UOC Chancellor: We pray for armistice to end war in Donbass

UOC Chancellor Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich). Photo: Facebook/Metropolitan Anthony

The Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, called on the faithful to earnest prayer so that the new ceasefire agreement in Donbass, which came into force on July 27, 2020, would put a real end to the war.

The hierarch noted the symbolism of the fact that the ceasefire agreement came into force on July 27 – “the day when in previous years hundreds of thousands of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church traditionally took part in the festive Cross Procession in Kyiv. It is well known that during this prayer procession, a sincere and fervent prayer for the establishment of peace in our native land invariably sounded in the hearts and lips of people."

“The aforesaid agreement provides all of us with a good opportunity to make significant progress on this path,” he stressed. “We very much hope that from now on there will be no more deaths and injuries on the front line, as well as in the zone of direct contact of the sides. That people living on both sides of the front would no longer be exposed to the horrors of shelling and repercussions of hostilities. That peaceful life, and not grim hopelessness and disbelief in the future, would gradually take its course."

Metropolitan Anthony noted the need for fervent prayers, "so that all this does not eventually become another lost hope."

“That is why we exhort all the faithful children of our Church these days to prayerfully thank God for the mercy given to us and also ask Him that the appropriate decision usher in a complete end to the war in eastern Ukraine,” the UOC hierarch called.

Also, the Church asks for prayers "for all those people who assumed a great responsibility for the future of our country and our people."

“Peacemaking is a very difficult but still the only true and correct path, since it is pleasing to God. After all, as Saint Basil the Great said, nothing is so characteristic of a Christian as to be a peacemaker; for this end, the Lord promised us His greatest reward,” summed up Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier the MP of the Verkhovna Rada and Deacon of the UOC Vadim Novinsky urged to increasingly use the peacekeeping potential of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in resolving the conflict in Donbass.

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