:38). At
that moment, the Blessed Virgin Mary crushed the head of the devil, an
apocalyptic beast that is raging again, attacking Ukraine from Russia.
May
this dedication be the moment when the head of this serpent, by the power of
prayer of the Mother of God herself, the Immovable Wall of Kyiv, will be raised
again in Ukraine! We believe in this and we pray for it. We say:
"Holy Mother of God, save us!"
24/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
The Ukrainian fight, the war in Ukraine, poses deep moral questions before the world, which say that one can never call evil good, and good evil. Therefore, we say that today the war of Russia against Ukraine has a great spiritual dimension. It is a great opposition of the newest manifestation of good – the God's truth, and evil – the devil and his angels.
(…)
It is never possible to reach an agreement, to cooperate with this evil that is coming out of Russia today. And that is why we must pray for its conversion, for the eradication of that evil, so that it, as the Mother of Fatima said, does not destroy other states, does not become the cause of another world war. As Christians, we have a duty to pray for our enemies
25/3/2022 (Source)
Words spoken during consecration of Ukraine to Mary
Each of you will tell your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that it was a moment of victory; the moment, when we put the destiny of Ukraine into the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(…)
Russia was entrusted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because the Mother of God asked for this act to be made, since from that land evil would spread throughout the world and destroy nations, bring suffering to people. We are praying for our enemies so that the Lord stops their murderous hand. And here, in Zarvanytsia, in communion with the Holy Father, we entrusted our Ukraine to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Her Immaculate Heart, because we know that today She, the Mother of God, is with Ukraine, with our suffering people. Today, our destiny is in safe mother’s hands
25/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
We used to talk so much about unity – about church unity, national unity, even political unity – about unity, as if it were some kind of dream. And today, this dream has become a reality. We see how the country is united in the goal of defeating the enemy that is pounding Ukrainian soil. We see that everyone feels the mandate of his own conscience, to stand, endure, and be victorious.
When we say ‘our country’, we mean all of the inhabitants of Ukraine, regardless of their national, ethnic, church, or religious affiliation, or even if they live within the borders of Ukraine, or beyond them. We feel that victory is a joint effort. And in this national unity we sense a foretaste of victory
27/3/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Everyone who respects God's commandment "Thou shalt not steal" yet sees the Russian occupier looting today, robbing ordinary people, taking away the last things and dooming people to starvation, must side with Ukraine. Everyone who respects God's commandment "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" and sees this occupier humiliating and raping the women of Ukraine in the eyes of their children cannot stay neutral but must side with Ukraine.
(…)
Make your choice! Take the side of an innocent victim of the unjust aggression, not someone who has conceived of imposing their rules on Ukraine and the whole world and is threatening with the Third World War!
28/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Do not be afraid to do good! Do not let the devil intimidate you, lead you astray from the path of Christian and universal righteousness! Today, Russia is threatening all those who want to do good to Ukraine. Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid to do good! Do not be afraid to be in solidarity with those who are suffering! Since good has its power and always wins. Let us combat the fear of the devil and it will leave us.
(…)
However, Ukraine is standing. Ukraine is struggling. Even more, the Ukrainian army is liberating our cities and villages, and our people amaze the whole world with their courage and ability to fight. We really feel that this war is a patriotic war, although senseless and undesirable one. But we are protecting and defending our people and Homeland
29/03/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
More and more we begin to feel the immediate consequences of this war. A war that leads to mass murder. We see how the enemy ruthlessly destroys our cities and villages, executes peaceful civilians, has regard neither for the spiritual nor the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people.
We are just beginning to see more profoundly the consequences of this war. War always brings destruction. Whole cities and villages have turned into ghost towns. Where there was once a flourishing intellectual, spiritual, and civic life, today there are fires and blustering wind. War always brings hunger, impoverishment of the people. You and I must be ready to overcome these consequences in one way or another.
(…)
Everyone is looking for reasons: How is it so? Where does the strength of Ukrainians come from? Why do they give their lives so courageously?
We can say this today: Ukraine is defending the truth, fighting for the truth. She fights for the fact that human life has its dignity, it is priceless. And just to destroy it or make it a tool, a hostage in the politics of certain political criminals is unacceptable.
30/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts
from video-conference with the Pontifical Oriental Institute
In
Russian-controlled territories, our compatriots have their passports
confiscated, issued temporary documents, and sent to Sakhalin Island in
Russia's Far East, as far as Japan's coast, without the right to leave for the
next two years. This reminds us of the deportations of Josef Stalin.
(…)
Russian
bombs are constantly being planted in this city. In one month of the war,
1,300 missiles were shot at Ukraine (30 were dropped on Syria in 11 years of
the war), and 200,000 Russian soldiers entered Ukraine.
31/03/2022
(Source)
Daily video message
We see that the struggle of Ukraine, the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian aggressor, has all the hallmarks of a spiritual struggle. Every great war is accompanied by a great lie. And it is done in the same way to capture, imprison, occupy our minds and our hearts, and to paralyze our will.
Spiritual struggle is characterized by the fact that the devil, first of all, tries to instil in us his thoughts in various ways, his propaganda, his intimidation. Then, the next stage, a person begins to dialogue with that sinful proposition, with that sinful suggestion. And from this begins the struggle within our minds, our hearts, the street battles within the human person with the evil that is trying to capture us. And then, if we continue to succumb, then comes the consent of our will to evil, and comes the internal, sinful occupation, enslavement, passion, sin.
In order to win this internal struggle, first of all, one must realize that one cannot have a dialogue with sin, with the devil. It must be rejected and conquered, as Pope Francis recently proclaimed in Sunday’s catechesis. In order to resist hostile ideology, in order to expel the devil, first of all from our minds, hearts, then from our homes and from our land, we must first be aware of the lie. And so we must resist, with all our strength and will. And then will come the eradication, liberation, then there will come freedom.
Today, in particular, in the days of Lent, I call on all to wage an internal spiritual struggle with the devil and his servants. If you feel that certain news that you read or see on television is news that tries to captivate your mind, will, or feelings, trying to become the inner occupier of your person, know that this propaganda is a suggestion of evil. And then let us resist. It is so important to realize that we can overcome, not by our own strength, but by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.
01/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today in Ukraine, the sin of Cain is being committed. The innocent blood of Abel is crying out from the Ukrainian land to the heavens. Today the Lord is crying out to our murderers, to the Cains of the third millennium, saying: “What have you done? The blood of your brother is crying out to me from the earth.”
I call upon the whole world to hear the voice of blood crying out from the Ukrainian lands to the heavens, the voice of the blood of those innocently killed civilians, women, children, and elderly.
We believe that the Lord God will receive these innocent victims as a sacrifice of redemption for our sins and so that there might be peace in our homeland. These tens of thousands of innocently killed people will one day stand at the Last Judgement as witnesses and accusers of our murderers.
2/04/2022 (Source)
Words spoken during visit to Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel
It’s very difficult to even speak. Their blood
cries out from this place, from this earth, to heaven. And a Christian
heart, a good ear, must hear that blood’s cry. Why has this happened? For what?
It’s clear that these are young people, whose lives were taken. We came
here to pray for their eternal peace.
07/04/2022
Sermon on Feast of Annunciation
War is bad news, the worst thing that can
happen to a person, to a country, to a nation, to the whole world.
Is it possible to celebrate the Annunciation, surrounded
by bad news about the war? If so, what does that mean for us? At this time,
when the enemy has trod on our land and made us cry, God is saying
"rejoice"! Is that possible?
Rejoice, - not because you already have a human solution to resolving grief, but because God himself is embodied in your history, even in your grief and in your weeping. Today in Ukraine, God weeps with us in order to take away our weeping, and to share with us his ultimate eternal joy.
(…)
We saw how the enemy army began pressing on to
Kyiv, and it is as if nature itself had begun to fight against them. The
Ukrainian land itself, the rivers of Ukraine, and even the radiation in the
Chornobyl zone... The power of Most-High is strangely manifest in the struggle
of Ukraine, which is fighting against evil
07/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Yesterday we learned that Russia brought mobile crematorium trucks – together with its artillery, missiles and heavy weapons – to Mariupol, where throughout the day and night, they burn the innocent civilians killed.
Only during World War II in Majdanek, Auschwitz, and other famous Nazi concentration camps, has Europe witnessed this type of crematorium near civilian cities. The smoke of crematoria again rises to heaven from the Ukrainian land.
07/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
During that prayer I asked myself, I asked God, ‘God, what does it mean to love You and love one’s neighbour?’ Standing at this mass grave, seeing the lifeless arms of our murdered brothers and sisters, I realized an important thing. To love one's neighbour means to be bound together with them - to feel that we are human, belonging to the same human race. And there, where he or she lies resting in the mass grave, I can rest there as well. We have a common vocation, a common fate. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we belong to the same human race.
But let us love God, who is the source of life, not death. We ask our loving God that we may truly feel our oneness with our brothers and sisters, even to learn to love our enemies. And to love the enemy means to stop his murderous hand, to take away his weapons, not to give him the opportunity to kill. Let us ask, that in the circumstances of hatred and murder, we know how to love God and our neighbour, and remain human.
08/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Speaking with people here in the Kyiv region, one can feel that many people, many men in even territorial defence, are afraid that victory over the enemy will come without their participation, and after the liberation of the Kyiv region and the Chernihiv region, they are begging, begging to go where there are battles.
In our military enlistment offices there are queues of people wishing to defend their homeland. The people stood up to defend their homeland.
11/04/2022 (Source)
Statements during interview with Espresso TV
Looking at the atrocities they committed in
Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and how they treated churches. Moscow Patriarchate in
this area, we cannot call them Christians.
(…)
I do not want to judge or evaluate anyone, but
if the actions testify to a person's faith, then we do not recognize the
Christian position by the actions of the occupiers.
(…)
For us, the real truce will be the victory of
Ukraine, when we get rid of the occupier. We pray and think about it, we live
and serve for it. I believe that such a victory and such a peace, a just peace,
will come,
11/04/2022 (Source)
On the proposal of having a Russian and a
Ukrainian woman carry the cross together, on the 12th Station of the
Way of the Cross in Rome
I consider such an idea untimely, ambiguous and
such that it does not take into account the context of Russia's military
aggression against Ukraine. For the Greek Catholics of Ukraine, the texts and
gestures of the XIII station of this Way of the Cross are incomprehensible and
even offensive, especially in the context of the expected second, even bloodier
attack of Russian troops on our cities and villages. I know that our Roman
Catholic brothers share these thoughts and experiences.
12/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
We are now exposing the heinous crimes of sexual violence as a weapon against civilians, innocent people. Hundreds of cases of rape of women, men and children ... Yesterday our President told about a case of rape of a baby. We ask ourselves: God, how can we remain human in the midst of that hell?
During the war, we see that sexuality is not used for love, but for war. Who would have imagined that sexuality could be turned into a weapon of humiliation of another, weaker person and an instrument of violence. We understand that only by God's power we can prevent distortion of our human way of communication and life.
God bless our men and women. Bless our spouses. Bless those who, even during the war, cultivate marital love, fidelity, inseparability of married life. Bless all those who are not afraid to have children even during the war. Lord, save all those who turn the gift of your sexuality into an instrument of war and sexual violence. God, save Ukraine from sin, from hatred towards those who despise us. Give us the strength to love. God, bless our army, bless our heroic Ukrainian people.
13/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Today we see how stolen property from Ukrainians is traded in Russia and Belarus. I want to remind everyone that the one who buys what is stolen or looted is an accomplice to the crime. The stolen thing becomes coal in the hands of the one who holds it, and burns those hands. Such a people, such people are thieves, will never have God's blessing and will die in poverty.
We saw how the occupiers around Kyiv, in Chernihiv region, prepared people for famine, did not give them the opportunity to work, forbade them to go to the fields that were mined, and just cynically killed livestock. We have seen the war crimes of looting, blatant robbery, when all property was taken from killed and wounded Ukrainians, when a person's life was less valuable in the eyes of the occupiers than what they could steal from this person.
We ask the Lord God to bless Ukraine with prosperity and wealth, to give us the strength to rebuild everything destroyed, to give us the strength to feed the children of our people, to give us the strength to work on our land, which is ready to give us generous fruit. With our strength, vitality, respect for other people's property, we want to win our victory as well.
God bless Ukraine. Bless all those who know how to respect others and have their own. God bless our army, which protects the life and well-being of Ukraine. God bless Ukraine as the breadbasket of Europe, as the spiritual treasure of the whole world
14/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
I want to thank all the journalists who are coming to Ukraine these days to show the world the cruel, difficult truth about the crimes of Russians on our land. Many of them were killed and wounded. May God pay a hundredfold to all media workers who help modern man to know the truth and then follow it.
Today I especially want to thank all the witnesses of Russian crimes who have the courage to testify and speak about it.
God bless Ukraine! Bless the prophets of our time who speak to the conscience of modern man and reveal to him the eternal truth about God present among us. God, bless Ukraine, which lives and dies for God's truth today!
15/04/2022 (Source)
On Ukrainian Radio, speaking about reconciliation
Today, during the active phase of this unjust
war, especially when we are all waiting for another offensive by Russian troops
on Ukraine, such things are impossible in principle. After all, to put up with it, you
need to be alive. When the active phase of such a deadly war continues, it is
untimely to talk about it. They must first stop killing us – only then can
we talk about the next step.
And the next step, obviously, should be to
convict the offender and establish justice. All crimes against humanity
committed in Ukraine must be condemned by an international tribunal. Today we
qualify them as genocide. Therefore, until the criminal is exposed and his
crime is condemned, it is untimely to talk about some next step.
When the Russian aggressor is convicted, the
next step may be the beginning of a process of reconciliation. And it will be a
long process. Because the process of reconciliation means healing wounds. And
without sensitivity to the victim of this unjust aggression, we have no right,
on the Christian side, to speak of reconciliation.
15/04/2022 (Source)
Easter greetings to Catholics who follow the
Gregorian calendar
To be a Christian means to believe in the Risen
One. To be a Christian means to be a partaker of His Resurrection, to be a
bearer of His joy and light. Today Ukraine is sad, but it celebrates Easter. Many
people from all over the world ask me: do you have hope there in Ukraine? I
say: Obviously so, because we believe in the Resurrection. Congratulations to
all of you on this great holiday of hope! Christ overcame death by death and
gave life to those in the tombs. This victory of the Risen One is and will be
the victory of Ukraine. Happy holidays to you, God's blessing to your
families, to our beloved Motherland! Christ is Risen!”
17/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from Palm Sunday sermon
Today is a holiday of victory, strength and
immortality. We feel this especially in Ukraine during the war. Because war is
a trap of death. How important it is for us not to be accustomed to tears,
grief and death! In the midst of the darkness, the despair of war, today our
Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly enters Kyiv, Ukraine, as he once entered
Jerusalem. He will come now, during the Divine Liturgy, to give us the
opportunity to partake of His holiness, power and immortality.
We feel that Ukraine will win not only by human
efforts, although they are also needed. We feel that there is a God in our
struggle with us! He supports us and our enemy is already afraid of us. We saw
the harbinger of victory here, in our Patriarchal Cathedral, in the first days
of the war. When the officers of our territorial defence caught the first
saboteurs, powerful Russian paratroopers, they told me: "We will win,
because we saw fear in their eyes!".
Christ comes to eliminate our fear of the
enemy, his various armies and weapons, and to give us his strength. We see that
we stop being afraid. We feel the foretaste of victory in the Easter procession
of Christ himself, who goes to voluntary suffering, will be sentenced to death,
crucified and buried, but by his own power will overcome death and rise from
the grave on the third day.
It is tragic that many cities in Ukraine are
now surrounded by deadly enemy troops and we cannot go to them to bring our
people the long-awaited life-giving help. Today we especially pray for our
Mariupol. So many efforts have already been made, including international ones,
to open a humanitarian corridor to bring relief, life and salvation to its
heroic defenders. Today
we ask: Lord, where we, the people, cannot enter our brothers and sisters in
the occupied territories, where we cannot open the green humanitarian
corridors, enter. Strengthen the heroic defenders of Mariupol with your
strength and victory. Comfort our people in Kherson and in other territories,
which today need Your presence and strength so much.
Today we greet Christ the Conqueror with our
green branches and ask: To fill each of us with Easter joy with your victory
over sin and death. We open our lives to You today. We spread the clothes that
cover our plans and that symbolize only our human confidence in this uncertain
time. After all, we know that You will cover us with Your power, victory and
glory. Today Ukraine greets its tsar, the only one to whom it sings:
"Hosanna in the highest!".
May God's blessing descend on each of us! May
the power of God enter the heart of everyone who fights for the victory of
Ukraine! May God's holiness become the way of life and existence of every
Ukrainian, because this holiness will overcome the evil and sin that the enemy
brings to our land! May the power of the Resurrection, to which we are heading,
defeat the deadly enemy who came to sow death, so that in just a few days we
may welcome here, in our Patriarchal Cathedral, the Resurrection of Christ, the
Risen Christ, who will finally show all victory over life and death. Amen.
17/04/2022 (Source)
Daily video message
Who knows, maybe this Easter you and I will sing for the last time "Christ is risen!"... And as if preparing for the Easter holidays for the last time, let's be vigilant, let's be careful. After all, to hear means to be vigilant to the purity of your heart. Those who have not yet begun Confession or Communion, hurry to the Sacraments of God. For blessed is he whom the Lord will find insomniac, and unworthy is he whom he finds sleepy.
19/04/2022 (Source)
Full sermon on Easter Thursday
Good Thursday during the war. These days
we have heard many times how people of all ages, believers and non-believers,
scientists and scholars alike, have asked you, dear fathers: where is God when
bombs fall on us? Where is God when we are killed? Where is God when our houses
are burned, our cities and villages are destroyed? Where is God when the
weakest are mocked? Where is God when man dies? Each of you has tried to
answer these questions by listening to God's word, looking for some thought and
answer in Scripture. I believe that today we have a unique moment to hear
what Christ himself will answer us.
It so happens that when a person suffers,
when he is wounded, when his world, his life is broken, then the deepest
secrets of his heart are revealed. When difficult or tragic times
or circumstances come, all false images that a person has invented about
himself and believed in are broken. When a person suffers, the depth of the
human being is revealed.
Having taken on the abyss of human patience,
Christ enters into his passions. He himself becomes a suffering man – he
becomes the one who was sold by the nearest disciple for thirty pieces of
silver, whom society rejected and unjustly sentenced to crucifixion. The Saviour
Himself wants to die and lie in the grave. In His crucified, torn body
we see, on the one hand, the depth of man's cry for God, and on the other, the
mystery of God himself.
Today we sat down with Jesus Christ for the
Last Supper. We have all seen her gestures more than once, we repeated
them ourselves. Let's listen to them again today, let's look at them.
The first gesture of the Eucharistic meal is
broken bread, which symbolizes a broken life, a wounded human body. When
we break bread, we see all its entrails: freshness, mold or staleness. The
Savior shows Himself present in the flesh just on the brink of broken human
life. When one asks today where God is, Christ Himself says that is where there
is the most human pain and suffering. Where the greatest wound is, the
Eucharistic bread of His Last Supper is most deeply broken.
The Divine Master today gives his disciples a
cup of his blood. This bowl is another deep gesture. To drink a common
cup is to become something one, with two one body, life, and it also means to
accept something that you have invented and chosen for yourself. He will pray
for this cup before his passions in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying:
"Father, if you want, give this cup away from Me, but let it be not mine,
but yours." (Luke 22:42). Christ drinks the cup of human suffering,
torment and death. This means that He shows the fullness of the Divine life
where man thinks that there is no God: in the cup of suffering man receives an
open space of living communion with God, access to participation in His
divinity. When we ask, God, where are You, let us hear His voice in the midst
of war: I am here!
We humans need to see, feel His presence. God
is where man cries and suffers. That is why today in Ukraine he is being sold
again, crucified, killed and thrown into mass, mass graves, which became a
great tragedy of the war. He is in his broken bread and with his wounded
people.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the
Establishment of the Priesthood of Christ. The possibility of God's
presence in the midst of the greatest pain, wounds, suffering, and humiliation
reveals to us the meaning and purpose of the vocation to the priesthood.
Because every priest asks: where am I called, up or down, right or left? We see
that Christ is calling us as deeply, low and far as this world humiliates,
wounds and kills man.
The gesture of washing our feet reveals to us the meaning of the priestly ministry. God leans over a wounded, bewildered man. He himself wants to touch her wounds and heal her with his wounds. Therefore, we participate in the priesthood not of man, but of God himself, who is eternal. The wounds will heal, by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit the war will end ... God forbid that we all deeply experience the conditions of the answer to the question: what does it mean to be a priest for the Ukrainian people during its Calvary?
I returned from Chernihiv yesterday. I
saw the wounds of this ancient Ukrainian city. He had the opportunity to
embrace our fathers, monks, who bow there over the wounds of their people. He
could embrace those who gather their sheep in the midst of destruction.
He also visited our heroic Slavutych, which is
located twelve kilometers from the Belarusian border. The ministry of
our brother there is a perfect and true image of the priest of Christ of the
third millennium, who showed people God, did not leave them in difficult times.
Asked where God was when the bombs fell, they felt that if their priest was
next to them, so was God.
Therefore, today it was worthy and righteous
for me, dear fathers, to kneel and wash your feet. You have experienced
the horrors of war in the bosom of our Kyiv Archdiocese, starting from here,
from the Patriarchal Cathedral and its crypts, where we warmed, treated and fed
hundreds of people who believed that the Church would save them when the bombs
fell. Thank you for that!
It was worthy and righteous for me today to
kneel before you, the fathers who went to serve the Divine Liturgy in the
metro. Apparently, in the thousand-year history of Kyiv, this has never
happened before. You shared your experiences with me, in particular, how much
people felt the light of hope, that they are not alone in their grief.
It was dignified and just for me to kneel and
wash the feet of those fathers who washed the feet of their fellows who had to
temporarily leave the burning cities. You opened your home to them when
they were on the road empty-handed, you fed them, received them, washed their
feet in the way they needed.
It was worthy and just to wash your feet today,
fathers, who have shown that the Church is with her people, that she not only
speaks of good, but also does it. For it is in your hands that Christ
has today healed the wounds of the people. This holy anointing, which we
consecrated here in the Patriarchal Cathedral, will spread to all the cells of
our church body: from Kyiv to Australia, South and North America and Europe,
wherever the war has scattered our people.
It is through your priestly ministry that the
motto of our Patriarchal Council is being carried out today: "Your Church
is always and everywhere with you." Always and everywhere – whether you
are in a safe Western Europe, or in burning Kharkiv, or in wounded Chernihiv,
or in occupied Kherson. Blessed is the priest who never feels unemployed
and whose eternal seal of the priesthood encourages him to work, pray and
sacrifice for his people.
Congratulations to you, Fathers, on this great
holiday, on behalf of all your Church as its Head. I bow my head
before the episcopate, the clergy, the deacons, the seminarians for the heroic
testimony of God's service to the Ukrainian people, which you are doing in
these tragic times.
Blessed are the people who have such priests
and feel that the power of God is revealed to us in its fullness precisely when
we need it most, when we feel most wounded, abandoned and powerless. His
strength is manifested in our suffering and helplessness. I think this is the
word of the Holy Eucharist that Christ gives us at the Last Supper today, this
Holy Thursday.
May the Lord God bless you all! Thank
you also to your wives, families, because you are not alone under the bombs.
Thank you to all who pray for their priests and bishops.
I ask all our faithful to congratulate their
priests on this day. On Holy Thursday, make them feel that you need,
respect, love and support them. Then we will truly have the courage to enter
into these passions with Christ, not to run away from them.
The Apostle Paul tells us not to be ashamed of
Christ crucified. Why? Because it is in Him that we have our strength
and victory. It is He who will lead us to the Resurrection.
Today we experience passions as the Church and
the people. The passions are followed by the feast of Easter, which will
be our victory in the war. May our Lord and Saviour lead us to victory!
Amen.
21/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of Good Friday Sermon
(…)
Hearing this word of God about the suffering of
God in man, about the death of the Son of God in the human body, I think before
the eyes of each of us appear pictures of the Ukrainian Golgotha. We
are being killed today, and Christ himself is being killed in us.
In the wounds of Christ we
see the wounded, mutilated bodies of the sons and daughters of Ukraine. In
His suffering we see the grief of corpses, the rivers of blood and the sea of
tears that flood our once flourishing cities and villages. In this
funeral procession with the shroud around our cathedral we see the lifeless
bodies of our soldiers, whom our cities and villages meet on their
knees. In this tomb of the Savior we see the mass graves of Bucha and
Borodyanka. We still see the bodies of Ukraine's daughters and sons being
found in Chernihiv, and the enemy continues to kill Ukrainians in the martyr
city of Mariupol.
But today the word of God
tells us that Christ's wounds are healing for us. Therefore, He wanted to
be wounded to touch our wounds with His wounds. He wanted to be unjustly
condemned in order to set us free and break the debt obligations that the devil
had written down as our death sentence. Today, the Son of God lies in the
grave next to the tortured, shot sons and daughters of Ukraine, in order to
give life to those in the graves.
On Easter Friday, we honor the
Savior's life-giving death because we know that by giving the Spirit on the
cross into the hands of the Father, we wanted to give it [the Spirit] to man so
that he could find the rest of life again. Today we heard the words of
Christ on the cross: “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken
me? (Mark 15:34). He made his cry the cries of hundreds of thousands
of people who have not yet been rescued from the rubble and who have been
calling for the rest, asking for help. However, the occupiers did not
allow to save those people. And we are just discovering their lifeless
bodies today… How horrible their death was!
However, by placing our Christ
in the tomb, we know that He will not stay there long, but will rise on the third
day, and with His death comes the hope of resurrection. We know that He is
going to hell today to lead all the dead by the hand and bring them to Heavenly
Father's house, where there is "neither sickness nor sorrow, but there is
life without end." On this Easter Friday of this tragic year, when
Ukraine is going through its Golgotha, we kiss the wounds of Christ and ask:
Lord, save, heal, revive us! We know that You will rise from the tomb that
will be sealed today, and Your resurrection will be the joy and victory of
Ukraine. This is what You told us in the words to Your disciples at
the Last Supper: “You will weep, weep, and the world will rejoice. You
will grieve, but your sorrow will turn into joy ”(Jn 16:19). We know that
from the moment of Your burial, everything begins to change.
Lord, turn our sorrow into joy
by the power of Your passion and Your Resurrection! Turn the tears of
Ukraine into joyful singing that will glorify life in You! Today,
under Your cross, Your Church sings: "Let us worship Your passions,
Christ, and look forward to glorifying Yours on the third day of the
Resurrection." Amen.
22/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of Easter Sunday Sermon
(…)
Christ is risen!
Above the valley of tears, which today is our
Ukrainian land, the cry of victory is heard from heaven: Christ is risen! Above
the burned houses, cities and villages, heaven announces to us through its
angel: Christ is risen! Above the burning Donbass and the south of Ukraine,
where the war is going on and the positions of our soldiers are burning, the
sky announces to Ukraine and the world: Christ is risen!
(…)
The Son of God wanted to suffer in order to
touch the tears, sorrows of man and give him joy. He wanted to lie in the tomb
to give life to all those who had long since rested there and were waiting for
Him. Easter is a celebration of the victory of life. After all, we see:
everything that invades Ukraine has already been defeated, because Christ is
risen!
Today marks the second month of Russia's bloody
war against Ukraine. During that time, a new cry of victory was born. When we
want to share the joy of stopping our enemy, we say, “Good afternoon! We are
from Ukraine!". And today we want to declare to the whole world: “Christ
is risen! We are from Ukraine!".
The very fact that we are celebrating Easter in
Kyiv, in the Patriarchal Cathedral, is a miracle of God that we could not have
hoped for sixty days ago. We see how the Resurrection of Christ becomes the
strength, hope, joy of those who defend Ukraine, fight and pray for its
victory.
(…)
The enemy-attacker thought that on the third
day he would celebrate his wicked parade of victory in Kyiv, but on the third
day Christ was resurrected. The attacker thought that he would capture Ukraine
in three days, capture what he saw, but now he is defeated by what he missed.
He overlooked the people's strength, people's resistance, the people's will to
live God's God-given freedom on God's land. That is why we say today: Christ is
risen! We are from Ukraine!
We know that this morning the wounded Odesa
mourned and that our enemy on these Easter holidays on the weapons of murder –
bombs, rockets, shells – wrote sarcastically: "Christ is risen!". And
we write these words on Easter eggs, on Easter bread, which we put in a basket
and consecrate. And we will tell everyone, including our enemy: Christ is
risen! We are from Ukraine!
As we celebrate this Passover, we ask Him to be
resurrected, our Saviour, to turn our tears of sorrow into tears of joy. Resurrect
Ukraine, give us victory, give us the opportunity to joyfully celebrate and
live not only on Easter, but every day. And today our Saviour comes to take us
by the hand and bring us out of the hell into which our enemy wants to drive
us.
I read with emotion a prayer that a soldier wrote
on his helmet: God, if I am killed on the battlefield, take me to heaven,
because I have already been to hell. We say: Lord, You who bring all the dead
out of hell by the hand, You who came from the dead to give life to all, take
us by the hand and bring us into the Easter joy that descends to each of us
from heaven today.
I want to congratulate you, our army, with the
triumphant cry "Christ is risen!", because thanks to you, our dear
military brothers and sisters, we celebrate Easter in Kyiv and other cities and
villages of Ukraine. Thanks to you, your life, today we can enjoy the freedom
in Ukraine and fight for it. May the Lord God help you to complete the high
mission of protection of the Motherland, which is handed over to your hearts
and hands by your people.
Words of Easter joy and greetings are addressed
to those who do not have the opportunity to celebrate in the temple, who have
nowhere to bring their Easter baskets. Words of prayer flow to the Lord God
for our faithful in the occupied Donbass, as well as in Kherson, Berdyansk and
Melitopol, which are under occupation in southern Ukraine.
I pray for the defenders and children of
Mariupol. There, in the dungeons of Azovstal, there are children who have not
seen the sun for a month and a half ... Lord, how You entered the depths of the
dungeon and came out victorious, how You passed through the stone of the sealed
tomb, come to them, take their hand and get out the dungeon into which they
were driven by the enemy of Ukraine.
Congratulations to the wounded servicemen who
are currently healing the wounds of Ukraine that they wear on their bodies.
While visiting them, I did not see a single sad face. They asked: pray that we
get better as soon as possible. May this Passover prayer be a separate,
strongest remedy for their wounds and enable them to return to full physical
and spiritual health as soon as possible.
I say special prayers for those who have been
forced to leave their homes and share the bitter fate of a refugee or even an
emigrant. Today, about ten million Ukrainians do not have the opportunity to
sit down for Easter breakfast. May our support, our prayer, our warmth flow to
them. Wherever we are, let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who
are on the road, let us serve them all we can.
24/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of speech to
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
We know from the Russian
president's statement that this war has two main tasks: demilitarization and
denazification of Ukraine. Demilitarization means the final destruction of
the Ukrainian state and its military potential in order to achieve the next task
- the so-called denazification. And this clearly proves that Russia's
main task is to destroy the Ukrainian people.
(…)
[Russian military action in
Ukraine] can be called a textbook on genocide, according to which our people
must be destroyed.
(…)
What happened in Ukraine is a
terrible humanitarian catastrophe, as a result of which 10 million Ukrainians
were forced to leave their homes and 5 million to leave the country, and in the
occupied and later liberated towns and villages we saw such tragic phenomena as
mass graves. Today these places are places of common prayer of
Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims.
During the 70 days of the war,
almost 100 churches, monasteries and religious buildings were destroyed. In
this tragedy, religious communities have united as never before. Our
All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations represents 95
percent of the religious community in Ukraine. During the war we issued 17
different appeals. On the night before the Russian attack, we appealed to
the Russian president not to start a war. We, the representatives of
Churches and religious organizations, have offered our mediation: if
politicians and diplomats have not been able to avert war, we have offered
ourselves as mediators of peace.
We also appealed to the
religious leaders of Belarus to make every effort to avoid the participation of
Belarusian troops in the war against Ukraine. It is worth emphasizing that
the representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate took an active part in the processing of these appeals and their
transmission to Russian addressees. Due to many scandalous facts, this Church
today feels marginalized and pushed out of the life of the Ukrainian people,
although most of the destroyed churches belong to this denomination.
(…)
The first Sunday after the
start of the war, Patriarch Kirill said that this war was metaphysical in
nature and a war of values, and therefore not only justified, but had the task
of defending Orthodoxy. The analysis of such a justification for the war
shows us a great danger not only for the Russian Orthodox Church, but for
Christianity as a whole, Unfortunately, the Russian Orthodox Church has
become hostage to Putin's state doctrine, which was strongly condemned by authoritative
Orthodox theologians a month ago.
(…)
The war in Ukraine poses two
important challenges: first, we need to rethink the Church's social teaching on
war and peace. The second task is to study the relationship between the
Church and the state. We see a clear need to develop new and correct
terminology to describe current challenges in these areas, and to have the
courage at the ecumenical level to respond correctly to these dangers.
06/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of video message on the Feast of Saint
George
A martyr is a witness to the Resurrection.
Dying, submitting to torture and death, a martyr shows the world that the death
we experience here has already been defeated and dismissed by Christ's
Resurrection, as new life follows it... The martyr defeats his tormentors in a
unique way. Those who crucified Christ thought that they would bury His word,
His teaching, and His power forever. However, Christ overcame death by His
death and defeated the tormentors.
He who kills a martyr thinks he is defeating the one he killed. Yet the opposite happens, because the martyr is the winner, he defeats his tormentor. And today, praising St George, we speak about two features of his victory. The first is that he exposed the wickedness of his tormentors, and the second is that he sacrificed himself. These two factors are fundamental in his victory. That's why we call him a victorious Trophy-Bearer.
Today we feel that the Great Martyr St George is fighting for Ukraine – he is on our side. Today, on Ukrainian land, with his spear, he is piercing and destroying this ancient snake that is trying to harm Ukraine. And so, the victory will be St George’s, for us.
07/05/2022 (Source)
Address of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC in
Ukraine
Today we are experiencing with unspeakable pain
in our hearts the suffering of the native Ukrainian people caused by the
unprovoked and unjustified full-scale armed aggression of the Russian
Federation against Ukraine. We, the bishops of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC
in Ukraine, in our apostolic ministry remain faithful to the words of the
Gospel Truth and to our vocation to be witnesses of hope in times of
tribulation and trials.
To fulfil a certain task on earth, the Lord
gives man various gifts, talents and opportunities, but also provides a
separate mission and mission to the chosen peoples. Just as God once chose the
Israelites to enlighten all nations, so He constantly, and even today, entrusts
special calling to different nations.
We often asked ourselves: why, Lord, did you
give us the gift of freedom, restore our independence 30 years ago, raise our
Church from the underground? And today we see, experience and begin to
understand the great mission of the Ukrainian people - descendants of Kievan
Rus, heirs of Kievan baptism, courageous rulers and defenders of the
Fatherland, followers of our martyrs Boris and Gleb, wise women, educators and
prayers - followers of Princess Olga. And this vocation in God's providence is
that in times of great turmoil and the threat of destruction not only of
Ukraine but also of many other nations, the revived Kievan Rus rebelled and
stopped the evil will of the aggressor, albeit at a high price. The price we
continue to pay today on the altar for the liberation of our and other nations
to stop the insatiable dragon,
The vocation of our Church is to remain always
with our people in order to fulfil the mission that the Lord has prepared for
us, becoming a nation of martyrs-heroes who give their lives, protecting not
only our relatives but all European nations and their freedom. The mission
of our Church is to become like the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, standing under
the cross of her Son, stared at His wounds with unspeakable sorrow in her soul
and at the same time hope in her eyes. And her hope was not in vain: on the
third day Jesus rose again.
We express our sincere gratitude first of all
to the Defenders of Ukraine. Your feat has already become an example for the
whole world. Your sacrificial loyalty to your people and devotion to defending
our state in the face of the challenges of a brutal and inhumane war testify to
the depth of your love. The defender is a warrior with love in his heart:
for his native people, for his land, for his parents and children, for all
those who today need protection from the hellish force of cruelty and brutality
of the Russian aggressor. Legal protection of life is both a human right and a
duty. The innocent blood of our brothers and sisters in Bucha, Mariupol, Irpen,
Kharkiv, Chernihiv and hundreds of other Ukrainian communities requires us to
have the strength and courage to become defenders not only of life but also of
humanity itself.
Our Savior taught, "No one has greater love
than he who lays down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). The sincerity
of your love today gives our people hope for the revival of Ukraine, for the
protection of their freedom and dignity. Only by the power of love will we
be able to achieve the final victory of good over evil, truth over lies, human
dignity over human meanness. Our victory also requires our common faith that
when we courageously and honestly seek the Truth, defend the good, fight for
justice, God is with us! We tirelessly entrust you to his care in our
fervent prayers and supplications.
Today we address our military pastors with
special words of gratitude, fraternal support and recognition for faithful
service. From the first days of Russian aggression and throughout the following
years, the military chaplains of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church did not
hesitate to sincerely respond to God's invitation to be "close" to
men and women in military uniforms, sharing the difficulties of military
service and the challenges of everyday life. During the years of armed Russian
aggression, our chaplains have been tireless witnesses of hope, standing
faithfully side by side with Ukrainian soldiers in battle trenches, military
hospitals, rehabilitation centers, providing necessary support to their
families, preserving the memory of fallen defenders and taking care of their
families.
The full-scale invasion of the Russian army
into the territory of Ukraine coincided with the implementation of the
provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Military Chaplaincy Service"
adopted by the Verkhovna Rada. The law creates opportunities for effective
professional organization of pastoral ministry among the Ukrainian army. At the
same time, he demands that our pastors be of the highest level of initiation in
the event of enlistment. Taking into account the challenges and needs of today,
we appeal to the clergy of our Church in freedom of spirit and generosity of
heart not to deny the Ukrainian soldier the tangible presence of God, which is
evident in the prayer and sacrificial service of the military chaplain. May the
words of our great pastor, Metropolitan Andrei, addressed to Ukrainian soldiers
in times of trials and fierce struggle, will be your words today to our
defenders: “You who are killed every day in battle, remember to keep your
heart clean from sin, be ready to stand before the Throne of God and give up
the work of a lifetime. Fulfil your responsibilities bravely! Victory is
certain, but it is a sacred right!”
In particular, we appeal to our seminarians,
encouraging them to pray and to spiritually recognize their vocation to serve
the deep inner needs of the Ukrainian soldier in accordance with the rich and
long tradition of our Church. This ministry requires special courage, which
only mature Christian love is capable of, as a gift from our Heavenly Father,
which allows us to understand "what hope He calls us to" (Ephesians
1:18).
Families of servicemen and families of fallen
defenders are waiting for a special testimony of hope today from the military
pastor. The pain of separation, the uncertainty of the coming day, the feeling
of loneliness and helplessness in the face of irreparable loss may take a long
time for final healing. The military chaplain's mission remains to show
personal responsibility - to "be close" to those most hurt by the
war. Supporting the wounded and praying for the captives can help many
Ukrainian families today to escape the destructive power of suffering and
through their own pain, uniting with the crucified Christ and lovingly
"bearing one another's burdens", finding the way to resurrection
(Gal. 6: 2).
As pastors of the Church of Christ, we feel
obliged to appeal to the Russian military, soldiers and officers who have dared
to take up arms against the Ukrainian people, killing innocents, leaving
children orphaned, depriving many people of their homes and hope for the
future. The blood of innocent Ukrainian children will testify against you in
the Lord's judgment. Before it's too late, find the courage to lay down your
arms and not carry out criminal orders. Do not allow murderous propaganda to
obscure your mind and incite unjustified cruelty: "Ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Jn 8:32). Repent and ask God
for forgiveness for your crimes against humanity, so that He may grant you
forgiveness of sins and hope for eternal life.
In the face of terrible trials for the entire
Ukrainian people, we invite our military pastors to sincerely serve those on
whom the fate of our common future now depends. Dear fathers, military
chaplains, your prayerful presence in the ranks of the Ukrainian army should
become a source of spiritual consolation and a guarantee of tireless fraternal
support. Your vocation is to show hope in the twilight of human suffering, to
be faithful followers of God, who became man, to elevate man to participate in
God's life. But we keep each one of you in our fraternal prayers and
"remember the work of your faith without ceasing, the labor of your love,
and the patience of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 1: 3).
The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
13/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from sermon on Fourth Sunday after
Easter
When I saw the mass graves in which the
Russians dumped hundreds of murdered people, the army that is advancing on us
and many times outnumbers the Ukrainian army, when we understand that Ukraine
began to fight, as David once did with Goliath, in the first and during the
most difficult moments of the war, we said to ourselves: “We have no one”.
Nobody believed that Ukraine would survive.
Even our so-called Western partners predicted that Kyiv would be taken in three
days. But in three days Christ rose from the dead. And in those days when we
felt that all of us had left, at one point Kyiv turned into a dead city. A lot
of people left. Embassies of foreign countries were evacuated, shops were
closed, even food could not be found.
Then we cried out to heaven, “We have no one,
God! We need Your mercy!” As a result, our capital turned into a great
baptismal font, as in the time of Prince Volodymyr Kyiv, where our people
received new life, where they were baptized into the death and resurrection of
Christ. And at the beginning of this war, our Kyiv became the center of
resistance. The Lord was with us.
May the merciful Lord bless all those who are
waiting for God's mercy. Because this is a story about each of us. We are all
sinners who, being in the sea of our own sin, our own weaknesses, cannot heal
ourselves. We need a person who would bring us God. Everyone who does mercy to
another person becomes a messenger of God. Every time we show mercy to the
victims of war, refugees, displaced persons, those who have lost relatives,
housing, property, and a person who feels God's mercy on himself, he says:
"God himself sent this man, God has not forgotten me".
May the feeling of God's closeness in the most
difficult circumstances of the war be for us the strength, hope, key and secret
of our victory - the victory of Ukraine.
15/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of daily video message
We see that the war in Ukraine has a clear
ideological component. In addition to the cities and villages of Ukraine, the
enemy is destroying the souls, not only of Ukrainians, but of people all over
the world, seducing them with lies, calling what is happening in Ukraine some
negative statements or words associated with evil in the past.
15/05/2022 (Source)
It is with deep and heartfelt pain that I perceive the
suffering of people caused by the events taking place.
As the
Patriarch of All Russia and the Primate of the Church, whose flock is in
Russia, Ukraine and other countries, I deeply empathize with everyone who has
been touched by misfortune.
I call
on all parties to the conflict to do everything possible to avoid civilian
casualties.
I appeal
to bishops, pastors, monastics and laity with an appeal to provide all possible
assistance to all victims, including refugees, people left without shelter and
livelihood.
The
Russian and Ukrainian peoples have a common centuries-old history dating back
to the Baptism of Russia by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. I
believe that this God-given community will help overcome the divisions and
contradictions that have arisen that have led to the current conflict.
I call
on the entirety of the Russian Orthodox Church to offer up a deep, fervent
prayer for the speedy restoration of peace.
May the all-merciful
Lord, through the intercession of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and all the
saints, preserve the Russian, Ukrainian and other peoples, which our Church
spiritually unites!
24-2-2022 (Source)
Excerpt from a Sunday homily
Today we
also need unity – the unity with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. We
are aware of the difficult circumstances encountered today by the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. I especially prayed today for His
Beatitude the Primate and certainly for the whole episcopate and all the
faithful people of Ukraine; and I call you to lift up these prayers too. God
forbid that the present political situation in fraternal Ukraine so close to us
should be aimed at making the evil forces that have always strived against the
unity of Rus’ and the Russian Church, gain the upper hand. God forbid
that a terrible line stained with the blood of our brothers should be drawn
between Russia and Ukraine. We should pray for the restoration of peace,
for the restoration of good fraternal relations between our peoples. A
guarantee of this fellowship is our united Orthodox Church represented in
Ukraine by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by His Beatitude Onuphry. We
prayed for them today as well. We prayed that the Lord may give them strength
and wisdom to repulse the attacks of the evil one while serving their people in
faith and truth promoting peace by all possible ways.
May the
Lord preserve our Church in unity. May the Lord protect from
fratricidal battle the peoples comprising the one space of the Russian Orthodox
Church. It must not be allowed to give the dark and hostile external forces
an occasion to laugh at us; we should do everything to preserve peace
between our peoples while protecting our common historical Motherland against
every outside action that can destroy this unity.
Today we
lift up a special prayer for His Beatitude Onuphry, for our Church and for our
devout faithful. May the Lord preserve the Russian land. When I say “Russian”, I use the
ancient expression from “A Tale of Bygone Years” – “Wherefrom has the Russian
land come”, the land which now includes Russia and Ukraine and Belarus and
other tribes and peoples. That the Lord may protect the Russian land against external enemies,
against internal disorders, that the unity of our Church may strengthen and
that by God’s mercy all the temptations, diabolical attacks, provocations may
retreat and that our devout people in Ukraine may enjoy peace and tranquillity –
these are our prayers today. And I ask you all to mention His Beatitude Onuphry
in your prayers in church and at home, to mention our brothers and sisters in
Ukraine and to pray for peace.
27/2/2022
(Source. Edited for clarity)
Prayer
for the speedy restoration of peace, pronounced by the Patriarch on Forgiveness
Sunday
O Holy and
merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ our God, through the prayers of the All-Pure Theotokos
and Ever-Virgin Mary, the holy Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duchess Olga, the holy
New Martyrs and Confessors of our Church, Our venerable and godly fathers Anthony
and Theodosius, wonderworkers of the Kievo-Pechersk monastery, Sergius,
hegumen of Radonezh, Job of Pochaev, Seraphim of Sarov and all the saints; make
our prayer favourable for the Church and for all Your people.
From one
baptismal font, in the days of holy Prince Vladimir, we Thy children have
received grace: establish in our hearts a spirit of brotherly love and peace
for ever!
To
the foreign people who desire to be at war and to fight against Holy
Rus', – forbid them and overthrow their plans.
Through
Thy grace incline those who hold power to good; strengthen the soldiers, that they keep Thy commandments; provide homes for the homeless; nourish the hungry;
strengthen and heal those who are in affliction and suffering; give hope and comfort
to those who are in confusion and sorrow, and give forgiveness of sins and a
blessed repose to those who have been killed in battle.
Fill us
with faith, hope and love that we may confess to Thee, our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, with Thy everlasting Father, Thy Holy and Life-giving Spirit, in
one word and with one heart, for ever and ever. Amen.
06/03/2022
(Source. I had considerable
difficulty obtaining a good translation of this prayer. I take full responsibility
for the final result, obtained through a mix of automatic translations and
edited for clarity. The original can be read in the link provided. If anybody
detects mistakes, please let me know in the comments. A few changes were made since I first posted it, following suggestions from a Russian speaker. The most significant being replacing "Holy Russia" with "Holy Rus'")
Excerpts
from the Patriarchal Sermon on Cheesefare Week after the Liturgy at the
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
(…)
We know
that this spring has been overshadowed by grave events related to the
deterioration of the political situation in the Donbass, practically the
outbreak of hostilities. I would like to say something on this subject.
For
eight years there have been attempts to destroy what exists in the Donbass. And
in the Donbass there is rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called
values that are offered today by those who claim world power. Today there is such a test for
the loyalty of this government, a kind of pass to that “happy” world, the
world of excess consumption, the world of visible “freedom”. Do you know what
this test is? The test is very simple and at the same time terrible – this
is a gay parade. The demands on many to hold a gay parade are a test of
loyalty to that very powerful world; and we know that if people or countries
reject these demands, then they do not enter into that world, they become
strangers to it.
But we
know what this sin is, which is promoted through the so-called marches of
dignity. This is a sin that is condemned by the Word of God – both the Old and
the New Testament. Moreover, the Lord, condemning sin, does not condemn the
sinner. He only calls him to repentance, but not to ensure that through a
sinful person and his behaviour, sin becomes a life standard, a variation of
human behaviour – respected and acceptable.
If
humanity recognizes that sin is not a violation of God's law, if humanity
agrees that sin is one of the options for human behaviour, then human
civilization will end there. And gay parades are designed to demonstrate that
sin is one of the variations of human behaviour. That is why in order to enter
the club of those countries, it is necessary to hold a gay pride parade. Not to
make a political statement “we are with you”, not to sign any agreements, but
to hold a gay parade. And we know how people resist these demands and how this
resistance is suppressed by force. This means that we are talking about
imposing by force a sin condemned by God's law, and therefore, by force to
impose on people the denial of God and His truth.
Therefore,
what is happening today in the sphere of international relations has not only
political significance. We are talking about something different and much more important than
politics. We are talking about human salvation, about where humanity
will end up, on which side of God the Saviour, who comes into the world as the
Judge and Creator, on the right or on the left. Today, out of weakness,
stupidity, ignorance, and most often out of unwillingness to resist, many go
there, to the left side. And all that is connected with the justification of
sin, condemned by the Bible, is today a test for our faithfulness to the Lord,
for our ability to confess faith in our Saviour.
Everything
that I say has not just some theoretical meaning and not only a spiritual
meaning. Around this topic today there is a real war. Who is attacking
Ukraine today, where the suppression and extermination of people in the Donbass
has been going on for eight years; eight years of suffering and the whole world
is silent – what does that mean? But we know that our brothers and sisters
are really suffering; moreover, they may suffer for their loyalty to the
Church. And so today, on Forgiveness Sunday, on the one hand, as your shepherd,
I call on everyone to forgive sins and insults, including where it is very
difficult to do this, where people are at war with each other. But
forgiveness without justice is capitulation and weakness. Therefore,
forgiveness must be accompanied by the indispensable preservation of the right
to stand on the side of the world, on the side of God's truth, on the side of
the Divine commandments.
All of the above indicates that we have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance. I know how, unfortunately, Orthodox people, believers, choosing the path of least resistance in this war, do not reflect on everything that we are thinking about today, but humbly follow the path that the powers that be show them. We do not condemn anyone, we do not invite anyone to come to the cross, we just say to ourselves: we will be faithful to the word of God, we will be faithful to His law, we will be faithful to the law of love and justice, and if we see violations of this law, we will never put up with those who destroy this law, blurring the line between holiness and sin, and even more so with those who promote sin as an example or as one of the models of human behaviour.
Today,
our brothers in the Donbass, Orthodox people, are undoubtedly suffering, and we
cannot but be with them, first of all in prayer. It is necessary to pray that the Lord would
help them to preserve the Orthodox faith, not to succumb to temptations and
temptations. At the same time, we must pray that peace will come as soon as
possible, that the blood of our brothers and sisters will stop, that the Lord
will incline His mercy to the long-suffering Donbass land, which has been
bearing this mournful stamp for eight years, generated by human sin and hatred.
(…)
And let
us pray that all those who are fighting today, who are shedding blood, who are
suffering, will also enter into this joy of the Resurrection in peace and
tranquility. Because what joy will there be if some are in the world, while
others are in the power of evil and in the sorrow of internecine warfare?
Patriarchal Sermon on Wednesday of
the First Week of Great Lent
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
The time of Great Lent is a time of repentance and prayer. For what? To free ourselves from the captivity in which we fall,
committing ungodly, sinful deeds. We are captured by sin. A person does not even notice how this happens – somewhere he told a
lie, somewhere he distorted the facts, somewhere he answered inappropriately
and offended the interlocutor. It is from such small conflicts that alienation
grows, people become enemies. And
sometimes conflicts are fomented by a third party who has an interest in two
people quarreling – this happens all the time. Everyone, probably, went through such a temptation when you realize that
you, having nothing bad in your heart towards another person, suddenly become
an enemy in his eyes. And then it turns out that someone worked and inspired
the one
Such domestic conflicts are very well known to all of us, and since they
are most often based on lies, we must remember who the father of lies is. The devil is the
father of lies, and his goal is to destroy human souls, to push people into conflict,
because conflict liberates passions. What a
person would never say or do in a calm state, he begins to say and do if he
comes into conflict with his neighbour, if he sees an enemy in him. Then some kind of
animal, natural element is liberated in a person, and we know what terrible
forms conflicts take. Families are falling apart, people are dying, but this
has to do not only with interpersonal relationships, but also with conflicts
between peoples, between countries.
Now we are going through a conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Let's think about
what really can divide us? We are practically one people, bound by historical
fate, we all came out of the Kiev font together, we are united by faith, our
saints, common hope, the same prayers. What can separate us?! But the enemy of
the human race - through specific people, through specific associations of
people - throws lies into the relations between our peoples, and on the basis
of this lie a conflict develops. And we know
that this is not just a quarrel between neighbours, but a conflict in which
states are involved, that is, institutions that have the legal right to use
force, forcing their citizens to obey if they violate the laws, or forcing
other countries if they see there is a threat in them, to ensure that this
threat does not exist.
In other words, today two fraternal peoples have entered into a
conflict – but in fact one, the Russian people. Let me remind you
again and again of the words of The Tale of Bygone Years, our historical
chronicle, which tells “where the Russian land came from”, and then comes the
story of Kyiv. Russia is one country, one
people, but this people turned out to be very strong, and the neighbours,
frightened by its strength, began to do everything to divide this people, to
inspire parts of this people that you are not at all one people. And we know to
what a terrible climax the consequence of this suggestion is now reaching, when
someone does not see a brother in his brother, but sees an enemy. And it's
terrible that there are some religious organizations (I can't even dare to call
them religious) that raise the need to fight against the fraternal Russian
people to the shield of their preaching.
The Church, which measures time not in days, not in months, not in
years, but in centuries and millennia, in its historical experience keeps the
memory of the many conflicts that have been since ancient times – in Ancient
Rome, Byzantium, the Old Russian state, the Russian Empire, modern states on
territory of historical Russia. The Church remembers these conflicts and knows
what dire consequences they have always led to. And today, with all their
might, the enemies of both the Russian and Ukrainian peoples from the
outside are trying to instill that you are not brothers, but you are enemies,
and you must fight each other. And after all someone succumbs to this
temptation! And we, of course, regret and mourn
the fact that political forces have arisen on our close, native Ukrainian land,
which, using the idea of an enemy in relation to the Russian people, are shaping
policy towards Russia today.
Let's not talk about those who set fire to this war – God will judge
them, and He will punish them. Today we need to
talk about ourselves, and I call on all of you, my dear ones, first of all, to intensify
the prayer that all military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine will
stop, so that our people will once again be able to realize the existence of
common spiritual roots and common spiritual strength, which is our undivided
Church, residing in Russia, in Ukraine and in other countries. This is
indeed a guarantee of salvation, a guarantee of the future world, but that is
precisely why she is being persecuted there today, on Ukrainian soil, by those
who are not interested in peace. Therefore,
we must pray especially for His Beatitude Vladyka, Primate of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, for the Ukrainian episcopate, but also, of course, for our
Church.
But here's something else I'd like to say. Where the devil
is, there is always a lie. Even today –
what a huge amount of lies are being spread! There was even such a newfangled
word "fake" as a synonym for lies. But this is an ordinary devilish
lie, because it is lies that are used today to deepen the gulf between two peoples,
to make them enemies; and we must be very vigilant to everything that is being
said in connection with the mournful conflict that has arisen in the Donbass.
Our Church is both in Russia and, I hope, in Ukraine, because we have
common values, common ideals, a common Christian conscience, after all. We cannot act
otherwise than to pray for peace and try to reduce the degree of confrontation, the degree of
emotional political discussions, often overstepping the bounds of decency. We
must do everything to pacify and pacify our hearts so that the enemy of the
human race does not manage to destroy our spiritual unity, around which the
religious and cultural life of our united people, Russians and Ukrainians, was
formed.
Of course, the topic related to Russian-Ukrainian relations has now
become a part of big politics or, as they say now, geopolitics. And one of the
goals of this geopolitics is the weakening of Russia, which has become a
strong, really powerful country. But how disgusting and vile to use the
fraternal people to achieve these geopolitical goals! How terrible to set these
people against their brothers! How terrible it is to arm him so that he enters
into a struggle with his brothers of the same blood and of the same faith! All
those who do this in the form of propaganda that has massively attacked
Ukraine, in the form of concrete actions, in the form of creating prerequisites
for the expansion of the military conflict - all these people are enemies of
both Russia and Ukraine. They are
against our unity, against our spiritual roots, regardless of whether they call
themselves believers or non-believers.
May the Lord help all of us — Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, all
peoples who came from the same root, came out of the Kiev Baptismal Font —
to maintain our spiritual unity, to prevent the division of our Church. By the way, those
who sought to divide the peoples began by dividing the Church, creating some
schisms in Ukraine. This started in order to
break the spiritual unity, but by the grace of God this unity is preserved.
Today I especially prayed for His Beatitude Onuphry, for the
episcopate, for the clergy, for the believing people of Ukraine, so that the
Lord would save them from the wiles of the evil one, keep them in the
understanding that any war between Orthodox brothers who belong to one Church
is the work of the devil, not God's. And therefore, our one Church,
whether in Russia, in Ukraine, in other countries, must today pray for peace,
for an end to internecine strife, as St. Sergius did, as our Russian Church did
when the Russian princes entered into internecine strife, destroying each
other. So today we will not follow the
path to which we are called, provoking the involvement of the Church in the
conflict, but we will follow the path of St. Sergius and pray for the unity of
Holy Russia so that no forces can divide our people.
May the Lord bless our land – historical Rus’! May the Lord save us from divisions in the Church, may He
help us overcome all those divisions that are generated not by differences in
faith, but by the influence of political forces on certain church circles.
So that all this remains in the past and that we all, with one mouth and one
heart, can glorify the holy and magnificent name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit and, guarding ourselves with the Cross, drive away any enemy,
demonic power from our common life and from our fate. Amen.
09/03/2022 (Source. Edited for
clarity)
Response to letter
from the World Council of Churches
(…)
These days, millions
of Christians all over the world in their prayers and thoughts turn to the
dramatic developments in Ukraine.
As you know, this
conflict did not start today. It is
my firm belief that its initiators are not the peoples of Russia and Ukraine,
who came from one Kievan baptismal font, are united by common faith, common
saints and prayers, and share common historical fate.
The origins of the
confrontation lie in the relationships between the West and Russia. By the 1990s Russia had been promised that
its security and dignity would be respected. However, as time went by, the
forces overtly considering Russia to be their enemy came close to its borders. Year
after year, month after month, the NATO member states have been building up their
military presence, disregarding Russia’s concerns that these weapons may one
day be used against it.
Moreover, the
political forces which make it their aim to contain Russia were not going to
fight against it themselves. They
were planning to use other means, having tried to make the brotherly peoples –
Russians and Ukrainians – enemies. They spared no effort, no funds to flood
Ukraine with weapons and warfare instructors. Yet, the most terrible thing is
not the weapons, but the attempt to “re-educate,” to mentally remake Ukrainians
and Russians living in Ukraine into enemies of Russia.
Pursuing the same
end was the church schism created by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in
2018. It has taken its toll on the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church.
As far back as
2014, when blood was being shed in Kiev’s Maidan and there were first victims,
the WCC expressed its concern. Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit, the WCC General Secretary at the time, said on March 3, 2014, “The
World Council of Churches is deeply concerned by the current dangerous
developments in Ukraine. The situation puts many innocent lives in grave
jeopardy. And like a bitter wind from the Cold War, it risks further
undermining the international community’s capacity to act now or in the future
on the many urgent issues that will require a collective and principled
response.”
That was also when
an armed conflict broke out in the Donbas region, whose population was
defending their right to speak the Russian language, demanding respect for
their historical and cultural tradition. However,
their voices went unheard, just as thousands of victims among the Donbas
population went unnoticed in the Western world.
This tragic
conflict has become a part of the large-scale geopolitical strategy aimed,
first and foremost, at weakening Russia.
And now the
Western leaders are imposing such economic sanctions on Russia that will be
harmful to everyone. They
make their intentions blatantly obvious – to bring sufferings not only to the
Russian political or military leaders, but specifically to the Russian people. Russophobia
is spreading across the Western world at an unprecedented pace.
I pray unceasingly
that by His power the Lord help establish the lasting and justice-based peace
as soon as possible. I ask
you and our brothers in Christ, united in the Council, to share this prayer
with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Dear Father Ioan, I
express my hope that even in these trying times, as has been the case
throughout its history, the World Council of Churches will be able to remain a
platform for unbiased dialogue, free from political preferences and one-sided
approach.
May the Lord
preserve and save the peoples of Russia and Ukraine!
10/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from sermon on the
Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
[Following a description of
the iconoclasm period, patriarch Kirill speaks of the] dependence of the
Church on the secular authorities, which manifested itself in this whole story
with iconoclasm! The emperor, who did not believe in icons, came and
ordered everyone not to believe in icons. Empress Theodora came, who
believed in the rightness of the Church and icon veneration, and everything
returned to its place. This dependence of the Church on an external
force, dependence on those who have political power, is the most dangerous
dependence. All members of the Church are law-abiding people, we pray for
the authorities and the army. But at the same time, every Christian
reserves the right to choose – in the event that the authorities become godless
and force the Christian to renounce the faith or, as was the case with
iconoclasm, fall into heresy and force their subordinates to follow it.
It would seem that all this
is already in the past. Not at all! My heart bleeds when I think about
what is happening in Ukraine. Is it not the same as once in Byzantium? Power
comes and, for political reasons, does not consider it possible that the
majority of Orthodox believers belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, the
Moscow Patriarchate. The persecution of these people begins. They are
accused almost of treason, they are pressured not to go to the Church, which is
insultingly and blasphemously called the "Church of the Occupiers." And,
of course, there are people, as it was during the time of iconoclasm, who
immediately go in the wake of state power – no matter what happens, no
matter how the priest is deprived of a good parish, no matter how the bishop
loses his pulpit, no matter how they accuse aiding the occupiers,
To all those who “waver along
with the fluctuation of power,” it must be said: but after all, our Church has
gone through the trials of this very wavering and has survived, despite
persecution and oppression. And today, starting from our own historical
experience, we must say: we respect secular authorities, but we reserve the
right to be free from interference by authorities in the internal life of the
Church. We hope that this will be the case on Ukrainian soil, although
today even the commemoration of the name of the Patriarch in the temple for
some becomes impossible for fear
for of the Jews (John 19:38).
We do not condemn anyone, but with my grieving heart I want
to understand such people. At the same time, I realize that if someone is
unfaithful in small things, then he can be unfaithful in big things (see Luke
16:10). Therefore, today my prayer is that our people in Ukraine will
preserve the Orthodox faith, so that they will not be afraid of the pressure of
those who suggest that they go into schism and thereby show loyalty to the
authorities. We pray and will continue to pray for the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church, so that the Lord would enlighten and strengthen our episcopate, our
clergy, so that no shameful, insulting nicknames that today the bearers of
radical views impose on our Orthodox people, accusing them of some kind of
complicity almost to the occupiers, so that all this filth did not darken their
souls. It must be remembered that we all belong to the One Holy Catholic
Apostolic Church – the same Church as in Moscow, and in Kyiv; our
Local Church, martyr and confessor. And God grant that we all preserve
unity, regardless of any external pressures and any efforts of forces alien to
the Church, to destroy the spiritual unity of our peoples. When
someone, out of fear, refuses to commemorate the Patriarch, then this, of
course, is a sign of weakness. It doesn't offend me. But this is
dangerous for the spiritual life of those who deviate from the truth in small
things. Today we do not commemorate the Patriarch, because it is scary,
but tomorrow someone may demand more. But this is dangerous for the
spiritual life of those who deviate from the truth in small things.
May the Lord keep our
Church on Ukrainian land, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, the entire
episcopate, for whom we pray, with whom we are together in these difficult
days. We believe that the Orthodox faith and the Orthodox Church will not
suffer damage from the ongoing political processes, which we hope will soon pass. May
the Lord protect our Church, strengthen our people and help all of us, Russian
Orthodox people. I repeat: when I say “Russians”, I mean the words “where
did the Russian land come from” from The Tale of Bygone Years. I
pray for everyone who lives in Ukraine, in Belarus, in our Russian land, that
we all be united in spirit and maintain unity in faith. May the Lord
help us, and about this today, on the day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, our
special prayer is to preserve unity in faith, unity in spirit, remembering that
we have the same saints, one spiritual tradition, often common spiritual
fathers, monastics – one people of God. Sorrow will pass, but it is very
important that this sorrow does not weaken our inner spiritual strength. If
we endure, then our Russian land will be preserved, which now includes Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus, and our Church, whose children live in different states
almost all over the planet. And we believe that the Lord will be with us
if we preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith, the guardians of which we
especially remember on the first Sunday of Great Lent. Amen.
13/03/2021 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Address to the Supreme Church Council
Today we are to make a number of decisions
according to the agenda, but besides that to exchange opinions on the
developments, in the first place, on what is happening in Ukraine and how it
affects the inter-Orthodox and inter-confessional relations. I will share
information about my video meetings with the Pope of Rome and the Archbishop of
Canterbury, when we discussed in detail primarily the problems of the security
of people in Ukraine, as well as the relations between the Orthodox and
Catholics as also linked with the Ukraine issue. All this is important for our
relations with the Catholic Church, with the Anglican community and
certainly for the Patriarch’s bilateral relations with the Primates of these
Churches. I think the meeting, though remote but a real, face-to-face, was positive
for both the preservation of good relations between our Churches and for the
formation as far as possible a common attitude to the situation in Ukraine.
I would also like to say that the events in
Ukraine demand that we make not only a serious analysis from the ecclesial
perspective, but also our prayers, and to stress once again that the Russian
Church, despite the very negative political context, is called today to
preserve the spiritual unity of our people – the Russian and Ukrainian peoples –
as one nation which has come out of the Kievan baptismal font. Without doubt,
this unity is exposed to certain dangers in the situation of hostilities,
and if we speak of an external factor, then the internet space, the information
space, has also become a battlefield, and in this space there is much
disinformation, downright lie, provocative statements, which can arouse
negative feelings among people, prevent a speedy resolution of the conflict and
reconciliation. In this context, I consider as especially important what is
happening today in our Church – in the Russian Federation, in Ukraine, in
Byelorussia, in other countries. I believe that the stand taken by the
Church can become a real peace-making factor for making a positive impact on
the developments in Ukraine, a country fraternal for us. We should be
especially zealous in lifting up prayers for peace and should certainly
accompany our prayers with concrete actions. And the most concrete and
important action today is to render assistance to those affected by this
conflict – in the first place, refugees, who have found themselves in the
territory of the Russian Federation.
(…)
Most of all, it is the work of prayer and
indispensable efforts to preserve good relations between peoples who have found
themselves involved in this conflict. The Church cannot be a bearer of any
other signal than a peace-making one because our flock is everywhere, on the
either side of the barricades.
(…)
I would like to say once again that a
considerable attention was certainly given to what is going on in Ukraine as
well. Once again, I would like to stress the importance of the fact that my
personal remote contacts with both the Pope of Rome and the Archbishop of
Canterbury have revealed a high level of consent and understanding. And,
perhaps, the most important impression is that our interlocutors have not moved
away from us, nor have they become our enemies, and this means that the political
context, by God’s grace, have not destroyed the relations we have developed
with our brothers or, as they say today, partners, despite the resounding
criticism from a certain part of our church community. You remember all
those calls to withdraw from the World Council of Churches, to discontinue
bilateral relations; we were told that it was a betrayal of the Church, etc.
Well, now we can see that if all this had not existed then our Church could
have become fully isolated and we could not have the least opportunity to
convey to our partners our understanding of the situation, our view of the
developments. And, which is the most important thing, we would not have chances
to see in these partners those who regard the stand of the Russian Orthodox
Church with understanding. Therefore, we have existentially received a
convincing validity of the policy of developing relations with Orthodox and
non-Orthodox Christians, which our Church began to pursue in the post-war
years. Of course, our participation in the work of the World Council of
Churches was a very important factor of developing these relations and creating
an atmosphere of confidence, which helps us so much in this situation.
18/3/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from the Sermon on the Second Sunday of Lent
We see how the story of the paralyzed man, whom
people brought to the Saviour, is actualized in our history. In all these
historical subjects, on which I dwelled today, the grace of God was undoubtedly
present. But there were also specific people whose names we remembered.
So today, when our Church is going through a
difficult period, at least in recent history, when many forces are trying to
break the united body of our Church, when people on Ukrainian soil are
suffering grievously, we must, like St. Sergius, like Patriarch Hermogenes,
like Patriarch Tikhon, first of all, pray for the spiritual unity of the
heritage of St. Prince Vladimir. That, despite the political boundaries
that lay on the body of historical Rus, the peoples living on this earth always
recognize each other as brothers and sisters, so that the system of common
values never collapses, so that the sword of one brother never rises against
another.
Today's Gospel reading about how people brought
the paralyzed Saviour to their feet and the Lord healed him, doesn't it help us
to understand what the Russian Church is? The One Church that came out of
the Kiev Baptismal font, which is in Russia, and in Ukraine, and in Belarus,
and in many other countries, is it not similar to those who brought the
paralytic to the Saviour? After all, someone must pray for our united
people, whom they want to make paralysed! Someone must defend God's truth
that we are really one people who came out of the Kiev Baptismal font! I know
how the opponents of this people will now shout there, in Ukraine: “Again, the
Patriarch says that we are one people.” But the Patriarch cannot say otherwise,
because this is historical and God's truth. And the fact that today we live
in different countries, does not change this historical truth and cannot change
it. We know that other peoples, including those in Europe, often lived in
different countries for a long time, but never lost their common national
identity. And in relation to our people, I will say: we have not lost the
single Orthodox faith.
And may the Lord help us, as a paralytic, to
gain strength, and may all those who are likened to unknown people who brought
the paralytic to the feet of the Saviour, all those who are ready to work today
to preserve the spiritual unity of our peoples, to preserve the unity of our
Church, not hesitate and not doubt the rightness of the chosen path, just as
those who brought the paralytic to the feet of the Saviour did not hesitate.
May the Lord protect the land of Rus’, the peoples who today inhabit this land,
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, because all of us, representatives of these three
peoples, are also connected by a single Slavic culture and practically a single
history. May we never forget our common roots, may we always pray for each
other. And the most important prayer should be that the devil does not allow
that terrible moment when a brother raises his hand against a brother.
Therefore, we must all pray for peace, for the well-being of the holy Churches
of God, for our united people, who today live in different countries, but who
came out of a single Kiev Baptismal font, which is united by a common faith and
a common historical destiny.
With the prayers of the holy saints of God,
starting with Prince Vladimir, who stands at the beginning of the whole host of
Russian saints, Princess Olga, the faithful Boris and Gleb, the monks of the
Kiev Caves and all the saints who are included in the wondrous single tradition
of Russian Orthodoxy, may the Lord keep in spiritual unity our people and our
Church, the great guardian of the spiritual culture and Orthodox faith, which
formed the united people of united Holy Rus’.
20/03/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Sermon on the fourth Sunday of Lent, during a
liturgy in the main temple of the armed forces
We sometimes think that money gives strength.
Indeed, money can sometimes give strength, and when the money runs out, then
the power ends. And sometimes money ends under tragic circumstances, and as a
result, a person suffers more than he rejoices. You can not rely on money and
wealth in the hope that they will help you climb the stairs up. If we create
wealth within ourselves, if we form a rich inner world that is not subject to
external influences, then we can remain poor, but be rich inside. And how many such wonderful examples
are known! Many of the poor materially, but rich inwardly people have become,
for example, great scientists. Recall that the remarkable scientist Lomonosov
came from Pomors, lived in his youth in the north, was a completely poor
person, but what heights did he achieve, becoming the first Russian
academician,
(…)
I am very glad that today I had the opportunity
to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in this beautiful church, in the presence of
our servicemen. Today, our Fatherland is going through a difficult time. Today,
again, the name "military man" is associated with being not only in a
peaceful state, but also being on the battlefield. Fortunately, our Fatherland
does not often face the battlefield, but the arrival of young people in the
Armed Forces who aspire to become officers, who strive to devote their lives to
defending the Fatherland, does not dry out. And if in peacetime this can be
explained by some kind of privileges or material considerations, then in
wartime service in the Armed Forces is a real feat, and this is exactly the
time we are experiencing now. The service requires readiness from everyone who
has taken the oath to defend the Motherland, not sparing their lives.
Today the word "independence" is
often applied to almost all countries of the world. But this is wrong, because most
of the countries of the world are now under the colossal influence of one force,
which today, unfortunately, opposes the force of our people. And since this is
so, since there is great strength, then we must also be very strong. When I say
"we", I mean, first of all, the Armed Forces – but not only. All of
our people today must wake up, wake up, understand that a special time has
come, on which the historical fate of our people may depend.
That is why today I celebrated the Divine
Liturgy right here, in this church, in order to meet first of all with
representatives of our Armed Forces, to address them, and through them to our
entire army, to the navy, to all the defenders of the Fatherland, so that they
realize the historical importance of the present moment. I want to say again
and again: we are a peace-loving country and a very peace-loving,
long-suffering people who suffered from wars like few other European nations.
We have no desire for war or for doing something that could harm others. But we
have been so educated by our entire history that we love our Fatherland and
will be ready to defend it in the way that only Russians can defend their
country.
When I say these words, I do not say any empty
compliments. I start from the history of our people, from the history of our
Armed Forces. After all, we broke the back of fascism, which, undoubtedly,
would have defeated the world, if not for Russia, if not for the feat of our
people. May the Lord help us today too, so that we, being peaceful,
peace-loving and modest people, are at the same time ready – always and under
any circumstances – to protect our home.
Of course, when I say all this, I do not
cease to feel anxiety for all the people who live in those places where
military clashes are taking place today. After all, all these are the people
and peoples of Holy Rus’, all these are our brothers and sisters. But, as in
the Middle Ages, wishing to weaken Russia, various forces pushed the brothers
against each other, plunging them into internecine strife, so it is happening
today. Therefore, we must do everything we can to stop the bloodshed and avoid
the danger of internecine strife with all its consequences. But at the same
time, we must be faithful - when I say "we", I mean, first of all,
military personnel - to our oath and readiness to "lay down our lives for
our friends", as the word of God testifies.
(…)
To all of you, my dear ones — Bishops, fathers,
brothers, sisters, military personnel, military leaders, our youth — I once
again cordially greet and congratulate you on this Sunday and wish all of us to
maintain strength of mind, the ability to pray for the Fatherland, and for
ourselves, the ability to always maintain inner strength, which can be
translated into different life situations, including multiplying the power of
our Armed Forces. May the Lord keep our land, our Fatherland for many and
good years! Amen.
03/04/2022 (source)
Easter greetings to President Putin
Your Excellency, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
Christ is Risen!
Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on
the great and life-affirming feast of Holy Pascha.
Sharing the Easter message and testifying to
the unity in the faith of millions of Christians, the Church calls on her
children to do good deeds for the good of their neighbours and for the glory of
the Fatherland.
I would like to express special gratitude to
you for your continued attention to the service of the Russian Orthodox
Church, as well as for supporting its cultural, educational and other socially
significant initiatives. I hope that the fruitful cooperation of the Moscow
Patriarchate with state authorities and public institutions will continue to
contribute to the preservation and consolidation of the people, the moral and
patriotic education of young people, the creation of peace and civil harmony,
and the preservation of the rich historical, spiritual and cultural heritage of
our country.
I wish you strength of mind and body, God's
generous help, and blessed success in your difficult and responsible service in
the high office of the President of the Russian Federation.
With deep and sincere respect
24/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of sermon on Monday after Easter
(…)
Today, too, our people especially need internal
unity. Things that are developing around our Fatherland are not easy, you are
aware of this as well as I am. And therefore, our people today must especially rally around the
historical centre of all Russia - around the city of Moscow, realizing that our
strength is only in unity. And as long as we are united and strong, as long as
we keep faith in our hearts, as long as we are inspired by the great example of
our predecessors, then Russia will be invincible. Victory is always not
only a physical victory, not only a victory of the weapon with which the
warrior meets the enemy, but it is always a victory of the spirit. And today,
many would like this spirit to disappear. And in order for it to be so, it is
necessary to sow confusion, create new idols, draw attention to new
pseudo-values. But we must keep ours, if you like.
Our pious heroic ancestors, including those who
built this cathedral, knew and understood everything well, and therefore the
cathedrals were built like fortresses, realizing that at some point, it might
be necessary to defend behind their walls, that and happened repeatedly in the
history of our Fatherland. Suffice it to recall the heroic defence of Smolensk,
when the enemy passed through the fortress walls, and only one cathedral
remained as the last fortress and refuge for the defenders of the city. And
they did not want to surrender the cathedral - the temple was blown up and
buried under the arches of its defenders, who remained undefeated. Let all
these wonderful heroic examples inspire us today to defend the Fatherland, to
defend our true independence from the powerful centres of power that exist
today on earth. May the Lord keep us in true freedom.
All this is directly related to the
preservation of the Orthodox faith in the hearts and minds of our people, and
therefore my word is addressed today not only to those who stand in this
church, and even not only to the children of our Church. My word today is
addressed to all our people, especially to those who, by tradition, by the
faith of their ancestors, belong to the Orthodox Church: it is time to
return to our spiritual home in order to have the strength that can help us,
including in the struggle for our true independence and our freedom. May
the Lord guard our land, may the Lord guard our people, may the Lord bless the
path of those of our brothers and sisters who have been baptized but have not
yet really entered the Church. May the Lord keep our army, our authorities and
all those on whom the defence of our Fatherland especially depends today.
In this historic cathedral of All Russia, we,
strengthened by the wondrous example of our ancestors, today raise a special
prayer for the Orthodox faith, for the preservation of the unity of our Church,
for the preservation of the unity of our people, for the freedom and
independence of our Fatherland. And may the Lord help us to live in this
way, to arrange our relations with each other, so as not to darken the Lord in
any way, but so that our life helps our prayers, so that they are heard and so
that the mercy of the Heavenly Father extends over our land, over our
Fatherland, as it stretched throughout a thousand years of history, especially
in the most dangerous, critical moments of this history. May the Lord keep our
land, our people, our Church, authorities and army for many and good years!
24/04/2022 (Source)
Patriarchal sermon during the Paschal
commemoration of the dead in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin
Grand Dukes and Duchesses - those who bore on
their shoulders the burden of enormous responsibility for the historical
existence of our country, our Church, our people. Many of them, of course, are
with the Lord. Someone is glorified, someone is not glorified, but today,
praying for them, we turn to them with a request to pray for the Russian state,
for our country, so that our sacred borders are impregnable, so that we always
have enough wisdom, strength and honour to protect them if necessary. We also
appeal to them so that love for the Fatherland never dries up, especially in
the minds and hearts of the young generation that is coming after us.
I think it will be so, everything will be
preserved, and first of all, perhaps, through the prayers of those who lie in
this cathedral, as well as through the prayers of the host of saints who shone
in the Russian land, and through the prayers of our Church, which goes along
its historical path and, despite the dangers and difficulties of the path and
the slyness of this age, carries the word of truth about God, about His Divine
Providence, about the salvation that was brought by His Son and our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we believe: as long as faith is preserved, love for the Fatherland
and the ability to defend one's people and one's country will be preserved with
it.
We don't want to fight anyone. Russia has never
attacked anyone. It is amazing that a great and powerful country never attacked
anyone - it only defended its borders. God grant that until the end of the
century our country will be like this - strong, powerful and at the same time
loved by God. We
ask the Lord that He does not reject His love from our people and from our
Church, that He would enlighten the authorities, that in faith, piety and
wisdom He would strengthen our people, that He would give us the strength to
work, live and, if necessary, fight for the free and independent life of our
people and our country to be preserved. And may the saints help us, who shone
in the Russian land. May those who rest their bodies here help us with their
prayers, but we believe that many of them stand before the Lord with their
souls. With the prayers of all, the entire Church, heavenly and earthly, all
those who has departed from us, and who lives on our land, may the Lord
protect the Russian land from internecine strife and from the invasion of
foreigners, and may it strengthen the Orthodox faith - the only spiritual force
that can really hold our people together. And we believe that the Lord will
not leave us with His mercy and grace, including in the current difficult time
of the summer of His goodness.
03/05/2022 (Source)
Full text of the commentary by the Communications Service of the
Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate on the
interview given by Pope Francis to the Italian publication Corriere della sera.
It’s regrettable that a month and a half after
the conversation with Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis chose the wrong tone to
convey the content of this conversation. Such utterances can hardly further
constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches,
which is so necessary at the current time.
This is what Patriarch Kirill actually said in
his conversation with Pope Francis, which took place on 16th March: “I thank
you for the opportunity to hold this meeting. When we met in 2016 in Cuba, I
said to you that we were meeting at the right time and in the right place. And
although our communication is being held through the use of long-distance
technology, I still believe that we are once more talking to each other at the
right time. With your permission, I would like to share with you my perception
of the present-day difficult situation. Of course, we live in different
informational expanses: the Western media has either remained silent or said
practically very little on those facts which I would like to draw your
attention towards.”
Patriarch Kirill further noted that the
conflict had begun in 2014 with the events of Maidan in Kiev, as a result of
which there was a change of government in Ukraine. He drew special attention to
those events in Odessa and their consequences: “There was a peaceful meeting
in the city of Russian speakers who were defending their right to their own
language and culture. This peaceful gathering was attacked by Nazi groupings
who beat them up and struck them with sticks. People sought refuge in the
nearest building which was the Trade Union House. At that moment something
terrible happened: the building was locked and then burnt to the grounds.
People tried to flee by jumping from the second and third floors, and of course
they sustained terrible injuries as they hit the ground. Those who stood by the
windows decided not to jump as they were being fired upon from below. We
watched all of this as it happened live on the television. This terrifying
lesson from Odessa influenced the decisions of the population of south-east
Ukraine in defending their rights.”
Patriarch Kirill further reminded the Pope that
at the end of the Soviet period Russia received assurances that NATO would not
expand a single inch eastward. However, theses promises were not kept and even
the former Soviet Baltic republics became members of NATO. An extremely
dangerous situation had risen as a result in that the borders of NATO were now
within 130 kilometers of St. Petersburg and the time it takes for a rocket to
reach the city is a few minutes. Had NATO received Ukraine into its membership,
then the time it would take for a rocket to reach Moscow would also be a few
minutes. Russia could not and cannot permit this.
In conclusion the Patriarch emphasized: “Of
course, the present situation causes me great pain. My flock is on both sides
of the conflict and most of them are Orthodox people. Part of the opposing side
are also among your flock. I would like therefore, leaving the geopolitical
aspect to one side, pose the question of how we and our Churches can influence
the situation? How can we act together to bring peace to the hostile parties
with the single aim of establishing peace and justice? It is very important in
these conditions to avoid further escalation.”
The response by Pope Francis was reported accurately by Vatican News in its release of 16th March: “Pope Francis thanked the Patriarch for the meeting, motivated by the desire to point out, as shepherds of their people, a path to peace, to pray for the gift of peace and for a ceasefire. The Pope said, in agreement with the Patriarch, that ‘The Church must not use the language of politics, but the language of Jesus.’ Pope Francis added that ‘we are shepherds of the same Holy People who believe in God, in the Holy Trinity, in the Holy Mother of God: that is why we must unite in the effort to aid peace, to help those who suffer, to seek ways of peace, and to stop the fire.’”
The statement also noted that the “Pope and the
Patriarch stressed the exceptional importance of the ongoing negotiation
process.”
04/05/2022 (Source)
Sermon on the Day of Saint George
We won that terrible war, and we thought, like
many others, that everything would end there and there would be no more wars. How
much can you kill each other, how much can you suffer, how much can you
destroy? This was the hope of
the whole human race, and the United Nations was created to prevent possible
wars – and nothing happened in the end. Thank God that there has not
been a global war so far, and we will pray that it will not happen in the
future, but how many people died in local conflicts! Therefore, today,
realizing what a difficult situation is developing in Europe, how difficult the
situation is developing around our country, we must intensify our prayer to
the Lord, His Most Pure Mother, the Patroness of the Russian land, and to Great
Martyr George - the saint, so closely, deeply, ontologically connected with our
Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War. We must ask the Lord to show His
mercy over our country, to protect it from external and, I will add, internal
enemies. Today is the time of special consolidation of all our people. We
must all be together, we must be aware that we are going through a difficult,
dangerous and, in a sense, fateful period in our history. And we will turn our prayers to St.
George the Victorious, to all the saints who shone in the Russian land, so that
our country will remain free, independent in the full sense of the word from
all world centers of power, because only in this way can a great Orthodox
country exist, also with a large pious Islamic population, who proved their
loyalty to Russia with their lives and their victims. This amazing combination of feat,
courage, and faith of our people gives even today hope for our victory, for
getting rid of any enemies who want to encroach on our country, on our land.
Let us pray to St. George, on the day of whose memory our people won the
Victory in the most terrible war in all of human history, that he,
undoubtedly accompanying us in that desperate and terrible struggle for the
survival and salvation of the people and country, will be with us today, with
our people, with our army, with our authorities. But, first of all, that Saint
George before the throne of God would pray for the Russian land.
08/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from the sermon on the third Sunday
after Easter
It so happened that our country almost never
waged aggressive wars. There
were two cases that can give us an example and say: “But what about the First
World War? And before it, the Balkan war? After all, you went to the
Balkans, and Samsonov's army moved to East Prussia - that means you are
aggressors. Not at all! Our army went to the Balkans not in order
to expand the territory of our country, not in order to enrich the country with
rich booty, not in order to subjugate other peoples, but in order to save the
Bulgarian people from five hundred years of slavery. And name another
country that has sacrificed thousands and thousands of its sons in order to
help another country the way we helped the Bulgarians!
And the First World War? Serbs became the
main goal and target of Western forces. And this well-known provocation in
Sarajevo - everything was aimed at ensuring that Serbia, an Orthodox country
close to Russia in spirit, but living surrounded by Western countries, ceased
to exist. The West did not want to have this courageous Orthodox people
loving Russia among its peoples, and provoked the First World War. And Russia entered this war
not in order to acquire land for itself, not in order to enrich itself, not in
order to gain power over others, but in order to save the fraternal Serbian
people.
So, the two wars about which we can be accused
of having gone first are the defense of the Bulgarians and the defense of the
Serbs. These goals were not related to mercantile, material, political or
geopolitical interests - Russia was exhausting itself, Russia was sacrificing itself
in order to help others. That is why we call our army Christ-loving -
because what power, other than internal spiritual strength, can explain the
great feat of our soldiers in those two wars!
And what happened during the Great Patriotic
War? A terrible enemy attacked a country that had not gone through the
best period of its history – the 20s and 30s. Each of us who has studied
history knows how difficult, difficult and even terrible these years were for
the people. But then the war came, and all insults were forgotten, all the
repressed were ready to go and defend the Fatherland. And how many people,
whom only yesterday the authorities considered enemies of the people, have
become ardent defenders of the Motherland! Where does all this come
from? This is from our spiritual roots, this is from our national
identity, which really stems from the spiritual values of our
people. And even in a godless time, these values could not be dismantled
and destroyed, because they became part of life, part of the soul of our
people.
And today, in this military temple, we pay
tribute to all those who are now defending our Fatherland at various
frontiers. We believe that even today our army needs spiritual strength,
support and, most importantly, the prayers of all our people no less than in
those times that I recalled. And the army must remember that we love it,
remember and pray for those who are defending our Fatherland today.
I would like to appeal to the servicemen who
are present here, and through them to our entire army. Remember, brothers,
that on how you carry out your military duty, on how capable you are of
defending the Fatherland, and even, I’m not afraid of these words, to
lay down your soul for your friends, according to the commandment of God,
the freedom, independence, independence of our Fatherland will depend. Independence
from even the most powerful forces that today practically rule the world, but
do not rule our country, and hence all the problems. And may the Lord
enlighten all of us - the army, the people, the youth, the elderly, our
intelligentsia, and the workers, and those who work in the countryside - and
help us to realize what an important historical moment we are going through
today, how we need our prayers and help our army, navy, all our armed
forces. How we should be all together today - not threatening anyone,
not attacking anyone, but being absolutely ready to repel any aggression
against our people and our country. May the feat and example of our
great commanders - saints Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy, wonderful
military leaders Suvorov,
And here's something else I would like to
say. Russia does not wish harm to anyone, does not want to capture and
occupy anyone, does not want to drain resources from anyone, as most of the
rich and strong countries of the world do, economically occupying weak and
helpless countries. We do not need all this, we are self-sufficient, but
we need only one thing - our true freedom, our independence from these world
centers of power, which today, unfortunately, are becoming hostile to
Russia. We must consolidate all our forces, both spiritual and material,
so that no one dares to encroach on the sacred borders of our Fatherland.
And my words are not what our opponents would
like to characterize as "another militaristic speech of the
Patriarch." It's all nonsense! My relatives and friends died
during the war or died in the Leningrad blockade. I was born right after
the war - in 1946, I remember post-siege Leningrad. On all of us, on that
first post-war generation, lay the stamp of sorrow, sacrifice, loss,
destruction. I walked to school along Maly Prospekt of Vasilevsky Island
and saw the skeletons of destroyed houses - they had not yet been demolished,
they stood as a terrible reminder of the Leningrad blockade. And these
skeletons were very close to the house where my mother lived with her eldest
son, still a baby, when aerial bombs exploded a hundred meters away. We
all remember this, and therefore today we especially pray and must all work together, so
that the Lord protects our Fatherland from every enemy and adversary, so that
our people unite, overcoming all disagreements and differences of opinion and
life positions that are natural for human society. Today, everything must
be put aside and we must be united in the most important thing - in our
readiness to show love for the Fatherland in a real way, both in deed and in
word, and in the ability to protect our people and our country.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude
to those who are present here today, but most of all I would like to once
again thank the authorities and our army, which today, in conditions of
practically military operations, is serving, defending our Fatherland. And
again and again, emphasizing the importance, beauty and valor of the military
feat, I urge everyone to pray for peace, that the Lord would avert all military
actions, that the Lord would reconcile peoples, nations and states, so that
peace would become the property of the entire human race. Because the Lord
has called us to peace, not to war.
08/05/2022 (Source)
Appeal to the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church,
Patriarch Kirill
Bishop!
For the fourth day, the unprovoked full-scale aggression
of Russia, the state whose Orthodox Church you lead, against Ukraine continues.
As a result of the war unleashed by the leadership of your country, millions of
people are suffering, hundreds of thousands of children, women, and the elderly
have been forced to seek a safer place, thus leaving their homes. Every day,
our fellow citizens are forced to shelter for hours during the shelling of our
cities by Russian troops. Soldiers and civilians are dying.
Unfortunately, it has become clear from your previous
public statements that maintaining the goodwill of Putin and the leadership of
the Russian Federation is much more important to you than caring for the people
in Ukraine, some of whom considered you their shepherd before the war.
Therefore, it hardly makes sense to ask you to do something effective to stop
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine immediately.
However, I still remain hopeful that at least in relation
to your own fellow citizens, most of whom are Orthodox Christians, your flock,
you will find the spiritual strength to show humanity and care.
We are talking about more than three thousand dead
Russian servicemen, whose bodies are on the soil of Ukraine. The leadership of
our country has already appealed to the International Red Cross to facilitate
the return of the bodies of the Russian military to their homeland, so that
relatives and friends can say goodbye to them and give them burial.
Unfortunately, no response has been received from the Russian side so far.
Therefore, I appeal to you, as the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church, to please show mercy to your fellow citizens and flock. If you
cannot raise your voice against aggression, at least take the bodies of Russian
soldiers whose lives have become the price for the ideas of the “Russian world”
– yours and your president.
May the Lord give you spiritual strength at least for
this, especially today, on Sunday that commemorates the Last Judgment!
27/2/2022 (Source)
Despite the long, sincere, persistent efforts of Ukraine and the entire international community, there was an unprovoked, insidious, cynical attack by Russia and Belarus on Ukraine.
Our
common task is to repel the enemy, to protect our homeland, our future and the
future of new generations from the tyranny that the aggressor seeks to bring on
his bayonets.
The
truth is on our side. Therefore, the enemy, with God's help and with the
support of the entire civilized world, will be defeated.
Our task
now is to unite, to withstand the first blow, not to panic. We believe
in God's providence and the victory of truth. We trust our Armed Forces, our
defenders. We pray with all those who are at the forefront of the fight against
the aggressor.
It is
extremely important not to succumb to possible internal provocations, to
maintain order, to carry out orders of the state and military authorities of
Ukraine.
Wherever
possible, I ask the clergy and the faithful to regularly offer their prayers
for Ukraine, for victory, for our soldiers. I bless you to read the
Akathist to the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and other relevant
prayer requests.
I appeal
to the international community, to all the world's religious leaders, to
support Ukraine, to force Russia and Belarus to stop the aggression
immediately. I ask all people of good will to do this.
Those
who have started and are waging an aggressive war against Ukraine should know
that according to God's law and human laws, they are murderers and criminals. And they will answer for
their crime before the Most High and before mankind, without escaping
condemnation and punishment.
Dear
brothers and sisters!
As Primate,
I am with you, performing my duties. As events unfold, I will keep you
informed.
"Do
not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the Lord's salvation that He will
create for you today […]; The Lord will fight for you, and you will be calm
”(Exodus 14: 13-14).
Ukrainians
are a peaceful people, but strong in spirit and faith. We believe
that the violence and weapons that are being unlawfully directed against us
today will turn into the wrath of God and the sword against the aggressor.
For all criminal intentions are known to God, as it is said: “Consider plans,
but they are destroyed; speak the word, but it will not come to pass: for God
is with us. (Isa. 8:10). Let the words of the Savior be fulfilled in the
instigators of war and invaders: "All they that take the sword shall
perish by the sword" (Matt. 26:52).
With
prayer on our lips, with love for God, for Ukraine, for our neighbours, we
fight against evil - and we will see victory.
I invoke
upon the Ukrainian state, on the soldiers who defend Ukraine, and on all our
people, God's blessing!
God the Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
24-2-2024 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Dear brothers and sisters!
On the fourth day,
our heroic people are defending themselves from the attack of Russia, which throws its
soldiers and weapons at our villages and cities, strikes us with artillery. Ukraine
withstands this frantic blow thanks to its well-trained military, proper
leadership, and the help of allies, but the main reason is an indomitable, and
therefore invincible spirit.
The spirit of love
for the Motherland, for freedom, for neighbour. This spirit of love and
truth, which are on our side, testify that with God's help we will achieve
victory. Every hour of resistance to aggression brings us closer to this.
We pray and act –
each in his own place, in the way that is
possible in specific circumstances. And every hour of our
resistance inspires more and more people around the world to support Ukraine. Tens
and hundreds of thousands gather in the squares of the world's capitals and
rallies in support. Our blue and yellow flag of freedom has become a
symbol of resistance to tyranny, and the slogan "Glory to Ukraine!" does
not require translation.
Among the calls for an immediate end to Russia's aggression against
Ukraine is the voice of my brothers, the Primates of the Local Orthodox
Churches. I thank Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Romanian Patriarch
Daniel, Georgian Patriarch Elijah,
Archbishop Jerome of Athens and all my hierarchical brothers, clergy, faithful,
Christians and all people of good will for praying and supporting the world.
Today, the Russian
president ordered the increase of the level of readiness of nuclear weapons. Is
this not confirmation of a fact that the head of our state Volodymyr Zelensky
and many others have said from the beginning: not only is Ukraine in danger,
the whole world is in danger. The spirit of the antichrist operates in the leader of
Russia, the signs of which are revealed to us in Scriptures: pride, devotion to
evil, ruthlessness, false religiosity. This was Hitler during World War
II. This is what Putin has become today.
Therefore, the task
not only of our country, but of all countries of the world, of all people of good will, is to stop Putin now. Act,
and act immediately. I urge world leaders to do so!
Separately, I would
like to address our faithful and fellow citizens. Interfaith peace is one
of the main achievements of independent Ukraine. The feelings that are now evoked in the souls of
Ukrainians by the name "Moscow" are
quite understandable. But I beg you – do not succumb to anger, especially
the provocations of the enemy. If you know specific true information about
someone's help to the aggressor, provide it to law enforcement or the military. But I already
see and know about many clergy and faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate that have reconsidered their attitude
to the leadership in Russia and stand by everyone in defense of Ukraine.
Therefore, we will postpone all issues of achieving understanding and
church unity in Ukraine until victory. I am convinced that many hierarchs,
priests, and laity of the Moscow Patriarchate are already asking themselves
about their future, which they do not associate with the
discredited Patriarch Kirill. I hope that in fraternal communication, as
Orthodox believers and children of one nation, we will find a solution to disputes. But now
let's postpone them all, because nothing is worth more today than
the victory of Ukraine!
We pray to Almighty
God and ask Him, the Blessed Virgin and all the saints for help, protection, defense, strength,
courage and most importantly – victory and peace.
I call on the defenders of Ukraine and on all our people God's blessing!
God the Great, the
One, save Ukraine for us!
27/2/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Dear
brothers and sisters!
Ukraine's
resistance to Russian aggression has been going on for a week now, although
every hour of this time seems like a long time to many. Russia continues to
act as a terrorist, attacking our cities, shelling civilians, destroying public
infrastructure.
Our
struggle against the enemy is difficult, but we believe in our victory,
because the truth and God's help are on our side. Evidence of this
assistance is the destruction of the enemy's plan to achieve the goal in a few
days of rapid progress – to destroy the statehood of Ukraine.
That is
why the aggressor is looking for new reserves for the invasion, inclining
Belarus to crime. I appeal to the Belarusians, our neighbours – you know
what it's like to live under a dictatorship, you protested against it. They
want to bring the same, even worse, dictatorship to us in Ukraine. Fight with
all your might to ensure that your country is not involved in vile and criminal
Russian aggression, and that your soldiers are sent to their death for Putin's
imperial fantasies.
As
hierarch and Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, I would also like to
warn every Ukrainian citizen who hopes to gain power and positions in occupied
Ukraine from bloody Russian hands: eternal shame and curses will fall on you
from people and from God as those who fell on the traitor Judas. Hell will be
prepared for you together with Judas.
Dear
brothers and sisters!
The
suffering caused by the war, the tension from numerous announcements about the
air attack, concern for the future, for family and friends – all this cannot
help but be depressing. Fear and anxiety turn into the temptation to pour
out emotions, anger, condemnation of those around. Fight it! Do not let
darkness take over your heart.
The best
way to do this is to pray. A sincere appeal to God calms the soul, gives
purification and strengthens resolve. Read the prayers from the Prayer Book,
read the book of Psalms from the Bible, pray in your own words – the most
important are the sincerity and feelings with which you speak to God.
Today I
had the joy of praying in St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral for our
defenders, for the President and for all our people. Also at noon,
representatives of the entire religious community of Ukraine, united in the
All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, gathered for prayer in St. Sophia.
Today I
received a letter of condolences and support from the Primate of the Church of Greece,
Archbishop Jerome of Athens. He condemns the Russian aggression against Ukraine
and assures prayer and humanitarian aid provided by the Greek Church. We are
sincerely grateful to our brothers for this.
In
conclusion, I would like to mention once again our sanctuary, St. Sophia,
which, as you know, is also under threat of Russian attack. A symbolic event
took place today: a cross was erected on the south-eastern dome of the
cathedral, which had previously fallen during the storm. I believe that the
integrity of our state will be restored as this cross. By joint efforts we will
achieve, with God's help, victory over the aggressor.
To fight
for this, I call on the Lord's blessing and help on all of you!
God the
Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
2/3/2022
(Source.
Edited for clarity)
Dear brothers and sisters!
Our courageous resistance to Russian aggression
has been going on for ten days now. The enemy cannot understand why the
Ukrainian people are so resisting.
The answer is very simple: because we know our
own history. Now our suffering is measured in hours and days. Under the yoke of
Kremlin tyranny, the Ukrainian people have lived for decades at the cost of
millions tortured by hunger and repression. Therefore, we have no choice but to
fight. After all, this is a struggle for freedom, for the future, for the
opportunity for us and for new generations to live in our own free state.
And now I want to address our Orthodox fellow
believers from the Moscow Patriarchate.
Dear bishops, fathers, brothers and sisters!
You, like all of us, suffer from the Russian invasion. Every Russian bomb,
rocket, and shell on Ukrainian soil finally kills the myths of "Holy
Russia" and the "Triune People."
Many of you are already thinking about the fact
that it is no longer possible to be under the jurisdiction of the Russian
patriarch. You have always declared your devotion to the canons, and the
canons stipulate that there should be a single Local Church in Ukraine. We urge
you to take the canonical path – the path of unity.
We understand that for many it will not be easy
to follow this path. Therefore, I suggest: those who are ready and willing
to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine – our doors and our hearts are open to
you! Both individual communities and entire dioceses can do this, become
part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Those who are not ready for such a
step can show their good intentions to serve together with us, as is customary
among the clergy of different jurisdictions, such as in the diaspora. Who
can not dare to do so – at least declare publicly a demand to your
leadership not just to stop mentioning the name of the Moscow Patriarch, but to
have full independence from Moscow with the earliest changes to the Statute.
"Russian Peace" has brought terrible
grief to our land, so it is necessary to break forever with this bloody
chauvinistic ideology.
To the faithful of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine and to our supporters, I would like to renew my request, expressed
earlier: do not succumb to emotions, give our brothers the opportunity to walk
the path to unity. We need a truly conscious unity, because only then will it
be true and strong.
Today I offer my prayers for the Ukrainian
soldiers, for the President and the state, for all of you and I call on the
Lord's blessing!
God the Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
05/03/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Excerpt of primate’s sermon on Forgiveness
Sunday
If in recent years such reflections during Lent
were spiritual and allegorical for us, today we, the entire Ukrainian people,
literally suffer every hour in the terrible realities of war. These sufferings
are innocent. The Ukrainian people have not done any harm to Russia, which has
attacked and tortured, whipped and crucified us. Therefore, what we are suffering now is, from
a spiritual point of view, compassion for Christ, that is, innocent suffering.
These sufferings are difficult, but among them
let us be comforted by the realization that our innocent sufferings will
inevitably be crowned with victory and eternal glory, just as the sufferings of
Christ were crowned with them. The Saviour was shamed and crucified on the
cross - but He rose from the dead and defeated evil. We are suffering in the
same way now, but with God's help we will win. And Ukraine, which is now being
crucified by the Russian occupiers, will be resurrected.
Therefore, now, on the path of Lent, amid the
grief and torment of the war imposed on us by Russia, we must strengthen our resolve
and be inspired by the awareness of the inevitability of the victory of
truth, goodness and light. We are now suffering innocently as our Saviour,
but we will soon be glorified as victors, as our Lord is risen and
glorified.
However, until this blessed time comes, we must
work spiritually and physically. During the liturgy, I have already drawn your
attention to the peculiarities of the current fast, when sacrifice, mutual
aid, and charity for others will indeed be a greater feat than restrictions on
food. So where possible, let us fast according to tradition, and where it is
impossible, let sacrificial service to our neighbours be our fasting feat.
06/03/2022 (Source.
Edited for clarity)
Statement of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
In course of Russian aggression against Ukraine
the aggressor’s shelling aim at, alongside with peaceful infrastructure and
residential buildings, the temples. Even the greatest spiritual sanctuary, the
St Sophia Cathedral, appears under the threat of attack. From the whole Ukraine
we receive the reports of hitting the churches, even those, where the refugees
found shelter.
As a Primate, I appeal to the Russian
murderers: do not aggravate your crimes with destroying the sanctuaries,
especially as you hypocritically justify yourself with “defending the Church”.
I appeal to the international community and
especially to the religious leaders: raise your voice in opposing this crime of
Russia. With the word and the deed do all the possible to stop the shelling and
bombardments.
I appeal especially to the leaders of the Moscow
Patriarchate in Ukraine: do you not see how the cities and towns in Northern,
East, and Southern Ukraine are being shelled, and the blasts kill, among
others, those who see you as their shepherds? Demand loudly from Russia, from
the Patriarch of Moscow to stop these barbaric shelling! Do not hide behind
general wishes of peace, but tell the Truth, as Our Lord bequeathed.
I want once again to join my voice to millions
of voices of the Ukrainians, appealing to the free world: close the sky over
Ukraine! Putin thinks anyway that he wages the war “with America and NATO”
on our soil. The Russian dictator already is at war with you, has already
attacked you. Thus, defending Ukraine, our people, children, our homes and
temples, you defend yourselves.
06/3/2022 (Source.
Edited for clarity)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
My
appeal today is dedicated to the bleeding, painful and severe wound on the body
of our Nation – the peaceful population, which is suffering due to the Russian
aggression.
Kharkiv,
Chernihiv, Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and many other cities and villages in the
Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donets and Luhansk oblasts, in Kherson, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv
and other regions of Ukraine, are under the barbaric daily attack of the
Russian armed forces. They are utilizing rocket and bomb attacks from
the air as well as conventional artillery.
The
enemy is intentionally ruining the infrastructure, destroying civilian
dwellings and is killing and terrorizing the peaceful population. Recent announcements and
agreements have only today begun to allow for so-called “green corridors” in
certain cities to allow for the movement of refugees and allow the delivery of
products, medicine and water.
Especially
awful is the situation in Mariupol, which is blocked by Russian forces.
I
understand that there is no practical sense in addressing the Russian
occupiers, so I only wish to inform them, for all of the spilled blood, for the
suffering and tears, for the ruined lives, each of them will personally have to
answer before God and will receive as promised by God, no mercy and eternal
suffering for their crimes and unmerciful actions.
So
today, I am reaching out to our international circle of friends: the
Ukrainian people would like to understand, why is there a system of
international law, why do the United Nations, Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe exist, why are the words “Never Again” reiterated every
May 8th? Today the legal forms are being trampled, Russia is
intentionally mocking the mechanisms of the U.N. and OSCE, and all that we have
read and heard from the witnesses of World War II in Europe is occurring again.
Therefore,
I on behalf of the thousands of people living in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv,
Hostomel, Irpin, Bucha and others, who are continue to be murdered by Russian
armed forces, am raising my voice and I call upon all nations and
international institutions to: TAKE ACTION! Take action so that
Russia immediately stops the barbaric ruination of Ukrainian cities, villages
and their population.
With
pain in my heart, I raise prayers for the casualties of Russian national
terrorism, I ask that God, His Mother the Virgin Mary and all the saints,
provide them help, protection and defence. I pray for the souls of the
innocent who have perished. I ask that all people of good will join in these
prayers.
Let
Almighty God, as The Righteous Judge, look at the suffering Ukrainian Nation and
bring his judgement on the unmerciful murderers! Let the anger of God
and inescapable retribution that is promised to these lost souls be upon them!
I wish
the Ukrainian armed forces, The President our Nation and all of its people,
with the help of God, to reach victory over the aggressor and true peace.
O Great God Eternal! For us Ukraine do protect!
08/03/2022 (Source)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Ukrainian people!
Our resistance to the enemy has been going on
for fifteen days. Thanks to the courage of our defenders, our unity and
mutual support, thanks to the help of our allies and people of good will around
the world, Ukraine has already morally defeated the aggressor. Because only
those who have a stony heart and have lost their conscience can find excuses
for Russia's barbaric bombing of Ukrainian towns and villages, for the
conscious war crimes committed by the aggressor.
Such a crime against humanity is all that the
enemy is doing to Mariupol now. Yesterday's bombing of the maternity
hospital was an abyss of murder and cynicism, which terrified the whole world.
The deliberate destruction of
the infrastructure of a large city, bringing its population to unbearable
conditions of survival – for all this, Russian criminals will inevitably be
punished by human law and the law of God.
I ask the world community to do everything
possible immediately to stop the Russian terror against the inhabitants of
Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and other cities and villages of Ukraine! And
I ask Christians and all people of good will to pray for those who now
especially need God's protection and help.
Dear brothers and sisters!
In the conditions of war, the question of how
to combine God's commandment "Thou shalt not kill" with the armed
resistance of the enemy is especially acute. An explanation can be found in the
Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans: “If you do evil, fear [the one who
bears the sword], for it is not in vain that he bears the sword; he is a
servant of God, an avenger to punish those who do evil” (Rom. 13: 4). Therefore,
the use of weapons to protect our neighbours and the Motherland from the enemy,
to protect against the destruction and evil that the aggressor brings to our
common home, is not a violation of God's will, but on the contrary – its
implementation. Witnessing this truth, the Church sincerely and
again sincerely blesses the Ukrainian army and all our people for the
resistance of the enemy and prays for victory and peace for Ukraine!
In times of severe suffering of the people,
every citizen of our state must be aware of his personal responsibility for
bringing peace. And if Ukraine calls for its defence, responding to this
call is not only a civic but also a Christian duty. With weapons in hand at
the front or work in the rear, decent performance of official duties or
volunteer assistance to the victims – everyone must now make efforts to defend
Ukraine. And all the faithful must also pray – for the Ukrainian army, for the
civilians who suffer from the aggressor, for victory and peace for Ukraine! For
prayer, according to the Scriptures, is a powerful weapon against the devil and
his servants, and for the faithful – help and inspiration.
I call on our defenders, on the President and
the state, on all the Ukrainian people, God's blessing!
God the Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
10/3/2022 (Source)
Sermon on Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
(…)
From these words of Scripture, we can once
again be convinced that history - not only the past but also the present, the
time in which we live - has not only a human, visible dimension, but also a
spiritual, eternal meaning. The struggle against enemies, wars, armed
resistance to the invasion of foreigners existed both in ancient times and now,
and is an important struggle between good and evil, the struggle against sinful
darkness, against the power of the devil in this world.
In the words of the Scriptures we have heard,
Moses, Gideon, and David are mentioned - those who stood up against an enemy
much stronger than them. Against the enemy, which in human reason was
difficult to defeat, because he was numerous, strong, armed and powerful. All
this the Old Testament righteous opposed the power of faith in God - and with
the help of the Lord achieved victory over the enemy.
We must understand that in the war that our
people are waging against the invaders, we are resisting not only the Russian
army. As in biblical times, now on our earth there is also a struggle
between good and evil, truth and untruth, love and murder.
We know well from the Scriptures that the signs
of man's subordination to the devil are untruth and murder. To those who
have committed such sins, the Savior Himself says, “Your father is the devil;
and you want to fulfill the lusts of your father. He has been a murderer from
the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie,
he speaketh of himself: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Taking
these biblical signs and applying them to the present day, we can clearly see
that the enemies who came to our land with the war are quite consistent with
them.
After all, the very reason for the attack on
Ukraine is false, and the lie justifies the continuation of this aggression. The
consequence of such a great lie is cruelty, ruthlessness, murder, which we see
in the actions of the Russian occupiers. Under the slogans of defending the
faith - they destroy temples, kill priests and the faithful. Under the guise of
caring for human rights, they create intolerable living conditions, destroy
cities and villages, ruthlessly torture people and kill them without guilt.
Speaking of the desire for peace, more and more people are fomenting war.
What can we oppose to the devil, how can we
defeat his servants? The word of Scripture that we hear today gives us
the answer: we can overcome through faith in God, by opposing sin to virtue.
After all, faith in God gives us the same power
that Moses directed against Pharaoh and all his power, freeing his people from
slavery. Faith helps us to overcome the enemy, just as it helped Gideon
with only three hundred soldiers to defeat the Midianite army of many
thousands. Just as young David defeated the giant Goliath by virtue of his
faith, which freed the people of Israel from Philistine rule, so we, having
faith, can drive the Russian aggressors out of our land.
What virtues should we show especially in this
dark time for humanity? Love, mercy, sacrifice, steadfastness in
truth - these are the virtues that oppose the lies, greed, cruelty and
selfishness of the servants of the devil. And in the various manifestations
of virtue we see the triumph of our faith, which is embodied in concrete good
deeds.
Every year, dear brothers and sisters, on this
first Sunday of Lent, we traditionally commemorate the historical events of the
victory of the true faith over heretical falsehood, especially honoring the
ascetics, preachers and defenders of the truth. Today, not forgetting
the events of the past, we are more focused on the present, on the struggle
against sin and injustice that gave rise to and nourishes the Russian war with
Ukraine. That is why instead of the traditional prayer of the Triumph of
Orthodoxy, today we offer prayers with special feelings for the Ukrainian soldiers,
for our native state, its protection and victory over the invaders. We offer
prayers for all those who suffer from barbaric attacks by the enemy of our
cities and villages, who need salvation and care. We also pray for the peace of
the souls of our fallen defenders and civilians, that the Lord may settle them
in His Kingdom.
In these prayers and deeds of love, sacrifice
and charity, the triumph of true faith is for us right now. Faith in
God, in whom, like Moses, Gideon, David, and other righteous people, we place
our hope, to whom we turn with tears and tenderness of heart: protect all those
who need Your care today. We believe that just as in ancient times You,
Lord, strengthened your people in the fight against oppressors, so today you
will help us to protect Ukraine from the invasion of foreigners.
13/03/2022 (Source.
Edited for clarity)
Prayer for liberation from the invasion of
foreigners
Lord God of strength, God of our salvation, You
alone work miracles. Look in mercy and compassion on the humility of
Your servants and listen to us humanely and have mercy on us: for our
enemies have gathered against us to destroy us and destroy our state and our
sanctuary. Help us, God
our Saviour, and deliver us for the glory of Your name, and may the words
spoken by Moses come true for us: be of good cheer, stand fast and see
salvation from the Lord, for the Lord is fighting for us.
Yes, Lord God our Saviour, do not remember the
iniquities and iniquities of Your people and do not turn away from us with Your
wrath, but in mercy and mercy visit Your humble servants who belong to You:
stand to our aid and give to our army with Him to win over you. Destroy
the intentions and unjust courage of those who go to war against us.
We pray to You, Lord of our peace and tranquillity,
that as the smoke disappears, so may our enemies disappear, and as the dust
falls from the face of the wind, so may their evil thoughts dissipate from our
Ukrainian state. O Lord, keep quiet those who oppose Your
commandments and ordinances. Restore to them the memory of Your commandment:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And for those who oppose this
commandment of yours, send wrath, sorrow and angels of fury, who will instil in
them fear and
memory of what they call themselves Christians.
May the Lord be Your will over us, and if Your
Providence is such as to lay down our lives of our soldiers in the battle for
Faith and Ukraine, forgive them their sins, and on the day of Your righteous
Judgment give them the crown of immortality. But we believe and pray to
You, Most Gifted Lord, that You will protect, calm down and warn and bring
everyone to peace.
For You are the protection and the victory and
the salvation of those who hope in You, and we send glory to You, Father, and
Son, and Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen!
Prayer for warriors and those who suffer from
war
God the Great, God Almighty! We, Your
sinful children, come to You in humility of our hearts and bow our heads.
Father! Forgive our guilt and the guilt of our parents, grandparents and
great-grandparents. Accept today, we beseech You, our sincere prayer and our
gratitude for Your infinite mercy to us. Hear our prayers and accept the
prayers of our hearts. Bless our Motherland Ukraine, victory over the enemy,
give her destiny and happiness. Merciful Lord, grant Your mercy to all who
turn to You with supplication. We pray to You, God, for the Soldiers and
Defenders, for our brothers and sisters, for the widows, for the orphans, for
the crippled and the weak, for those who are in occupation and captivity, for
those who are in difficult circumstances, for refugees and for all those who need
Your mercy and help. Unite us all into one great family of Christ, that all
the people of Ukraine may glorify Your majestic name with our unity and
victories always, and now, and always, and forever and ever. Amen.
13/03/2022 (Source)
Dear brothers and sisters! Ukrainian people!
Our
successful resistance to Russian aggression has been going on for three weeks
now. Resistance with weapons in hand at the front and work in the rear.
Resistance through volunteer help and information work. Opposition on the
diplomatic front and through rallies and loyalty to Ukraine in the temporarily
occupied territories. Resistance to evil through faith and prayer.
For
our freedom and a dignified future, we pay a very high price every day – the
price of human lives.
At the front for Ukraine, our newest heroe-defenders are sacrificing
themselves. In Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, in the cities and villages
of the north, east, and south of Ukraine, civilians are subjected to barbaric
attacks, bombings, and shelling on a daily basis.
It is
impossible to see and hear, without tears and heartache, what a hell Russian
troops have turned the lives of civilians in these besieged or partially
occupied cities.
Every
day we pray for the salvation and protection of our brothers and sisters at
the hands of murderers. This prayer, the prayer for the Ukrainian
army, for the state, for victory, is constantly heard here, in the St.
Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, the spiritual center of our Local Church. It
is heard in thousands of churches, in millions of hearts in Ukraine and around
the world. And we believe that with God's help, thanks to our joint efforts,
every hour of the fight against evil brings us closer to the much-desired
victory and peace.
Dear
brothers and sisters!
Undoubtedly,
it is difficult to bear the tension and fear of these dark times, especially
for those who really stand between life and death every day. But in spite of
everything, we must preserve our common heritage, which has already surprised
the world – our unity, mutual support, mercy and sacrifice for each other.
From
the beginning, the enemy hoped for divisions and disputes among Ukrainians,
hoping that we would not be able to stand together against the aggressor. As
in many other calculations, Russia was very wrong.
So let
us keep in the future what gives us strength and despite all the difficulties
will lead to victory: faith in God, steadfastness of spirit, unity in love for
Ukraine and neighbors.
May the
Lord bless us all on this path of struggle for truth and freedom!
God the
Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
16/03/2022 (Source)
Sermon on 19 March
Dear brothers and sisters!
In these dark and terrible times of war, when
death is literally at hand, when we do not know from the beginning whether a
Russian bullet, bomb, rocket will take our lives or the lives of our neighbours
– we will overcome this fear by understanding God's victory over death. For, in
fact, death should be terrible only for sinners, for criminals, for murderers.
After all, for those who believe in God and
live by keeping His commandments, who sacrifice themselves for the sake of
others, after death comes blissful eternal peace. But for criminals and
murderers, death opens the door to hell, to condemnation and eternal torment.
So today we offer prayers for the peace of
souls of all those who gave their lives defending Ukraine from enemies, for the
eternal and blissful peace of all civilians who died in the Russian shelling.
May our faith help us to overcome the natural grief of loss, and may the
fervent prayer for the dead be for their benefit and for our benefit, soothing
our pain and healing our emotional wounds.
May the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiveness of sins
of free and unfree and blissful eternal life be given by the Lord to all our
fallen soldiers who gave their lives for Ukraine and for their neighbours, all
civilians who died at the hands of foreigners and all those we remember in
prayer today!
19/03/2022 (Source)
Sermon on the Second Sunday of Lent
What is happening now in Ukraine is not just a
war, an armed conflict between the two countries, as outsiders sometimes think.
Here is the struggle of darkness against light, death – with life, slavery –
against freedom. Russia as a state became the personification of darkness, the
empire of evil, the tyranny of slavery. And the proof of this is the
destruction and murder that Russia has brought to us. Is there light in these
works? Are all the words with which Russia justifies its crimes true? No.
And from this we can be convinced once again
that the evil planned by Moscow will not succeed. For the Russian state and
the Russian army do not receive blessings, but the curses and condemnations
that the Lord promises for the servants of the devil. Condemnation and
curse, merciless punishment from the Almighty await murderers and murderers,
because they love evil and darkness.
We, dear brothers and sisters, must take care
to preserve and multiply the light of truth, love, mercy and goodness.
Because that's the only way we can win this war. And I believe that with God's blessing
and help we will win.
20/03/2022 (Source)
Statement on the 1 month anniversary of the war
Our successful resistance to open Russian
aggression has been going on for a month now. But in fact this is part of a struggle
against Russian imperial tyranny, which began more than a century ago. We
are completing the work we started back then - we are creating a Ukraine free
from the shackles of Moscow. Ideological shackles, political shackles,
religious shackles.
(…)
During this month of open aggression, as well
as all the previous eight years of Russia's undeclared war against Ukraine, our
Church has constantly emphasized that the truth is on the side of our people
and our state. And where there is truth, there is the Lord. And where the Lord
is, there is victory!
We believe in God, so we believe in victory, we
bring it closer to unity, mutual support, sacrifice, which is manifested in the
defence of the state with weapons in hand and in the service of others. We are
also approaching victory with fervent prayer, which flows every day, every
hour, in our temples, pouring from hundreds of thousands and millions of hearts
to God and the saints. This prayer is for the Ukrainian army and our state, for
those who suffer from the shelling of Russian murderers, for refugees. Our
prayer is for victory and a just peace for Ukraine. Our prayer is for eternal
peace in the Kingdom of Heaven for the souls of Ukrainian soldiers and
civilians whose lives were taken by Russian assassins.
Our prayer is also for the unity of the
Orthodox Church. I reiterate the call of the Holy Synod to the brothers and
sisters who are still subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate: let us unite
around Kyiv, let us unite in the Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine! Don't wait
until you are given permission or instruction from Moscow - the missiles and
bombs that the Russian military is now dropping on you with the deceptive
blessing of Russian Orthodox Church leader Kirill are already the answer to the
"Russian measure." This answer is your shelled, burned, destroyed
temples. This answer is Kirill's silence on the crimes of the Russian army in
Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and dozens of other cities and villages in
Ukraine.
Dozens of communities, a number of monasteries
in different regions of Ukraine have already voluntarily and consciously
fulfilled their canonical duty and followed the Thomos of autocephaly. Make
your choice in favour of the Church and Ukraine, in favour of the truth. The
doors of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and our hearts are open to all of you!
Dear brothers and sisters! Morally, the
Ukrainians have already won. And thanks to the indomitable spirit and support
of the free world, we will expel the enemy from our land. I call on the
courageous Ukrainian army, on the President and the government, on the state
and local authorities, on all the heroic Ukrainian people, God's blessing!
God the Great, the One, save Ukraine for us!
24/3/2022 (Source)
Sermon on third Sunday of Lent
All these reflections, all
these meanings and images that the Church gives us every year in the middle of
the fasting path – because next week we will have the middle of Lent and time
is running fast! – All this resonates in our hearts with special force now that
the war is going on.
Have we, as a state and a
people, done something against Russia that deserves the cruelty and murder we
suffer from the troops of the neighbouring people? We did not do anything like
that, we did not have any evil plans against our neighbours, we just wanted to
live in our own house as free people. Do our heroic warriors, who are now
giving their lives for Ukraine and its better future, deserve to die? Did the
civilians of Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Bucha and Gostomel, Sumy and
Volnovakha, and tens and hundreds of other towns and villages in Ukraine, who
are now being tortured and killed by Russian aggressors, sowing destruction and
death, do something evil and worthy of punishment against Moscow? They didn't
do anything like that! But they are suffering. They suffer as the martyrs,
persecuted by pagans and atheists, suffered. Suffering like the Saviour on the
cross is unjust.
Without faith in God, without
faith in eternal life, in the victory of good over evil, such suffering, such
injustice is difficult and impossible to survive without breaking. But our
faith in Christ crucified and risen gives us, gives the Ukrainian people the
strength to overcome these sufferings. We took our cross, we took the common
cross of Ukraine –and we carry it to the Calvary of Suffering to defeat evil
and achieve the Resurrection.
Therefore, our heroes do
not die, but go to eternity with glory! Therefore, the shed blood of the innocent
is not in vain, but like the blood of the martyrs, it gives eternal crowns to
those who have not betrayed love of neighbour. And on the heads of the
tormentors this blood gathers, according to the figurative expression of the
Scriptures, like burning coals, overflowing the cup of the Lord's wrath, which
will be poured out on the wicked.
Therefore, dear brothers and
sisters, although the heavy cross has fallen on us, we must bear it with
dignity, follow Christ – and then we will achieve victory. Spiritual
victories and victories over the evil brought to our home by the Russian
aggressor. Victory, the proof of which is that the crucified Christ is
risen. We believe that by the power of God's truth and mercy, by the power
of love, sacrifice and faith of our people, Ukraine, which is still wounded,
tortured and crucified by its enemies, will be resurrected.
28/3/2022
(Source)
Sermon
on the fourth Sunday of Lent
(…)
our
reflections could be completed, if not for the special circumstances of the
time that motivate us to continue. Apparently, the vast majority of you have
already heard and know about yesterday's announcement, which is undoubtedly
joyful for us: thanks to the courageous defenders of Ukraine and with God's
help, the whole Kyiv region was cleansed of the enemy, Russian aggressors were
expelled from it. At the same time, yesterday brought us terrible news that we
are not yet able to fully comprehend – in the liberated towns and villages of
northern Kyiv, Irpen, Bucha, Gostomel and other, until recently flourishing and
cozy corners of our region, were found the bodies of many victims of Russian
violence. The killed civilians lie near their homes and in mass graves. People
with tied hands. Men, women, children. Those who tried to escape and who
remained in their homes. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent people were
tortured in the weeks of Russian occupation. No military necessity could
motivate this, as the civilians did not pose a threat to the occupiers.
Mass
killings of civilians are a sign of genocide. The Russians did not come to
release the Ukrainians. Everything that can be seen now in Kyiv region, Mariupol, cities and
villages of Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Donbass, southern
Ukraine, testifies: the Russian tyrant, people who support him and their
army came to our land to "liberate" Ukraine from Ukrainians. They
continue the black, diabolical work of Tsar Peter's troops, which cut and
burned Baturyn. They are doing the same thing as the Russian-Bolshevik gangs
that shed rivers of blood during the so-called "red terror." They are
the successors of Stalin's crimes, the perpetrators of repression and the
Holodomor genocide, which were planned in the same blood-red Kremlin to destroy
the Ukrainian people.
Therefore,
on behalf of millions of our faithful, on behalf of our suffering people, on
behalf of the raped, tortured, shot by Russian invaders, whose blood cries out
to Heaven, we raise our voices again and again, calling on the international
community to do everything immediately to stop and to punish the tyrant and the
state that became in his hands an instrument of genocide of the Ukrainian
people. You have the power, you have the weapons, you have the moral duty to do
so, to help the Ukrainian people defend themselves – and to protect you! Protect
humanity itself!
In
conclusion, I would like to address once again those who, unfortunately, have
not yet understood the truth or do not want to understand it: the ideology
of the "Russian measure" is the same as the ideology of Nazism. It
justifies violence, murder, war and genocide, and must therefore be rejected
and condemned in the same way as condemned Nazism, its ideologues and its
crimes. The co-creators and leaders of this criminal ideology are the head of
the Moscow Patriarchate Kirill Gundyaev and his associates. Together with his
subordinates, he not only kindled this fire in every possible way, but also
openly blessed the executioners and murderers with false lips on behalf of God
and the Church for their dirty work.
To
condemn these crimes, to condemn the violation of human and divine laws is not
just a right, but a moral duty of every person, and especially of Orthodox
Christians. After all, this is not about discussing the intricacies of canon
law, theological controversy or historical discussions. It is about good and
evil as such and about everyone's own choice: are you with God or with the
devil? Kirill Gundyaev has already made his choice in favor of the affairs of
the antichrist. I urge those who still have him as their shepherd – open your
eyes, look at the poisonous fruits of his teachings, stay away from the
lawless, do not be his accomplices!
Yesterday
we prayed for the peace of all who have died, and especially for the peace of
the souls of our fallen defenders and civilians killed by the Russians. Today,
remembering the horrific testimonies of crimes in Mariupol, Bucha, Irpen and
other until recently peaceful parts of Ukraine, we again ask for the dead
Kingdom of Heaven and blessed repose in the homes of the righteous. Amen.
3/04/2022
(Source)
Excerpt of speech to representatives of
parishes in Kyiv
Today, Ukraine is defending itself on all
fronts from Russian aggression. Therefore, it is necessary to break all the
shackles, including the spiritual ones, which are connected with the aggressor.
Almost every day, communities decide to join the local Ukrainian Orthodox
Church. This process is inevitable. We have an indisputable
canonical right to have our own autocephalous Church in our independent state.
And when Ukrainians continue to belong to the Moscow Patriarchate this is an
anomaly, both according to the canons and the regulations of Tomos, to the
structure, whose bless them to kill.
04/04/2022 (Source)
Sermon on the Feast of the Annunciation
Yesterday I was where hell seems to have opened
its doors. Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel – the suburbs of our Golden-Domed Kyiv, which for many generations were
synonymous with natural beauty and comfort, a place of rest, a place of
comfortable life – have now become a place of horror, full of ruin, pain and
signs of death.
In the midst of all this, the strength of this
spiritual struggle is felt with particular sharpness. Because what you see
around you is not only the fruit of the anger of the Russian barbarians, the
dark hordes that came to our peaceful land to sow destruction and death.
What the Russian invaders of Bucha, Gostomel, Borodyanka turned them into, what
the until recently prosperous Mariupol and peaceful Volnovakha, majestic
Kharkiv, ancient Chernihiv, dozens of cities and hundreds of villages of our
Ukraine have been turned and continue to be transformed into – all these
devastation and ruins and all shed torn lives are a manifestation of demonic
resentment.
Our people are not only fighting with the
Russian army today for their will, for their freedom, for their future. This
war is part of a greater struggle – we are fighting demonic evil, the darkness
of slavery and death.
And our realization that at the moment of the Annunciation He came into the
world, the One who became the conqueror of the devil, Who Himself overcame
death and gives all who believe in Him the power to overcome and overcome evil
and the head of evil – this realization gives us the ability to celebrate
today.
After all, we know that no matter how
powerfully evil manifests itself, it will surely be defeated by the power of
truth and love! Life will defeat death. Even the dead will be resurrected,
because the Lord will resurrect them, giving them eternal life. Ruin,
suffering and pain – although severe and terrible, are temporary. And the
victory that the Son of God gives us when we believe in Him and follow Him is
an eternal victory, it is an infinite life, it is a joy that no one and nothing
can take away.
This is the Good News, the Gospel, which is
proclaimed by the very incarnation, the coming into the world of the God of the
Word – this is the message of victory over evil. And this message gives us the
strength to continue to fight, live, create, resist evil. It gives us strength
by the light of hope, love, good deeds – to drive away the darkness that the
devil and his servants, the invisible and visible servants, bring into this
world.
The Annunciation is only the beginning of
salvation. And the liberation of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions is only the
beginning of Ukraine's victory.
The Son of God, incarnated by the Holy Spirit
and the Virgin Mary, has passed his way of sacrificial service – and our
people still have a way of struggle and trials ahead of them. That is why we
are now praying with special compassion for the places where this struggle is
going on and for those who are fighting evil.
We pray for Mariupol – the city of the Virgin
Mary, for its inhabitants, living and dead, for its courageous defenders, and
we wish them all mercy from God and everything that each of them needs. We
ask the Lord to protect and bless the victory of our defenders, courageous
Ukrainian soldiers, so that they can bring peace to Donbas, Kharkiv and Kherson
regions and to all corners of our Motherland as soon as possible. And
we, trusting in God, believe that as the Savior walked the path of suffering but
won, so we, the Ukrainian people, will win. Because our struggle is for
truth, freedom, for good, against tyranny, against delusion and evil. And where
there is truth, there is God and victory.
And may the realization of these truths inspire
us in these dark times to overcome pain, fear, despair and defeat the devil and
all his wiles.
Amen.
07/04/2022 (Source)
Sermon on fifth Sunday of Lent
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today I came to Chernihiv to share with you the
joy of common prayer and worship. After terrible weeks of siege by Russian
troops, daily shelling and bombing, you have returned to this ancient and
glorious city and to the entire Seversky Krai, if not to final peace – because
an embittered and insidious enemy remains close – then to freedom.
Chernihiv paid the terrible price of hundreds of lives taken by Russian
murderers, the price of great destruction and suffering, for preserving its
freedom. But your victory, the victory of the defenders of Chernihiv and its
inhabitants, who bravely defended this princely and Cossack city, saved many
more lives, stopped the onslaught of the enemy horde in its movement to the
capital, broke the Kremlin's plan to quickly destroy our statehood. The
enemy was preparing both Chernihiv and Kyiv, and still prepares for the whole
Ukrainian people the fate of Mariupol, the fate of Bucha, the fate of Yagidny
and Novoselivka and other cities, towns and villages of our Motherland, where
he entered. Seeing the suffering, destruction, brutal violence and spread of
death that Russia brings to every corner of Ukraine that can still reach, we
understand even better that only the fight against the aggressor, his expulsion
from our land can bring us a just peace.
As a sign that in this struggle with us, with
the Ukrainian people, not only the strength of weapons, not only the courage
and sacrifice of our heroe-defenders, not only the support of all people of
good will, but also the strength and mercy of God, we perceive the signs
revealed at this terrible time here in your city, in this temple. Through the
miraculous preservation of the icons of His Blessed Mother and the saints, the
Lord is a confirmation of what we always believe: He is with us in this struggle,
because we fight for truth and goodness against demonic resentment and tyranny.
And if the Lord is with us, then who can resist Him? Therefore, we believe
that our people will overcome all current challenges and Ukraine will achieve
victory.
For this we offer our prayers, for this we
fight and work. And may God bless us all with success!
10/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of words to members of the territorial
defence
Unprincipled evil has come to Ukraine – an
insidious enemy who, justifying himself by completely fictional and absurd
reasons, is committing terrible aggression. Russian invaders spare neither
women nor children, leaving only destruction and death. And it was to prevent them and
stop this bloody evil that you joined the ranks of defenders of the Motherland.
So, I wish you courage, strength and steadfastness, may the Lord bless and
preserve each of you. The whole world was convinced that Ukrainians had taken
up arms to protect their neighbours and their homes. So, our struggle is
forced, legal and true. And the Lord sees this and will certainly help us.
12/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of prayers offered during visit to
Makarov
We have just offered our prayers to God for
victory in this terrible war. We believe that the Lord supports and helps us.
And during this time, we felt His mercy, despite the fact that we experienced
many sorrows. But we pray that He will give us the strength to continue to
fight and resist the enemy, we pray that the Lord will rest the souls of His resting servants in
the Kingdom of Heaven, those who gave their lives for the faith, for the will
of Ukraine.
It is difficult, of course, but there is
consolation in God, consolation in prayer, so we must continue to pray and
become more spiritually strong and move forward to complete victory in this terrible
war on the part of Russia - the aggressor who is trying to enslave us not only
physically, but also spiritually, because the Church stands in the way of
spreading the ideas of the so-called "Russian measure". But we
will fight and become a stronger, united Ukrainian nation, which will continue
to rebuild its independent Ukrainian state on the principles of truth,
justice, democracy, freedom.
15/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of sermon on Palm Sunday
Dear brothers and sisters!
Our time, when we live among the sufferings
and dangers brought to the Ukrainian land by enemies from the north, is a
special opportunity to feel the importance of the truth. After all, the war
that Russia has imposed on us and the whole world did not begin with the use of
weapons, not with missiles and bombs – it began with deception, untruth, lies.
For years, decades, this delusion sounded, the untruth about the past and
present spread. Some multiplied and spread this delusion, others either agreed
with it or stood aside, believing that it did not concern them.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, that our
Church, as the Local Church of the Ukrainian people, has for years and decades
witnessed the truth about the evil intentions behind the ideology of the
"Russian measure." From our own past and from the experience of the
present, we knew very well that behind the veils of beautiful words, great
services, and loud initiatives, Moscow hides evil plans to restore the tyranny
of a rotten and overthrown empire.
That is why, despite opposition from all sides,
we fought firmly and uncompromisingly for the church independence of Ukraine.
Because we have seen and know well how Moscow has used and continues to use its
ecclesiastical influence as an instrument of spreading untruths, as a way of
spiritual enslavement.
She herself made the Church of her own people a
servant, deceptively blessing lies, enslavement, murder, and all the other
evils of war through the leader. But the evil empire did not stop there,
because with its delusion, like a web, it has for decades confused everyone it
can reach. Politicians and even entire states, religious figures, intellectuals
and artists, journalists and business people – everywhere we can see those who
have fallen into the web of Moscow's untruth.
How can we resist this? The Lord is setting an
example for us: we must fight through the testimony of truth. Evil is called
evil, not an alternative point of view. War is war, not conflict. Rapists,
looters and murderers are criminals, and what they do is genocide of the
Ukrainian people, for which there should be responsibility without statute of
limitations.
Christ came to bear witness to the truth, not
to reconcile truth with untruth. He commanded us to love our enemies – but He did not command us to
love the evil they do, or to close our eyes and look away, by our inaction
giving evil the opportunity to spread.
And of those who see the mission of Christians
only in correcting the consequences of evil, without confronting its true
causes, the Saviour said well: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor
hot; oh, if you were cold or hot! But because you are warm and not hot or cold,
I will cast you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3: 15-16).
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, both the
present remembrance of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem and all the trials
brought to our home by the war motivate us to know the truth, to follow the
truth, to witness the truth, to be hot and not warm or even warmer. spiritually
cold. For otherwise darkness will envelop us, untruth will catch us in its net,
evil will poison the soul. But knowing all these tricks, we will courageously fight
temptations – and as Christ overcame evil and death, so we will be victorious
with His help.
17/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpt
from Good Friday sermon
These
days, the tomb with the image of the Saviour's body cannot but remind us of
other tombs, over which here in St. Michael's Cathedral, and in all corners of
Ukraine with tears and mourning, we bow, offering prayers for soldiers who gave
their lives defending the homeland from Russian aggression, escorting civilians
killed by alien murderers to their last earthly journey. Thousands of
these graves, and how many more – without a grave, in mass graves, in the yards
of their own houses destroyed by Russian shelling, under the rubble or in
torture chambers… Above all of them we shed our tears, for them the heart beats.
But this Shroud, this tomb, this symbol of the Saviour's sacrificial voluntary
death, which we now bring to the midst of the temple for worship, is a sign of
our conviction that every death we mourn now is only temporary.
Christ
overcame death by His death, and all we mourn today have eternal life through
that victory. Neither the tombs nor the mass graves will hold them when the
time of resurrection comes – like the stone and the seal they did not hold in
the tomb of the risen Son of God.
Therefore,
by mourning the Saviour before the Shroud, mourning thousands of innocent
victims, mourning our fallen heroes-defenders, we will overcome sorrow and
grief with hope for the approaching resurrection and eternal life that Christ,
who died on the cross and rose from the grave, gives us.
22/4/2022
(Source)
Excerpt from Easter Message
Today, when we greet each other with the Lord's
Passover, with Easter, the enemy continues to shed the blood of the innocent
on our earth. Despite the sanctity of Holy Week and the Resurrection of Christ
for all Christians, Russian troops not only did not stop their crimes, but
they, as if inspired by Satan himself, multiplied bloodshed. Throughout Lent,
Russia, which considers itself a stronghold of true Christianity, has destroyed
our cities and villages, killed innocent people, and destroyed everything it could.
Isn't this alone, aren't all these poisonous, deadly fruits of the
"Russian measure" sufficient evidence that it is not God's blessing
but the curse on the cause of Russia, its rulers, its troops, its inhabitants
poisoned by lies?
For us, for all those who suffer innocently
from the empire of evil even today, on the day of Easter, the resurrection of
Christ is a joyful reminder of God's imminent victory over sin and lawlessness,
of the victory of good and truth. And for the enemies who broke into our Ukrainian
home, for the murderers and murderers who not only did not stop the bloodshed,
but only increased it, even in these holy days, Christ's resurrection is a
reminder of just retribution and merciless punishment for all the unmerciful.
When the Saviour was crucified and buried in
the tomb, the hearts of the faithful were filled with suffering and pain, but
the resurrection of Christ turned weeping into joy, drove away sorrow, and
strengthened hope. So it was in ancient times, so it is today – by celebrating
the Passover of Christ, glorifying the risen Lord, we receive spiritual
strengthening in the midst of the sufferings and horrors of war with confidence
in the victory of truth and goodness, in the victory of eternal life over hell.
On this day of glorification of the great,
eternal victory with special feelings, we send Easter greetings our courageous
warriors-defenders, prayerfully wishing them blessings from the Risen Christ,
victory in the fight against enemies, God's help in service and gracious protection.
We ask the Lord for protection and protection for all civilians suffering from
Russian shelling. We pray for all the wounded in the war who are suffering in
body and soul, and we ask the Lord to heal them.
May God's blessing be upon those who sacrificially
and lovingly serve their neighbours, who help the needy, care for the exiles,
who speak out against untruth and in various ways, but do one thing: fight
darkness and evil.
On this holy day, heartfelt congratulations and
wishes of indomitable spirit, state wisdom and strengthening of strength in
work for Ukraine - for our President, Government and parliamentarians, for
community leaders, for all those who with dignity bear their responsibilities
to the Ukrainian people in this time of challenges and tests.
In our celebration, we remember in prayer
our enslaved brothers and sisters, those who now live under the rule of the
occupiers, and those who are in the chains of captivity or unjust imprisonment.
May the Lord help you in this difficult time and bring the day of your
deliverance and freedom closer.
With the Resurrection of Christ, I cordially
greet all Orthodox Christians of Ukraine – the fullness of the local Ukrainian
Orthodox Church – and those who are temporarily out of communion with it. Let
the war, the main cause of which was the poisonous idea of the "Russian
measure", urge those who still hesitate to reject the Moscow spiritual
yoke, follow the Thomos and the canonical order, and unite around the Kyivan
throne in a single local Orthodox Church.
Congratulations on Easter to all who believe in
the risen Christ, and all the world’s Ukrainians!
Despite the pain and suffering, destruction and
sorrow that the war has brought to our home, nothing can take away the common
joy that the Resurrection of Christ brings us today in the darkness of night
and at the dawn of a new day in the new Ukraine. From heart to heart we share this joy,
multiply it, announcing the great victory over sin, evil and death, because
truly
Christ is risen!
22/4/2022 (Source)
Excerpts of Message to Primates and Hierarchs
of Orthodox Churches on Easter
Christ is Risen!
(…)
This year, Orthodox Christians in Ukraine
celebrate the Resurrection of Christ under extraordinary circumstances,
immersed in the pain, grief, tears, suffering, destruction, violence, and death
brought to our peaceful land by the army of Russia. On the Eve of the Great
Fast, the ruler of that country issued orders to attack Ukrainian cities and
villages, to kill our brothers and sisters.
These crimes against the peaceful people of
Ukraine continued into and through Great Lent and to this day. Their now infamous
symbols include Bucha, a thriving peaceful suburb of Kyiv where hundreds of
civilians were executed in the weeks of Russian occupation, and Mariupol, a
large, beautiful city named after the Mother of God, which Russia has turned
into twisted ruins and graves for thousands of innocents slain.
I am convinced that not only these crimes, but
also the words and actions of Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, who from the ambon
supported the war against Ukraine and consequently led those who trusted him as
their shepherd to their deaths, should be condemned by the Fullness of
Orthodoxy. No one with blood on their hands may hold the Chalice or the
shepherd’s staff.
However, amid the darkness and suffering of
war, the light of Christ’s Resurrection gives us confidence in the victory of
truth, of life, and of love. We are grateful to all those who, through
prayers for peace in Ukraine, humanitarian aid, care for refugees, or words and
actions condemning Russian aggression, have shown and continue to show their
fraternal love.
(…)
24/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from sermon of second Sunday after
Easter
The task before us is to continue the work of
affirming the unity of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. You and I, as faithful
to the Local Church, know that grace works in it, that it is the true Church,
an integral and equivalent part of the body of the One, Holy, Conciliar and
Apostolic Church with other Local Churches. And among our Orthodox brothers
and sisters in Ukraine, who are not yet in church communion with us, there are
doubts - are we really the Church? Does grace work here? Are the sacraments
performed here saving?
How should we deal with these doubts? We must
follow the example of the Saviour. For those who have a sincere intention to know the truth and doubt for
the sake of truth, not betrayal of pride or self-confidence, we must help to
know the truth just as the Lord helped Thomas to know the truth. The Saviour
did not condemn him for his doubts, but spoke to him, giving explanations and
evidence that convinced Thomas.
But for those who, like the leaders of the
people of Israel, Pharisees and scribes, have doubts about the truth of the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine, not because of the truth, but because of
stubbornness, self-deception and pride – we do not intend to prove or try to
convince them at any cost.
Those who want to know the truth – we are
always open to them, we are ready for dialogue, explanations, exchange of views
and search for understanding. And whoever seeks only numerous excuses to reject
the truth, let the will of God be done over them, as over modern scribes and
Pharisees.
01/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of sermon on the feast of
St. George
God and the great martyr George
also support us in this struggle, of which we shall emerge victorious. And
these trials will make us stronger spiritually. That is why we need to fight,
pray and do everything in our power to preserve this great gift of freedom, to
establish it and pass it on to the next generations.
With God's help, we will defeat the enemy, we will
defeat the newest antichrist Putin, who decided to destroy our Ukrainian
people, to commit another Nazism against it. But our hands must not
fall, we must continue to be spiritually strong.
Therefore, knowing the history,
analysing it, taking lessons from it, we must fight to the end at this time. We will defeat
the enemy, we will restore our territorial integrity, we will return the
occupied territories and in our united, independent, Ukrainian, democratic,
European Ukraine we will build a common future. And this future is now
in our hands
06/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt of sermon on the third
Sunday after Easter
We call again and again for God's
blessing on all volunteers, donors, and benefactors who, in difficult times for
the Ukrainian people, serve the needy and care for their neighbours. Even a
donated bottle of drinking water or a hryvnia [Ukrainian currency unit] will
not go unnoticed by God when done with love.
However, as always, where there are good deeds,
there is a devilish temptation. We know that not everyone involved in
humanitarian aid, its collection, customs clearance, transfer and distribution,
does so honestly. Unfortunately, we have heard about the theft or
misappropriation of aid, extortion, etc.
Therefore, on behalf of the Church, I want to warn
everyone: God sees every deed, sees the heart of every person. And if He gives
a great reward even for a small sacrifice, then for appropriation, theft,
deception, the Lord will surely punish the guilty.
Marauding and embezzling aid are
grave sins, and even if human law cannot detect all criminals, everyone should
remember that God's justice will be achieved by retaliating against everyone
guilty of such evil. Therefore, whoever is tempted by the devil with such gain,
beware, avoid this sin, because the retribution for it will be difficult.
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today, together with the countries
of the anti-Hitler coalition and the entire civilized world, we honour the
victory over Nazism in World War II, remember the fallen soldiers and killed
civilians. For
decades, it seemed to us that an evil like Nazism could not be repeated in
Europe. But next to us, in the neighbouring country, whose people suffered a
lot in that war - now the evil of Nazism has grown. Covered with false
propaganda, grown on a grapevine, nurtured by a fierce hatred of truth and freedom, a
desire for war and bloodshed, Russian fascism is now doing the devil's work,
sowing ruin and death.
Our grandfathers and
great-grandfathers fought against Nazism in that great war and defeated it. We are convinced that even now our people
and the entire civilized world, which is struggling with Russian aggression,
will defeat the Kremlin's empire of evil with God's help.
So today, on the day of remembrance and commemoration
of the victory over Nazism, we will offer prayers for the peace of the souls of
those killed in the last war. But we will also pray for our soldiers and for
all those who suffer from and fight against the latest Kremlin fascism. To those who perished
in the current war for the freedom of Ukraine, we wish the Kingdom of Heaven,
and to our defenders – success in the struggle and a speedy victory over the
aggressor.
08/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from sermon on Fourth Sunday after
Easter
It is useful for Christians to remember this
truth always and at all times, but especially in this time of war, sorrow and
suffering. Now the Ukrainian people are suffering. But if we do not lose
faith in God, if we fight for freedom, for truth, for good and freedom – then
we will definitely win. Our enemy is strong, insidious and ruthless. But is
there a greater power in the world than the power of God? Is there a trick in
the world that can surpass the Wisdom of God? Are there impudence and
ruthlessness that would not allow God's will to be done?
Therefore, understanding this, we will continue
to fight, to do what is up to us, to achieve the victory of truth and good, and
the Lord will do the rest then and in the best way.
15/05/2022 (Source)
Unfortunately,
Russia has launched military operations against Ukraine, and at this fateful
time, I urge you not to panic, be courageous and show love for your homeland
and for each other. First, I call on you to pray hard for Ukraine, for
our army and our people, I ask you to forget mutual strife and
misunderstandings and unite with love for God and for our homeland.
At this
tragic time, we extend our special love and support to our soldiers who stand
guard and protect and protect our land and our people. May God bless and
protect them!
Defending
the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine, we also appeal to the Russian
President and ask him to immediately stop the fratricidal war. The Ukrainian
and Russian peoples came out of the Dnieper baptismal font and the war between
these peoples is a repetition of Cain's sin, who out of envy killed his own brother.
Such a war has no justification either from God or from people.
I call
on everyone to use common sense, which teaches us to solve our earthly problems
in mutual dialogue and mutual understanding, and sincerely hope that God will
forgive us our sins and God's peace will reign on our earth and around the
world!
Beloved
in Christ, Most Reverend Bishops, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters!
Dear
Ukrainian people!
We
grieve with great sorrow and pain that the war has come to our native Ukrainian
land. We are all having a hard time. Fighting between the troops of the Russian
Federation and the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues almost throughout Ukraine,
soldiers and civilians are dying, and the number of refugees is growing.
Bringing nuclear weapons to a state of heightened combat readiness in general
sharply calls into question the prospect of the continued existence of humanity
and the world. In such a difficult situation, we call on everyone to be
courageous, to strengthen prayer and to unite around the defence of our
Motherland.
Addressing
all our defenders today, we want to show that we honour and pray for you,
because you, sacrificing your life, effectively testify to how you can directly
fulfil the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: There is no greater love than this,
if anyone will lay down his life for his neighbours (John 15:13).
For our
part, we reiterate that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always supported and
continues to support the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of
Ukraine. We fully share the pain and suffering of our people. On these
important days, all the churches and monasteries of our Church have especially
intensified prayers for an end to the war and the restoration of peace in
Ukraine. With the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, the dioceses
and monasteries provide comprehensive assistance to refugees and all those
affected by the fighting. Our temples are open 24 hours a day for those who
need protection during the shelling. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is expanding
its mission every day to help all those in need.
Aware of
our special spiritual responsibility, today we turn to His Holiness Patriarch
Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Your Holiness! We ask you to intensify your
prayers for the long-suffering Ukrainian people, to speak out for the cessation
of fratricidal bloodshed on Ukrainian soil, and to call on the leadership of
the Russian Federation to immediately cease hostilities that threaten to turn
into a world war.
We also
appeal to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky and the
President of the Russian Federation Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Putin. On behalf
of the multi-million flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, we ask you to do
everything possible to put an end to the sin of armed confrontation between our
two fraternal peoples and to begin the negotiation process. This terrible war
has already dealt a severe blow to relations between the Ukrainian and Russian
peoples. If the bloodshed is not stopped immediately, the chasm between our
peoples may remain forever.
Ukrainian
People, brothers and sisters! We hope that common sense will prevail and this
war will end soon. We ask each of you to keep peace with each other and not
succumb to provocations. Help each other, take care of each other. It is also
important not to incite enmity between us. Only in unity is our strength. We
ask the Lord to enlighten the rulers with the light of His grace. We believe
that the man-loving Lord will accept our prayers and forgive us our sins. And
in the near future the peace of God will reign again on our blessed Ukrainian
land!
28/2/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Words
spoken after a special prayer for peace in Ukraine
Prayer
for peace on Ukrainian soil is being offered throughout our Ukrainian Orthodox
Church. Unfortunately, it is the 9th day of the war on our land. Russian troops
entered Ukraine. Our hearts are filled with sorrow. People are dying –
civilians are dying, children are dying. The earth is filled with weeping and
sorrow. Refugees have nowhere to bow their heads. We pray that the Lord will
have mercy on us.
Our Holy
Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always preached love between nations. We
especially wanted peace and harmony between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.
We wanted these peoples to live as good neighbours: in respect for each other,
patience with each other and in love. We have been, and still are insulted for
this, they call us all sorts of obscene words and expressions. But we do not
pay attention to it. Even today, we want the Russian people and the Ukrainian
people to live peacefully with each other.
Therefore,
I appeal to the President of the Russian Federation, I ask Putin: “Vladimir
Vladimirovich, do everything to end the war on Ukrainian soil! War does not
bring good to the people. War sheds blood, and blood divides people. You can do
it, and we believe and want you to do it. We ask that the days of Lent be
peaceful for us, that we may gladly celebrate the bright holiday of life – the
holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. "
We know
that there are problems between nations, there always have been, and will be.
But we have always held the view that we, as God's creatures, endowed with
reason and speech, must solve these problems with the help of common sense.
We call
on both sides, the Russian side and the Ukrainian side, to sit down at the
negotiating table and solve all the problems that exist between us, and not
with the help of the sword. The sword divides, and love unites. We will
tolerate each other, respect each other, love God and be one in God. This is a
unity that no one and nothing can destroy. But the unity achieved by the sword
is short-lived and unreliable. This is human unity and it is falling apart. And
the unity that is in God is eternal. I would like there to be unity in God
among our peoples, to love one another and to be one in God.
May the
Lord bless us all!
4/3/2022
(Source.
Edited for clarity)
Statement on Wednesday, 10 March
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the Church of
the Ukrainian people. It unites believers in the East and West, North
and South of our country. It consists of people of different nationalities and
different political persuasions. But we are all one in Christ. For more than
1000 years of history, our Church has always been and remains with its people.
Today, our country is going through a difficult
ordeal caused by the attack on our country by the troops of the Russian
Federation. In all churches and monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church, intensified prayers for the earliest possible peace and cessation of
bloodshed continue. We consistently call for a peaceful settlement of conflicts
through dialogue. War is the worst sin in the world. It forces us to look at
another person not as an image of God, but as an enemy to be killed. Therefore,
there is no excuse for those who start wars.
Unfortunately, a large number of civilians died
during these few days, including the elderly, women and children; humanitarian
infrastructure was destroyed – hospitals, maternity hospitals, schools,
orphanages; and the survivors are forced to leave their homes and even the
country to save their lives, becoming refugees and displaced persons.
In this regard, in order to prevent even
greater sacrifices and suffering for our people, we call on all those who
depend on them to provide real humanitarian corridors for the immediate
evacuation of civilians from settlements on the line of fire and to ensure
their safety.
Due to the fighting, some Ukrainian servicemen,
in carrying out their oath and duty to defend the Motherland, were
unfortunately wounded or taken prisoner. Therefore, the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, caring for its fellow citizens, asks to show human compassion
and Christian charity, to organize the extradition of the wounded and to
exchange prisoners of war.
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, through
the intercession of His Immaculate Mother, will preserve our country and its
God-loving people, and give us the long-awaited peace.
10/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts
of the sermon on Triumph of Orthodoxy Sunday
Our
Church has always said and still says today that all problems that arise
between people should be solved not by weapons, not by force, but by words,
because we are people, intelligent creatures of God, God is ours. gave reason,
gave us the word – this is a great power, the word has great power.
(…)
God did
not create us on earth to attack each other and kill each other. He created us
to live in love. And if we do not have this agreement, it is necessary to reach
it not with the help of weapons, but with the help of words. And again, and
again we call on all those on whom this depends, that the problems that exist
today in the world and on our earth, that they be solved with a reasonable word
13/03/2022
(Source)
Words following prayer for peace
Today we celebrated the Divine Liturgy and now
we have prayed – for peace in our country, for peace in Ukraine. We ask the
Blessed Virgin Mary, we ask the Venerable Fathers Anthony and Theodosius, and
all the Pechersk, to ask God for forgiveness of our sins and for the Lord to
give us peace.
[The negotiations are] not easy, but it is the
first step, which is already a humane step, when one uses a reasonable word to
try and solve problems that arise between people. I want these negotiations to
continue well, to have sensible, well-considered decisions, and for love to
overcome the malice that reigns over the people.
May the Lord bless our land, our government,
our army and all our Ukrainian people
20/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts
from sermon on Crucifixion Sunday
Today
we have a common Cross, the Lord visited us all with a cross – they raised a
hand against us with a sword, but we must not complain, we must patiently
endure everything. The Church has always prayed, prays and will pray for people
to remember that we are children of God and that the Lord does not want us to
raise our swords against each other.
(…)
We pray
today that the Lord will stop what we feel today, when people are dying, human
blood is being shed, children are dying, helpless people are dying, old people,
young people are innocent human beings
27/3/2022
(Source)
Statement by the UOC Legal Department regarding
bills aimed at banning the UOC's activities
On March 22, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine registered Bill 20 7204 “On Prohibition of the Moscow Patriarchate on
the Territory of Ukraine”, and on March 26, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
also registered Bill № 7213 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on
Freedom of Conscience and religious organizations ”on the prohibition of the
activities of religious organizations (associations) that are part of the
structure (is part of) a religious organization (association), the governing
center (management) of which is located outside Ukraine in a state recognized
by law as military aggression against Ukraine and / or temporarily occupied
part of the territory of Ukraine."
Given the content of the bills, the main
purpose of their adoption is allegedly "protection of national security,
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine" and "protection of
public safety and order", which according to the legislator can be
achieved by banning the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate – Russia Orthodox
Church ", including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Despite the fact that President V.O. Zelensky
has not incited religious hatred during the war, Ukrainian MPs decided through
legislative initiatives to brazenly and cynically ban the activities of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church and deprive millions of Ukrainians of the right to
freedom of religion.
Although law enforcement agencies have made no
complaints to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church about the violation of Ukraine's
national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, deputies in their
explanatory note to the bill deliberately make false allegations against the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in an attempt to mislead Ukrainian MPs.
Despite all the pathos, these bills see a
continuation of the religious policy of Poroshenko's time, which became one of
the reasons for the terrible times we are experiencing now, because the ban on
the multimillion-strong Ukrainian Orthodox Church cannot but affect our state.
In addition, banning people from belonging to
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church violates their right to freedom of religion,
which is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and the
Constitution of Ukraine.
Please note that the religious center of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
is located in Kyiv, registered in accordance with Ukrainian law, and its
founder is the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which includes clergy
and believers living in Ukraine.
The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His
Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, called on all the
faithful to defend our state and defend its territorial integrity and
sovereignty.
From the first days of the war, people have
shown the unity of our people in the fight against the enemy. But as we see
today, they are trying to break this unity by provoking controversy on
political, linguistic and religious grounds. After all, due to the
impossibility of winning the battles, the occupiers are trying to sabotage
through such bills to split Ukrainian society and weaken our state.
In this regard, we declare that the legislative
initiative to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is illegal, violates the right
to freedom of religion and in no way contributes to "protection of
national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine" and
"protection of public safety and order", as stated in the bills, and on
the contrary, in wartime will open a religious front in the peaceful territory
of Ukraine and divide our country on religious grounds.
31/3/2022 (Source)
Letter of thanks to all who are helping Ukrainian
refugees
On behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, I
would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who are helping
Ukrainians during the terrible war that broke out in our Ukraine.
As a result of the Russian invasion, more than
four million of our compatriots have been forced to flee their homes, leave their lands and seek refuge,
mainly in Western Europe and the rest of the world.
As the Primate of the largest and most
numerous Church of Ukraine – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose faithful in large
numbers have left the war zones, I want to thank the Primates, the episcopate,
the clergy and the faithful of the Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian,
Polish Local Orthodox Churches and Czech lands and Slovakia. Your fraternal
support is very important for our people today, because, in the words of St.
John Chrysostom, "there is nothing stronger than the Church of Christ"
This is true. We testify to this and humbly ask the Lord God to reward you a
hundredfold for your bounties and mercies.
I also thank all the heads of European states
and their peoples, the heads of other countries of the world, international
organizations and all those who welcomed Ukrainians into their homes, I thank people of different views
and religions. By this you fulfil the most important commandment of God – love
of God and neighbour. The Holy Fathers teach us that by helping our neighbour,
we help Christ, because He was also a "refugee" when he and His
Mother fled from Herod to Egypt. Your help will forever remain in the memory
and hearts of the long-suffering Ukrainian people.
May the All-Merciful Lord reward you all instead
of the temporary – eternal, instead of perishable – imperishable, instead of
earthly – heavenly, for all the good you do!
With sincere respect and gratitude
08/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts
from sermon on the feast of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem
May we
all humble ourselves in our own way, that we may be bearers of God’s grace, and
that God’s peace come to our land, that our people, we may meet in peace and
joy the Great and Glorious Feast of the Resurrection of our Saviour and Lord
Jesus Christ
18/4/2022
(Source)
Easter Sunday Message
Christ is Risen!
(…)
This year the Lord has visited us with special trials and tribulations. The forces of evil have thickened over us. But we do not complain or despair, because by His Resurrection Christ the Saviour overcame evil.
24/04/2022 (Source)
Appeal to Vladimir Putin in
connection with Mariupol
Mr. President!
On these Easter days, when the
celebration of the triumph of life over death is complemented by Victory Day
over Nazism, I am writing to you in connection with the situation around the
city of Mariupol.
The difficult situation in
which the inhabitants and defenders of Mariupol found themselves prompts me to
ask you as a person whose family survived the siege of Leningrad, and whose
elder brother Viktor died in 1942. Your relatives have fully felt what
life is like in isolation from the mainland, under incessant bombardments,
without food, water and medicines, when death can occur at any moment from the
impact of super-powerful weapons, starvation or lack of medical care. You
remember this when you talk about the Great Patriotic War and when you visit
Piskarevskoye Cemetery, a place of mass graves for residents of besieged
Leningrad and its defenders.
The residents of Mariupol and
its defenders are in the same position today. It is my pastoral duty to
ask you to provide an opportunity for all whoever
wants it, to leave the city of Mariupol - both civilians and the
military. At all times in different wars, the opposing sides found it
possible to manifest humanism. We know that the Russian Federation has
repeatedly acted as an intermediary in Syria in the evacuation of encircled
combatants. In this regard, we hope that you will, in a Christian way,
agree to the Extraction procedure for the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol, and
give the encircled civilians, policemen, border guards and military an
opportunity to enter the territory controlled by Ukraine or the territory of
third countries. Many countries will consider it an honor to mediate this
operation. I ask you to choose any of them in the Name of the Risen
Christ.
In hope
08/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from a speech on
“the invasion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople into Ukraine”
The invasion of the Patriarchate of
Constantinople into Ukraine has become one of the most acute and dangerous
challenges for the Russian Orthodox Church in recent decades. It is
providential that it was precisely at this difficult moment that such an
experienced and strong-willed leader as His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
and All Russia turned out to be at the helm of our Church. The theme of
preserving the unity of the Church was a priority for him even when he was
chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, and it remains so
throughout all the years of his Patriarchate.
It cannot be said that the actions of the Patriarchate of
Constantinople in Ukraine in 2018 came as a complete surprise to the Russian
Church. We knew about Constantinople’s plans to tear Ukraine away from
the Russian Orthodox Church even before the Synod of the Patriarchate of
Constantinople announced the start of preparations for granting autocephaly in
April 2018. Our Church tried to resist this intention, including as
part of the preparations for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church,
which continued in those years.
(…)
2017 was remembered for a
remarkable episode related to the appeal of the leader of the Ukrainian schism,
Filaret Denisenko, to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the episcopate of the
Russian Orthodox Church with a request to lift the bans and restore church
communion. It should be noted that from the very beginning of the schism
in Ukraine, the Russian Church has repeatedly appealed to the schismatics
with calls to repentance, maintained contacts, and constantly looked for
opportunities for negotiations. And when he was the chairman of the DECR,
and having already ascended the Patriarchal cathedra, His Holiness the
Patriarch personally led this process and took the liveliest and most active
part in it. This work in Ukraine was carried out in extremely unfavorable
and sometimes dangerous political conditions. For example, in
2010, on the eve of the visit of His Holiness the Patriarch to Ukraine, two
prominent schismatic "hierarchs" died under unclear circumstances –
"Metropolitan of Lvov and Sokal" Andrey Horak and "Archbishop of
Drogobych and Sambir" Theodosius Petsina, with whom agreements were
reached on their return to the Church, which could be the beginning of the
abolition of the split in Ukraine. Many experts openly expressed doubts
about the natural nature of their deaths. The appeal of Filaret Denisenko
gave a new chance to heal the schism, and therefore was received in the Russian
Church benevolently and considered on its merits. In November 2017, a corresponding Determination of
the Council of Bishops, a special commission was created. Unfortunately,
under pressure from the Poroshenko regime, Filaret was forced to disavow his
appeal.
(…)
Soon a delegation of the Patriarchate
of Constantinople began to visit one after another the Primates of the Local
Churches to discuss the initiative to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. However,
none of them supported the plans of Constantinople. The delegation
from Constantinople also visited Moscow, where it was received by His Holiness
Patriarch Kirill. At the meeting, His Holiness confirmed the readiness of
the Russian Church for a conciliar discussion of all the problems facing the
Church.
Also, on the basis of objective statistics on the number
of church communities in Ukraine, the Primate of the Russian Church clearly
demonstrated to Patriarch Bartholomew that his information about the alleged
support of the schism by the majority of Orthodox Ukrainians is unreliable, and
the data of opinion polls presented to him are fictitious, custom-made. His
Holiness the Patriarch drew the attention of Patriarch Bartholomew to the
purely political nature of the autocephalous project, which was being prepared
for the start of the election campaign of the then President of Ukraine P.
Poroshenko. He pointed out to the Constantinople side the consolidation of
the episcopate, clergy and believers of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church
and warned that there would not and could not be any “wave of transitions”
promised by the Ukrainian authorities then.
Taking into account the extremely poor awareness of the
Constantinople side about the history and current situation of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, which was noticeable from the statements of the Phanar and
statements during the negotiations, His Holiness the Patriarch proposed to
jointly study the issue of the jurisdiction of the Kiev Metropolis with the
involvement of competent specialists. Unfortunately, the Primate of
Constantinople answered all our arguments and proposals only that he did not
have time. Ukrainian autocephaly was being prepared in extreme haste, in
an attempt to keep up with the momentary political situation.
In December 2018, the so-called “unification council” of
schismatic denominations was held. The council was held under strong
pressure from the Poroshenko regime, who was personally present at the
presidium of the event, and under the control of the Constantinople side. Despite
the sharp contradictions between the participants in the event and the
unanimous refusal of the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to
participate in it (with the exception of one diocesan and one vicar bishop),
the alleged “unification” of Ukrainian Orthodoxy was announced. In
January 2019, the newly created schismatic structure was recognized by the
Patriarchate of Constantinople and received the status of the so-called
"autocephaly".
Instead of the promised “unification” of Orthodoxy in
Ukraine, the anti-canonical actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople
led to the actual legalization and institutionalization of the Ukrainian
schism, which soon split in two again. Moreover, the possibilities of
actually healing the split in Ukraine were undermined. The emergence of
schismatic "autocephaly" in Ukraine provoked a wave of seizures of
churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and cases of mass violence
against its communities, and greatly increased pressure on its episcopate,
clergy and believers.
As for the Church of Alexandria, it must be added that soon
after the recognition of the schism by Patriarch Theodore, African clerics who
disagreed with this began to turn to us with a request to be accepted into our
Church. However, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill believed that one
should not rush, hoping that the Patriarch of Alexandria would change his mind. Unfortunately,
this did not happen; moreover, the Primate of the Church of Alexandria went
further and co-served with the head of the Ukrainian schismatics. This circumstance compelled our Church to form
the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa for those many African clerics
who wish to protect themselves from communion with schism. His Holiness set out in detail the
position of the Russian Church in the messages sent to Patriarch Theodore, one
of which was recently published.
The latest events in Ukraine have been a new test for the
unity of our Church and all Orthodoxy.
The overwhelming majority of the Local Orthodox Churches
have taken a balanced peacekeeping position in relation to what is happening. Many
Churches have focused their efforts on providing humanitarian assistance to war
victims and refugees. Against this background, statements by
representatives of the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria stand
out, using the current tragic situation to promote the autocephalous project in
Ukraine and to popularize Epiphanius Dumenko and the schismatic community he
leads. These signals indicate that a tense struggle for
church unity awaits us ahead.
14/03/2022 (Source)
During
an interview
There
are different views. Some people believe that we are one people, while
others believe that we are two peoples. But whatever the answer to this issue, we are fraternal peoples, we have
been born in one baptismal font of St. Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostle. Nothing
would ever break down this unity. Therefore, the forces acting against
our unity are acting against the Church and against God.
14/3/2022 (Source)
Response to letter from the Comission of the Bishop's Conferences of the European Union
These days, prayers and thoughts of millions of
Christians across the world are concerned with the dramatic developments in the
longsuffering land of Ukraine. It is completely obvious that the current
conflict cannot be resolved through yet another public statement, already made
in large numbers.
The relationship between the West and Russia
have reached a deadlock, resulting in the loss of mutual trust and capacity to
hear each other. In this situation, it is essential to renounce the rhetoric of
ultimatum, establish channels of dialogue and organise official and unofficial
negotiations that can help achieve a just peace. As Christians we are called to further this
cause by our prayers and work.
For eight years now, during every Liturgy, the
Russian Orthodox Church has been offering a prayer for the cessation of the
conflict in the Ukrainian land. In view of the recent developments, a special prayer for the soonest
restoration of peace has been included in the Divine Liturgy.
(…)
Today His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
and All Russia does much to restore peace and trust, in the Ukrainian land in
particular, working hard every day to make this happen. The most important thing in this
situation is to do everything in our power to make sure that the direct
negotiations continue, producing a result in the shortest possible time, and
that the relationships between the West and Russia still have a potential for
dialogue.
(…)
17/3/2022 (Source)
Statements on Church and World television programme
Pope
Francis of Rome is speaking out about the Ukrainian topic in a very balanced
way because he is aware of not only the present history of the conflict but
also its pre-history, which goes back to the events of 2014
11/04/2022 (Source)
Mr. Zelensky is not a religious leader, however this speech has explicit religious references, which is why I am including it here.
Presidential address on Forgiveness Sunday
Today is Forgiveness Sunday. A day when we always apologized. To each other. To all people. To God. But today, it seems, many have not mentioned this day at all. Have not mentioned the obligatory words: "Forgive me." And the obligatory answer: "God forgives, and I forgive." These words seem to have lost their meaning today. At least in part. After everything we went through.
We will not forgive the destroyed houses. We will not
forgive the missile that our air defense shot down over Okhmatdyt today.
And more than five hundred other such missiles that hit our land. All over
Ukraine. Hit our people and children.
We will not forgive the shooting of unarmed
people. Destruction
of our infrastructure.
We. Will. Not. Forgive.
Hundreds and hundreds of victims. Thousands and thousands of sufferings. And
God will not forgive. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never. And instead of
Forgiveness, there will be a Day of Judgment.
I'm sure of it.
It seems everything Russian servicemen have
already done is still not enough for them. Not enough ruined destinies.
Mutilated lives. They want to kill even more.
Tomorrow Russia has officially announced the
shelling of our territory. Our enterprises. Defense complex. Most were
built decades ago. By the Soviet government. Built in cities. And now they are
in the middle of an ordinary urban environment. Thousands of people work there.
Hundreds of thousands live nearby.
This is murder. Deliberate
murder.
And I have not heard a reaction from any world
leader today. From any Western politician. Reaction to this
announcement. Think about the sense of impunity of the invaders: they announce
their planned atrocities. Why?
Because there is no reaction. Because
there is silence. Not a word, as if Western leaders have dissolved tonight. For
this day. I hope that at least tomorrow you will notice it. React. Say
something. We know exactly who prepared this attack. We know exactly how orders
will follow the vertical command. We know everything.
And we will not forgive anything. The
Tribunal is waiting for you. And God's judgment, if you try to hide.
The audacity of the aggressor is a clear signal
to the West that sanctions against Russia are not enough. Because they
didn't understand. Did not feel. They did not see that the world is really
determined. Really determined to stop this war. You will not hide from this
reality.
You will not hide from new murders in Ukraine.
There was a lot of talk about humanitarian
corridors. There were talks every day about the opportunity for people
to leave the cities where Russia came. Russian military.
I am grateful to every Ukrainian who stays to
defend our cities, even in the encirclement. Our freedom.
But I also know that there are people who
really need to get out, those who cannot stay. And we heard the promise
that there would be humanitarian corridors. But there are no humanitarian
corridors.
Instead of humanitarian corridors, they can only
make bloody ones.
A family was killed in Irpen today. A
man, a woman and two children. Right on the road. As in the shooting club. When
they were just trying to get out of town. To escape.
The whole family. How many
such families have died in Ukraine! We will not forgive. We will not forget.
We will punish everyone who committed
atrocities in this war. On our land. We will find every bastard. Which
shot at our cities, our people. Which bombed our land. Which launched rockets.
Which gave the order and pressed "start".
There will be no quiet place on this earth for
you. Except for the grave.
06/03/2022 (Source)
Bishop Markos Hovhannisyan, Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
From
the very first days, our community expressed its civic position on the war: to
be defenders of the city where our faithful live. It's moral, it's natural, and it's spiritual.
Our spiritual support, our prayers for Ukraine continue, whether private or
within the framework of the AUCCR, we pray for the achievement of God's peace,
which every person deserves. Our parishioners provide humanitarian support to
our relatives: our bakeries are working, our restaurateurs have switched to
providing lunches to those in need. Some of our faithful are in the ranks of
the territorial defence and have already passed away in this service. The
situation is difficult, but our faith does not leave us, our civic position
does not weaken, because we are an integral part of Ukrainian society, because
here is our thousand-year successful history, here is part of our culture and
our spiritual heritage
19/03/2022 (Source)
Besides the words below, Patriarch Bartholomew has had many gestures of support for the Ukrainian people, including telephone calls to Ukrainian authorities and a visit to the Ukrainian Consul-general in Istanbul.
Even in the most unfavorable circumstances, such as today, where the world community is following with horror Russia’s, beyond every sense of law and morality, military attack and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, an independent and sovereign state, or perhaps even more so now as the fiercest conflict since the time of World War II unfolds in Europe, in our neighborhood, we direct our prayers to the Lord Jesus, the Ruler of peace, asking Him with a fervent soul that He “will give strength to His people” and “bless His people with peace” (cf. Psalm 27:11). The Holy Great Church of Christ unceasingly chants the angelic hymn throughout the ages: “peace on earth and good will to men.”
Indeed, during the
last few days, a tragic humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Ukraine. A
war, which, like any war, is an abominable and reprehensible situation. It is
the domination of irrationality over reason, hatred over love, darkness over
light, death over life.
Again, from this
position, we address another plea to end the war now! To immediately stop any
act of violence, anything that spreads pain and death. Let reason prevail, love
for fellow human beings, reconciliation and solidarity, the light of the Risen
Christ, the gift of life.
We express our full
sympathy to our brother, the Primate of the Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude
Metropolitan Epiphanios of Kyiv, and our unwavering support to all the
seriously suffering Ukrainian people, who have a deep faith in God and chose to
live freely and to determine their own lives, as every nation deserves.
Although, unfortunately, some have come, these days, to the point of
questioning even their historical and national existence.
Our thoughts are
constantly with the wounded and with the families of the innocent victims,
irrespective of their ethnic identity, and we pray for the rest of their souls
to the Lord of Life and Death. We are certain that the Lord will hear our
prayers and will not abandon his beloved children in Ukraine.
27/2/2022 (Source)
Today,
Monday, 28 February 2022, His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
accompanied by His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and the V.
Rev. Grand Syncellus Iakovos, went to the local Consulate General of Ukraine
and expressed the unreserved sympathy, support and solidarity of the Mother
Church to the Consul General, Mr. Roman Nedilskyi, his collaborators, the large
local Ukrainian Community and the entire heroic people of their country. He
simultaneously assured them of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s constant prayers
for the prevalence of peace, the preservation of Ukraine’s independence and
territorial integrity, an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of intrusion of
foreign forces into it.
The
Consul General thanked His All-Holiness for this renewed loving expression of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate and comprehensively informed those present
regarding the current developments and the progress of the negotiations
underway.
At the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, 28 February 2022
From the
Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod
28/2/2022 (Source)
Interview with CNN Turkey
I saw
that Ukraine is extremely pleased and proud of its independence. Being
able to break away from the Soviet Union and establish their own independent
country is an honor and privilege for them, and they celebrated this
wholeheartedly last August. President Zelensky hosted a dinner in my honor on
the first evening I arrived, and explained the situation in his homeland. He
expressed his gratitude towards our Ecumenical Patriarchate. We have given
the independent country of Ukraine an independent church.
How much was
this act of our Patriarchate appreciated? Under today's conditions, we
see that our Patriarchate acted very early and we did a very good job. We upset
our Russian brothers, but this had to happen. Orthodox people in all Balkan
countries were attached to our Patriarchate for a long period of time. But
there came a point in time when all those churches received their independence
from our Ecumenical Patriarchate. Ukraine well deserved it.
Now we see that some Ukrainian clergy do not want to
mention the name of the Russian patriarch, Kyril, in their services. They see
him as the religious leader of the enemy country. They gradually break away
from that church and move on to the new autocephalous church. We are happy
about it or not. Because this is the result of war. One would wish that the
Russian church would not show such hostility towards our Patriarchate and
towards me, and accept our canonical action.
Unfortunately, the Russian Patriarchate did not accept
our decision. Our Patriarchate and I personally became their target. The
whole world is against Russia. We are entering a new era of cold war. The
distance between Russia and not only Ukraine but the whole Western world,
Russia and the Western world is getting bigger. It means that we are entering a
new cold war period. Anyone who thinks right and acts right does not want this
situation, this new cold war period. As a religious institution, our Patriarchate, has always been in favour
of peace and unity, and we continue to do so. We have especially strengthened
our prayers these days.
02/03/2022
(Source)
Excerpt from HH homily at the opening liturgy for the Great Lent
Throughout these days, the pious people of Ukraine carry
their own weighty Cross, as they suffer the unspeakable abuses of an
unprovoked, irrational and hostile war, which propagates pain and death.
Co-suffering with our tested brethren and children, we intensify our
supplication to the Lord of mercy and God of peace, unto the immediate
cessation of this conflict and the prevalence of justice and peace, which are a
foretaste of the redeemed joy of the Kingdom of God.
3/3/2022 (Source)
Excerpt
from the sermon on Triumph of Orthodoxy Sunday
With
all our hearts, we are watching the drama of the Ukrainian people, and at the
same time we are admiring their strong resistance to the invader. We also note with
satisfaction the brave reaction of Russian citizens to the bloodshed. We call
for an immediate ceasefire on all fronts of the war. Violence and war not
only do not resolve disputes, but cause pain and death and create more complex
problems. The invasion and
the war must end immediately, and a new opportunity must be given to dialogue, preeminent
vehicle of reconciliation and peace. On the other hand, the Charter of the
United Nations, this "Gospel of the Nations" as it is called,
explicitly prohibits the use of force in international relations and commits
all members of the Organization to settle their disputes by peaceful means.
"War is a violation of international law, which is now a 'law of
peace.'"
13/03/2022 (Source)
Excerpts from the sermon
on the second Sunday of Lent
Dear Christians, war can
and should never be an option for resolving any disputes. Weapons scatter death
and, of course, do not discriminate. They kill everyone. This is evidenced
by the tragic images that have been going around the world for the last
twenty-five days.
Unfortunately, the invaders of Ukraine, a sovereign and independent state, seem to seek the utter humiliation of their proud, loyal and brotherly Ukrainian people, who are fighting heroically and sacrificially for their freedom. At the same time, however, those who chose the path of war are leading their own youth to doom. Several thousand Russian soldiers have lost their lives. Because its effects are already being experienced by ordinary people on both sides. Ukrainian and Russian mothers have been separated from their children who went to war, and many of them are already, unfortunately, mourning their loss.
We seize the opportunity of our presence here to shout once again with all our might: stop this horror! Stop the war now! Enough of this Madness! How much more blood will our earth withstand? How many more dead will she fit in her womb? How many more tears will water her soil?
20/03/2022 (Source)
Speech
during welcome ceremony, on visit to Poland
My
visit here is neither any jubilant nor some festive occasion. My exclusive
focus these days is to stand in solidarity and prayer with the millions of
refugees who have been forcibly displaced by the ongoing unjustified and
unjustifiable aggression as well as the horrendous and costly violence caused
by Russia on their sovereign homeland of Ukraine.
I am
here to meet with some of the many refugees and to encourage those who are
demonstrating the ultimate Christian virtue of love for their neighbour and
charity for every stranger, in whom we are called to witness and welcome Christ
Himself.
What I
would like to emphasize first of all, Mr. President, is my personal gratitude –
but especially the appreciation of the Orthodox faithful, and indeed the
admiration of every decent human being – for the generous and compassionate
hospitality of your historical and magnificent nation to those who were forced
to flee Ukraine. The people of Poland understand very well what it means to
suffer from war. But above and beyond this, the citizens of Poland respect
the gifts of freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of education, freedom of
economy, freedom of worship, and freedom of living.
Let me
assure You that the entire world has watched as Poland – and other surrounding
nations within this blessed continent – has literally opened the borders of its
land and the depths of its heart to receive and comfort women and children,
elderly and unaccompanied minors, and even pets. You did not just consign your
refugee neighbours to tents and camps; you embraced them in your places of
residence and your living rooms.
All of
them are distressed about the past and fearful about the future. All of them
need our reassurance and assistance, our support and encouragement. All of them
are vulnerable to hunger and homelessness but also to exploitation and
trafficking. And in the middle of this unbelievable and unacceptable crisis,
the state and people of Poland stand out as a model of decency, of
philanthropy, and of hospitality.
May God
bless all of you and your loved ones abundantly. May all humankind learn from
and imitate your extraordinary example. Only such genuine love and
unconditional solidarity can conquer any and all evil and darkness in our
world.
28/3/2022 (Source)
Speech
to students
No
problem can be solved by war. War does not solve problems, I always say it,
repeatedly, war adds new problems.
(…)
The
Russians, wrongly, wrongly, invaded Ukraine. They may have had fears about the
future, about NATO, but there was no specific threat or intervention from
Ukraine to push the President of the Russian Federation to take up arms and
attack civilians, innocent people, to destroy schools, hospitals, theatres,
churches.
Now some
people want to say that because of this headache [the discussion over
autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church] the war broke out. As if that were
possible! They are looking for an alibi to justify the unjustifiable.
(…)
We are
very sorry for the attitude of His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Russia. He
should not have identified so much with President Putin and, in fact, described
Russia's war against Ukraine as “sacred”.
07/04/2022
(Source)
Speech
during memorial service for Patriarch Gregory V
We are
in favour of the law, in favour of the truth. Law and truth are with
Ukraine, that is why we are with Ukraine. The Gospel says: "Know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free". We Christians believe that the
truth is Christ himself. Christ, then, will liberate Ukraine, which has the
truth on its side. We all pray, with all our hearts, for this catastrophic war
to end as soon as possible.
(…)
This Easter of 2022 will be a bitter Easter for our
Ukrainian brothers and not only. Good Friday will pass and Anastasis will come.
Those who will not come back will be the thousands of dead, the victims of this
war. They, like everyone else, will pray from heaven not only for the freedom
and prosperity of Ukraine, but will pray for truth and justice and peace
throughout the world. The Mother Church of Constantinople has always loved its
spiritual children in Ukraine. Now we love you so much more. Happy
Resurrection!
10/04/2022 (Source)
Words
spoken during the consecration of Holy Myrrh
We
beseech and implore the Peace of God who voluntarily suffered the Passion for
our salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ, to cease by His extraordinary and
powerful intervention the horrible and abominable war against the people of
Ukraine, in the context of which a demonic crew, unfortunately, have sacrilegiously
wielded an impudent weapon against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, ...victimizing
and lynching without fear of God, without embarrassment and shame, slaughtering
and killing thousands of civilians, disgracing women, insulting holy temples,
and burning homes, destroying and razing cities and towns to the ground, and
forcing millions of their defenceless brethren, especially women and children,
to flee their country! May the Leader of Life shorten the Passion and
Calvary of His children and lead them with Him to the peace, tranquillity,
light and joy of the Resurrection! And lead also the belligerent invaders of
Christian love to sincere repentance, through the light of the Paraclete!
19/4/2022
(Source)
Excerpts
from the Easter Encyclical
However,
even as we are filled with gratitude and joy for this supreme value ascribed to
the human being by the Lord of glory, we are disheartened before
multifaceted violence, social injustice and infringement of human rights in our
time. “The radiant message of the resurrection” and our cry “Christ is
Risen!” today reverberate alongside the horrendous sound of weapons, the
distressing cries of innocent victims of military aggression and the plight of
refugees, among whom there are numerous innocent children. We saw with our own
eyes all of these problems during our recent visit to Poland, where the vast
majority of Ukrainian refugees has fled. We stand and suffer alongside the
pious and courageous people of Ukraine that bear a heavy cross. We pray and
strive for peace and justice as well as for all those who are deprived of
these. It is unimaginable for us Christians to remain silent before the
obliteration of human dignity. Together with the victims of military conflict,
the “greatest casualty” of war is humanity, which has not managed to eradicate
war in the course of its long history. Not only does war not solve problems; it
actually creates new and more complex problems. It sows division and hatred; it
increases discord among peoples. We firmly believe that humankind is capable of
living without war and violence.
The
Church of Christ innately functions as an agent of peace. Not only does it pray
“for the peace from above” and “the peace of the whole world,” but it underlines
the importance of every human effort to establish peace. The principal
characteristic of a Christian is “peace-making.” Christ blesses the
peacemakers, whose struggle is a tangible presence of God in the world and
depicts the peace “that surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4.7) in the “new
creation,” the heavenly kingdom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As
judiciously emphasized in the document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, entitled
For the Life of the World, the social ethos of the Orthodox Church, the Church
“honors the martyrs for peace as witnesses to the power of love, to the
goodness of creation in its first and final forms, and to the ideal of human
conduct established by Christ during his earthly ministry” (§ 44).
22/4/2022
(Source)
Excerpts of interview with Kathimerini Kyprou
What is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy, it
is a shame that will stigmatize those who caused it, those who turned out to
have no fear of God.
Holy Week does not seem to be over for the war-torn Ukrainian people,
for the mothers, and for both sides mourning their children. And yet, Christ is Risen.
Of course [the prolongation of the war] worries
us. And it hurts us deeply… We have said many times that war is not the
solution. It should not even be the last resort. The way to resolve any dispute should be
dialogue, and only dialogue. I would not like to comment on the attitude and
choices of the Russian political leadership, which is judged by its results,
and I am sure that it will be judged further in the near and distant future by
other persons and institutions and, of course, by history itself, whose pages
are currently written in the blood of the innocent victims of this war. However,
we are convinced that the Russian people, at least our Christian Orthodox
brothers, can not agree with what is happening to the detriment of their
neighboring Ukrainian people. And we have all seen this with the reaction of a courageous faction that
opposes fratricidal war and is in favour of peace.
[Regarding the attitude of the Patriarch of
Moscow] In the face of the death of innocent people, in the bombing of
civilians, in the levelling of entire cities, in the face of this human
tragedy, sermons cannot be heard that characterize a war as "sacred".
This is something very sad. It causes us deep sorrow and pain.
But it causes more pain to the Ukrainians themselves. Because you can not claim
to be a brother to another people and bless the war waged by your state. You
can not insist that Ukraine belongs to you ecclesiastically, but let the
faithful of the ecclesiastical structure under Moscow be killed and their
temples destroyed by the Russian bombing.
01/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from speech at the Meeting for the
Promotion of Common Values among the Believers of Religions
Future generations are entitled to a life in
dignity, to a world free of hatred and violence, unspoiled by pollution and
natural devastation, a society of peace and fraternity. At these crucial
moments that the world is experiencing following the war in Ukraine, we appeal
to the responsible authorities and international organizations and all people
of goodwill to strive for the end of all hostilities and the establishment of
just and sustainable peace.
11/05/2022 (Source)
He who wages war, he who provokes war, forgets humanity. He does not start with the people, he does not look at the concrete life of the people, but puts vested interests and power before everything. He entrusts himself to the diabolical and perverse logic of weapons, which is the furthest from the will of God. And he distances himself from the common people, who want peace; and who, in every conflict, are the real victims, who pay for the follies of war in their own skin. I’m thinking of the elderly, of those who seek refuge in these hours, of mothers fleeing with their children… They are brothers and sisters for whom it is urgent to open humanitarian corridors and who must be welcomed.
With a broken heart for what happens in Ukraine – and let's not forget the wars in other parts of the world, such as in Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia… –, I repeat: silence those weapons! God stands with peacemakers, not with those who use violence. Because those who love peace, as the Italian Constitution states, "repudiate war as an instrument of offense against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes" (Art. 11).
#PrayTogether #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/WUyGuMLYzG
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 25, 2022
Words after Angelus prayer
Dear brothers and sisters,
Rivers
of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine. It is not merely a military
operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction and misery. The number
of victims is increasing, as are the people fleeing, especially mothers and
children. The need for humanitarian assistance in that troubled country is
growing dramatically by the hour.
I make a
heartfelt appeal for humanitarian corridors to be genuinely secured, and for
aid to be guaranteed and access facilitated to the besieged areas, in order to
offer vital relief to our brothers and sisters oppressed by bombs and fear.
I thank
all those who are taking in refugees. Above all, I implore that the armed
attacks cease and that negotiation – and common sense – prevail. And
that international law be respected once again!
And I
would also like to thank the journalists who put their lives at risk to provide
information. Thank you, brothers and sisters, for this service! A
service that allows us to be close to the tragedy of that population and
enables us to assess the cruelty of a war. Thank you, brothers and sisters.
Let
us pray together for Ukraine: we have its flags in front of us. Let us pray together, as
brothers and sisters, to Our Lady, Queen of Ukraine. Hail Mary...
The
Holy See is ready to do everything, to put itself at the service of this peace.
In these days, two Cardinals went to Ukraine, to serve the people,
to help. Cardinal Krajewski, the Almoner, to bring aid to the needy, and
Cardinal Czerny, interim Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human
Development. The presence of the two Cardinals there is the presence not
only of the Pope, but of all the Christian people who want to get closer and
say: “War is madness! Stop, please! Look at this cruelty!”.
06/3/2022 (Source)
Words
after the Angelus prayer
Brothers
and sisters, we have just prayed to the Virgin Mary. This weekend, the
city that bears her name, Mariupol, has become a city martyred by the
ruinous war that is devastating Ukraine. Faced with the barbarism of the
killing of children, and of innocent and defenceless citizens, there are no
strategic reasons that hold up: the only thing to be done is to cease the
unacceptable armed aggression before the city is reduced to a cemetery.
With an aching heart I add my voice to that of the common people, who implore
the end of the war. In the name of God, listen to the cry of those who
suffer, and put an end to the bombings and the attacks! Let there be real
and decisive focus on the negotiations, and let the humanitarian corridors be
effective and safe. In the name of God, I ask you: stop this massacre!
I would like once again to urge the welcoming of the
many refugees, in whom Christ is present, and to give thanks for the great
network of solidarity that has formed. I ask all diocesan and religious
communities to increase their moments of prayer for peace. God is only the
God of peace, he is not the God of war, and those who support violence profane
his name. Now let us pray in silence for those who suffer, and that God may
convert hearts to a steadfast will for peace.
13/03/2022 (Source)
Prayer
for the end of war in Ukraine
Forgive
us for war, O Lord.
Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!
Lord
Jesus, born in the shadows of bombs falling on Kyiv, have mercy on us!
Lord
Jesus, who died in a mother’s arms in a bunker in Kharkiv, have mercy on us!
Lord
Jesus, a 20-year-old sent to the frontlines, have mercy on us!
Lord
Jesus, who still behold armed hands in the shadow of your Cross, have mercy on
us!
Forgive
us, O Lord.
Forgive
us, if we are not satisfied with the nails with which we crucified Your hands,
as we continue to slate our thirst with the blood of those mauled by weapons.
Forgive
us, if these hands which You created to tend have been transformed into
instruments of death.
Forgive
us, O Lord, if we continue to kill our brother;
Forgive
us, if we continue like Cain to pick up the stones of our fields to kill Abel.
Forgive
us, if we continue to justify our cruelty with our labours, if we legitimize
the brutality of our actions with our pain.
Forgive
us for war, O Lord. Forgive us for war, O Lord.
Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, we implore You! Hold fast the hand of Cain!
Illumine
our consciences;
May our
will not be done;
Abandon
us not to our own actions!
Stop us,
O Lord, stop us!
And
when you have held back the hand of Cain, care also for him. He is our brother.
O Lord,
put a halt to the violence!
Stop us,
O Lord!
Amen.13/03/2022
(Source)
Message
for the opening of the European catholic social days
What we
have experiencing in recent weeks is not what we had hoped for after the
difficult health emergency caused by the pandemic, which made us experience a
sign of powerlessness and fear, together with the fragile condition of our
existence. The tragedy of the war that is taking place in the heart
of Europe leaves us astonished; we never thought we would see such scenes
again, reminiscent of the great wars of the last century. The heartbreaking cry
for help of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters urges us as a community of
believers not only to reflect seriously, but to cry with them and to do
something for them; to share the anguish of a people whose identity, history
and tradition have been wounded. The blood and tears of children, the
suffering of women and men who are defending their land or fleeing from bombs
rattle our conscience. Once
again humanity is threatened by a perverse abuse of power and partisan
interests, which condemns defenceless people to suffer all forms of brutal
violence.
15/03/2022 (Source)
Angelus
Unfortunately, the violent
aggression against Ukraine does not stop, a senseless massacre where every day
there is a repetition of slaughter and atrocities. There is no justification
for this! I plead with all those involved in the international community to
truly commit to ending this abhorrent war.
This week again missiles and bombs have fallen
on civilians, the elderly, children, and pregnant mothers. I went to see
the wounded children who are here in Rome. One was missing an arm; one had a head injury... innocent children. I
think of the millions of Ukrainian refugees who must flee leaving everything
behind, and I feel a great pain for those who do not even have the possibility
to escape. So many grandparents, sick and poor people separated from their own
families, so many children and fragile people are left to die under the bombs
without being able to receive help and find safety even in the air raid shelters.
All this is inhuman! Indeed, it is also sacrilegious because it goes against
the sacredness of human life, especially against defenseless human life, which
must be respected and protected, not eliminated, and this comes before any
strategy! Let us not forget it is inhuman and sacrilegious cruelty! Let us
pray in silence for those who are suffering.
It comforts me to know that the people left
under the bombs do not lack the closeness of their pastors, who in these tragic
days are living the Gospel of charity and fraternity. I have spoken with
some of them on the phone during these days, they are close to the people of
God. Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for this witness and for the
concrete support you are offering courageously to so many desperate people! I
also think of the apostolic nuncio, who was just made a nuncio, Archbishop
Visvaldas Kulbokas, who since the beginning of the war has stayed in Kyiv
together with his collaborators and who with his presence brings me close every
day to the martyred Ukrainian people. Let us be close to this people, let us
embrace them with affection, with concrete commitment and prayer. And please,
let us not get used to war and violence! Let us not tire of welcoming them
with generosity as we are doing now not only during the emergency, but also in
the weeks and months to come. As you know at first, we do all we can to welcome
everyone, but then we can get used to it, and our hearts cool a bit, and we
forget about it. Let us think of these women and children who in time, without
work, separated from their husbands, will be sought out by the ‘vultures’ of
society. Please, let us protect them.
I invite every community and all the faithful
to unite with me on Friday 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, for the
Solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that she, the Queen of Peace, may help us obtain
peace.
20/03/2022 (Source)
Words after the Angelus
More than a month has gone by since the
beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, of the beginning of this cruel and
senseless war, that, like every war, represents a defeat for everyone, for
everyone of us. We need to reject war, a place of death where fathers
and mothers bury their children, where men kill their brothers and sisters
without even having seen them, where the powerful decide and the poor die.
War does not devastate the present only, but
the future of a society as well. I read that from the beginning of
the aggression in Ukraine, one of every two children has been displaced from
their country. This means destroying the future, causing dramatic trauma in
the smallest and most innocent among us. This is the bestiality of war – a
barbarous and sacrilegious act!
War should not be something that is inevitable.
We should not accustom ourselves to war. Instead, we need to convert
today’s anger into a commitment for tomorrow, because if, after what is
happening, we remain like we were before, we will all be guilty in some way.
Before the danger of self-destruction, may humanity understand that the moment
has come to abolish war, to erase it from human history before it erases human
history.
I beg every political leader to reflect on
this, to dedicate themselves to this! And, looking on battered
Ukraine to understand how each day of war worsens the situation for everyone.
Therefore, I renew my appeal: Enough. Stop it. Silence the weapons. Move
seriously toward peace.
27/03/2022 (Source)
Address to political and diplomatic
personalities in Malta
from the east of Europe, from the land of
sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We had thought that invasions
of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim
memories of a distant past. However, the icy winds of war, which bring only
death, destruction and hatred in their wake, have swept down powerfully upon
the lives of many people and affected us all. Once again, some potentate, sadly
caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and
fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a future
that, will either shared, or not be at all. Now in the night of the war that is
fallen upon humanity, please, let us not allow the dream of peace to fade!
(…)
How much we need a “human moderation” before
the infantile and destructive aggression that threatens us, before the risk
of an “enlarged Cold War” that can stifle the life of entire peoples and
generations. That “childishness”, sadly, has not disappeared. It has reemerged
powerfully in the seductions of autocracy, new forms of imperialism, widespread
aggressiveness, and the inability to build bridges and start from the
poorest in our midst. Today, it is difficult to think with the logic of peace. We
have gotten used to thinking with the logic of war. It is from there that cold
wind of war begins to blow, and this time it has been encouraged over the
years. War has in fact been prepared for some time by great investments in
weaponry and a massive trade in arms. It is distressing to see how the
enthusiasm for peace, which emerged after the Second World War, has faded in
these recent decades, as has the progress of the international community, with
a few powers who go ahead on their own account, seeking spaces and zones of
influence. In this way, not only peace, but also so many great questions,
like the fight against hunger and inequality are no longer on the list of the
main political agendas.
02/04/2022 (Source)
Speach to migrants in Malta
Your experiences make us think too of the
experiences of all those thousands and thousands of people who in these very
days have been forced to flee Ukraine because of the unjust and savage war.
But also the experiences of so many others in Asia, Africa and the Americas; I
also think of Rohingya…. All of them are in my thoughts and prayers at this
time.
03/04/2022 (Source)
Angelus in Malta
Let us now pray to her for peace, as we think
of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in war-torn Ukraine, which continues
to be bombarded in the sacrilegious war.
May we be tireless in praying and in offering assistance to those who
suffer.
03/04/2022 (Source)
Press conference on return flight from Malta
War is always an act of cruelty, an inhuman
thing, that goes against the human spirit; I don't say Christian, [I say]
human. It is the spirit of Cain. I am willing to do whatever needs to be done,
and the Holy See, especially the diplomatic side, Cardinal Parolin and
Archbishop Gallagher, are doing everything… everything possible. We cannot make
public everything they do, out of prudence and confidentiality, but we are
pushing the boundaries of our work. Among the possibilities there is the trip.
There are two possible trips: the President of Poland proposed one of them,
asking me to send Cardinal Krajewski to visit the Ukrainians who have been
welcomed in Poland. [The Cardinal] has already been there twice, took two
ambulances, and he was there with them for some time. But he will go again; he
is willing to do so. The other trip that some of you have asked about. I
answered sincerely that I was planning to go, that I am always willing. There
is no automatic “no.” I am available.
What are my thoughts regarding such a trip? This
was the question: "We heard that you were thinking about a trip to
Ukraine," and I said, "It is on the table." The idea is there,
among the proposals I have received, but I don't know if it can be done, if it
is fitting, and whether it would be for the best or if it is fitting to
undertake it, whether I should go… all this is up in the air. Then, for some
time, there have been considerations regarding a meeting with Patriarch Kirill;
that's what's being worked on, with the possibility of holding the meeting in
the Middle East. This is where things are at the moment.
(…)
Gerry O’Connell (America Magazine)
Father, several times during this trip you have
talked about war. The question everyone is asking is whether or not, since the
beginning of the war, you have spoken to President Putin, and if not, what
would you say to him today?
Pope Francis
The things which I have said to the Authorities
on all sides are public. None of the things I have said are confidential. When
I spoke to the Patriarch, he then released a nice statement of what we said to
each other. I spoke to the President of Russia at the end of last year when he
called me to convey his best wishes. We talked. Then, I have also spoken to
the President of Ukraine, twice. So, on the first day of the war, I felt I had
to go to the Russian Embassy to speak to the Ambassador, who is the
representative of the people, and ask questions and offer my impressions
regarding the situation. These are the official contacts I have had. With
Russia I did it through the Embassy.
Also, I have spoken to the Major Archbishop of Kyiv,
Mons. Shevchuk. I have also spoken regularly—every two or three days—with
one of you, Elisabetta Piqué, who is now in Odessa. But I spoke to her when
she was in Lviv. She tells me how things are going. I have also spoken with the
rector of the seminary there, through a message to the seminarians and the
people there. I am also in contact with one of your representatives. Speaking
of that, I would like to give my condolences for your colleagues who have
fallen. Whatever side they are on, it doesn't matter. However, your work is on
behalf of the common good, and they have fallen in service of the common good,
on behalf of information. Let's not forget them. They were brave, and I pray
for them that the Lord will reward them for their work. These have been the
contacts I have had so far.
Gerry O’Connell
But what would be your message for Putin if you
had a chance to talk to him?
Pope Francis
The message I have given to all the Authorities
is the one I have given publicly. I do not say two different things. It is
always the same.
I think that behind your question there is also
doubt about just and unjust wars. Every war stems from an injustice, always,
because that is the pattern of war. It is not a pattern for peace. For example,
making investments to buy weapons. Some people say, ‘But we need them to defend
ourselves.’ And this is the pattern of war. When World War II ended,
everyone breathed and said, "never again war: peace!" A surge of work
for peace began, with the goodwill not to produce any more weapons, even atomic
weapons at that time, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That was a great intention.
Seventy years later, eighty years later, we
have forgotten all that. That's how it is: the pattern of war imposes itself.
There was so much hope in the work of the United Nations then. But the pattern
of war has imposed itself again. We cannot, we are incapable of imagining
another pattern. We are not used to thinking of the pattern of peace anymore.
There have been great people like Ghandi and many others, whom I mentioned at
the end of the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, who wagered on the pattern of peace.
But we are stubborn! As humanity, we are stubborn. We are in love with wars,
with the spirit of Cain. It is not by chance that at the beginning of the
Bible this problem is presented: the "Cainist" spirit of killing
instead of the spirit of peace. ‘Father, it can't be!’ I'll tell you something
personal. In 2014, when I was in Redipuglia and saw the names [of the
departed], I cried. Really, I cried out of bitterness. Then, a year or two
later, I went to celebrate [Mass] in Anzio for All Souls’ Day, and saw the
names of the young men who fell while landing there. The names were there, all
young men, and I cried there, too. I really did. I did not understand. We must
cry on the graves. I respect, because there is a political problem, but for
the commemoration of the Normandy landings, several heads of government came
together to commemorate it. But I don't remember anyone talking about the
30,000 young soldiers who were left on the beaches. The boats would open, they
would get out and were gunned down there, on the beaches. Does youth not
matter? This makes me wonder and pains me. I am pained by what is happening
today. We never learn. May the Lord have mercy on us, on all of us. Every one
of us is guilty!
03/04/2022 (Source)
Wednesday general audience
Today we often hear about “geopolitics”. But
unfortunately, the dominant logic is the strategies of the most powerful
countries to affirm their own interests, extending their area of economic
influence, or ideological influence, and/or military influence. We are seeing
this with the war. In this framework, Malta represents the rights and power of
the “small” nations, small but rich in history and civilization that should
lead toward another logic — that of respect and freedom — the logic of respect
and also the logic of freedom, of the coexistence of differences, opposed to
the colonization of the most powerful. We are seeing this now. And not only
from one side: also from others… After World War II, an attempt was made to
lay the foundations of a new era of peace. But, unfortunately — we never learn
— the old story of competition between the greater powers continued. And, in
the current war in Ukraine, we are witnessing the impotence of the United
Nations Organization.
(…)
Recent news of the war in Ukraine, rather than
bringing relief and hope, confirms new atrocities, like the massacre in Bucha:
ever more horrendous cruelty even
against defenceless civilians, women and children. They are victims whose
innocent blood cries to Heaven and implores: put an end to this war! Silence the weapons! Stop sowing
death and destruction! Let us pray together for this…
And yesterday, precisely from Bucha, they
brought me this flag. This flag comes from the war, precisely from that
war-torn city, Bucha. And also here, there are some Ukrainian children with
us. Let us greet them and pray together with them.
These children had to escape and come to a
foreign land: this is one of the fruits of war. Let us not forget them, and let
us not forget the Ukrainian people. It is hard to be uprooted from your own land
due to war.
06/04/2022 (Source)
Words before the Angelus prayer
In a moment, we will turn to the Blessed Mother
with the Angelus Prayer. It was the Angel of the Lord himself who said to Mary
in the Annunciation: “with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk 1:37). With
God nothing will be impossible. He can even bring an end to a war whose end is
not in sight, a war that daily places before our eyes heinous massacres and
atrocious cruelty committed against defenceless civilians. Let us pray
about this.
10/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpt from sermon on Palm Sunday
When we resort to violence, we show that we no
longer know anything about God, who is our Father, or even about others, who
are our brothers and sisters. We lose
sight of why we are in the world and even end up committing senseless acts of
cruelty. We see this in the folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet
another time. Christ is once more nailed to the Cross in mothers who mourn the
unjust death of husbands and sons. He is crucified in refugees who flee from
bombs with children in their arms. He is crucified in the elderly left alone to
die; in young people deprived of a future; in soldiers sent to kill their
brothers and sisters. Christ is being crucified there, today.
10/04/2022 (Source)
General audience
This is why the armed aggression of these
days, like every war, is an outrage against God, a blasphemous betrayal of the
Lord of Passover, a preference for the face of the false god of this world over
his meek one. War is always a human act, to bring about the idolatry of
power.
13/04/2022 (Source)
Interview with Lorena Bianchetti
And so, Your Holiness, going back to the war in
Ukraine. Kyiv – we are seeing it, the images are arriving – it’s completely
destroyed. In ashes. Perhaps this is the very scene that the devil likes so
much. So, I ask you: Kyiv is no longer simply a geographic place, but it
represents much more to the eyes of the world. In your heart, what does it
represent?
Holy Father
Pain. Pain is uncertainty, it’s a feeling that
takes over. After surgery, when you feel the physical pain from the wound
they’ve given you, you ask for anaesthesia, for something to help you tolerate
it. But [for] human pain, moral pain, there is no anaesthesia. Only prayer and
tears. I am convinced that we are not weeping very well today. We have
forgotten how to weep. If I may give some advice, to me and to the people, it
is to ask for the gift of tears. And to weep like Peter wept after having
betrayed Jesus. When he ran off, he wept when he denied him. He wept. A type of
weeping that is not an outburst, no. It is physically-felt shame and, I believe
we are lacking this shame. There are many of us who do not feel shame many
times – there is an insult used in my homeland “[that person] has no shame” –
but the grace of weeping. There is a beautiful prayer, there is a beautiful
Mass that asks for the gift of tears. In that Mass, a beautiful prayer goes
like this: “Lord, you who made water flow from the rock, grant that tears might
flow from the rock of my heart”. The hard heart, the heart that is not moved,
does not know how to weep. I ask myself: how many people can weep on seeing the
images of war, whatever war? Some yes, I am sure, but many are not able to.
They begin to justify or attack. No, this (Editor’s note: the Holy Father
points to his heart): you need to cure this. And Jesus touches here. Today,
Good Friday, in front of Jesus Crucified, let him touch your heart, let him
speak to you with his silence, and with his pain. He speaks to you through
those people who are suffering in the world: who suffer from hunger, suffer
from war, suffer from such exploitation, and all these things. Let Jesus speak
to you and, please, don’t speak. Remain silent. Let him be the one, and ask for
the grace of tears.
Lorena Bianchetti: How much religions can do to remove this desertification
from hearts. What can and what words do you want to say, even to the Orthodox
bishops?
Holy Father: Yes, they too are preparing for Easter with
us, with the difference of a week, because they follow – even Eastern Catholics
– follow the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian. I take the opportunity to
send a message of fraternity to all my brother Orthodox bishops who are living
this Easter with the same pain that I and many Catholics are living ours. It is
not easy to be a bishop…and thank God that it’s not easy! This is why I don’t
understand those who want to become a bishop! They don’t know what’s in store
for them! But I take the opportunity to greet all the Orthodox bishops, as a
brother in the faith.
15/04/2022 (Source)
Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing
Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter
of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence. Our hearts,
too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and
sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing. We struggle to believe that Jesus
is truly risen, that he has truly triumphed over death. Could it be an
illusion? A figment of our imagination?
No, it is not an illusion! Today, more than
ever, we hear echoing the Easter proclamation so dear to the Christian East:
“Christ is risen! He is truly risen!” Today, more than ever, we need him, at
the end of a Lent that has seemed endless. We emerged from two years of
pandemic, which took a heavy toll. It was time to come out of the tunnel
together, hand in hand, pooling our strengths and resources... Instead, we are
showing that we do not yet have within us the spirit of Jesus but the spirit of
Cain, who saw Abel not as a brother, but as a rival, and thought about how to
eliminate him. We need the crucified and risen Lord so that we can believe
in the victory of love, and hope for reconciliation. Today, more than ever, we
need him to stand in our midst and repeat to us: “Peace be with you!”
Only he can do it. Today, he alone has the
right to speak to us of peace. Jesus alone, for he bears wounds… our wounds.
His wounds are indeed ours, for two reasons. They are ours because we inflicted
them upon him by our sins, by our hardness of heart, by our fratricidal hatred.
They are also ours because he bore them for our sake; he did not cancel them
from his glorified body; he chose to keep them forever. They are the indelible
seal of his love for us, a perennial act of intercession, so that the heavenly
Father, in seeing them, will have mercy upon us and upon the whole world. The
wounds on the body of the risen Jesus are the sign of the battle he fought and
won for us, won with the weapons of love, so that we might have peace and
remain in peace.
As we contemplate those glorious wounds, our
incredulous eyes open wide; our hardened hearts break open and we welcome the
Easter message: “Peace be with you!”
Brothers and sisters, let us allow the peace of
Christ to enter our lives, our homes, our countries!
May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine, so
sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war
into which it was dragged. In this terrible night of suffering and death, may a
new dawn of hope soon appear! Let there be a decision for peace. May there be
an end to the flexing of muscles while people are suffering. Please, please,
let us not get used to war! Let us all commit ourselves to imploring peace,
from our balconies and in our streets! Peace! May the leaders of nations hear
people’s plea for peace. May they listen to that troubling question posed by scientists almost
seventy years ago: “Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind
renounce war?” (Russell-Einstein Manifesto, 9 July 1955).
I hold in my heart all the many Ukrainian
victims, the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, the divided
families, the elderly left to themselves, the lives broken and the cities razed
to the ground. I see the faces of the orphaned children fleeing from the war.
As we look at them, we cannot help but hear their cry of pain, along with that
of all those other children who suffer throughout our world: those dying of
hunger or lack of medical care, those who are victims of abuse and violence,
and those denied the right to be born.
Amid the pain of the war, there are also
encouraging signs, such as the open doors of all those families and communities
that are welcoming migrants and refugees throughout Europe. May these numerous
acts of charity become a blessing for our societies, at times debased by
selfishness and individualism, and help to make them welcoming to all.
17/04/2022 (Source)
Excerpts
from an interview with Argentinian newspaper La Nacion, as translated into
English by Crux
On
possible visit to Kiev
I cannot
do anything that would jeopardize higher objectives, which are the end of the
war, a truce or at least a humanitarian corridor. What would be the use of the
pope going to Kyiv if the war continues the next day?
On
his refusal thus far to mention either Russia or its president Vladimir Putin
No pope
ever condemns a head of state, much less a country, which is superior to its
head of state.
On his
visit to the Russian embassy in the Vatican
It is
clear for those who want to see it well that I was signaling to the government
that it can put an end to the war this instant. To be honest with you, I would
like to do something so that there will not be one more death in Ukraine. Not
one more. And I am ready to do
everything.
All war
is anachronistic in this world and at this stage of civilization. That
is why I also publicly kissed the Ukrainian flag. It was a gesture of
solidarity with their dead, with their families, and with those who suffer
emigration.
On
possible meeting with Patriarch Kirill, which he announced has been cancelled
Our
diplomacy understood that a meeting between the two at this time could lend
itself to much confusion.
I have
always promoted interreligious dialogue. When I was archbishop of Buenos Aires,
I brought together Christians, Jews and Muslims in a fruitful dialogue. It
was one of the initiatives of which I am most proud. It is the same policy that
I promote in the Vatican.
22/4/2022
(Source in English) (Original source)
Words after Regina Coeli
Today various Eastern Churches, Catholic and
Orthodox, and several Latin communities, celebrate Easter according to the
Julian calendar. We celebrated it last Sunday, following the Gregorian
calendar. I offer them my warmest wishes: Christ is risen, he is truly risen!
May he fill with hope the good expectations of hearts. May he grant peace,
outraged by the barbarity of war. Today marks two months since the beginning
of this war: instead of stopping, the war has worsened. It is sad that in these
days, which are the holiest and most solemn for all Christians, the deadly roar
of weapons is heard rather than the sound of bells announcing the Resurrection;
and it is sad that weapons are increasingly taking the place of words.
I renew my appeal for an Easter truce, a
minimal and tangible sign of a desire for peace. The attack must be stopped, to
respond to the suffering of the exhausted population; it must stop, in
obedience to the words of the Risen Lord, who on Easter Day repeats to his
disciples: “Peace be with you!” (Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19.21). I ask everyone to increase prayer for peace
and to have the courage to say, to show that peace is possible. Political
leaders, please, listen to the voice of the people, who want peace, not an
escalation of the conflict.
24/04/2022 (Source)
Easter message to Patriarch Kirill
Your Holiness!
In His goodness, the Lord again vouchsafed us
to celebrate Easter. In these days, when we feel the full weight of the
suffering of the members of our human family, crushed by violence, war and
numerous manifestations of injustice, let us again marvel with a grateful heart
that the Lord took upon Himself all the evil and all the pain of our world.
He did this for all time and everywhere in the universe by the power of His
Cross, filially committing Himself into the hands of the Father (see Luke
23:46).
Obedient to the will of the Father, in the
unity of the Spirit, Jesus laid down His life to destroy death. Truly, the
death of Christ was the beginning of a new life and liberation from the bonds
of sin and the occasion for our Paschal joy, opening before all people the way
from the shadow of darkness to the light of the kingdom of God.
Dear brother! Let us pray for one another that
we may bear a credible witness to the gospel message of the Risen Christ and of
the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation, so that all may enter into
the kingdom of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom.
14:17). ).
May the Holy Spirit transform our hearts and
make us true peacemakers, especially for war-torn Ukraine, so that as soon as
possible the great Easter transition from death to new life in Christ becomes a
reality for the Ukrainian people, who yearn for a new dawn that will put an end
to the darkness of war.
United by mutual prayer, we commit our Churches
and all our brothers and sisters to the intercession of Mary, the Mother of
God, who was with her Son in His suffering and death and shared the joy of His
resurrection. I sincerely wish Your Holiness a joyful and blessed Easter!
Christ is Risen!
24/04/2022 (Source)
Words
after Regina Coeli
Today is
the beginning of the month dedicated to the Mother of God. I would like
to invite all the faithful and communities to pray the Rosary for peace every
day in May. My thought goes to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, “Mary’s
city”, barbarically bombed and destroyed. Once again, from here, I renew my
request that safe humanitarian corridors be arranged for the people trapped in
the steelworks in that city. I suffer and weep, thinking of the sufferings
of the Ukrainian people, and in particular, the weakest, the elderly and
children. There are even terrible reports of children being expelled and
deported.
And
while we are witnessing a macabre regression of humanity, I wonder, along with so many
anguished people, if peace is truly being sought; whether there is the will to
avoid a continued military and verbal escalation; whether everything possible
is being done to silence the weapons. I beg you, let us not surrender to
the logic of violence, to the perverse spiral of weapons. May the path of
dialogue and peace be taken! Let us pray.
01/05/2022 (Source)
Interview
with Corriere della Sera
I spoke to Kirill for 40 minutes via zoom. The first twenty, with a card in
hand, he read me all the justifications for the war. I listened and
told him: I don't understand anything about this. Brother, we are not clerics of state, we cannot
use the language of politics, but that of Jesus. We are shepherds of the same holy
people of God. For this we must seek ways of peace, to put an end to the firing
of weapons. The Patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin's altar
boy.
03/05/2022 (Source)
Excerpt
from the address to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
Even
before the healthcare emergency had come to an end, the entire world found
itself facing another tragic challenge: the war currently underway in Ukraine. Since the end of the second
world war there has never been any lack of regional wars, many of them! Think
of Rwanda, for example, thirty years ago, to mention just one; but think of
Myanmar, let’s think… But since they are far away, we do not see them, whereas
this one is close by and it makes us react. So much so that I have often spoken
about a piecemeal third world war, scattered everywhere. However, this war,
cruel and senseless like every war, has a greater dimension and threatens the
entire world, and cannot but question the conscience of every Christian and
every Church. We must ask ourselves: what have Churches done, and what can
they do, to contribute to “the development of a global community of fraternity
based on the practice of social friendship on the part of peoples and nations”
(Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti, 154)? It is a question we must think about
together.
06/05/2022 (Source)
Regina Coeli
Right now, many members of the faithful are
gathered around the image of Mary venerated in the Shrine of Pompei, to pray
the Supplication that sprang from the heart of Blessed Bartolo Longo. Kneeling
in spirit before the image of the Virgin, I entrust to her the ardent desire
for peace of the many people in various parts of the world who suffer the
senseless calamity of war. In particular, I present the sufferings and tears of
the Ukrainian people to the Holy Virgin. Before the madness of war, please, let
us continue to pray the Rosary for peace each day. And let us pray for the
leaders of nations, so that they might not lose the “pulse of the people” who
want peace and who know well that weapons never achieve it, never.
08/05/2022 (Source)
In light
of today's developments in the crisis in Ukraine, we see even more clearly the
timeliness of the clear and heartfelt appeal that the Holy Father made
yesterday at the conclusion of the General Audience. The Pope spoke of
“great sorrow,” “anguish and concern.” He also urged all the parties involved
to “refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people,
destabilising coexistence between nations and bringing international law into
disrepute.”
This
appeal has taken on dramatic urgency following the beginning of Russian
military operations in Ukrainian territory. The tragic scenarios that
everyone feared are becoming a reality. Yet there is still time for goodwill,
there is still room for negotiation, there is still a place for the exercise of
a wisdom that can prevent the predominance of partisan interest, safeguard the
legitimate aspirations of everyone, and spare the world from the folly and
horrors of war.
As
believers, we do not lose hope for a glimmer of conscience on the part of those
who hold in their hands the fortunes of the world. And we continue to
pray and fast — as we shall do this coming Ash Wednesday — for peace in Ukraine
and in the entire world.
Excerpts from
interview
Eminence, could you, first of all,
summarize the position of the Holy See on the ongoing conflict?
The position of the Holy See is the one that the Pope has
repeatedly repeated: a resounding "no" to war, war is madness, it
must be stopped. We call, appealing to the conscience of all, for an
immediate end to hostilities. We have before our eyes horrible pictures
coming from Ukraine. Civilian casualties, elderly women, innocent children
who paid with their lives for the madness of war. Anxiety grows when
you see cities with shattered houses, left without electricity at sub-zero
temperatures, lack of food and medicine. As well as millions of refugees,
mostly women and children fleeing the bombing. These days I had the
opportunity to meet a group that came to Italy from different parts of Ukraine:
no look, face without a smile, endless sadness… What is the fault of these
young mothers, what did their children blame? You need to have a heart
of stone, to remain intact and to allow this chaos to continue, to keep
rivers of blood and tears flowing. War is barbarism!
Why did the Pope make an unprecedented
gesture by visiting the Russian embassy the day after the Moscow army's
invasion of Ukraine?
You are right to call this gesture of Pope Francis
unprecedented. The Holy Father wanted to express all his concern to the
Moscow authorities in view of the military escalation that has just begun, and
decided to take a personal step in this direction by applying to the diplomatic
mission of the Russian Federation at the Holy See.
The Pope clearly said that Ukraine is a
war, not a "military operation." Why?
Words are important, and to call what is happening in
Ukraine a military operation means not recognizing the truth of the facts. We
are facing a war that, unfortunately, is reaping many casualties among the
civilian population, like all wars.
12/03/2022 (Source)
We were very concerned that there might be a war, because
the signs were there. But it still causes a huge impact, it is surreal, like
living in a film. So, I say to myself, and also to many believers I speak to,
that our main weapons, so to speak, are humility, surrendering ourselves
totally to God, solidarity, and love. Because in any case if we are here
for each other, if we are close to God, if we are faithful, He will look
after us. And so it is during this war, which is not a purely human
invention, there is something demonic about it – as there is in all violence.
And we can only defeat the evil in this war together, all over the world,
through fasting, prayer, much humility and love.
(…)
There
are plenty of reasons for this war, and some claim that there is a religious
dimension to some of them. I consider this completely incorrect. If
we look at the Ukrainians, for example, we have the Council of Churches and
Religious Organisations in Ukraine which has been very united at this time, it
is close to the people, and they support each other. This doesn’t mean that
all difficulties have passed, because clearly some interreligious
misunderstandings played a role in the past. But I don’t think you can justify
this war in this way, because difficulties in interreligious relations have to
be dealt with a different way. Surprisingly, I have noticed that the
difficulties I saw in Ukraine before have decreased now. It seems that this
tragedy is uniting the Ukrainian people. This doesn’t mean that this unity will
remain afterwards, but it is still a very positive sign.
(…)
The
words of the Holy Father show that he is doing all he possibly can to end this
war. And not only through words, because I know full well that he is
seeking all the possible paths for the Church, both spiritual and diplomatic.
All that is humanly possible to contribute to peace. Of course, the Pope –
and I know this well through his collaborators, with whom I am in touch several
times a day – is weighing many possibilities. We are constantly reflecting
on what else the Pope can do, either directly or through his collaborators. One
of these things is sending the two cardinals. On Tuesday Cardinal Krajewski arrived in
Ukraine to bring support and see how he can get humanitarian aid in, and with
it the presence of the Pope.
Address to UGCC synod on consecration of Ukraine and
Russia to Mary
The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a symbol of the pain
experienced by the Mother of God through the death of her son Jesus. The
Ukrainian people are now joining this pain, especially Ukrainian children who
are dying from bombs or from thirst and cold, in darkness and boundless fear.
This war cannot be explained, because human life is sacred to all of us,
believers and non-believers.
(…)
May our prayer, as well as the activities of
government officials, diplomats and public figures of Ukraine and other
countries bring peace to our country and understanding between the Ukrainian
and Russian people and between all peoples.
25/3/2022 (Source)
Dear
brothers and sisters, this day, which for us is Ash Wednesday and the beginning
of Lent, the Holy Father declared the Day of Lent and Prayer for Ukraine. That is
why we have come today to pray with you for your Motherland. Congratulations to
my dear brother Bishop Dionysius and all the priests and faithful of this
exarchate in Italy. We don't have many words. Our words are the ones we
prayed for, calling on the Mother of God, the Queen of Ukraine, to intercede
for us in the face of this catastrophe, in the face of all these victims of
unjustified invasion. Yesterday, talking on the phone, we saw the tears of
His Beatitude Supreme Archbishop Sviatoslav, who is in custody, as many
Ukrainians who are currently under bombardment are experiencing separation,
fleeing. We take to our hearts the great, unspeakable pain of mothers,
fathers, soldiers, children, fleeing. We have no words. We have no missiles, we
have no guns, we have no tanks, we have no force of violence that wants to
prevail at any cost. We have the power to humble those who despise the
world and the mighty lands. Our only weapon - and in this we join our Pope
Francis - in the face of such a disgrace to humanity and great suffering - is
what we did today: we prayed.
And I
want to say with all my heart: may the Mother of God really ask for peace to
put an end to this abuse, this unspeakable suffering that the Ukrainian people
are experiencing. May the Mother of God accompany us, give us strength. My
opinion also reaches many of you who will have to accept your relatives, your
friends, who are fleeing from this senseless, unthinkable war. The thought
comes to those who have relatives left there who may not have been able to
escape, and that is why I want to tell you: we are all obviously our
Congregation, but all of us, the Catholic Church, are with you and opens
for you his humble hands of fraternal devotion and sharing your pain and your
prayer. But be strong, for with us and with you is God, the crucified Lord
Jesus and His Blessed Mother. Amen
2/3/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Dear
brothers and sisters, dear compatriots!
Unfortunately, this morning a new page in our history has begun. In this situation, when Russia has launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, the responsibility of each of us is important.
Foremost,
let’s not let desperation take over us. Christians are people of faith
and hope because our Savior Jesus Christ proved by his resurrection that the
last word is not for death, but for life! Elsewhere in the Scriptures, we read:
"If the Lord does not keep the city, the watchman is in vain."
(Psalms 127.1 B). Therefore, our hope is in God.
The
present time requires us to unite in prayer: in our families, with our neighbours,
in prayer communities and in every parish. We encourage priests today,
after each Holy Mass, in addition to singing the supplication, to pray for the
act of dedicating Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God.
May this
time of trial also be an opportunity for reconciliation with our relatives and
friends, neighbours and colleagues, and with God Himself. Realising our own
sinfulness and limitations, we apologise to the Lord, proceed to the sacrament
of reconciliation, fulfilling the 5 conditions of a good confession. Let
us try to participate in the Eucharist more often and receive Holy Communion,
to take care of the purity of our hearts, so that God’s grace fills us.
Let us
pray together a rosary or other prayers in the intention of peace, for the
rulers of our state, for our army and all those who defend our homeland, for
the wounded and dead, as well as a reminder for those who started the war and
were blinded by aggression. Let us protect our hearts from hatred and
rage against our enemies. Christ clearly instructs us to pray for them and
bless them.
The
Church is a community. Let parishes and prayer groups become a place of unity
and a centre from which prayers for peace and God’s protection are sent. We
don’t know what the future holds for us, but let the parish community not leave
the most defenceless and needy to their fate, regardless of their religious
affiliation. We will provide special care for the elderly and sick.
The
prince of this world wins individual battles, forcing us to succumb to
manipulations, believe lies and spread them. May our help in the search
for truth be God’s word, as well as the highest truth, which is Christ. In
addition, do not give in to the panic that the aggressor can sow.
We will
be ready to defend our homeland in accordance with our capabilities and
responsibilities – in the army or at our workplace, in hospitals or by
providing first aid, material support or a word of comfort, prayer or sacrifice
of suffering. Let us respond courageously to the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, who will give his light at the right moment.
For the
time of trial and fervent prayer, we give our pastoral blessing: in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
24-2-2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
My dear brothers in the fullness of the Priesthood of Christ, the
bishops of Germany who fight for minority rights and care for climate change;
silent bishops of Belarus and Russia!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Catholics of Germany, Belarus
and Russia. Why are you silent while we are being killed? Where is your voice
of solidarity with the innocent victims of Putin's Russia? Where are your
actions that show love; deeds without which our Christian faith is dead; where
is your active position? Some of the leaders of your countries support aggression,
others are its source, and you are silent? Is this your version of
Christianity? Do you still remember that keeping silent about sin is also a
sin?
An independent democratic country in the heart of Europe with
tanks, missiles and machine guns aimed at civilians is being forced "into
peace" by a country that itself took away this peace from us in 2014. The
Russian army came to us in Donbass and Crimea, brought death and destruction,
political repression and fear. But we did our best to maintain a peaceful sky
over the rest of our homeland. And we did not attack anyone. We did not provoke
anyone. And on February 24, 2022, Russia started a war throughout Ukraine.
We are being shot in front of you, live, and you Christian
brothers, what are you doing at the moment? "Cain attacked Abel his
brother and killed him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?
He replied, “I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?” (Gen. 4: 8-9).
28/2/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Beloved
brothers and sisters in Christ, dear congregation in the priesthood!
We, like
all of you, are deeply impressed that, despite enormous efforts to reconcile,
the political conflict between Russia and Ukraine has turned into an armed
confrontation. This confrontation brings death and destruction and threatens
the security of the whole world. The peoples of our countries are united not
only by a common history, but also by the great suffering that has befallen us
in the past because of the madness of war. Our peoples deserve peace, and not
just peace without war, but peace that is determined to respect other people,
other peoples and their dignity.
Let our
contemporaries know that they will have to give a strict account of the
military actions they have committed. After all, the course of future centuries
largely depends on their current decisions (cf. Const. Lumen gentium, 78, 80).
We call
on all politicians on whom this decision depends to do their utmost to end this
conflict. "God is the God of peace, not war, the Father of all, not just
some, and He wants us to be brothers, not enemies," Pope Francis told us.
And we also call on all people, especially the Christian brothers, to resist
lies and hatred, and to be a source of reconciliation, not a multiplication of
hatred and violence.
We ask
all our believers to dedicate these days to intensified prayer and fasting for
the salvation of human lives – especially on Ash Wednesday, March 2, in
response to the call of the Holy Father. Priests are asked to serve Holy Mass
for the preservation of peace and justice, using the Eucharistic Prayer for
Reconciliation and reading the Prayer for Peace and Fatherland.
Conference
of Catholic Bishops of Russia
Archbishop
Pavlo Pezzi Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow
Bishop
Joseph Wert Ordinary of the Transfiguration Diocese in Novosibirsk
Bishop
Clemens Pickel Ordinary of the Diocese of St. Clement in Saratov
Bishop
Kirill Klimovich Ordinary of the Diocese of St. Joseph in Irkutsk
Bishop
Mykola Dubinin Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in
Moscow
24/2/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Dear in the Lord Brothers and Sisters:
As we
approach Great Lent, this salvific time of profound prayer and self-correction,
and in connection with the events in the Ukrainian land, I turn to all with a
heartfelt plea: to refrain from watching television, following newspapers and
the internet, to close our hearts to the passions ignited by mass media, while
doubling our fervent prayers for peace throughout the world, for overcoming
enmity and discord, for help for the suffering, for the repose of those who
have departed into the eternal life and the consolation of their friends and
relatives, so that we all first and foremost remain humane and Orthodox
Christians in these difficult times.
The forthcoming
Great Lenten period is our path towards the Pascha of Christ. This path
leads away from indolence, impatience, fuss and constant anxiety in our
spiritual life, and towards wholeness, humility and love. This pious experience does not arise within us
without effort, but through adhering to the other world in our churches – the
world of light, joy, hope and kindness. Without participating in the divine
services of Great Lent, which creates a special atmosphere in our homes and in
our lives, attaining such a spiritual state is very difficult, it may even be
impossible. Striving towards God, establishing peace within our hearts
and participating in the sacramental life of the Church of Christ, wherein lies
our personal relationship with God, we reduce the level of evil in this world,
we inspire others towards labors and spiritual feats of the Gospel, we enhance
peace and brotherly relationships, and do not succumb to the temptations of
various discords and divisions.
Therefore,
I urge everyone to take advantage of every opportunity offered by the Church to
preserve peace and goodness in our hearts, to spend this blessed time of
salvation, so that we can all together meet and spend the luminous night of
Pascha in unity of spirit and brotherly love, in the renewal of all of our
powers and the spiritual joy in the Resurrected Christ and the victory of good
over evil! Amen.
(Source. Edited for clarity)
Paschal
greeting to Metropolitan Onophry, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate
We all
live in a world where the consequences of the freedom of human will leads to
sufferings, illness and death. Only the Innocent Sufferer, God-Man,
could destroy this shameful cycle of servitude to sin, bringing forth Himself
in Sacrifice, “for us men and for our salvation.” Therefore, following Him “in
the Lord’s wandering,” enduring His abandonment on the Cross as a mortal, we
hope and believe that the present tribulations and calamities will lead us
Orthodox Christians to “the unwaning day of the Kingdom of Christ.”
Now,
prayerfully standing before Christ the Life-Giver, we humbly beseech on Your
behalf, for Your brother archpastors, pastors, monastics and the multitude
of children of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the beleaguered
hearts of all those who have suffered from this war, that which is sung
during Paschal night: “O Pascha, deliverer from sorrow!” May “this
chosen and holy day” bring consolation and joy, a torrent of mercy, help and
Divine aid for you all!
22/04/2022 (Source)
Open letter to Patriarch Kirill
In these dark days when war is raging in the
middle of Europe following the military intervention of the Russian Federation
in Ukraine, allow me to convey to you the dismay of the entire Archdiocese and
our total solidarity with the victims of this conflict.
The troubles and disorder caused throughout the
world by this violent attack have not spared the Orthodox community of Western
Europe and above all the archdiocese of Orthodox parishes of Russian tradition
in Western Europe, which brings together faithful of all origins. Our very
unity is threatened by the situation that has thus arisen. Our faithful expect
their pastors to bring the voice of the Church and an evangelical message of
peace.
We learned with emotion of the appeal made to
you by the members of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, asking
you to intervene with the political authorities of the Russian Federation to
stop this bloodbath.
On behalf of all the faithful of our
Archdiocese, I appeal to you to raise your voice as Primate of the Russian
Orthodox Church against this monstrous and senseless war and to intercede with
the authorities of the Russian Federation so that this murderous conflict
ceases as soon as possible, which until recently seemed unthinkable between two
peoples and two nations united by centuries of history and their common faith
in Christ.
Your Holiness, in your “homily” for the Sunday
of Forgiveness, delivered in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on
the 6th March, you imply that you justify this war of cruel and murderous
aggression as “a metaphysical battle”, in the name of the “right to be on the
side of the light, on the side of God’s truth, of what the light of Christ
reveals to us, His word, His Gospel… ”.
With all the respect that is due to you, and
from which I do not depart, but also with infinite pain, I must bring to
your attention that I cannot subscribe to such a reading of the Gospel. Nothing
can ever justify that the “good shepherds” that we must be should cease to be
“artisans of peace”, whatever the circumstances.
Your Holiness, humbly, with a heavy heart, please do all you can to end this terrible war that is dividing the world and sowing death and destruction.
09/3/2022 (Source)
Letter to Patriarch Kirill, of Moscow
Your
Holiness,
It is
with great pain and with a breaking heart that I am writing to Your Holiness. The tragic situation
of the war in Ukraine has brought tremendous suffering and loss of lives. Many of
our brothers and sisters had to leave their homes—including the elderly, women,
and children—to save their lives. The whole world is looking
with concern and expects to see a sign of hope for a peaceful solution. I
receive letters every day from different parts of the world, from church
leaders and the faithful of our WCC constituency asking to approach Your
Holiness to mediate so that the war can be stopped and the great suffering ended.
In these times of hopelessness, many look at you as the one who could bring
a sign of hope for a peaceful solution.
I write to Your Holiness as acting general secretary of the WCC but also as an Orthodox priest. Please, raise up your voice and speak on behalf of the suffering brothers and sisters, most of whom are also faithful members of our Orthodox Church.
Today Western Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday, the day of repentance as the beginning of Lent; likewise, we, as Orthodox, will celebrate this coming Sunday the “Sunday of Forgiveness” to mark our beginning of Lent next Monday. These powerful moments in our liturgical calendars call us to repentance, peace and reconciliation.
While celebrating
these spiritual moments, with filial respect and consideration, I write to Your
Holiness to intervene and mediate with the authorities to stop this war, the bloodshed
and the suffering, and to make efforts to bring peace through dialogue and negotiations.
Respectfully
Yours in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rev.
Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca
Acting
General Secretary
World
Council of Churches
2/3/2022
(Source)
The Jewish community is an integral part of Ukraine and stands with the Ukrainian people, government and armed forces in defending Ukraine.The Government of Ukraine has stood by the Jewish community since Ukraine became independent in 1991.— Chief Rabbi Bleich (@Ukrainerabbi) February 25, 2022
Address
to Russian people
People, stop the war! Don't believe what you are told on TV – they are lying to you! A war crime is taking place here. The Russian army bombs civilians today – Kyiv, Kharkiv… Babi Yar has just been shelled. It is symbolic – they kill innocent elderly, women and children in Babi Yar, where 200,000 murdered Jews lie. Today, Jews are calling me from all over Kyiv, and not only Jews – Ukrainians, Russians – asking for help. Every day, I try to help and save civilians – the elderly, women, and children. Elderly women call saying they are dying without medicines. Mothers call and say that children suffer from bombings. They also need food. Our volunteers are endangered throughout Kyiv and the Kyiv region.
I haven't left because I am not indifferent, and I will
not leave my community. I am a
rabbi of Ukraine, and I am proud to have been honoured to save people and be on
the side of the Light, not on the side of the murderers. I was silent for a
long time – I can't be silent anymore… I'm not afraid to die. Even in my worst
dreams, I never thought I might have to die under Russian missiles – I was born
in Russia, I went to school and I have many friends there. Those friends
are now silent – nobody called. People call from all over the world, Jews and
non-Jews, even Arabs call me from Israel and support me. When targeting
terrorists, the Israeli army uses high-precision missiles so that, God forbid,
civilians are not harmed. Here
they hit us with "Grad" artillery, tanks, rockets, airstrikes – this
is not a high-precision weaponry. What's going on? War! War! People,
wake up, I beg you.
1/3/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
From
an interview with CNN
It [Putin’s
references to denazification of Ukraine] reminds me of World War II. It reminds
me of a dictator who says I want to save my people, and therefore I’ll kill
them. It reminds me of a person who says I want to save my people, and
therefore I’ll kill others, who I think maybe want to do something bad to my
people.
I
have lived in Ukraine for 32 years. The Jewish community has blossomed in the
last 30 years, since independence. We have Jewish schools, we have synagogues,
the Government is there for us, we’re there for them, we are part of the society.
The denazification should be taking place in Russia, not in Ukraine, and the
Nazi who should be denazified is Vladimir Putin.
What
they have been doing this last week? The first day, ok, they were attacking
military objects, from Friday it went from a war against the Ukrainian army, to
against the people. I’m not going to call it a genocide, because he’s just
killing anybody indiscriminately, he doesn’t care what their genetics are,
where they are coming from. He’s killing the people he said he wants to
protect. He’s bombing Kharkiv, which has many Russian speaking people. Wasn’t
he coming to save the Russian speaking people? He’s bombing these cities
that have people who want to make the choice themselves, not have him help them
make their choices.
All the stuff he says about democracy, denazification, its all the same propaganda. As a good friend of mine said, “how do you know Putin is lying? His lips are moving”.
2/3/2022 (Source)
Dear friends!
Gd has awarded every person with the freedom of
choice and it is also our responsibility, following the example of the Almighty,
to make efforts to preserve the world. And this is achievable only if
everyone, for their part, is focused on peace, and first of all thinks about
the safety of people.
We see that only one thing can be opposed to
disunity and conflict — solidarity and unity based on respect for neighbours
and their rights. The word “peace” in Hebrew literally means “integrity”,
peace is possible if there is a common understanding of basic moral values and
there is a desire for a fair, equal treatment of all people.
The peoples of Russia and Ukraine are not
simply united by a common centuries-old history, common victories and common
times of sorrow and disaster. But more than that, we are mentally close to each
other. At the level of horizontal connections, at the level of communication of
ordinary people, we do not need translation, the similarity of our vision of things
and understanding of the foundations of life is not artificially cultivated,
but in a fundamental sense – related.
And that is why the Jewish communities of
the former USSR never knew what separation and borders were. We have always
felt like a united community, and at the moment we feel it even more sharply.
At such a time, the main task of religious organizations is humanitarian
assistance and spiritual support for those in need. In this regard, the Jewish
community strengthens charitable programs and is ready to support all good
public initiatives.
We also have a special duty to pray for the
prevention of further casualties and for the speedy return of balance in
international relations.
All Jewish communities are praying for peace
these days!
May our prayer be heard by the Almighty and He
bless all the peoples of the Earth, and also send understanding and
opportunities for a peaceful resolution of events!
25/02/22 (Source)
As-Salamu aleikum, dear Ukrainians! Dear brothers and sisters!
In this difficult time, I urge all of you to protect
Ukraine from Russian armed aggression. Those of you who can be warriors,
join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the
territorial defense battalions. And those who cannot be warriors, volunteer and
help the army. Only together we will withdraw aggression and liberate the
occupied territories of Crimea and Donbass. In our unity and joint efforts, the
path to a strong, free prosperous Ukraine.
Muslim
warriors have been writing to me today, some already called from military
units, others heading there and asking for prayer for them and their families
back home.
I appeal to the Muslims of Ukraine, and urge as in 2014
to stand side by side with all Ukrainians, and to be the only unbreakable rock
of Ukrainian defense. We are the only Ukrainian nation, we have one country on
all, and one native land under the feet on which our children walk. The life, dignity and property of a
Muslim are inseperable. And no one has the right to deprive us of our
land, our freedom, and our country. To the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him!) a man came and asked:
what should I do if a criminal with a weapon comes to take away what is mine?
The Prophet of Islam said: you take weapons and defend yourself!
Brothers and sisters, I urge you to defend Ukrainian
statehood and independence, and to support the armed forces and all our
defenders. With the help of the Almighty Allah, we will win! Truth and
justice are with us!
May the
Almighty Allah be gracious to Ukraine and the whole Ukrainian people!
23/02/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Sometimes
foreign journalists ask me how we will restore spiritual ties with the
Muslim leaders of Russia. I answer “no way, it won't be”, me my Ukrainian
dignity and my conscience will not allow me to stretch out my hand. Look how
the major muftis of Russia approved the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine,
and without any hesitation blessed the bombing of all Ukraine, under which we
are the Muslims of Ukraine
[Refers
to statement posted below]. I think you all understand why there will be no
reconciliation?
28/02/2022
(Source)
Dear
brothers and sisters.
My name
is sheikh Said Ismailov and I am the Mufti of the Religious Administration of
Muslims of the Ukrainian Umma. And in this short video I appeal to Muslims all
over the world.
Now Russia’s
war against Ukraine is going to kill us, to kill our people, destroy our
statehood, our freedom!
First,
it is an unjust war of aggression, where Putin’s troops are killing civilians
and destroying homes, killing women and children. I call on Muslims all over
the world to be on our side. Support Ukraine, support it with funds, support with information,
support the military. Help us do everything we can to stop and defeat Putin’s
Russia, for Ukraine to emerge as a free and independent state, where Islam
is a respected religion, where we have unheard of rights and freedoms, where
the Muslims of Ukraine are completely free to practice Islam and are an organic
part of our country.
Unlike
the Russian invaders, where Muslims can do nothing, where Muslims are second
class people, who the state and society treat disrespectfully.
And we
are a European developed country, and the Muslims of Ukraine are a part of Ukraine.
Therefore,
I urge Muslims all over the world to be on our side and help and support
Ukraine with everything you can help us with: information, prayers, money, and
the provision of everything you have. I ask you to be on the side of justice for
the sake of Allah Almighty.
Dear
brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaykum.
07/03/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Statement regarding shelling of Mariupol mosque
Right now, Russian monsters are demolishing
the mosque of Sultan Suleiman and Roxolani in Mariupol. In the basement
of the mosque there are about 80 Muslims with children, mostly citizens of
Turkey. We can’t get through to them, and we don’t know what condition they
are in. We pray to Allah that everyone can survive!
This is one of the new most
beautiful mosques of Ukraine. I was at its opening, and in 2014, after leaving
Donetsk, I was a month imam in this mosque. May God punish the thieves who
raised their weapons in the place of peace and prayers! They have neither
humanity nor morality.
12/03/2022 (Source.
Edited for clarity)
Statement regarding position of Russian Muslim
leaders
So I'll answer this one more time:
I do not consider people who have blessed and
supported the killing of women, children and anyone on our Ukrainian land to be
spiritual leaders. They have forever shamed themselves by supporting outright
injustice, sin and violence. They know that dozens of authoritative Muslim sheikhs and muftis from
Europe to al-Azhar condemned Russian aggression and the killing of Ukrainians.
They can't not know this. Therefore, the choice of these Russian characters
is completely conscious, they deliberately turned to the side of crime and are accomplices
to what is happening.
The Holy Quran says: “And what is [the matter]
with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among
men, women, and children who say, "Our Lord, take us out of this city of
oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for
us from Yourself a helper?” (Quran 4:75). Reading this verse reminds one of Mariupol,
Kharkiv, Volnovakha, Sumy, Chernihiv, Bucha, Irpin, Kiev and other cities and
villages of Ukraine.
In this verse, the Almighty Allah urges the
believers to stand up for the protection of the oppressed, and allows believers
from around the world to fight defending the victims of aggression. But the
Russian so-called "spiritual leaders" on the contrary turned on the
side of the aggressor and murderers, and their faith allowed them not only to
be cowardly silent, but even to approve this genocide of the Ukrainian people,
including us – the Muslims of Ukraine, who stood in the protection of our beloved
homeland. Understanding that this is their conscious position – we have
nothing to call these muftis, they have made their choice, and they themselves
will be responsible for it before Almighty Allah. I have informed them that
they are doing zulm (sin and injustice). And when I am asked how we will
restore spiritual ties with Russian Muslim leaders, I answer – no way, we don't
need any ties with their so-called "spirituality". The blood and
death of dead Ukrainians lay between us, and Muslims differ in principle, I
will not infringe upon my Ukrainian dignity by extend my hand to them.
16/03/2022 (Source. Edited for clarity)
Today I made a phone call from an area of the
Kiev region, where it is very unsafe, to an 87-year-old Tatar woman. She said
that she is dying, can't get out of bed and can't move. She asked a young man,
who also lives there, to wrap her in a blanket and bury her after her death.
She asked me to promise that after the territory is liberated, I would bury her
with prayers in a Muslim cemetery. I agreed.
To the Russian Muftis who have approved this
attack on our country, I will send you all a photograph of this woman.
23/3/2022 (Source)
Interview with Ukrainian newspaper
You have already mentioned that you hold
prayers for soldiers. And what is the situation with mosques in other regions
of Ukraine, where fighting is currently taking place?
Three mosques were shelled: in Kostiantynivka,
Donetsk region, after that a mosque in Mariupol was damaged, and then a mosque
in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, was shelled. At the moment I do not know what
is happening in Kharkiv with our mosques, of which there were several. Imams
from our mosques were gathered in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk
region. They were abducted for two days, then handcuffed to the Luhansk Cathedral
Mosque and forced to renounce further cooperation with our spiritual
administration, and recognize subordination to Russian spiritual administration.
And they posted the news on many resources that the communities of the
so-called "L/DNR" are now coming under the control of the Moscow
Spiritual Administration.
Did they agree?
Who would not agree if they were kept there for
about two days? You see, people are all people.
The main muftis of Russia approved the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. Have you tried to contact them and explain what is really
going on?
No, I did not even try to contact them. I know
Russian reality very well. Absolutely all [Russian] muftis are controlled by
the FSB, it's no secret to me. And when the war broke out, I addressed the
Muslims of Russia in Russian. For this I was accused of extremism. But it
doesn't matter. When our women and children are killed, when they try to
destroy our country, there is no sentimentality in the war and no diplomatic courtesy.
The enemy must be called an enemy and be fought on all fronts:
information, armed, economic and, including spiritual. The Russian muftis
were once again gathered on March 16 in the North Caucasus, and they signed a
new petition in which they fully approve of Putin's Russian policy in the sense
of war against Ukraine. They signed and blessed it.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine stated that Russia is hiring people in the Middle East for the war
against Ukraine. How do you view the actions of Muslims who agree to this?
Extremely negative. I also appealed to Muslims
in the Middle East and around the world. I said that they would be on the side
of sin, crime and injustice if they agreed to it. I tried to convey objective
information about what was happening. I warned that if they sided with the
aggressor, it would mean that they would be in favour of sin, violence, death
and murder.
Was there any reaction to this appeal?
Yes, many Muslim TV channels from all over the
world asked me to comment on what was really happening. There is strong
Russian propaganda and the Arabic-speaking Russian channel has been
broadcasting its propaganda to Muslim countries for many years. And many
people believe that.
Will you stay in Kyiv until the victory?
To victory. And if necessary, I will go to the
border. I am one of the members of the battalion and generally thought that I
would be needed as a warrior, not a spiritual figure. Therefore – only to
victory. And if necessary, then continue.
26/03/2022 (Source)
Caption of photograph of Ukrainian stamps featuring sunk Russian warship "Moskva"
Bought stamps, will write letters to Russian muftis that approved the war against Ukraine and called it jihad. I will send through third countries to reach the address.
14/04/2022 (Source)
Interview with RBC - Ukraine
Many prominent and influential figures, Russian
muftis - have spoken out in support of Russian aggression against Ukraine, they
call us "Nazis" and so on. The vast majority of them, or is
there still an internal split and some leaders are silent or stand for us?
There were religious figures who were
silent. And even when they were gathered for these conferences – the last
of which took place on March 16 in Vladikavkaz - they also remained silent, did
not speak and did not make any statements. There are muftis who remained
silent, but did not oppose.
There were a number of prominent Muslim
figures, including Mufti Talgat Tajuddin, Russia's supreme mufti and head of
Russia's Central Spiritual Administration, Salah Mezhiev, Mufti of Chechnya,
Albir Krganov, and others, who openly support, bless, and call on Russian
Muslims against Ukraine.
Some agreed that they called it
"jihad" – that it was allegedly a war on the path of Allah Almighty
against Ukraine. This topic is constantly pedaled by the Mufti of
Chechnya, who was not even ashamed and wrote a personal appeal against me
personally for eight minutes, where he said that he does not know me and does
not want to know that I am such an "impostor" and so on. But it's
all funny to me.
The fact is? They know perfectly well and
monitor what is happening here. And, we can say, react to it. At the
very beginning of the war, mufti supporters of the war spoke
separately. And then they were gathered on March 16. They continue
to repeat the same rhetoric: they say that it is necessary to go to war with
Ukraine and that Muslims who are at war with Ukraine are allegedly carrying out
jihad.
Those who are silent and do not take part in
anything – their insignificant minority. And nobody spoke against.
(…)
The fact is that immediately after Putin's
first presidency, in the 2000s, the process of taking control of all Muslim
clergy in Russia was launched. Now all the muftis there are either FSB
officers or cooperate with the FSB. In any case, they are under strict control. And they
continue the Kremlin's political line.
Everyone is trying to please the authorities,
as you said – run in front of the locomotive. They make statements that
are absolutely absurd from the point of view of Islam. For example, that
Russia's war against Ukraine is a jihad, that it is a war waged for the
sake of Allah Almighty.
(…)
This is absolutely complete insanity. In
the Muslim world, many authoritative spiritual leaders have not simply
condemned Russia's aggression – they have sided with Ukraine. It turns out
that Russian Muslim leaders, in expressing such a position, are not simply
contradicting the Muslim world – they are in fact distorting
Islam. Because they replace the notion of just war, just protection from
aggression with some slogans that they must liberate Ukraine from "Nazis",
"fascists", "Bandera" and others.
At the same time, I think they understand
perfectly well that they are lying. But they all want to serve the
authorities and show their maximum loyalty and usefulness. At the same time, they are
fulfilling the task of mobilizing the Muslim population for this war.
(…)
Note that now, at least during the conditional
first stage of the war, from February 24 to today, the main "cannon
fodder" are not the central regions of Russia. The most dead are Dagestan. They
throw most people from the Far East, Dagestan, Tatarstan, Buryatia. That
is, it is the outskirts of Russia, where the standard of living is low, where
the population is poorly educated and low-income.
And if we take purely Muslim regions like the
North Caucasus, then there, of course, the word of the spiritual leader is
authoritative. Therefore, when the mufti declares and convinces the
believers that they are waging a good war for the sake of Allah Almighty,
people from some mountain villages in some Rutul or Tabasaran districts think
to themselves: "once the mufti said – he can not talk nonsense."
Therefore, they play a mobilizing
role. They persuade ordinary believers to sign contracts, go to war,
motivate them to do "good deeds" and so on.
(…)
The fact is that in the Arab-Muslim world, we,
unfortunately, see great sympathy and support for Russia. And all these
videos are designed exclusively for Muslim audiences. I'm even sure it's
being shot to show in Arab countries – in Iran, in Pakistan, in Syria. To
show: "Look, the Muslims of Russia are so religious, so right, they are
fighting here with these nationalists and fascists – Ukrainians." All this is exalted in this
way.
And this is a protrusion of their religiosity –
it is not because they are really so religious. And because they need to
remove content that will be aimed at the Arab-Muslim world in order for Russia
to have support there and be able to pursue its policies there, to support it
in the international arena, to fund, help circumvent sanctions, admire Russia
as a country, which opposes America.
In principle, in the Muslim world, all this is
presented not as Russia's war against Ukraine, but as a war against
America. And Ukraine was simply unlucky to be on the
battlefield. Therefore, if we talk to the media of Muslim countries, they
do not consider us a subject at all, they say that Russia's war against America
is taking place on our territory. And when you start explaining to them that there are no Americans
here, Ukrainians are fighting here, we are defending our homeland, they say
that this is all nonsense and that they are allegedly using us.
And, of course, the opinion and desire of
Ukrainians themselves to have their own statehood, to pursue their own
policies, to have their own point of view are not taken into account at
all. Russian propaganda has long dispelled the idea in Arab-Muslim
countries that all of these countries can be neglected. And in this case I
am talking not only about Ukraine. The same with Georgia, the same with Moldova,
the Baltic countries, and now even Poland and beyond.
(…)
For example, the situation in Syria. It is
a country torn apart by years of civil war. There is an independent
committee of Muslim scholars, which recorded a separate video appeal in support
of Ukraine. And the official mufti of Syria, who is supported by the Assad
regime, stands for Russia and categorically against Ukraine.
That is, we have a situation where there are
popular religious leaders in exile in the country, and from abroad, with the
support of the masses, they express their position and the Syrians listen to
them. And the official mufti supports the line of power and makes his
statements on behalf of the people he does not represent.
Many Muslim leaders, Sheikh Karadaghi, Sheikh
Didu, this Syrian committee, Sheikh al-Azhara, and even Ahmadinejad, the former
president of Iran, have spoken out in support of Ukraine. In fact, all educated,
intelligent people understand what is happening. But there are official,
as in Russia, religious figures who will voice the position that the government
will say.
(…)
Turkey is the only country in the Muslim world
that has always consistently supported Ukraine. But Turkey has its own
interests. Therefore, Turkey will not sever diplomatic relations with
Russia, will not quarrel, will not close air services, it will receive Russian
tourists.
Everyone has their own interests, and they
will, of course, bargain in case, with the support of Ukraine, they also want
to get something.
(…)
This war acquired an ontological
character. There can be no compromise in this war, here is one of two:
either they will destroy our statehood and us as a people, or we will destroy
them. If we do not defeat Russia, it will gather strength and attack again
in a year or two.
If we do not survive, they will simply destroy
us. Any
sensible person, looking at footage from Mariupol, Kharkiv, Volnovakha,
Okhtyrka and other cities that are being destroyed, will understand that they
do not care – it's women, children, the elderly – they just kill
people. One should not think that with other regions of Ukraine, if the
boots of a Russian soldier get there, it will be different. The farther
west, the harder. All the central and western regions of Ukraine will
be destroyed with terrible fury and hatred.
Look at what they did with eastern Ukraine,
which has always been more pro-Russian than central or western, spoke Russian
and voted for pro-Russian politicians - that didn't stop them from being
completely destroyed. And if they move further west, the scale of the
extermination of the Ukrainian population will only increase.
18/04/2022 (Source)
Prayer
on the 27th night of Ramadan, the night of power
This
year I urge all Muslims to pray for victory in the war with Russia, for the
release of all occupied territories, for God's protection for all Ukrainian
soldiers, for quick recovery for all wounded, for the mercy of God to the dead,
for the quick punishment of occupants and a quick disgraceful defeat for them,
for eternal shame for all the collaborators, for the collapse of the Russian
economy and statehood, and for the forgiveness of all our sins.
27/04/2022
(Source)
In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful!
Dear brothers and sisters! Dear compatriots!
The Almighty
Creator addresses all mankind: Do not commit
wickedness and violence on earth, take care of peace and order, do good! With
pain in the soul and heart we perceive everything that happens in these moments.
As a mufti and a believer, I deeply empathize with everyone and lift up my
prayers for peace and tranquillity. Islam is a religion of peace, friendship
and equality of all nations.
We urge you to do everything possible to avoid
casualties. Russian Muslims have always stood for the preservation of people's
lives, for the prosperity of our peoples and states.
Dear brothers and sisters!
I urge you to maintain unity and calmness, to
rally around the prayer for peace, to ask the Almighty to save lives and
restore fraternal ties between peoples.
We ask the Almighty to prevent the most
terrible scenario – a full-scale war! In this regard, I call on all religious
figures, imams of mosques and religious communities, as well as the entire
Muslim ummah, during the Friday service, to turn to the Almighty Creator with a
prayer for peace and tranquillity!
I call on all of you, dear compatriots, to pray
for peace and the preservation of human lives, to remain reasonable, to use
every opportunity to help refugees and all those in need in these difficult
times.
And may the Lord of the worlds keep us all!
24/03/2022 (Source)
We do not want war and we pray for peace. I am
sure that our prayers will be heard by the Lord, and politicians will sit down
at the negotiating table.
The West has built a world that it considers
the only possible global world order, and does not hear Russia. The duty of the
President is to preserve the unity, integrity and security of Russia. The West
hoped that the imposed sanctions would turn the people away from the President,
but it turns out the opposite – the people rally in his support.
3/3/2022 (Source)
Central Spiritual Board of Muslims of Russia
For
30 years, Russia has been treated with cynical deceit and lies, with attempts
to pressure and blackmail, while shamelessly expanding the presence of the military
machine of the North Atlantic Alliance, which, despite all the concerns and protests
from the Russian side, has steadily advanced and continues to move close to the
borders of the Russian states.
In this
regard, on behalf of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia,
20 Regional Spiritual Administrations and more than 2,200 communities and
parishes as part of the Central Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia,
millions of Russian Muslims, in unity and solidarity with the vast majority of
followers of the traditional confessions of our vast Motherland and all
Russians, we fully share the assessment the situation in the Donbass, as
stated at the last meeting of the Security Council of Russia.
With
full understanding of the clear and frank appeal of the President of our united
state, which has united 193 peoples large and small for centuries, we
sincerely support the decision to conduct a special military operation on the
territory of Ukraine to protect the population, demilitarize and eliminate the
threat of the revival of Nazism in this long-suffering region, accepting these
steps as key security measures for Russia itself.
Mufti
Salah Mezhidov, of Chechnya
"The
war in Ukraine is jihad, and those who participate in it (on the side of
Russia) fight in the way of Allah."
Dear
brothers and sisters, Ukrainian people!
Unfortunately,
the efforts of many people around the world, as well as of our Council, to
prevent the outbreak of war have not been a success. There was an
unprovoked attack by Russia and Belarus on Ukraine.
In these
circumstances, we urge you to remain calm, not to give in to panic, and to
comply with the orders of the Ukrainian state and military authorities. "The
truth and the international community are on the side of Ukraine. We believe
that with God’s help, good will prevail!"
We
support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all our defenders, bless them for
defending Ukraine from the aggressor, and offer our prayers for them.
We
appeal to the religious and political leaders of the world – now do everything
possible to stop the aggressor’s offensive in Ukraine.
We ask
God to bless our people in this bitter time of trials.
24-2-2022 (Source)
Statement of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations on the shelling by the Russian invaders of civilian objects in Ukraine
Since
the beginning of Russia's full-scale military invasion of the sovereign
territory of Ukraine, we are seeing first-hand how Russian invaders resort
to the most cynical and prohibited by international humanitarian law methods of
warfare. In fact, Russia is waging a war against the civilian population
of Ukraine, as it purposefully fires ballistic missiles, including from the
territory of Belarus, and conducts air raids at residential areas, schools,
kindergartens, maternity hospitals, hospitals, and critical infrastructure
facilities that are necessary to ensure the life of the civilian population,
sometimes with the use of prohibited cluster and vacuum ammunition.
Blatant
examples of unjustified cruelty and unrestrained aggression of the Russian
invaders are the shelling of humanitarian corridors, evacuation buses, and even
ambulances. The disdainful attitude of the Russian leadership towards human
life, which we see in regard to Russian soldiers who were thrown into the jaws
of the war of conquest, is now manifested in relation to the civilian
population of Ukraine, which is forced to escape from Russian missiles and
occupiers, migrating to safer regions of our country and to neighbouring states
of the European Union.
Moreover,
Russia's military attack on Ukraine is accompanied not only by shelling and
bombing of peaceful infrastructure and residential buildings but also of
churches. As an example, in the village of V'yazivka, in Zhytomyr Oblast,
the Russian invaders destroyed the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy
Theotokos, built in 1862. As a result of Russia's shelling of the centre of
Kharkiv on March 2, the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church was damaged. On March 7, Russian shells hit the prayer house of
the "New Life" Evangelical Church in the city of Izyum, Kharkiv
region – the church building was completely destroyed. After the shelling, an Orthodox
Church caught fire in the village of Zavorychi, Brovars'kyi district, Kyiv
Oblast.
From
various fronts of the Russian invasion, there are reports of shelling of
churches, even those where refugees have been sheltering. Even the immense spiritual shrine,
the St. Sophia's Cathedral of Kyiv, is under threat of an attack.
With
this in mind, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations
once again calls on NATO, as a security partner of Ukraine, the UN, the
European Union, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe to take urgent measures to
introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine and to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine
with modern air defense equipment, including fighter planes, in order to
protect our greatest value – human lives and civilian infrastructure – from
barbaric shelling and bombing by Russian invaders.
08/03/2022
(Source.
Edited for clarity)
If the army of the Republic
of Belarus joins the war against Ukraine, an avalanche of suffering will
descend upon thousands of Belarusian families who will no longer see their
husbands, fathers, and brothers alive and well. The spilled blood and
taken innocent lives of peaceful citizens of Ukraine will become an eternal
condemnation for all those who is now justifying the Russian military
aggression against Ukraine and advocating for the Republic of Belarus to join
it.
(…)
It is especially painful to
realize that missile and bomb strikes on peaceful Ukrainian cities in Kyiv,
Chernihiv, Rivne, and other regions, as well as the invasion of Russian Ground
Forces on the sovereign territory of Ukraine, are taking place from the
territory of the Republic of Belarus. Next, even more cynical and cruel step can be an attempt to directly
involve the Belarusian army in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia as
a terrorist state.
10/03/2022 (Source)
Appeal about the necessity of the introduction
of a no-fly zone over Ukraine and the response to humanitarian disasters in
select regions
Millions of civilians of different
nationalities and faiths who lived peacefully in Ukraine are facing a
humanitarian catastrophe caused by Russia's military invasion, air and missile
strikes on residential areas, food warehouses, hospitals, maternity hospitals,
schools, and other critical infrastructure facilities in Ukrainian cities.
As a result, since the beginning of Russia's
full-scale war against Ukraine, at least 82 children have been killed and more
than 100 children have been injured. Russian troops damaged or destroyed more
than 200 schools, 30 hospitals, and 1,500 residential buildings, including
apartment buildings, and these numbers continue to increase.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were
besieged by Russian troops in the Kyiv region, Mariupol and Volnovakha in
Donetsk region, without food, water, medical care, and other means of
subsistence. At least 2187 civilians
have already become the victims of the Russian blockade in Mariupol – they were
killed as a result of constant shelling, including during attempts to evacuate
through pre-agreed humanitarian corridors.
Since there is nothing more valuable than human
life, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations repeatedly
calls on world leaders, OSCE member states, the EU, and NATO to take urgent
measures to introduce a no-fly zone over the territory of Ukraine or to provide
the Ukrainian army with modern air defence systems and fighter jets that can
protect Ukrainian civilians from regular bombing and missile strikes by the
Russian invaders.
In addition, the Ukrainian Council of Churches
and Religious Organizations appeals to the leadership of the Russian
Federation, international organizations, church hierarchs, and religious
figures of the peoples of Russia to take urgent measures to organize
humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of residents of Ukrainian cities and
towns from areas where active hostilities continue to safe places of their own
choice, as well as the immediate exchange of prisoners of war between Russia
and Ukraine.
We emphasize once again that in order to
avoid any provocations, the evacuation of the civilian population through
humanitarian corridors can be carried out by civilian volunteers and ministers
of Churches and religious organizations, either accompanied by Ukrainian police
officers or without their participation.
Even in times of the greatest upheavals, wars,
and disputes, we must not forget about humanity and mercy. Each of us must do
everything possible to preserve human life and establish peace through
negotiations.
13/03/2022 (Source)
Appeal to the Russian religious leaders and
clergy regarding prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine as a
manifestation of mercy
The whole world now sees what tragic events are
taking place in Ukraine as a result of the invasion of the Russian army on the
sovereign territory of our state. Despite this, the Armed Forces of Ukraine
show humanity towards captured Russian soldiers: they receive medical care,
food, water and are kept in warm rooms.
With this attitude, the Ukrainian army proves
that it adheres to the norms of international humanitarian law. Ukraine seeks
to end the war and bloodshed which is possible as soon as Russian troops and
fleets return to their permanent bases, and aircraft and ballistic missiles
stop destroying peaceful cities and villages in Ukraine.
On your part, as people of faith and endowed
with the spiritual authority of religious leaders, each of you can contribute
to saving the lives of people caught in the jaws of this terrible war. First of
all, make every possible effort to enable the exchange of prisoners between
Russia and Ukraine as an expression of mercy.
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious
Organizations calls on every religious leader and clergymen in the Russian
Federation to facilitate the return of captured Russian soldiers to their
families, and Ukrainian soldiers to their own.
And May the All-Merciful Lord help us in this
act of good!
15/03/2022 (Source)
Appeal on the provision of air defence for
Ukraine and humanitarian corridors for the rescue of civilians
In more than a month of
Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, at least 153 children were killed, and
more than 245 children were wounded. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have
already suffered from constant Russian bombing and missiles aimed at
residential areas.
Russian troops shelled about 859 educational
institutions, 83 of which were completely destroyed. The bombing also
destroyed at least 100 manufacturing plants, 150 healthcare facilities, and
4,500 residential buildings, including apartment buildings, and these figures
continue to increase. The UN has recorded dozens of incidents of bombing and
missile attacks that have damaged medical facilities, including 50 hospitals.
As a result, millions of civilians of different
nationalities and faiths who lived peacefully in Ukraine now face a
humanitarian catastrophe caused by Russia's military invasion. The
situation is particularly complicated by the shelling of food warehouses and
convoys with humanitarian aid, as well as the blockade of a number of Ukrainian
cities, which the Russian invaders are resorting to. Thousands of people in the
Kyiv region and tens of thousands of people in Mariupol, Donetsk region, are
still under blockade by Russian troops without food, water, medical care, and
other means of subsistence.
Almost 5,000 civilians have already become the
victims of the Russian blockade in Mariupol – they were killed as a result of
constant shelling, including during attempts to evacuate through pre-agreed
humanitarian corridors. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson,
Mykolaiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions are currently under constant shelling,
bombing, and missile attacks.
Every human life is an extraordinary value,
therefore, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations
repeatedly calls on world leaders, OSCE member states, the EU, and NATO to take
urgent measures to introduce a no-fly zone over the territory of Ukraine or to
provide the Ukrainian army with modern air defense systems and fighter jets
that can protect Ukrainian civilians from regular bombing and missile strikes
by the Russian invaders.
In addition, the UCCRO appeals to the
leadership of the Russian Federation, international organizations, church
hierarchs, and religious figures of the peoples of Russia ‒ to take urgent measures
to stop the blockade of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kherson, and other cities of
Ukraine and to organize humanitarian corridors in order to evacuate residents
of Ukrainian cities and towns from areas where active hostilities are taking
place to safe places of their own choosing.
Even in times of the greatest upheavals, wars,
and disputes, we must not forget about humanity and mercy. Each of us
must do everything possible to preserve human life and end this
Ukrainian-hating war of aggression launched by Russia as soon as possible.
1/4/2022 (Source)
Statement regarding the facts of the genocide
of the Ukrainian people, committed by Russian troops in the Kyiv region
Entire Ukraine and the whole world were
horrified by the numerous facts of cruelty and inhuman brutality that Russian
soldiers committed against innocent civilians in the captured cities of the
Kyiv region. The month of temporary occupation of Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel,
and surrounding villages by the Russian troops led not only to the large-scale
destruction of beautiful newly built residential areas, playgrounds, hospitals,
and other social infrastructure but also to the total destruction of the
civilian population of the region.
In recent days, in Bucha, liberated from Russian
invaders, 15 people were found shot in the head with their hands tied on one of
the streets alone. There is evidence of Russian soldiers tormenting
Ukrainian women and even children who, after collective rapes, including in
front of their relatives, were shot and abandoned in mass graves or just on the
streets. Hundreds and possibly even thousands, of innocent Ukrainians, were
tortured and killed in a few weeks of Russian occupation.
Such a terrible, bloody trail of the Russian
occupiers on the Ukrainian land, as well as the support of their
humanity-hating actions by their mothers, wives, and the general public in Russia,
is evidence of a complete distortion of the worldview and moral degradation of
the Russian society.
The war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine are a
convincing argument in favour of comprehensive and non-exclusive sanctions
against the Russian economy in all its sectors, and should finally encourage
world leaders, NATO, and the EU to provide Ukraine with all the necessary
weaponry to defeat Russia as a terrorist state, including air defence systems,
fighter jets, lethal offensive weapons, tanks, and anti-ship missiles.
The whole world should realize that this is
not a “Ukrainian crisis”, it is not even a “war of Russia against Ukraine” – it
is a war of humanity, moral values, virtue with concentrated evil that has a
satanic fascist nature. The cult of war and chauvinism have been celebrated in Russian
society for decades – they began to worship the war, built a temple dedicated
to it in Moscow, and with the slogan "We can repeat it" justifies new
sacrifices to its bloody idol.
Now every state in the world should not remain
silent! Every state in the world should recognize the genocide of the Ukrainian
people during the Russian invasion in 2022 and condemn the ideology of the
"Russkiy Mir" as one that is justifying the genocide of peoples and
the destruction of entire states.
We offer prayers for the eternal peace of all
innocent residents of Ukraine who were killed in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy
regions, in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, and other cities
where the Russian invaders encroached. We pray for the complete victory of
Ukraine over this evil, for the defeat of the Russian occupation forces, the
overthrow of the humanity-hating regime in Russia, and the eye-opening and
repentance of Russian citizens blinded by propaganda.
06/04/2022 (Source)
Appeal regarding safety during religious
holidays
This year, according to the Western church
calendar, Christians celebrate Easter on April 17, and according to the Eastern
church calendar, on April 24. From the evening of April 15 to the evening of
April 23, Jews celebrate Passover. Until the end of April, Muslims celebrate
the fasting month of Ramadan.
As representatives of the religious community
of Ukraine, we appeal to stop the shelling of cities and villages in Ukraine
and to slow down offensive hostilities, at least for the duration of the sacred
days for all three religions.
We are convinced that if there is a desire and
goodwill, the Russian side, within the framework of the ongoing negotiation
process and in contact with competent representatives of Ukraine, could reach
agreements that would provide civilians of Ukraine the opportunity to meet and
celebrate the next sacred days without shelling and risk to their lives.
May the Almighty God inspire with wisdom and
mercy all those on whom the solution of this issue depends.
15/04/2022 (Source)
Appeal to Russian religious figures on the
evacuation of civilians and wounded defenders of Mariupol from Azovstal
Currently, tens of
thousands of civilians in Mariupol are on the verge of survival. Many of
them have found shelter at the Azovstal plant, where they are hiding from
constant shelling and bombing. Among them are children, women, and the elderly,
as well as many sick and wounded people who need urgent medical care. They do
not have food, water, hygiene products, and necessary medicines due to the lack
of a humanitarian corridor and the impossibility of evacuation. Their lives
can end at any moment if nobody stand up for them right now!
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious
Organizations calls on every Russian religious figure, regardless of confessional
affiliation, to make public and non-public requests to the Russian authorities
to organize the evacuation of civilians and wounded defenders of Mariupol from
the Azovstal plant.
Their exit will take place under the control of
an international mission throughout the entire process, up to the delivery of
people to the territory controlled by Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian
defenders can be exchanged for captured Russian soldiers and other persons
detained for anti-Ukrainian activities.
On these holy days for most believers – the
celebration of Easter, Passover, and Ramadan – we call on everyone to make
every possible effort to save the lives of thousands of civilians in Mariupol
who are under blockade and need immediate evacuation!
22/04/2022 (Source)
APPEAL OF THE PRIESTS OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH FOR RECONCILIATION AND AN END TO THE WAR
We, the priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox
Church, each in our own name, appeal to everyone on whom the cessation of the
fratricidal war in Ukraine depends, with a call for reconciliation and an
immediate ceasefire.
We send this appeal after Last Judgment Sunday and on the
eve of Forgiveness Sunday.
The Last Judgment awaits every person. No earthly
authority, no doctors, no guards can protect one from this judgment. In our
concern for the salvation of every person who considers himself a child of the
Russian Orthodox Church, we do not want them to appear at this judgment bearing
the heavy burden of this mother's curses. We remind you that the Blood of
Christ, shed by the Saviour for the life of the world, will be received in the
sacrament of Communion by those people who give murderous orders, not into
life, but into eternal torment.
We mourn the trial that our brothers and sisters in
Ukraine are being undeservedly subjected to.
We remind you that the life of every person is a
priceless and unique gift of God, and therefore we wish the return of all
soldiers – both Russian and Ukrainian – to their homes and families, safe and
sound.
We bitterly think about the abyss that our children and
grandchildren in Russia and Ukraine will have to overcome in order to once
again begin to be friends with each other, respect and love each other.
We respect the God-given freedom of man, and we believe
that the people of Ukraine should make their choice on their own, not at
gunpoint, without pressure from the West or the East.
In anticipation of Forgiveness Sunday, we remind you that
the gates of paradise are opened to anyone, even a serious sinner person, if he
asks for forgiveness from those whom he humiliated, insulted and despised, or
from those who were killed by his hands or at his orders. There is no other way
but forgiveness and mutual reconciliation.
“The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from
the ground; and now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth
to receive the blood of your brother from your hand,” God said to Cain, who was
envious of his younger brother. Woe to every person who realizes that these
words are addressed to him personally.
No non-violent call for peace and an end to war should be
forcibly suppressed and considered as a violation of the law, for such is the
divine commandment: "Blessed are the peacemakers."
We call on all warring parties to dialogue, because there
is no other alternative to violence. Only the ability to hear the other can
give hope for a way out of the abyss into which our countries were thrown in
just a few days.
Let yourself and all of us enter Great Lent in the spirit
of faith, hope and love.
Stop the war.
Priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church who
wish to sign the letter can write to russianpriestsforpeace@gmail.com
(The letter has been signed by 278 priests and deacons by 5/3/2022. The full list can be seen on the original website. There is no date on the letter.)
Russian Church Christians of the Evangelical Faith Pentecostals
RCCEF leadership address to all churches
Recent events in Russia and Ukraine have shown how quickly
things can change and how fragile the world in which we live can be. Many
processes are so intertwined, affecting the destinies of brotherly peoples,
that it inevitably echoes in our hearts with pain.
Jesus Christ affirms that “out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks”, therefore let our hearts and lips lift up in prayer to
the God of peace, mercy and order, crying out according to His will, in the
hope of His answers.
We call all the faithful of the Russian Church Christians
of the Evangelical Faith Pentecostal to heartfelt prayer with fasting. Because
God is looking for those who would stand “in the breach for this earth”. We
have something to present with our hearts and lips before His Heaven.
From February 27 to March 31, 2022, we declare a fasting
and prayer marathon.
Let us pray and fast:
1. That those on whom peace depends may see these ways
and bring peace to the nations. Let us remember that the hearts of kings and
rulers are in His hand (Proverbs, ch. 21, v. 1).
2. For the willingness of the churches to sacrificially
serve the afflicted.
3. For a deeper understanding of the purpose of the
Church of Christ “to be light and salt”.
“My heart says of you, ‘Seek my face’; and I will seek
your face, O Lord.”
(Psalm 26, verse 8)
With prayers, Bishop Eduard Grabovenko and members of RCCEF Board
Archimandrite Seraphim (Pankratov) – Priest of the
Sumy Eparchy, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate
Open letter published on the Ethos website
How we set Ukrainian society against us
(…)
We are not victims of someone else's unjust hatred, not bearers of Light,
who are hated only because they have the Light of Truth in them, we were
hypocrites and lied to ourselves, parishioners and society. The majority did so unintentionally, which, of
course, does not justify the very lies and hypocrisy.
The future of our Church depends on how we comprehend what
happened. If we are guilty, then only by repentance can we firmly count on
God's mercy.
WE SUPPORTED THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FORCE INSIDE THE COUNTRY
(…)
Our episcopate and the majority of the faithful of our Church for many
years supported the most destructive force in our country, probably the largest
internal atrocity against our people and our country over the past 30+ years. Those who created a system of vertical
corruption in our country. Corruption, of course, accompanies any state,
Ukraine was no exception. But corruption is different. Only the
Donetsk clan managed to turn the entire state, at all levels, into a system of
unfair money extraction, it is unlikely that there will be at least a dozen
countries with such a system in the world.
I remember how it started here, in the Sumy region. When the Donetsk
clan promoted its own to the governors of the Sumy region, the heads of law
enforcement and regulatory agencies were immediately replaced. Then the
business takeover began. They would come to a big businessman (at first to
a big one, then they took up a medium one), they offer to buy his business for
half the price, he, of course, refuses. Then they begin to iron it and
roll it out with endless checks: tax, firemen, sanitation station,
etc. etc. And, of course, violations are found or fabricated, cases
are filed. And more often than not, the unfortunate person was either
forced to give up his own for nothing, or found himself not only without a
business, but also in prison.
This tumour grew throughout Ukraine, infecting those areas that they
managed to get their hands on. But this is not yet a system of vertical
corruption. It was built by the one whom they first promoted to prime
minister and then to president - Yanukovych, whom many church people supported
as their own, "Orthodox", despite an obviously criminal past (in
which European country is it conceivable to elect a person convicted twice for
criminal offenses?!).
(…)
I will cite the story of a familiar priest from another diocese (I will not
name it). This priest ministered to the prison and told how he twice
told his bishop: “Vladyka, the prisons are full of people who have had their
business, property, and freedom taken away, and you put those who did this to
them in places of honor, closer to you in the temple and sit with them at the
same table at meals! I have already met many of those imprisoned by them
in prison.” And he just irritably waved: “Father N, what are you talking
about, what are you inventing!”
(…)
The majority of the faithful of the UOC came out in support of evil,
justified it and opposed themselves to those who fought against this
evil. And the one who turned Ukraine into a total corruption scheme with
the use of violence and the taking of property was not only supported by the
majority of our hierarchs, clergy and believers, but they dared to compare him
with the Good Thief! With a man who not only
repented of his evil deeds, but also in the hours when the closest disciples
despaired of the victory of Christ, in Jesus dying on the cross he saw the
victorious Messiah and confessed the victory of His Kingdom. Who and when
heard the repentance of Yanukovych, not to mention the feat of faith?! It
was obvious madness to support such a person and rebel against the majority of
our fellow citizens, who, of course, did not fight for Yushchenko's victory in
the first place (peacefully!), but against Yanukovych and the destructive
force for the country that stood behind him. And why did they support
it? Firstly, because he is Orthodox, and secondly, because he is for a
close relationship with Russia. Orthodox? And if the devil suddenly
stands in the temple in the service, donates money to the Church and casually
crosses himself, will he also be Orthodox?
(…)
THEY DENYED THE OBVIOUS ABOUT THE WAR IN THE DONBASS AND DID NOTHING EXCEPT
PRAY TO END IT
As you know, the city of Akhtyrka (…) suffered especially from the Russian
invaders. The city resisted, but almost daily suffered powerful bombing,
rocket, or artillery strikes. During the first shelling of the city with
rockets from the Grad multiple launch rocket systems (from the side of Velikaya
Pisarevka, that is, from where the occupiers were exactly), a 7-year-old girl
and, if I am not mistaken, two adults were killed. This was the first
child who died in Ukraine, and this case immediately became widely known both
in Ukraine and abroad.
A day or two later, one of our nuns is sent a video by a Russian nun, the
video says that it turns out that the Ukrainian army shelled Akhtyrka in order
to blame everything on Russia. In the continuation of this war, we
could all observe the constant lies and a huge number of fakes from the Russian
side. They lied about the goals of the campaign, constantly changing them
(first, denazification and an obstacle to the creation of nuclear weapons by
Ukraine, then demilitarization, then an obstacle to the creation of
bacteriological weapons in supposedly existing American laboratories in
Ukraine, from where viruses should have been carried to the territory of Russia
by specially trained birds), they lied that they hit only military targets,
that supposedly the population of Kherson and Mariupol joyfully greeted the
"liberators".
Preventing the exit from the besieged cities, they lied that it was not
they, but allegedly the Ukrainian terrorist defence, that did not allow people
to leave and shot them in the back, that the Ukrainians allegedly set up a
“black transplant” on the battlefields – trading in the organs of dead and
dying soldiers, etc. etc. But this constant lying about Ukraine, its
military, and the Ukrainians themselves is a longstanding Russian
tactic. And for a long time, many of our bishops and priesthood and the
faithful were the sing-alongs and translators of this lie.
Already five years ago, in a series of interviews, a retired lieutenant
colonel of the FSB, the first minister of defence, the so-called. DPR Igor
Strelkov (Girkin) also spoke about the participation of his group in the
seizure of Crimea (of course, coordinated with the military command of the
Russian Federation), and about how the war in Donbass began, that the local
population DID NOT WANT TO FIGHT and that if not his unit, there would have
been no war there, and that the first militias were recruited, among other
things, by force, that there are no longer any militias in the Donbass, but
there are contract soldiers, or "people's militia", which is included
as a separate unit in the Russian Armed Forces.
And here in the UOC they kept talking about the “fratricidal civil war in
the East of Ukraine”, prayed about “strife, strife and divisions in our state”,
not only repeating the Kremlin’s theses in essence (as if this is an internal
conflict in Ukraine, Russia has nothing to do with it), but even using the same
phraseology.
Already in the first days of the war with Ukraine, Russian troops began to
abandon military equipment due to a lack of fuel (a column of abandoned armoured
vehicles stood 20 km from me a couple of days ago), and now, by the 20th day
of the war, they write about supply problems everywhere. Then how could
the inhabitants of Donbass fight on their own for 8 years, while having a lot
of heavy equipment?!
For the majority in the country (and abroad), Russia's participation in the
war in Donbas was obvious, but not for the UOC! (…) Of course, the majority in Ukrainian society perceived all
this behaviour of the UOC either as a game on the side of Russia (that is, a
betrayal), or as a conscious lie.
(…)
Our Church, except for prayers, and even with such dishonest
formulations, has done NOTHING practical to achieve peace, except for the protests of just a couple of our bishops (for
which we sincerely bow to them, it is gratifying that among them is our
Metropolitan Evlogy).
Our Church, which was supposedly defended by Russia from the infringement
of our rights, whose reaction in Russia was looked upon as a litmus test, whose
voice would definitely be heard both in the Russian Orthodox Church and in the
ruling circles of Russia, did not raise her voice in any way, refused to call a spade a spade (that the war in the
Donbass was provoked by Russia, that it was Russia that promoted the
fascist-Bandera-right-wing phobia, which made it possible that Strelkov still
managed to recruit people into the militia in the Donbass, and there were many
volunteers in Russia). But this is exactly what was expected of her in
society.
(…)
Eleven times (!!!) Ukraine and the UN initiated the issue of bringing a UN
peacekeeping contingent to Donbass in order to stop the war there. But 11
times one single country blocked the entry of peacekeepers with its
voice. This country is Russia! Because she needed the war as an
instrument of blackmail and weakening Ukraine.
(…)
All of us have become witnesses these days of the fact
that it was the Orthodox Church majority in Russia that not only did not try to
stop the war between Russia and Ukraine, but in every possible way supports
this war directly, approving or justifying (Patriarch Kirill and such famous
personalities as Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov, Archpriest Andrey Tkachev, Prof.
A.I. Osipov and others) or indirectly, that is, without opposing, moving away
from what is happening.
We have witnessed the most cruel and inhuman
atrocities of the Russian army in Ukraine, and the Russian Church, in which
many saw hope in resisting evil, turned out to be unable to say a word against
the absolutely obvious and great evil, because it not only fell under the influence,
but also became part of the official propaganda. How will she be able to
resist evil of a different kind, if this evil is suddenly imposed by the
Russian state power, before which the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church
endlessly fawns and pleases it in everything?!
(…)
The Church should not set as its goal Slavic, or some
kind of Indo-European, or African unity, since it is called to unite people of
the most diverse nationalities in Christ, it is supra-national. What about
our parishioners, Georgians, or Assyrians (we have them in Sumy), or other
non-Slavs before Slavic unity, should they also implement it? (…) This is what in the language of theology
is called the heresy of ethnophyletism.
Secondly (and this is the most important), having
almost blind trust in Russia, carrying out these non-church, political ideas,
unwittingly set Ukrainian society against itself (which has long seen the idea
of the Russian world and Slavic unity as ideological manipulation, and in
Russia as a threat), we have deprived ourselves of the opportunity to influence
this society.
The doors of schools and universities have been closed
for our Church, we are not allowed into state institutions and into the
army. We have lost the opportunity to preach to society and, accordingly,
to defend Christian ideas in society. And all this – for the sake of
fantasy about some last bastion of righteousness in unity with Russia. We
were supposed to be this bastion of Christianity for our society, and instead
of Christ and truth, we palmed off political ideas. We are called by
Christ to educate the society, and we ourselves have refused this calling and
we also shift the blame for this on the society, saying it is unfair and
aggressive towards us.
Thirdly, on the sly, in addition to these political
ideas of the Russian world, through the same systematic indoctrination, the
idea of autocephaly was discredited in the eyes of our church
majority. Speaking endlessly about unity with Russia and the Russian
Church, our faithful were told that autocephaly is some kind of evil,
practically a schism, that, having disconnected from the Russian Orthodox
Church, we will in no way be able to stand in Orthodoxy, we will definitely end
up with some kind of union, we will definitely begin to kowtow to the Ukrainian
authorities. The lie of these suggestions is that autocephaly is in fact
the NORM of church life. This is the perfect and only norm for the Ancient
Church (each diocese had actual autocephaly), and autocephaly for a church
located within the boundaries of a separate independent state is the norm of
the present time.
(…)
Dependence on the Russian Orthodox Church prevented
our Church from fulfilling the mission entrusted to it by Christ, not only in
relation to society, but also in relation to those whom we called
schismatics. But here it is worth first talking about the guilt that lies
almost exclusively on us, and not on the Moscow Patriarchate. Our attitude
towards those who fell away from the fullness of the Church was either
indifferent or, most often, aggressive, with no attempts to bring them back or
bring them into the bosom of the Church. “The schismatics are graceless,
the sacraments are not celebrated among them, they are actors in Orthodox
vestments, they lead those who believe in them to death” – we had to hear such
explanations constantly from our episcopate, from the priesthood and the laity.
But what feelings should perishing and erring people
evoke in Christians? Is it not concern for their enlightenment and return
to the Church? Was this a concern? When our Church is seriously
concerned about something, then, at a minimum, additional petitions appear in
litanies about this problem. There were such petitions when the schism had
just taken place. And then they disappeared. Instead, there appeared
a very aggressive rhetoric against those who fell away. In many articles
and angry sermons, the image of unprincipled deceivers and hypocrites was
created. What were the opuses of Vasily Anisimov worth, which a normal
person could not read without a feeling of disgust, and he was handed the
official mouthpiece of the UOC!
All this did not give rise to concern, not compassion for those who had fallen away, but condemnation and hatred. And this only repelled us even more, only increased the gap. After all, when they say about you that you do not believe in God, but act, or that you have replaced God with a national idea, that all your efforts of faith are empty (the sacraments are not performed, then all this is self-deception, and not spiritual life), that your hope on Christ is vain, while they sincerely hate you, you are unlikely to want to join such canonical Orthodox as soon as possible, you are unlikely to discern the real Church of Christ in them. And how much temptation this caused among the little-church and non-church people! How many times have we heard: “If you, church people, have such a squabble, then we don’t want to have anything to do with you and your church!”
But even when they wanted to be reunited with us, we were unable
to accept them! In 2006, the Primate of the UAOC, Metropolitan Methodius
(Kudryakov), held tacit negotiations with Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of
Kiev and All Ukraine to overcome the schism by reuniting with the UOC. And
it was not only his personal desire. The episcopate of the UAOC was
already ready for this, it was discussed how exactly the need for such a step
would be conveyed to the flock (a representative of the UOC invited me as a
photographer to the Bishops' Council of the UAOC, so I know all this not by
hearsay).
Three options for such a connection were previously
considered. With one of the three options, just as the ROC accepted the
Church Abroad, with the preservation of the primate and the synod, the
episcopate of the UAOC agreed, it was possible and acceptable in the opinion of
Metropolitan Vladimir. The most problematic issue here was the issue of
the canonical status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which did not even have
full-fledged autonomy within the ROC. Nevertheless, the bishops of the
UAOC understood that in the event of their reunification with the UOC, a number
of new opportunities opened up before the latter, related to the further
improvement of its status, up to autocephaly.
It is clear that after preliminary tacit agreements it
was necessary to launch the process of negotiations openly,
officially. And suddenly, before this step, Metropolitan Vladimir suddenly
curtails the negotiation process. To the bewildered question of his
confidant, he replied that Moscow would never allow this to take place and he
was afraid of their response. And in Moscow at that time, most of all,
they were concerned that the number of supporters of autocephaly among the
episcopate of the UOC did not exceed the permissible limits. Metropolitan
Vladimir was afraid to take a step that was necessary, although it might be
risky for him personally. As one bishop later explained to us (not my
ruling one), he was afraid, not without reason.
In this regard, the question cannot but arise: if the
UOC, which proclaims itself the Church of Christ in Ukraine, does not fulfill
the duties assigned to it by Christ to recover those who have fallen away, and,
as its bishops and priesthood affirm, the perishing schismatics, and does not
even care about this, when Himself Christ brings these fallen back to the
Church and it turns out to be unable to accept them, and because of the
cowardice of her primate and because of the lack of freedom in relation to the
Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in which she allowed herself to be
placed and with which she agreed, then this will not have any negative
consequences for her?! We called them perishing and did nothing for
them, cultivated mutual hatred, and when they wanted to join us, we could not
accept them, but when Constantinople accepted them, we resist this with all our
might. If the Church does not fulfill its salvific mission, then God
Himself will do it, but in ways that are painful for us, which we observe. We
did not let them in, and we prevent others from accepting.
SUPPORTING THE ROCOR IN ITS OUTSIDE-CHURCH POLICY, WE
COMMITTED A GREAT SIN AGAINST THE COMPLETE ORTHODOXY
A complete and, most likely, irreversible split in the
Orthodox world was about to occur, which has so far been prevented by the covid
epidemic (at least such a reason for the cancellation of the Bishops' Council
of the Russian Orthodox Church, at which Patriarch Bartholomew was to be
condemned, was voiced by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)). And it all
started not at all with the intervention of Constantinople in Ukrainian church
affairs, but earlier. Most of the faithful of the UOC do not know that
the “invasion” of the Patriarch of Constantinople into Ukrainian church affairs
and the granting of Tomos to the OCU was not at all sudden, unexpected and
“treacherous”, as it was presented by representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate
and, unfortunately, following them, the media, officials and the hierarchs of
the UOC, but was provoked by the very specific actions of the ROC with the
support of our hierarchs (I hope not quite conscious).
The IV Ecumenical Council endowed the Patriarch of
Constantinople with special powers, which only the Pope of Rome had previously
possessed – the right of the highest judicial power in the Church, namely the
right to arbitrate in disputes between Local Churches, to accept appeals from
clergy (“if anyone is offended by his metropolitan, then let him be judged by
the exarch his region or the Throne of Constantinople”, the 17th canon of the
4th Ecumenical Council and the similar 9th canon of the same Council). He
also has the right to convene a council of all Local Churches and preside over
them, the right to grant autocephaly (and even deprive it). These rights
were recognized by the Russian Church (the Stoglavy Cathedral, the Great Moscow
Cathedral), but in the 20th century it began to develop its own special
ecclesiology, that is, the doctrine of the structure of the Church and the
rights of Constantinople were constantly challenged by it.
The Russian theologian and canonist monk Diodor
(Larionov), describing the classical ecclesiological model, calls it patristic,
since it is not only sanctified by the Tradition of the Church, but also has a
coherent internal logic – the supreme judicial power of Constantinople is the
crown of the system of organization of the Church, which is reproduced on all
its levels: from the community-parish to the diocese, from the diocese – to the
metropolitan district, then – to the level of the Local Church, and even
further – to the Pan-Orthodox, inter-church level. The Russian vision of
the structure of the Church, as a federation of Churches completely independent
of each other, Father Diodor calls the “federal model” and in his article “What
is papism, or about accusations against Patriarch Bartholomew by
representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate” explains its shortcomings, internal
inconsistency and risks.
(…)
Returning to our main topic of relations with the
Ukrainian society, let us summarize that this irresponsible and, perhaps,
thoughtless following of the criminal policy of the Moscow Patriarchate in the
inter-church arena, eventually led to another round of information warfare on
the part of the UOC over the Tomos, and therefore to yet another seduction of
people and again exposed our Church in the eyes of the Ukrainian society as an
opponent of the independence of the Ukrainian Church, and, accordingly, of the Ukrainian
statehood itself (for many of our compatriots, these are interconnected
things).
I am writing about this for several
reasons. Firstly, because it hurts a lot and is very bitter for the fooled
faithful of our Church, including several of my parishioners. Secondly,
statements by our officials have already been made that our UOC has always been
united with its people and the current service of our Church to Ukrainian
society during the war proves the complete groundlessness and groundlessness of
past accusations and suspicions of disloyalty against us. But people who
faced our hypocrisy in the past cannot be convinced by this (well, they are not
fools!), Such a position will not return the trust of society to us. Only
by admitting our mistakes openly, we will have such a chance.
Secondly, our humble group of authors of the letter on the termination of the commemoration of Patriarch Kirill and the letter on the need for our Church to receive autocephaly, faced not only a full set of fears on the part of many fellow ministers and parishioners, inspired by the above-mentioned dubious or false ideological attitudes, but also, what is the saddest thing, with the attitude of some "to martyrdom" – to stand in their confession of unity with the Russian Orthodox Church to the end, even if we are expelled from churches and deprived of the opportunity to openly celebrate worship. Martyrdom for what? Is it for Christ, or for our foolishness, insincerity, cowardice? What good fruits has being in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church brought us in recent years? And the bad fruits are already evident! Will we try to save our Church and restore trust in us, or will we continue to fight for false non-church ideals?
31/3/2022 (Source)
Em complemento destas declarações. parece-me importante esta carta ao Patriarca Cirilo do responsável das Igrejas orodoxas de tradção russa na Europa Ocidental:
ReplyDeletehttps://archeveche.eu/lettre-ouverte-a-sa-saintete-cyrille-patriarche-de-moscou/
Obrigado. É importante, sim. Vou incluir.
Delete