A Friend/ Quaker in Russia asked that this be shared as widely as possible. This Friend’s letter speaks for many in Russia, who are grieving for their country’s actions.
"This Morning." From a Friend in Russia:
This morning, President Putin declared war against Ukraine.
Cities are under rocket fire, paratroopers are being landed, people are being killed.
This morning, I pray God to protect as many people as possible in Ukraine, that He take them under His shield. In a time of force gone mad, I hope that the power of the Holy Spirit, that which dwells in each of us, may give each of us the strength and forbearance to stand against the madness. I believe that, in each person, there is that of God, and that each person is deserving of life. The people of Ukraine are deserving of life, of peace and of freedom.
Let us cast war out from our own hearts.
This morning, our nation has broken into two parts.
A demon-ridden elite has supported Vladimir Putin’s terrifying ideas: his propagandists, his security men and the courts will safeguard the existing order of things. Each of them, who has refused to take action on behalf of peace, bears a personal responsibility for the deaths which are taking place. There are others, banned from decision-making, deprived both of voice and of the power to choose, forced out of our country, stung silent by the propaganda, who are becoming only spectators to the on-going madness, And each of us, the majority of the citizens of Russia, is are called to come to an understanding of the pain of war, of the malignancy of the developing situation. And God will give each of us the strength to make a stand and to speak out, as long as we listen to the song of peace.
This morning, I asked my son not to to believe his teachers, if, even in passing, they should speak in favor of the rightness of Russia’s and Putin’s acts of war, and to tell me about them this evening. I will not allow the government to indoctrinate my child with the propaganda of death.
Discuss the situation with friends and family. make it clear to the children, that the what is happening is harmful to the soul, make it clear to yourself.
Act according to your conscience, do not allow the circumstances to destroy you.
Hold to those you hold dear, help those near to you, make a public witness for peace, don’t give an ear to the blandishments of the propagandists.
My heart thanks this Friend for his words. He is probably part of the Friends Meeting in Moscow, and I fear that his speaking out may endanger him, in Putin’s autocracy. I hold him and his family in the Light, as well as the people of Ukraine, that they will be safe, and that, as Friend Boris says, we can all listen to the song of peace.