On April 12, prominent faith leaders of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism gathered in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, near the Romanian border, together with local clergy, to broadcast live on the BBC a denunciation of aggression, and to express compassion, empathy and solidarity for all who are suffering as a result of Russia’s ongoing invasion.
They encouraged clergy and lay people alike watching the service, to sign a letter of solidarity on the Faith in Ukraine website, which is maintained in part by the Jerusalem-based Elijah Interfaith Institute that organized the gathering, and to lobby their governments to help end the invasion.
In a letter for the event —described by the Institute’s Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein as the strongest statement to date from the Vatican regarding the war— Pope Francis wrote,
“The present moment leaves us deeply troubled, because it is marked by the forces of evil … All this troubles our consciences and obliges us not to keep silent, not to remain indifferent before the violence of Cain and the cry of Abel, but instead to speak out forcefully in order to demand, in the name of God, the end of these abominable actions.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
said he was struck by what the pope “has to say about violence and war, as a sign not of strength, but of weakness. A sign of fear, and of failure. A fear of the truth, and a failure to be human.” … Our fellowship here today may not change the circumstances of this dreadful conflict, or touch the hearts of the aggressors, but we can still speak of the human dignity we share and commit ourselves to the long struggle to see that this human dignity is affirmed and defended throughout our world...”
...“We’re not here to speak politics,” said Rabbi Goshen-Gottstein… “We’re not here to make peace. We’re here to be with you.”
The prepared remarks of Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric, emeritus grand mufti of Bosnia and present head of the World Bosniak Congress, made reference to allegations of Russian troops committing war atrocities against civilians. To Ukrainians he said
that as someone from Sarajevo — which bore witness to nationalist wars in the Balkans and subsequent war-crimes trials — “please remember that there are people who will remember you.”
“War criminals have the right to punishment … Let the mother’s tears become prayers so that (what happened in ) Ukraine may never happen again! … Long live Ukraine!”
Among other speakers were Brother Massimo Fusarelli, minister general of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor; Sister Maureen Goodman, program director for the Brahma Kumaris movement in the United Kingdom and its representative at the United Nations in Vienna; and Metropolitan Nikitas Lulias, Greek Orthodox archbishop of Great Britain, one among several present
who insisted faith leaders have a role in stopping the violence in Ukraine. “Any religious leader in the world who does not act, and who is indifferent, has a heart of stone,” he said. “A heart which is called an empty void of grace and the blessings of God. To be indifferent may be the greatest of all sins.”
Sister Giác Nghiêm, abbess of Maison de l’Inspir of Vietnam, led a contemplative meditation from the people of her country, for replenishing strength.
Swami Atmapriyananda, vice chancellor of Vivekananda University; expressed a hope that “artists of communication” will
“codify a language that raises consciences instead of lowering them and inspires us all to embrace peace and freedom ...A language that recognizes that evil exists, but that we must not accept it as an inevitable fact,” he said. “Because we can counter it with the commitment and action of all. We can defeat what is inferior with the superior. A new message that reminds us that we all have a common heritage.”
The final speakers were local clergymen.
Rabbi Menachem Glitzenshtein alluded to genocide, speaking in Ukrainian to say that the commandment that forbids killing is the most central, “all the more when it comes to the whole people, the whole nation.”
Archbishop Herman of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2019, directly addressed Ukraine’s invaders:
“Today, I’d like to appeal to the people who have come to invade our Ukrainian land and to kill us,” Herman said. “If you can hear us: Stop. Stop for the sake of your eternal soul. For the sake of this image of God, by which you have been created… God bless you… Please stop the war in Ukraine … ”
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