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In Russia, Ukraine and the contested area of Crimea, passions have been running high for months, leading to many deaths and injuries. Honest and well-informed observers offer very different perspectives on what is happening and what the causes are. The injustices are many on all sides.
Without taking sides, one thing Orthodox Christians can do is pray with fervor that more bloodshed can be avoided. To help parishes and individual believers with resources for prayer, we are providing several links.
As this page develops we will try to provide helpful information that furthers understanding of the events taking place in the region to help bridge the gap through better understanding.
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Special Petitions for the Increase of Love: On February 26, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, issued a statement encouraging the clergy of the Eastern American Diocese to add further petitions for the increase of love during the Divine Liturgy on Forgiveness Sunday. The petitions may also be used as part of a moleben that can be served upon completion of the Divine Liturgy. A special service “For the Increase of Love” can be found in the Great Book of Needs or by following the links below:
http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/march/increaseoflove.en.pdf
http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/march/kievpetitions.en.pdf
http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/march/increaseoflove.en.pdf
http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/march/kievpetitions.en.pdf
A short sermon by Fr Sergei Ovsiannikov given at the Moleben for peace held March 4 at St Nicholas of Myra Russian Orthodox Church in Amsterdam:
http://www.incommunion.org/2014/03/17/prayers-for-peace/
http://www.incommunion.org/2014/03/17/prayers-for-peace/
A selection of prayers for peace:
http://www.incommunion.org/2004/10/18/prayers/
http://www.incommunion.org/2004/10/18/prayers/
Articles of special interest
Russia, Ukraine and the Church: A Lenten plea for peace
What happens when different parts of a church (and in this case, a church which generally believes in obedience to earthly power) find themselves on opposite sides of a looming conflict? Over the centuries, the Orthodox church has found ingenious ways of preserving the spiritual bonds between its fractured sons and daughters while accepting that in earthly affairs, they were deeply divided. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, Russia’s Orthodox church was happy to let its small but vigorous outpost in Japan pray for a Japanese victory; no religious ties were broken in the process. Bear all that in mind when contemplating the latest religious moves in Ukraine…. >> read the rest: http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/03/russia-ukraine-and-church
What happens when different parts of a church (and in this case, a church which generally believes in obedience to earthly power) find themselves on opposite sides of a looming conflict? Over the centuries, the Orthodox church has found ingenious ways of preserving the spiritual bonds between its fractured sons and daughters while accepting that in earthly affairs, they were deeply divided. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, Russia’s Orthodox church was happy to let its small but vigorous outpost in Japan pray for a Japanese victory; no religious ties were broken in the process. Bear all that in mind when contemplating the latest religious moves in Ukraine…. >> read the rest: http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/03/russia-ukraine-and-church
An album of photos of the peace demonstration in Moscow that took place Saturday 15 March 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.655866497784545.1073741945.157033337667866&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.655866497784545.1073741945.157033337667866&type=3
http://www.incommunion.org/2014/03/17/pray-for-peace/
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